Too many people on my land

[deadeye]

I planned to go on a three mile still hunt today but 1/4 mile into it I stumbled upon fresh tracks.  Not deer tracks, people tracks.  The good news is they were following a blood trail.  Rather than follow them, I keep skirting around them until I got in front.  Maybe they saw me, maybe not but they stopped following the blood trail (they later said it stopped bleeding).  After waiting a while I headed in their direction but didn't catch up to them for over 3/4 of a mile. These were my neighbors and I could see they wounded the deer on their property.  I thought there was a good blood trail as I could easily follow it in the fresh snow. I don't know if they just gave up or if the blood trail really stopped.  When I got back to where I parked, I could seed tracks where someone drove on my land, saw my pickup and left.  This is about 3/4 mile from the end of a dirt road so it wasn't just someone passing by.  On my way out I saw a strange SUV parked in an odd place.  As I drove by I saw a hunter coming down a trail 200 yards away.  When I stopped and waited for him, he disappeared in the brush.  I took a picture of his SUV.  Does anyone know someone who can trace a license plate?  Being he wasn't on my property, I didn't wait for him to come out.

 

[glenn57]

deadeye, I don't think a law enforcement officer can tell you who that belongs to. he could trace the plate but think its illegal for him to tell you. at least that's what I found out some time back when I tried finding out who dumped fuel oil on one of my bear baits!!!!

[HD]

Yup, uou can trace the plate to the vehicle, just not to the owner. I just tried, and it says that it is illegal to do so....doah!

[glenn57]

so did anyone find the deer?

[deadeye]

No, they were going back to their camp and then heading home. 

[dakids]

Definitely give it to your local game warden.  He should make contact with the person and have a little chat about getting permission.

[deadeye]

I have no issue with the guys following a wounded deer.  Except maybe they should have put in more effort to find the deer.  Who knows the guy who drove up to my truck may just have come to visit although I doubt that.  The other truck was parked on neighbors property and the guy was not on my land so I really don't have a say as he may have had permission.  Again, being where he parked and how he acted I doubt that he did.  Maybe I have to put the trail cameras back up. 

[LPS]

I certainly would put cameras up. 

[Rebel SS]

Snares work too. 

[LPS]

OR per our Bigfoot thread.  Put some kind of speakers that are turned on by movement in your woods of Bigfoot howling.  lol  Then post the pics of the guys running out of your woods....

[hawg]

did you go talk to the neighbors, maybe they know more about it. Sometimes neighbors need to be reassured you're ok with them tracking a wounded deer, even if it is legal. It also helps with neighbor relations. Most wardens lick their chops to investigate stuff like this. Most think they are ordained by God you know.

[deadeye]

Yes I did catch up to them and talked for about 15 minutes.  I never did say it was ok for them to look for the wounded deer on my property but then again I never said anything that would indicate I didn't want them to go there.  We mostly just talked about hunting in general.  I learned that they shot 4 bucks this season.  Two nubbins and two fork bucks.  Not to impressive being they hunt next to our property.  I didn't mention the three deer stands they have right on the property line (we share the property line for 1/4 mile).  One tripod has a leg that is probably within a foot of the line, one ladder stand is about 5 feet from our land and a permanent tree stand is about 20 feet from the line.  This year they shot one of their deer on our land from this tree stand.  We never said anything about this and I think maybe that's why they weren't too eager to talk to me. 
No, I didn't talk to the neighbor who's land the unidentified SUV was parked.  I will mention it the next time we cross paths.