How would you handle this?

[shamus275]

So I have 40 acres in MI that I hunt and access to the neighboring 40 acres to east of me. Michigan has had a bait ban in effect since 2019 to combat the CWD spread. Last year my neighbor north of me was reported for baiting and was caught by the DNR with a truckload of bait and ticketed.

I just witnessed my neighbor on his 60 acres dumping bags of apples and corn in front of his trail cams/ladder stands. Three cams and ladders I can see from my west property line and all three have bait piles. The only reason I can see them is because he clear cut the east side of his property and I can clearly see over there now. He has stands on his west side which I can see from the road and I’d bet they have cams and bait piles too. I’m going to guess he’s been doing this the whole time since the ban went into effect. His property is a weekend hunting getaway and he comes up almost every weekend from down state to hunt.

I don’t particularly want to piss my neighbor off since we’ve never had any issues in the past but this really makes me mad knowing he killed an absolute giant over there last season and I’d bet my paycheck it was over a bait pile.

How would you approach this? The last time I called the DNR was for hunter harassment and trespassing by another neighbor and they did nothing other than make me feel as if I was the criminal.

 

[Ckwilli]

if you can see the bait from your property I’d call the DNR. I’d invite them to come to my place and have a look. I would think it would be hard not to make a case if they can see it too.

 

[Jay_Disarray]

If your worried about retaliatory response, see if you can see it from the road or any publicly accessible area and report it anonymously.

Personal feelings between neighbors aside, he's been caught cheating before and continues to do so. Everyone knows the rules, any other sport people would get kicked out of for cheating..

 

[shamus275]

If your worried about retaliatory response, see if you can see it from the road or any publicly accessible area and report it anonymously.

Personal feelings between neighbors aside, he's been caught cheating before and continues to do so. Everyone knows the rules, any other sport people would get kicked out of for cheating..

They can’t be seen from the road, I tried that. It was a different neighbor that was caught. I’m not about to catch a trespassing charge to catch him but he’s admitted that he never deletes his cards so that he has a record of the bucks through the years. He probably took pictures of himself baiting.

 

[kyler1945]

You know the answer. You just don’t like the taste of it. We can’t make it taste any better.

 

[Jay_Disarray]

They can’t be seen from the road, I tried that. It was a different neighbor that was caught. I’m not about to catch a trespassing charge to catch him but he’s admitted that he never deletes his cards so that he has a record of the bucks through the years. He probably took pictures of himself baiting.

ok i was under the understanding it was the same person that was previously caught.

perhaps mention to this new neighbor during conversation about north neighbor previously being caught baiting, and that its illegal, give them the impression that you have seen their actions. knowledge of being watched dissuades most casual crimes. See what happens.

Otherwise, cheating is still cheating, and they knew the risks of cheating

 

[shamus275]

You know the answer. You just don’t like the taste of it. We can’t make it taste any better.

Yeah I know the right answer and it does taste terrible. I’ve never been the tattle-tale type but I can’t let this go. It’s been driving me nuts for over a week.

 

[raisins]

ok i was under the understanding it was the same person that was previously caught.

perhaps mention to this new neighbor during conversation about north neighbor previously being caught baiting, and that its illegal, give them the impression that you have seen their actions. knowledge of being watched dissuades most casual crimes. See what happens.

Otherwise, cheating is still cheating, and they knew the risks of cheating

except this means that if he later drops a dime on the neighbor that he will be suspect number 1

 

[raisins]

Yeah I know the right answer and it does taste terrible. I’ve never been the tattle-tale type but I can’t let this go. It’s been driving me nuts for over a week.

i'd make a throwaway email account and report him to dnr anonymously

don't give too many details, just that you know with 100% certainty that there is illegal baiting going on on that property

 

[NMSbowhunter]

If you want to report him, write the GPS coordinates of the corn piles on a piece of paper that states "illegal corn piles", put it in an envelope and mail it to DNR law enforcement division. Don't put a return address on it.

 

[ricky racer]

Talk to the CO and explain that you want to remain anonymous.

 

[krub6b]

So I have 40 acres in MI that I hunt and access to the neighboring 40 acres to east of me. Michigan has had a bait ban in effect since 2019 to combat the CWD spread. Last year my neighbor north of me was reported for baiting and was caught by the DNR with a truckload of bait and ticketed.

I just witnessed my neighbor on his 60 acres dumping bags of apples and corn in front of his trail cams/ladder stands. Three cams and ladders I can see from my west property line and all three have bait piles. The only reason I can see them is because he clear cut the east side of his property and I can clearly see over there now. He has stands on his west side which I can see from the road and I’d bet they have cams and bait piles too. I’m going to guess he’s been doing this the whole time since the ban went into effect. His property is a weekend hunting getaway and he comes up almost every weekend from down state to hunt.

I don’t particularly want to piss my neighbor off since we’ve never had any issues in the past but this really makes me mad knowing he killed an absolute giant over there last season and I’d bet my paycheck it was over a bait pile.

How would you approach this? The last time I called the DNR was for hunter harassment and trespassing by another neighbor and they did nothing other than make me feel as if I was the criminal.

Can Michigan DNR fly a drone without a warrant? If so they could fly over the area properties since your neighbor to the north is a known baiter. That would be a discreet way of "them" finding the bait.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

 

[phatkaw]

Try to find a trail leading to or from his place...

 

[shamus275]

Try to find a trail leading to or from his place...

Oh there’s a nice one with lots of activity…he has a cam on the property line facing into his property to surveil the deer heading into mine. No bait pile at that cam though.

 

[raisins]

Talk to the CO and explain that you want to remain anonymous.

this can go south really easily

in a previous job, i was on an email list for environmental crimes

email came across stating "John Smith (cell phone 555 5555) works at the company and is an anonymous whistleblower"

this email went out to 100s of people

i chimed in to mention that anonymous whistleblowers should not be named to that list and that in this case it didn't help anything (was totally unnecessary)....crickets (which is par for the course)

 

[will4554]

I wouldn’t do anything, personally.

 

[neonomad]

What if he were poaching would you turn him in? Because this is by definition poaching.

 

[shamus275]

What if he were poaching would you turn him in? Because this is by definition poaching.

Is this is a response to me or post #16? Yes, by definition it is. Yes, I would. I’m trying to figure out the best way to do it anonymously because the website complaint form isn’t anonymous. And as stated before the DNR didn’t do anything the last time I talked to them. As far as retaliation goes…I’m a retired Special Operator. I’m not worried about that. What I am worried about is becoming the “target” and having the DNR called on me for anything I do or don’t do. Hunting is my therapy and I can’t lose that.

 

[raisins]

Is this is a response to me or post #16? Yes, by definition it is. Yes, I would. I’m trying to figure out the best way to do it anonymously because the website complaint form isn’t anonymous. And as stated before the DNR didn’t do anything the last time I talked to them. As far as retaliation goes…I’m a retired Special Operator. I’m not worried about that. What I am worried about is becoming the “target” and having the DNR called on me for anything I do or don’t do. Hunting is my therapy and I can’t lose that.

i'll try to find an email for you

one technique is create an email account and ask them a question on that form under a fake name

when they respond, it will be from an email address that you can usually respond to

then, make another email account and email to that dnr address directly from it, bypassing the website form

i'm going to go look at the michigan dnr website code, often the email is embedded in it

dang, i feel like a movie trope....nerd tech support helping the spec ops guy in the field that gets all the girls.....

 

[shamus275]

i'll try to find an email for you

one technique is create an email account and ask them a question on that form under a fake name

when they respond, it will be from an email address that you can usually respond to

then, make another email account and email to that dnr address directly from it, bypassing the website form

i'm going to go look at the michigan dnr website code, often the email is embedded in it

dang, i feel like a movie trope....nerd tech support helping the spec ops guy in the field that gets all the girls.....

My days of getting the girls are done according to my Wife unit. Besides, I learned a long time ago that I couldn’t do my job effectively without support personnel!