How would you handle this?

[neonomad]

Among hunters, you have on one end the bonding with nature type and on the other end of the spectrum you have folks that like a legal reason to kill stuff....they enjoy the act of killing for its own sake.

And you’ve got those, plenty, and I know a bunch of em or have trail cam pics of a bunch of em, who’ll break any number of laws to make the killin easier. You’ve also got Dan Infalt just this year, and thousands of others, taking two garbage shots on living animals and justifying it this way and that. Etc.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

My personal observation is that a lot of guys just inherit baiting from their dad or uncles who hunt, and it is just seen as normal. The whole sit in a box with a high-powered rifle with a bait pile at 100 yards is the default position for a lot of guys. That's one reason so many guys here went to crossbows is they see it as a gun that isn't legally a gun and they can sit in their box and just move the corn pile to 50 yards.

 

[BuffaloBill]

Maybe print out a copy of the hunting regulations and highlight the part that says baiting is illegal and mail it to him or something. If I were the guy and someone reported me I would probably assume it was my neighbor and not some random person driving down the road. I just wouldn’t want bad blood if I could avoid it.

It is weird it’s illegal to hunt over some apples or whatever but you can have a whole field of clover or some other type of food plot.

 

[Horn]

Maybe print out a copy of the hunting regulations and highlight the part that says baiting is illegal and mail it to him or something. If I were the guy and someone reported me I would probably assume it was my neighbor and not some random person driving down the road. I just wouldn’t want bad blood if I could avoid it.

It is weird it’s illegal to hunt over some apples or whatever but you can have a whole field of clover or some other type of food plot.

Right. Corn fine. Corn seeds, not fine. It's poorly written.

Still feel for you OP. Your playing by the rules and it's putting you at a disadvantage, that's not right

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Two friends of mine are presently in a "good club" that has some funky rules. Their latest rule is you can only have two game cameras and they can only be pointed at a 250 pound or larger spin cast deer feeder. Absolutely no scouting of the property is allowed. One of my friends says it is an "old man's club", meaning they want the deer to come to them and not have to do anything but sit in their shoot houses.

 

[kbetts]

Two friends of mine are presently in a "good club" that has some funky rules. Their latest rule is you can only have two game cameras and they can only be pointed at a 250 pound or larger spin cast deer feeder. Absolutely no scouting of the property is allowed. One of my friends says it is an "old man's club", meaning they want the deer to come to them and not have to do anything but sit in their shoot houses.

Screw that. Zero fun.

Waterfowl hunting is worse. You can bring the water to the feed, but you can't bring the feed to the water. Rich man games.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Screw that. Zero fun.

Waterfowl hunting is worse. You can bring the water to the feed, but you can't bring the feed to the water. Rich man games.

Yeah, I was invited to join that club a few years back. After riding around looking at it and hearing the rules (not as stupid back then as they are now) I declined. Also, there was not one single spot on that place where people didn't ride 4 wheelers and side by sides. If you are baiting, you need a good 4 wheeler or side by side. Toting corn is too much like work, lol.

 

[Iron_llama]

Not sure how the MI statute is written. In MN "hunting over bait" includes the bait pile itself, and any trail leading to the bait pile. Assuming there are trails leading from your property to his, you now wouldn't be able to legally hunt your own property due to the bait piles he put on his, without any discussion from you (if the statute is like MN'S). He is (potentially) putting you in jeopardy, and stealing opportunities to ethically harvest meat on your own land. To me it's a no-brainer, that's not somebody I want to protect. Different ways to report it anonymously. If your neighbor holds a grudge against you because he got caught doing something illegal, then he's the jerk, not you. You might practice your righteous indignation: "I can't believe the wardens thought I was baiting! Me! I had to show him all around my property, spooking all the deer, burning up my whole Saturday, over some anonymous report, and I wasn't even the guy they were looking for! Man, I hope I never find that lousy no-good sorry excuse for a hunter, I'd give him a piece of my mind!"

 

[will4554]

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

I’d even nullify the jury if given an opportunity

 

[BTaylor]

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.

Didnt read all the responses yet but your easiest solution is call the neighbor that got caught and tell him the other neighbor is clearly baiting. Encourage him to call make the report..."Dude he is clearly baiting and I bet he is the one that ratted you out when you got caught. If I was you I would report his azz."

 

[shamus275]

Well…it’s gotten worse. Tonight I witnessed the other neighbors to my south side drive a skid steer out, level the ground around the base of a mature oak, revved up the chainsaws and then cut shooting lanes starting at 4:30pm. Once they finished that they went back to house and brought a full pickup bed full of bait back and finished just before dark. I’ve absolutely had it with my neighbors. They’ve shutdown the deer activity and I’m pretty sure the deer are just hitting the bait piles in the dark now. My west neighbor continues to bait so I’m not messing around anymore and going to the local DNR office tomorrow to file a report.

 

[MNFarmHunter]

I’m surrounded by amish

While I have nothing against the culture, the individual family is beyond stupid. This year alone, they arrowed a spot fawn with an arrow so dull you could stab your hand without injury.


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[Red Beard]

I’m surrounded by amish

While I have nothing against the culture, the individual family is beyond stupid. This year alone, they arrowed a spot fawn with an arrow so dull you could stab your hand without injury.

Wait. Amish bow and arrow hunt? Not trying to be a jerk. Seriously just want to understand. That's awesome if they do.

 

[Plebe]

Wait. Amish bow and arrow hunt? Not trying to be a jerk. Seriously just want to understand. That's awesome if they do.

I drove to MD to hunt with my brother and happened through PA Amish country. Two observations.

1. They live in beautiful country.
2. There sure were buggy after buggy heading opposite me with huge traffic backups in tow. But no buggies on my side of the road. How is that possible? I don't know, but I avoided Amish country on the way home.

 

[MNFarmHunter]

Wait. Amish bow and arrow hunt? Not trying to be a jerk. Seriously just want to understand. That's awesome if they do.

Here, they have to follow the same state laws.

In what I referenced, they arrowed a spot fawn that ran into my neighbors property, to which he recovered. When he pulled the arrow which only went in a few inches, it was as dull as a butter knife.

I know every region is different but they’ve been caught pouching and their horses routinely escape because they’re starving.

Every region is different but here, they’re the “free sh!t army” with a buggy.


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[Spartan]

He's likely screwing up your hunting since he is baiting illegally and you are presumably not. That puts you at a disadvantage since the deer in the area are likely to be more drawn to his property than yours due to his illegal baiting. I'd go knock on his door and tell him that and ask him to stop. If he keeps doing it after that I would go knock on his door again and again ask him to stop, but this time would add that if he still doesn't stop it would be reported to DNR since his illegal hunting was interfering with my legal hunting. And, of course, if he kept at it, only then would I report it to the authorities. But I doubt it would get that far.

 

[shamus275]

He's likely screwing up your hunting since he is baiting illegally and you are presumably not. That puts you at a disadvantage since the deer in the area are likely to be more drawn to his property than yours due to his illegal baiting. I'd go knock on his door and tell him that and ask him to stop. If he keeps doing it after that I would go knock on his door again and again ask him to stop, but this time would add that if he still doesn't stop it would be reported to DNR since his illegal hunting was interfering with my legal hunting. And, of course, if he kept at it, only then would I report it to the authorities. But I doubt it would get that far.

Knocking on doors has already been attempted. It was a straight denial of any wrongdoing on the second neighbor. We’ve had problems with them for 30+ years. The first neighbor is a weekender and comes up only during the season. It’s hard to knock on his door because he leaves after the morning hunts and only comes back just before the evening hunts. They’re absolutely screwing up my hunting because I’ve had bucks in daylight up until the last week and then suddenly they just shut off once I figured out they were baiting. This time of year I should be seeing all kinds of deer and now it’s gone from 8-12 deer a day to absolute zero.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

If you knew you were dealing with a calm, reasonable person, knocking on a door might be OK. Since you know that isn't the case, confronting this guy in person might be a good way to get on an episode of Cops, lol. Write the GPS coordinates of the bait piles on a piece of paper, put that in an envelope and mail it to the DNR law enforcement headquarters, no return address. That way when your local DNR officer gets the assignment it will come from headquarters, and they'll have to do something about it. If it stays local. who knows? Either way, your name stays out of it.

 

[kyler1945]

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

I’m thinking you thought I meant you should report your neighbor to the authorities.

I didn’t.

I didn’t mean anything in particular really, other than that you know what you’re going to do, you just wanted us to make you feel better about it.

I wouldn’t report my neighbors. I’d talk to them. And I’d do so with the expectation that the situation won’t change to exactly what I want after one conversation.

Owning land is work. And it’s not all upside.

Leave ethics and morals and old guys in the sky out your conversation with your neighbors. Trust me, as narrow minded as it looks on here to internet strangers, it will be 100x worse when you high horse them in person.

Your neighbors aren’t stupid. They likely know the rules, and just don’t care. Which means they have general awareness. Which means they’ll know exactly who reported them as soon as it happens. That might be fine. It might mean you get shot.

I generally don’t understand the “I don’t like the way a stranger hunts on public land, so I’m going to confront said armed person of questionable morals in a remote place with no witnesses.” Line of reasoning.

It’s no different on private land, except you can tack on ruining your property, it’s resale value, your level of enjoyment going forward, etc.



Talk to the neighbors. Like, make a good faith, genuine effort to build a relationship. People don’t change their mind because of a stranger, or even a close friend telling them they’re wrong. Usually, peoples identity is wrapped up in decisions they make and beliefs they hold. If you attempt to change that in one shot - they’re going to feel as if who they are is being threatened, and they’ll dig their heels in.

Go talk to your neighbor. It might not even be about baiting the first conversation. Or ten.

Your neighbor is not being a good one. That said you have a responsibility as well. You’re not holding up your end of the neighbor bargain either. Whether it’s a high rise in the big city, or the back 40, you have a responsibility to meet your neighbors and develop a strong relationship with them. It’s a cost of doing business when business is believing in private property rights…

 

[shamus275]

I’m thinking you thought I meant you should report your neighbor to the authorities.

I didn’t.

I didn’t mean anything in particular really, other than that you know what you’re going to do, you just wanted us to make you feel better about it.

I wouldn’t report my neighbors. I’d talk to them. And I’d do so with the expectation that the situation won’t change to exactly what I want after one conversation.

Owning land is work. And it’s not all upside.

Leave ethics and morals and old guys in the sky out your conversation with your neighbors. Trust me, as narrow minded as it looks on here to internet strangers, it will be 100x worse when you high horse them in person.

Your neighbors aren’t stupid. They likely know the rules, and just don’t care. Which means they have general awareness. Which means they’ll know exactly who reported them as soon as it happens. That might be fine. It might mean you get shot.

I generally don’t understand the “I don’t like the way a stranger hunts on public land, so I’m going to confront said armed person of questionable morals in a remote place with no witnesses.” Line of reasoning.

It’s no different on private land, except you can tack on ruining your property, it’s resale value, your level of enjoyment going forward, etc.



Talk to the neighbors. Like, make a good faith, genuine effort to build a relationship. People don’t change their mind because of a stranger, or even a close friend telling them they’re wrong. Usually, peoples identity is wrapped up in decisions they make and beliefs they hold. If you attempt to change that in one shot - they’re going to feel as if who they are is being threatened, and they’ll dig their heels in.

Go talk to your neighbor. It might not even be about baiting the first conversation. Or ten.

Your neighbor is not being a good one. That said you have a responsibility as well. You’re not holding up your end of the neighbor bargain either. Whether it’s a high rise in the big city, or the back 40, you have a responsibility to meet your neighbors and develop a strong relationship with them. It’s a cost of doing business when business is believing in private property rights…

I’ve tried the “Go talk to the neighbor” route. They come from a long line of a-hole family that believe that they own all the deer in the neighborhood. When I say they’ve been screwing up the hunting on purpose for 30+ years I’m not exaggerating. They have 420 acres and run a high fence operation on half of it and even when I was a kid, the grandparents who originally owned did everything they could to screw up the hunting for their neighbors. This is the neighbor to the south. They deny that they’re baiting.