[GKBassplayer]

A couple of buddies and I decided to take a trip this year for duck opener. We headed west from NDSU a couple of hours and found a pretty sweet hotel with four single beds to stay in for $65 a night. So we packed the trailer and headed out Friday afternoon so we could scout and be ready in the morning. After having a great hunt Saturday morning, (4 man limit of greenheads and geese by 9:00am), we scouted again Saturday night and found another field with geese and ducks feeding. Driving around this six-section piece of land we determined that a bean field on the edge of the road was posted but the stubble wheat field that the birds were feeding on in the middle of this piece of land was fair game to hunt. We returned this morning, set up and started shooting our birds. As I left my blind to pick up some ducks I see a truck plow thru our decoys and continue to do figure eights inside the entire 10dz full body duck and goose spread. He never stopped to talk other than yelling at us for being on posted land. All four of us were standing there in shock. Mowing down some 4 dz geese and another dozen mallards, a finisher (which I just bought this year and contained a thermos, my blind bag and a few boxes of shells and not even to mention the guy had no idea there wasn't a person in it), a mojo and some floater ducks, by the way almost killing my friends golden retriever. He left as quickly as he appeared, we ran to the truck to pick up our gear, not before taking some 50 pictures and left. We called the local C/O and he forwarded the call to the sheriff who came out and assessed the situation. We brought him to the field to find out if it had been legally posted. He determined that it had been, but he totally understood where we were coming from and said it was an honest mistake and knew we hadn't done it on purpose. NOW WHAT??? Do we press charges for the $1000+ in damage but risking a $500 fine for trespassing? We told the sheriff not to do anything and let us think the situation over. This guy had no right, I don't care if I was trespassing or not to destroy our gear in that fashion. This was completely out of line. It was an honest mistake and I'm sorry. I have never been accused of trespassing before and you can bet I will never again. There is a right way to go about things and a wrong way. I want your opinions …

This was only some of our stuff, still missing a few cracked FFD's

 

[GKBassplayer]

I forgot to mention. This whole deal sold me on big foots for life. The FFD's and the full body mallards all cracked but the big foots just popped back into place, minus the loss of many feet and heads, all the bodies were %100 OK

 

[94NDTA]

Some farmers are crazy, FYI. There are a lot of awesome farmers out there, but there are a few 4th generation farmers who havn't been off their farm for centuries that are simply crazy. Looks like you experienced the latter. I've been chased off a land by a farmer with a shot gun in hand. It had snowed, and his ONE sign was completely covered in snow. That didn't stop him from nearly taking aim at me.

You could always set his field a fire.

That would be a bad idea though.

FYI, I would check with a lawyer, even if there wasn't someone in the blind, that may be attempted manslaughter.

 

[USAlx50]

One more reason that I'll make sure to talk to landowners if there is a posted sign anywhere near the field I plan on hunting, whether it is a "legal" posting or not.

I guess the good luck comes with the bad. That is one heck of a gun one of you guys won at the DU banquet. Sucks about the decoys, i regret ever buying an avery decoy as well.

 

[Benelliman]

I would be curious to see what the guy did wrong. Technically he was driving on his own property correct?

I'm not supporting his actions in any way, but am curious if under the strict definition of the law he broke any? Unless they were going to make some kind of bodily endangerment claim?

Did this make the newspapers? It would seem to me to be quite an event that somebody would get ahold of the press.

 

[diver_sniper]

I'm by no means an expert on law, but as the last person said, an argument could certainly be made that he wasn't doing anything wrong driving on his own property. Especially if they determined that it was legally posted. I'm not at all saying what he did was cool, but it sounds like it might be a tough one to get anything out of. Maybe you could check into the law and see if there's a certain thing a landowner is supposed to do when they have someone trespassing. Maybe his actions put him in the wrong somehow and trump the posted signs.

Like Brody said, this is an excellent example of why it's a good idea to go ask for permission to hunt whether it's posted or not. I know a lot of people that think it's such a hassle, but you're ten times better off by taking 15 minutes to figure out who's land it is, even if it's unposted.

 

[GKBassplayer]

So your saying if someone parked their car in your driveway you have the right to smash into it because its in your driveway? I dont think so...The sheriff said that he would %100 percent get felony vandalism if we brought this to court.

 

[MrSafety]

Sounds to me like this farmer has been burned before...........scary behavior though ............curious as well to hear a more detailed "legal" side to this..........

 

[Sasha and Abby]

I would press charges. You made an honest mistake. He deliberately put life and property at risk - that was not a mistake.

 

[dblkluk]

Like others have said this is exactly why I try to ask permission for everything I hunt, But I understand that sometimes its impossible to find who owns it, or whatever.
These days I still get a little nervous hunting a field that I haven't talked to the landowner about. Even if I know full well it is not posted.

I would guarantee I would be pressing charges against this a-hole not too mention I would have asked the sheriff to come with me to his farm/house to confront the guy.

Running over dekes and gear is one thing but like you said, running over that blind could have been very bad. A good Lawyer (can't believe I said that) would make a good case out of this guy..but you'd better have the $$ to pay for it.

Guys like this are the armpit of todays society, sure you guys may have been in the wrong, (honest mistake) but there would have been much better ways of handling this. Sounds like this guys knuckles still drag on the ground.

 

[Plainsman]

I would be curious to see what the guy did wrong. Technically he was driving on his own property correct?

He is still guilty of destroying private property. Because the hunt was on posted land it looks like a standoff. It's the principle of the thing though, and I think I would sue and take the fine for tresspass.

GKBassplayer, are you certain the guy didn't post the land after you left. Often you can't find a landowner, but I don't go in a field without pictures of every corner. If land is posted I like written permission. I know landowners who have tried to set guys up they don't like. Things like this happen more often each year.

 

[ruger1]

Nail his *** to the wall. If they hit you with a tressapssing fine, pay it and smile. The best money you ever spent. I would have had a hard time not shooting the guys truck.

Maybe you can shoot for assult with a deadly weapon. He didn't know the blind was empty.

 

[Almomatic]

Good luck getting your decoys replaced. I had a similar situation on unposted land a couple years back and the landowner used my FFDs as bowling pins. I pressed charges against him and had to go to court. In the end a jury of neighboring landowners found him not guilty. The only thing good to come of it is that I wasted his time as he was in court three times before the trial and had to pay for a lawyer to defend him. Wish I woulda been with you, he wouldn't have a drivable truck anymore, I don't care if its his land or not, that is no way to act, I'm sure I'll get flamed for that, you can for this too, if anyone pulls that crap on me again I will defend myself and property with whatever means I see fit... Sorry to hear about your hunt, I know that feeling you had in gut when you were watching it happen.

 

[oldfireguy]

While we appreciate the opportunity to hunt lands that are not "posted", my group carries a plat book and makes attempt to contact the owner regardless.
Amongst us oldtimers, it's considered an expected courtesy. Added benefit....we've actually been thanked by the landowner and given tips on other parcels we might not have known about.

Good people make bad decisions, whether it is "accidentally" hunting posted lands, or getting overly irate on trespassers.

Good luck in the future.

 

[northdakotakid]

Hey, I am a land owner and by that there are certain rights that come with that... but recklessly endangering someone's life?

There was no defense of property because these are migratory birds... what if someone would have been in the blind? There was no prior confrontation before he endangered the lives ... flat *** backwards.

We have people trespass on our land and it ****** me off to no extent but never have I ever thought of endangering their lives by driving a pick-up through their decoys. I have driven out to them and asked them to leave and took their names and vehicle plate numbers to turn them in... but that is just wrong.

South Dakota is introducing some legislation to help landowners potentially recoup some potential get-back for people who trespasss... but I am not sure if this will decrease the # of incidences, increase the reporting of incidences or be abused ... http://www.kxmb.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=278454

 

[Chuck Smith]

I would take the tresspass and go after him.

What if he does this again and run over someone in the blind!

Teach him a lesson for being reckless.

My question are you sure he is the landowner? Did you get a plate number and what not to also give the sheriff?

 

[Fallguy]

Crazy situation. I am not sure what I would do. Glad to hear noone was injured!

 

[hunt4P&Y]

First off? How do you know it was the land owner? I have had my butt chewed up and down by someone who claims to be the landowner, and they weren't. One time the landowner was laying in a blind with us when the guy came out there. Talk about a guy coming unglued when the guy claimed to "own" all the land.

I would charge him. If you spend money on a good lawyer you will get reckless endangerment and maybe attempted man, to stick. How did the CO say it was legally posted if there wasn't signs at the field changes, and so on? I would say the most you are going to get charged with is him Civily going after you.

I think this is going to come down to where you were at. If you end up in a small town court that everyone knows him, and so on you may not stand a chance.

Go get a good lawyer and go after him.

 

[hunt4P&Y]

Also, it doesn't matter if it is his prop or not they are still liable for what happens on it. You stub your toe you could sue. Kinda sad, but the truth.

 

[jd mn/nd]

I have read the responses to this post I have a few questions, Are you sure that the fella that did the damage WAS the land owner? If so how do you know? IF your not sure, could it have been someone else? Could it have been one of his buddies? or a other hunter that was ****** because you beat him to the punch?

First off I would press the charges of endangering human lives, second I would go to civil court and sue him for the damages done to your property, thirdly I would also have him arrested by the local CO for harassing a hunter while in the course of hunting, it is a federal law so he would prosecuted in a federal court, not locally. It is illegal to harass any hunter while they are hunting no matter what.

This type of behaviour needs to be curtailed and if it is not stopped now it will continue to get worse and become more frequint. What he should have done was driven out stopped the truck and got out and told you who he was and that you were on posted land and that you needed to leave. But he went over the line, now you need to do something about this. What happens the next time when he does this to someone else and kills them how are you going to feel knowing that you had an opportunity to stop this and teach him lesson? What would have happened if he had flipped his truck in the field and rolled it over on one of you? What if a rock off of one of the tires would have hit one of you causing injury or death? There are a bunch of what if's that need to be thought about here, the good news that all of you are OK. This is one of those times in a person's life that you would call a determining moment, what you do to this person will determine what kind of a person you are, will do the right thing and decide to go after the fella for everything he did or will you just roll over and play dead and pretend like it never happened and let the guy go on acting like an A-hole. You as a person need to decide if you have principals, eithics, morals, fortitude, character, and a consciouness that will allow to walk away. This tell your freinds and family if your a man that has those things in his build or not. Only you know what needs to be done. I know what I would do. But I can't tell you what to do. Good luck if you go forward and go after this person, for what they did to you, if not I guess it really is not that important to you.