Holly Leech

Just a ? for you avid hunters. I recently built a new home along woods in Snyder county, Pa. Moved in, in June along with my dog, cats, horses and kids. For some strange reason hunters decided to build a tree stand appx. 130 yds. from my house. I am so worried about someone getting shot, or my animals. What would you suggest I do? I have already spoken to the game warden, he said to talk to these people and let them know they should not hunt this close, if this doesn't work then once they crawl up in the stand with their gun to call him and they will be arrested. Know these guys really took a lot of time to build this tree stand with 6x6's in the ground, I really hate to cause trouble, but tommorow is the 1st day of deer season. I was thinking I would go out and make a lot of noise and maybe they would move elsewhere in the woods. Any advice would be great. I'm sure these guys probably hunted here for years but now we bought the farmland and it's along these woods that we put our house, and they just put the stand up this past week.

deadserious

Can they see your house from the tree stand location? If not, then they may have no idea that they are on or even close to somebody's property so you would probably just need to let them know. If they are aware of your house nearby, then hopefully they will just understand if you were to tell them. I would say that if you're up to it, then just let them know that you can't allow hunting there for safety reasons and such, and then if they are not willing to cooperate (hopefully they will), then just do as the warden said. Good luck with whatever you do.

Creek Walker

Holly, I realize that I am jumping in here after the gun season in Pennsylvania has begun, so I assume that this situation has been resolved by now.

That said, here is what I WOULD have said had I posted on this thread at the beginning:

For starters, I assume that the hunters are hunting on their property, or property that they own/lease or have permission to hunt? I'm not going to say that you don't have reason to be concerned; however, I would caution that you don't pay too much attention to the media hype of hunting injuries. Hunting is actually one of the safest sports that we know. Quite probably, it is THE safest, but I don't have statistics to back that up. Statistics do show, however, that incidents where humans are shot by a hunter's errant bullet or because they were mistaken for a game animal are extremely rare. According to the Hunter Incident Clearinghouse survey results, only .0005 percent of hunters are involved in a shooting incident on any given year. So don't let an undue fear of hunters shooting at you or your family or at your pets cause what could potentially be a perhaps unnecessary rift between neighboring landowners.

With that in mind, if you decide that you don't want them hunting within 130 yards of your house, that's certainly your prerogorative, since Pennsylvania law states that hunters must be positioned 150 yards from the nearest dwelling. I don't agree with that law; I think 130 yards is a bit excessive, but what I think doesn't matter. So if your mind is made up and you don't feel safe with them 130 yards away, go and talk to them. If they refuse to move, contact the game warden. The penalty in Pennsylvania for violating that "safety zone" is a fine of $200-$500.

But I must ask: If they didn't concede to your concerns and decided to move only because the law requires it, and backed up to 150 yards, at that point you could do nothing to control their being where they are. Would backing up a mere 20 yards really make you feel a lot safer?

Please don't take offense to what I'm saying; I simply feel that 130 yards is plenty far enough away. But, as I said, you have every right under the law to force them to move further away.

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Creek Walker

Oh I forgot to add that I would not go out and simply "make a lot of noise" to try and encourage them to move. I'm not sure whether Pennsylvania has a hunter harassment law in effect, but many states do, and if Pennsylvania is one of those states, you could be in violation of that law.

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porkchop

maybe he thinks the same thing about you.maybe hes hunted here all his life and now you have positioned a house 130 yards from his favorite hunting spot. but then maybe hes a bowhunter and doesnt use a firearm.sometimes i carry my crossbow during firearm season.i agree that comunication is the key.introduce yourself to the fellows, see whats going on. as far as making noise in the woods, i beleive if some hunter was preparing to harvest the deer of his lifetime and you came tromping through the woods blowing horns and whistles you may invite yourself to a butt whooping.

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