backwoods07 Posted November 23, 2008 Report Share Posted November 23, 2008 As you all should know, this past weekend was shotgun season here in IL. In my county (Jo Davies), hunters come out of the woodwork and our town is pretty much painted blaze orange for two days. With this comes a busy weekend for the ONE DNR officer we have for possibly the most heavily hunted county in Illinois during gun season. I understand this, but here's why I'm mad. I sat down in my stand after a long, slow, scent free walk. I snuck up into the woods, quietly got in the stand, raised my gun, and waited for some action. I got some action alright. I was sitting about 100 yds off the fence that marks my property line. 30 minutes later I hear the clowns that come on to the neighboring property once a year. They're hootin and hollering like normal, but they were awfully close... Sure enough, I see 4 of them pop over the ridge about 100 yds in front of me ON MY PROPERTY. It gets worse. They were spread out walking the ridge. The farthest one on to my property was about 500 yds on to my side. It gets worse. I hear a gun shot, hear a deer scamper, then see a deer crash. Stunned at what I'm seeing, I stand up and get their attention. They see me and scream "Oh sh**. Look down there! Let's go." They climbed back on to their property, left the deer (80 lb fawn), and didn't return to my knowledge. Needless to say I was on the phone with the DNR before I was out of the woods. I spoke to the officer and explained everything he needed to know. He said he would look into it and get back to me within 24 hrs. He didn't. I called again and was unable to get in touch with anyone. This is not the first time we caught them trespassing, but it is the first time we witnessed them shooting a deer on our property. Guess we'll have to catch them again the next time they come around: in exactly one year. I guess I feel like I just laid an arrest or four/fine into the hands of the DNR and they ignored it. I took pictures and everything. Oh well. There's nothing more I can do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clrj3514 Posted November 23, 2008 Report Share Posted November 23, 2008 that sucks. i woulda shot in the air or sumthin. that woulda really scared 'em Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckbuster11 Posted November 23, 2008 Report Share Posted November 23, 2008 That just sucks man it really does. It just blows my mind how many people completely ignore property boundaries and rights of owners. I gotta be honest, I'm really not sure it's worth owning land just for the sake of hunting anymore. I hear stories like this all the time. I've seen situations happen like this a million times on land different friends of mine have. Police, DNR, Game Commission....you aren't going to get any help from them regarding tresspassing. There is nothing you can do 99% of the time. It's a really sad state of affairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevebeilgard Posted November 23, 2008 Report Share Posted November 23, 2008 the entire situation on illegal hunting, trespassing, and poaching is waaaay out of hand. fact is, most cops just don't care. it's a "victimless" crime. yea, right. tell that to the guy who pays a good price to rent land. or the land owner. or the guy who has to repair the cut fence, or..... well, just too much to list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flintlock1776 Posted November 23, 2008 Report Share Posted November 23, 2008 A shame. I caught one guy on my land. I was lucky, the DNR guy came and got the guy busted. Hopefully you will be able to get them next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backwoods07 Posted November 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2008 the entire situation on illegal hunting, trespassing, and poaching is waaaay out of hand. fact is, most cops just don't care. it's a "victimless" crime. yea, right. tell that to the guy who pays a good price to rent land. or the land owner. or the guy who has to repair the cut fence, or..... well, just too much to list ...or the guys who drive 3 hours almost every weekend of every year to plant food plots, hang stands, and spend hundreds, if not thousands on supplies, fuel, equipment, etc just to try to keep the deer healthy and in the area. The kicker is that these guys have 500 acres to roam, yet they need to destroy the 220 that we work so hard on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Lake Posted November 23, 2008 Report Share Posted November 23, 2008 Yeah, I hear ya..we have the same problem over here in Iowa as well..some game officers work 2 or 3 counties..not nearly enough officers out and about for the number of hunters we see around here..I hunt a 200 acre farm my family owns and no one has permission to be on it...while fall turkey hunting I stumble upon a treestand and ladder..it's in my shed at home now..anyone interested?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiteRunner Posted November 24, 2008 Report Share Posted November 24, 2008 I hear ya! This weekend was Youth Deer Gun season. We have neighbors that we have caught hunting our land many times. So knowing that they would trespass, my dad and I grab our bows and stand and basically wait on them. Well they saw us go down the road and a couple minutes later, one of thier vehicles goes down the road, checking to see if we're hunting. Then it turns around and goes back. Right on time they started driving a strip of our property and the one guy had the nerve to walk right up to my dad and then me and almost laughed and said "He was allowed to be anywhere he wanted to". He was just trespassing for the fun it! Called the guy for our county and got his vioce mail. He NEVER called back, nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruttinbuc Posted November 24, 2008 Report Share Posted November 24, 2008 These are the same people I have to try and defend when it comes to hunting. We are all hunters, but there are just enough that give it a bad rap. Trouble today is that there are more idiots than the LO's can deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCH Posted November 24, 2008 Report Share Posted November 24, 2008 Sounds like you know who they are. I'd be having a long talk with a few of those guys. Also, post more "no trespassing" signs near their property line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Illinois59 Posted November 24, 2008 Report Share Posted November 24, 2008 Well, we cant really blame the DNR. They are under staffed and under payed. We found 4 tree stands on our land this year. We took them all down and left a note for the trespassers. It's the same when you see someone on your land, you have to raise a stink and let them know that they have been busted. Hopefully the shame sticks with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted November 24, 2008 Report Share Posted November 24, 2008 The DNR officers here have been great to work with, trust me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm Sauceman Posted November 25, 2008 Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 I would definitely report him to his superiors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whttlbucksteve Posted November 25, 2008 Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 I dont do that because I would not want it to happen to me.Hopefully you will get your justice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BR44 Posted November 25, 2008 Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 If you have pictures of the fawn, and have made a report to the CO, I'd take it a step further by just taking it to the prosecuting atty. Another thing for thought, the CO might be investigating it further, collecting names, etc, might give it 2 weeks to 30 days. OR, even trying to contacting him again, like you said, he's only one man in that area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdhunter39 Posted November 25, 2008 Report Share Posted November 25, 2008 back in 2000 i drew a tag for Iroquois state park in Illinois, first deer hunt ever . there were 5 guys running around the woods chasing deer with loaded shotguns , a few of us hunters went to the station at the park and complained and nothing was ever done about it , the following day while i was hunting there, a DNR officer came up to me to make sure i was legit , i stood there for about ten min. while he was on the radio , then checking the shotgun out , telling me on how to hold the gun , the whole 9 yards , after all that he told me to hold the shells up in the air until they left , i asked b4 they left what about the hunters that we complained about yesterday , he said thats not your problem , i said nothin else in fear of going to jail , needless to say i haven't hunted deer since Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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