Stupid hunters...They're gone!

[Jennasis]

Apparently quail season started. We've been hearing gun shots all weekend long (predominantly in the morning). Today they sounded especially close by, so DH and I scrambled to bring in the horses (all 25 of them) this morning at 7am. After all of them were brought in (except the four who live outside full-time), we went back to bed to take a decadent nap since DH was off today.

So then we start hearing gunfire like it's right outside our front door. It's close enough that the dogs start barking at it. Then I hear CLANG. A stray bullet has apparently hit one of our buildings.

We jump out of bed and see three pick up trucks parked on the side of the road right beside our property and a bunch of idiots in camo gear with their guns wandering around. They are in the fields right beside our property and across the street from our property (were corn fields but just got harvested a week ago).

There's a kid with them too and they were firing madly at the telephone pole at the front of the field less than 50 yards from our house. A stray bullet hit one of my run-in sheds (the shelter the outside horses use).

Dh went out (after they stopped shooting) and gave them the business. To which the guy in charge (who owns the property they were on) says,

"We are so sorry sir...it was the youngin'. He ain't too good with the gun yet and hit the roof of yo shed."

DH says "You know we have horses out here in on my property right?"

The guy hems and haws, but says sorry again and promises they'll aim away from our property, and blames the boy again.

My horses are okay. Thank God. but the police/sheriff won't do anything (we called) because the guy is shooting on his own property and they are friends of the sheriff. Small town.

I have no problem with responsible gun use or hunting. But these fools just got me all riled up this morning.

 

[luvmy3]

There aren't any laws about shooting within a certain distance of a residence even when you are on your own property?
Its a shame that when people are allowed to own guns (which I support) don't have to fill out a "common sense" questionarre too. I hope that those people don't come back to that area of their land and your horses remain safe during the hunting season

 

[mickaholic4077]

Sic "Get to the choppa!" on them next time!!

 

[Jennasis]

I know they aren't allowed to shoot from their vehicles (which has happened before).

The finally left, after I went out into the yard with my dogs (barking at them nonstop) and stared at them for about 10 minutes. I guess they realized there was an angry wife in play and didn't want to deal with me and my "attitude". This was AFTER the kid went across the street, crouch in the drainage ditch that runs along the side of the road and sighted a quail with his gun, and when the quail flew up and BETWEEN the boy and me in my yard, the men started yelling "woah woah woah!" at the kid who was about to fire directly at me.

MORONS.

To give you an idea how close they were. I could hear them talking. Not what they were saying, but could hear laughing and mumbling.

 

[dawson5]

We ran into this when we lived in Michigan. I swear it's a state holiday there (deer season at least). The guy next door to us owned 5 or 6 acres, he was allowed to hunt on his land. I was afraid for my kids walking from the bus stop to home, I went and picked them up. There wasn't anything I could do because of the amount of land he owned, it didn't matter that there were other homes nearby (I asked a friend who was a lawyer, where to find the info on what was allowed. He pointed me in the right direction and I spent some time reading up on it.). The only thing I could think to do was turn on the radio in the garage, loudly, to AC/DC and Metallica. Just blared it all day long. I occasionally tooted the horn on my car, accidentally. I figured if there were any deer nearby, they might not like that and high-tail it out of there. I do remember there was a fine line on what you could and could not do.

Then there was the fun law about hanging of the deer carcass. We would be driving down the road and see a dead deer hanging from a tree. (gross) I think the law says they can do that, but it has to be so many yards from the road. That was fun explaining to three boys, one that is an animal nut.

 

[sunnyday123]

Is there anything you can do to chase the quail out of there? I saw something on Animal Planet where this man has dogs that chase geese out of fields. He said after 3-4 times the geese figure the dogs are there to stay and move on. I'm with the PP and I might be having OzFest on my property the day they decided to hunt.

 

[Jennasis]

They're Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack...

Yup. The whole redneck bunch of them. We usually turn our horses out at 4pm, so when DH and I got back from shopping and saw the trucks out there again and the camo clan milling about, we started to get annoyed.

DH drove over on our ATV and told the guy we'd be turning the horses out in about 45 minutes. The guy was sitting in a chair, leaning up against a big oak tree that our fence is actually attached to. The guy doesn't even look at DH and says "Okay".

Then DH said we were concerned that the horses would be in harm's way.

"we ain't shootin' at your property." Says the redneck.

"Somebody shot the roof of my run-in shed this morning." Says DH.

"Wasn't me" says redneck.

"It was one of the kids." Says DH.

"Ain't my kid." Says redneck.

So DH leaves and calls sheriffs department, who reiterate that unless they come onto our property, there is nothing to be done. Called Fish and Game (or whatever the department is) and are told same..but find out they must be done hunting by dusk.

I have had to keep all 25 horses stalled until these jack-butts leave, AND cancel my riding lessons for the afternoon/evening since I am concerned about safety. So now these morons are going to cost me money. I can see his smug face from my window while I type this. THAT'S how close they are.

Sheriff's office said to call if they aren't gone by dusk. Man I wish I had a swarm of attack bees trained to answer to my commands.

 

[handinpocket]

They're Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack...

Yup. The whole redneck bunch of them. We usually turn our horses out at 4pm, so when DH and I got back from shopping and saw the trucks out there again and the camo clan milling about, we started to get annoyed.

DH drove over on our ATV and told the guy we'd be turning the horses out in about 45 minutes. The guy was sitting in a chair, leaning up against a big oak tree that our fence is actually attached to. The guy doesn't even look at DH and says "Okay".

Then DH said we were concerned that the horses would be in harm's way.

"we ain't shootin' at your property." Says the redneck.

"Somebody shot the roof of my run-in shed this morning." Says DH.

"Wasn't me" says redneck.

"It was one of the kids." Says DH.

"Ain't my kid." Says redneck.

So DH leaves and calls sheriffs department, who reiterate that unless they come onto our property, there is nothing to be done. Called Fish and Game (or whatever the department is) and are told same..but find out they must be done hunting by dusk.

I have had to keep all 25 horses stalled until these jack-butts leave, AND cancel my riding lessons for the afternoon/evening since I am concerned about safety. So now these morons are going to cost me money. I can see his smug face from my window while I type this. THAT'S how close they are.

Sheriff's office said to call if they aren't gone by dusk. Man I wish I had a swarm of attack bees trained to answer to my commands.

Why would your DH call the sheriff's dept. AGAIN when nothing untoward has even happened?

 

[momz]

where I live, it's not the "red neck hunters with shotguns" to be worried about...it's the gang members/drug dealers. When we see these people out and about we always say, "the urban youth are out". Unfortunately, the drug users (suburban teens) are what brings them to our area...it's rampant. It's not quail their after....just sayin'....

 

[sunnyday123]

couldn't your dogs go running around barking through the field? I would be out there making as much noise as possible to interrupt their hunting-maybe some skeet shooting??

 

[handinpocket]

couldn't your dogs go running around barking through the field? I would be out there making as much noise as possible to interrupt their hunting-maybe some skeet shooting??

Where I live, it is perfectly within the law to shoot a dog on your own property that is chasing game.

 

[Carole]

I totally understand your frustration. We have a terrible time keeping hunters off our land. Caught the same guy twice last year within 2 days. DH took him to where he could be hunting while the guy never told us his wife was sitting in another tent on our property still hunting. We've even found permanet tree stands built on our property with trees cut down for better views. Four wheelers are another story - how do you keep them out? Yes, we post the property with no trespassing signs but I guess they can't read or undertstand the blue paint on trees. I'm scared during deer season to let our Golden Retriever igo out n the yard.....

 

[Planogirl]

They hunt doves within our city limits and the kids at the high school can hear the gunfire all throughout the day. It's just...weird.

 

[I loveStitchnippyjon]

I totally understand your frustration. We have a terrible time keeping hunters off our land. Caught the same guy twice last year within 2 days. DH took him to where he could be hunting while the guy never told us his wife was sitting in another tent on our property still hunting. We've even found permanet tree stands built on our property with trees cut down for better views. Four wheelers are another story - how do you keep them out? Yes, we post the property with no trespassing signs but I guess they can't read or undertstand the blue paint on trees. I'm scared during deer season to let our Golden Retriever igo out n the yard.....

Heah. We have 26 acres, half of them wooded. Lost count of the number of tree stands DH has torn down! Posted signs get torn down as fast as we put them up. I was all for stringing barbed wire all around the property, but was informed that anyone riding an ATV or snowmobile wo runs into the wire will sue us!
Last year some woman on an ATV with a kid on the back rode through our side yard! When DH ran out there and stopped her, she informed him she was going back into the woods. OUR woods. She was astonished that we objected!
I feel like once the deer, turkeys, etc. are in our woods, they should be safe.

 

[WDWBarb]

When I was a kid, I remember quite vividly a day when my grandfather was hauled off to jail for threatening a group of hunters who parked their vehicles on our property and just went hunting. There were 12 of them from a city about an hour away - all of them doctors. He told them to get off his land and they didn't take the old guy seriously. My grandmother had called the police on them for tresspassing and when they arrived they told the police that my grandfather had threatened them. He was hauled off (but immediately let go) and these hunters just told to go find someplace else to hunt.



We, too, have to tear down tree stands year after year and a few years ago some hunters killed a deer in the hollow just below the house (yes, very well within our property). They took the head and left the rest. Obviously it was a buck. Not a nice thing to have to clean up.

 

[Jennasis]

Why would your DH call the sheriff's dept. AGAIN when nothing untoward has even happened?

He wanted to know what time they would be allowed to hunt until, so we would know what time we could turn the horses out safely.

BTW, I do consider shooting the roof of my horse's shelter "untoward", as well as shooting at the telephone pole (illegal)...whether by accident or not. But we had no way to prove they did it.

 

[TheZue]

If somebody shot my shed I would have called the cops too. Bizarre they can't stop it. I think I'd be investing in some barbed wire with the stories in this thread.

 

[donaldduck352]

In Florida the law is no discharging of a firearm within 500' of any dwelling..

 

[Magic Mom]

If somebody shot my shed I would have called the cops too. Bizarre they can't stop it. I think I'd be investing in some barbed wire with the stories in this thread.

I agree. Once my property is hit, it's time for the cops, unless the hunter came right over to apologize and then left.

I wouldn't go over to the other property to chase the birds or interfere with their hunting, but I don't blame Jennasis for being upset that her property was shot at.

 

[Jennasis]

Someone mentioned "releasing the hounds"....well I do not allow my dogs to leave my fenced in yard. Wandering dogs is a pet peeve. I am not a vigilante and since the the law seemed to side with the hunters, I just had to settle for being very annoyed with the gun fire all afternoon.

We were able to get the horses out around 7:30pm when the hunters were all gone.

Knowing where their "blinds were" perhaps I could relocate that big patch of poison ivy at the back of my property for their next visit? Muwahahahahahaaaaaa!

FWIW, DH contacted the property owner (the hunters don't own it but told DH they had the owner's permission) and left a message inquiring about whether they had permission to do this and informing him that they hit one of our buildings and were making it impossible for me to run my business. The property is several hundred acres, some wooded and some recently harvested corn crops. Out of all that hundreds of acreage why they had to park on my fenceline 50 yards from my house is bizarre! my thinking is they were too lazy to wander far from their vehicles.