NH Current Use Recreation Land - List or Map?

SpaceCritter said:
Funny you should mention it: while walking our property perimeter with the logger and surveyor, we found a fairly-new NO TRESPASSING sign.
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If one were really devious, they would put the land in current use, post the property and if caught claim someone else posted it. Enjoy the privacy and the tax break.
 
Nice story. Explain how this would work, when I go hunting in Nottingham NH on Rt156 between Epping and Nottingham. It's not farmland, but heavily wooded. I walk probably 10 miles over the day, and probably cross over land owned by at least 20 people. No fences, no marked boundaries. Should I track down and call all 20, and skirt around the land of any that don't answer?
 
Bt74 said:
Nice story. Explain how this would work, when I go hunting in Nottingham NH on Rt156 between Epping and Nottingham. It's not farmland, but heavily wooded. I walk probably 10 miles over the day, and probably cross over land owned by at least 20 people. No fences, no marked boundaries. Should I track down and call all 20, and skirt around the land of any that don't answer?
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Lol. I now know why you like the laws as they are. At first I didn’t understand because you were a landowner, but your the guy that just walks all over.

If I want to do that I go up to the North Woods or a huge tract of public land. I actually have huge tract of public once I walk thru my neighbors 15 acres. Its funny there are plenty of stone walls and boundaries on it and I checked on the tax maps, its all public land.

Yes. You should. You scout dont you? Well ahead of the season? Seems like you know where your hunting. And can look on a tax map beforehand. Find the general parcels you might cross, Plan ahead dont be lazy. In the summer well beforehand make those calls so you wouldnt be trespassing. If they all dont call back well, you made the attempt.

One reason why I don't just walk on is because of the situation you talk about. Sure, it may be OK to walk on, but what about where you walked in about 6 miles and now come to a bunch of posters....where it would be way easier to just cross them and get to where you want to come out. Do you go back? Do you skirt the whole thing? Or do you just walk thru them anyway? WTF. That's why i check where I want to hunt, pre scout and try to find out who owns it. I don't want to be all messed up in the middle of a hunt.
 
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Mark from MA said:
I'm sure it happens.
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Tax break is miniscule. If you read Kevin's post, enrolling land in CU, does NOT prohibit you from posting it. If you want the additional break for keeping it "Recreational", you get an additional 20% off of the tax break. IE: my land in Deerfield, is in CU, when I bought it from a bank, they were paying $300 a year in taxes. I enrolled it in CU, and the taxes dropped to $14. I don't post it, never have and never will. but if I wanted to get the additional break for not posting it, I would save a HUGE $2.80 a year. Speaking of that, why don't the guys that want to hunt on their own land......put together a group of 4 or 5 guys to pitch in $5k a piece, buy my land and have their own private place to hunt? $25K, for 12.55 acres in Deerfield, obviously not currently buildable. Shit, I'll even finance it!
 
New Hampshire, Mass, and Maine all use the "Open Field Doctrine" If the property is not posted, there is the expectation that you can hunt on it. Now Don't confuse that with the states of Mass and Maine that allow the cities and towns to use "Home Rule" to pass by laws and ordinances that require written permission to hunt, Discharge a firearm or release an arrow. New Hampshire has Preemption that does not allow the cities or towns to pass such laws in regards to "Private Property". As to the Current Use Recreation, the tax break is significant. Now a land owner that has the Current Use Recreation and does post the property a compliant can be filed with the Selectmen, City Counselors and the Assessor's Office and they can lose that benefit and even be made to pay the back taxes.

Live here in New Hampshire and my property is in Current Use Recreation. So I am quite familiar with the process.
 
Bt74 said:
Tax break is miniscule. If you read Kevin's post, enrolling land in CU, does NOT prohibit you from posting it. If you want the additional break for keeping it "Recreational", you get an additional 20% off of the tax break. IE: my land in Deerfield, is in CU, when I bought it from a bank, they were paying $300 a year in taxes. I enrolled it in CU, and the taxes dropped to $14. I don't post it, never have and never will. but if I wanted to get the additional break for not posting it, I would save a HUGE $2.80 a year. Speaking of that, why don't the guys that want to hunt on their own land......put together a group of 4 or 5 guys to pitch in $5k a piece, buy my land and have their own private place to hunt? $25K, for 12.55 acres in Deerfield, obviously not currently buildable. Shit, I'll even finance it!
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Sorry. I was confused.......so...decent savings for putting it in CU, but for not posting, its 2%. Yeah....don't see it being worth it then. Understood.
 
FisherTech said:
New Hampshire, Mass, and Maine all use the "Open Field Doctrine" If the property is not posted, there is the expectation that you can hunt on it. Now Don't confuse that with the states of Mass and Maine that allow the cities and towns to use "Home Rule" to pass by laws and ordinances that require written permission to hunt, Discharge a firearm or release an arrow. New Hampshire has Preemption that does not allow the cities or towns to pass such laws in regards to "Private Property". As to the Current Use Recreation, the tax break is significant. Now a land owner that has the Current Use Recreation and does post the property a compliant can be filed with the Selectmen, City Counselors and the Assessor's Office and they can lose that benefit and even be made to pay the back taxes.

Live here in New Hampshire and my property is in Current Use Recreation. So I am quite familiar with the process.
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I'll make it crystal clear, Im not for Home Rule at all, towns and cities playing games with rights is Bullshit and would never want that. One state law or guidance is enough. I would prefer it not be Open Field Doctrine to give more rights to landowners. But whatever, that's what its been forever up here, so that's what it will stay. For those who don't care about walking on peoples land it will work for them. I don't like doing that without asking and will continue to roll that way.

I'm looking at considerable land down south, and they don't have the Open Field Doctrine. Unless you want lead in your ass. That works for me.
 
89847ECE-5441-4D52-B061-ABBB7E39F7B1.jpeg There’s a lot of property owned by St Anselm College and Benedictines in Goffstown, NH posted with these signs. I’ve called both NHDFL and St Anselm’s but nobody seems to be able to say if or how the lands are so-posted. The college kids have fire pits everywhere and drink beer after football games - if campus security wanted to patrol they could easily do so. They spray paint trees with fraternity letters and scatter beer cans all over the woods. Not your environmentally conscious student body.

Otherwise, the lands are not posted against hunting. I’ll have to check with the town on Current Use status as their tax maps don’t show it.
 
No maps that I know of. Most people don’t want out of towners tearing around Willy nilly, local atv traffic is allowed. Owning thousands of acres is not uncommon around here.
 
FisherTech said:
New Hampshire, Mass, and Maine all use the "Open Field Doctrine" If the property is not posted, there is the expectation that you can hunt on it. Now Don't confuse that with the states of Mass and Maine that allow the cities and towns to use "Home Rule" to pass by laws and ordinances that require written permission to hunt, Discharge a firearm or release an arrow. New Hampshire has Preemption that does not allow the cities or towns to pass such laws in regards to "Private Property". As to the Current Use Recreation, the tax break is significant. Now a land owner that has the Current Use Recreation and does post the property a compliant can be filed with the Selectmen, City Counselors and the Assessor's Office and they can lose that benefit and even be made to pay the back taxes.

Live here in New Hampshire and my property is in Current Use Recreation. So I am quite familiar with the process.
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This legal doctrine can be traced all the way back to the Colonial Ordinances of 1639. Our ancestors who first settled here in "New" England brought with them a strong resentment of the sovereigns exclusive claim of ownership of fish and game. The early settlers believed that fish and game, and the ability to pursue them, was the right of all people and was not the exclusive right of royalty. All of us who hunt and fish today can thank the early founders and settlers for their foresight. The tradition and legal doctrine is strongest here in New England because this is where it began.

Our founders also had an equally strong belief in the right of all to keep and bear arms, but I digress....
 
My NH property is in current use. It is not posted. After the road got ripped to shreds by ATV, I put up "No Motorized Vehicles". However, I made a parking area, and most locals have the gate combination. Also, my phone is listed for anyone to call. I haven't denied access to anyone except those kids that caused road damage.
I had one incident where a hunter snooped around the camper and followed a trail to my tree stand (all on film). I forward those to the EPO and they suggested adding signs stating "Safety Zone- Hunting prohibited near dwellings".
 
Got a reply back from State of NH Gov’t that they only receive and track number of parcels/acreage that claim Current Use/Recreation from localities. Localities are the only source of detailed information on which parcels are Current Use/Recreation. My experience thus far is that towns vary from “here’s the list” to “why do you want to know, we’ll get back to you” with most saying “what parcel, we can look that up for you.”
 
MaverickNH said:
Got a reply back from State of NH Gov’t that they only receive and track number of parcels/acreage that claim Current Use/Recreation from localities. Localities are the only source of detailed information on which parcels are Current Use/Recreation. My experience thus far is that towns vary from “here’s the list” to “why do you want to know, we’ll get back to you” with most saying “what parcel, we can look that up for you.”
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Very few towns can do anything more than "we can look that up for you". It's a feature, not a bug.

The "why do you want to know, we'll get back to you" towns just got served a big heaping helping of "because I said so", via the 2018 Question 1.
 
Winchester73 said:
This legal doctrine can be traced all the way back to the Colonial Ordinances of 1639. Our ancestors who first settled here in "New" England brought with them a strong resentment of the sovereigns exclusive claim of ownership of fish and game. The early settlers believed that fish and game, and the ability to pursue them, was the right of all people and was not the exclusive right of royalty. All of us who hunt and fish today can thank the early founders and settlers for their foresight. The tradition and legal doctrine is strongest here in New England because this is where it began.

Our founders also had an equally strong belief in the right of all to keep and bear arms, but I digress....
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The best part is that this doctrine of game animals and fish being public domain goes both ways. Land owners own the land but not the flora and fauna that walk over it and fly over it. You may not need a hunting license to hunt your own land......but you must obey season amd bag limits. There was a guy on here years ago that claimed to own a couple hundred acres and that gave him the right to shoot whatever and whenever he wanted on it. WRONG


Also there was a woman in CT a couple years back that was trapping deer and penning them up during hunting season to "protect" them from hunters. The f and g didn't take to kindly to that......those animas are public domain not hers to decide to "protect".
 
KBCraig said:
Very few towns can do anything more than "we can look that up for you". It's a feature, not a bug.
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I'm guessing the moment that magical list/map gets compiled, it'll find its way online... and prove in short order to be a disincentive to take the extra 20% for listing one's land.
 
whacko said:
Also there was a woman in CT a couple years back that was trapping deer and penning them up during hunting season to "protect" them from hunters. The f and g didn't take to kindly to that......those animas are public domain not hers to decide to "protect".
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This is exactly right. I had to deal with a warden one time when picking up a deer from a neighbor residence where it had run to over the boundary from where I had permission, and died in a 100 yard sprint near the neighbors garage. I knocked on this guys door and asked for permission to retrieve before even stepping in his woods. The whole thing went sideways after that and the guy, who was an antihunter, went ballistic on me. So I backed off and he already had called the warden, guy was telling me, wait til the warden gets here, your going to get arrested. Hilarious when it went the other way......

The warden gets there and said the following.....

IN CT....the landowner has first right to the kill if its on their land. So he asked the landowner if he wanted it. Guy said NO.
So the warden then told the landowner, he was taking it to me since I was the one who legally killed it.
Guy went ballistic, says he's not letting that happen.....

Warden who was very cordial til now....but now loses his shxt on the landowner, You own the land, but the game is the state's ownership, since I am a warden under state employ, I now decide where the game goes and I'm giving it to him (me) who legally killed it. If you interfere with that...then I will arrest you for interfering with my duties.

Landowner who was all up in my shxt about me getting arrested, now looked like a slapped puppy, says, can't you take it to the homeless shelter??.....Warden says, that's what these guys (pointing to me) do! First off, they pay for the opportunity to hunt, They do a great job of managing the overpopulation, and taking the excess meat to the homeless shelter, now why would you want to interfere with that? Landowner just stammers off.....
 
whacko said:
The best part is that this doctrine of game animals and fish being public domain goes both ways. Land owners own the land but not the flora and fauna that walk over it and fly over it. You may not need a hunting license to hunt your own land......but you must obey season amd bag limits. There was a guy on here years ago that claimed to own a couple hundred acres and that gave him the right to shoot whatever and whenever he wanted on it. WRONG


Also there was a woman in CT a couple years back that was trapping deer and penning them up during hunting season to "protect" them from hunters. The f and g didn't take to kindly to that......those animas are public domain not hers to decide to "protect".
Click to expand...

And this is where the waters get cloudy. I'm all for private land ownership and not HAVING to post. But game should be allowed to move freely between parcels and there should not be high fences. To me the public owns the game, not a landowner that throws up a net.

I know the one time I hunted a high fenced operations in VT and NY any native game had to be either killed or trapped and released from the high fence area once the operation was allowed. I'm not sure its like that in Texas and places like that.
 
BlackwaterFence said:
My NH property is in current use. It is not posted. After the road got ripped to shreds by ATV, I put up "No Motorized Vehicles". However, I made a parking area, and most locals have the gate combination. Also, my phone is listed for anyone to call. I haven't denied access to anyone except those kids that caused road damage.
I had one incident where a hunter snooped around the camper and followed a trail to my tree stand (all on film). I forward those to the EPO and they suggested adding signs stating "Safety Zone- Hunting prohibited near dwellings".
Click to expand...

I applaud you for still letting people on to hunt even though your property got damaged, and creeped out on........also for leaving a number to call....saves guys like me who do call for permission before they hunt, a lot of time and legwork. Kudos man.
 
Mark from MA said:
And this is where the waters get cloudy. I'm all for private land ownership and not HAVING to post. But game should be allowed to move freely between parcels and there should not be high fences. To me the public owns the game, not a landowner that throws up a net.

I know the one time I hunted a high fenced operations in VT and NY any native game had to be either killed or trapped and released from the high fence area once the operation was allowed. I'm not sure its like that in Texas and places like that.
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My comments were more geared toward land owners not having "control" over game animals on their property. There are not many who believe this to be true....but the ones that do believe it can be a**h***s and think they own the animals that walk on their land. Yes they can keep hunters off their property ......that's all well and good.....but the land owners need to obey season and bag limits even in their property......wild animals belong to the public no matter who owns the land the animal happens to be standing on.
 
Mark from MA said:
This is exactly right. I had to deal with a warden one time when picking up a deer from a neighbor residence where it had run to over the boundary from where I had permission, and died in a 100 yard sprint near the neighbors garage. I knocked on this guys door and asked for permission to retrieve before even stepping in his woods. The whole thing went sideways after that and the guy, who was an antihunter, went ballistic on me. So I backed off and he already had called the warden, guy was telling me, wait til the warden gets here, your going to get arrested. Hilarious when it went the other way......

The warden gets there and said the following.....

IN CT....the landowner has first right to the kill if its on their land. So he asked the landowner if he wanted it. Guy said NO.
So the warden then told the landowner, he was taking it to me since I was the one who legally killed it.
Guy went ballistic, says he's not letting that happen.....

Warden who was very cordial til now....but now loses his shxt on the landowner, You own the land, but the game is the state's ownership, since I am a warden under state employ, I now decide where the game goes and I'm giving it to him (me) who legally killed it. If you interfere with that...then I will arrest you for interfering with my duties.

Landowner who was all up in my shxt about me getting arrested, now looked like a slapped puppy, says, can't you take it to the homeless shelter??.....Warden says, that's what these guys (pointing to me) do! First off, they pay for the opportunity to hunt, They do a great job of managing the overpopulation, and taking the excess meat to the homeless shelter, now why would you want to interfere with that? Landowner just stammers off.....
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Hunter gets a win for a change!
 
Mark from MA said:
This is exactly right. I had to deal with a warden one time when picking up a deer from a neighbor residence where it had run to over the boundary from where I had permission, and died in a 100 yard sprint near the neighbors garage. I knocked on this guys door and asked for permission to retrieve before even stepping in his woods. The whole thing went sideways after that and the guy, who was an antihunter, went ballistic on me. So I backed off and he already had called the warden, guy was telling me, wait til the warden gets here, your going to get arrested. Hilarious when it went the other way......

The warden gets there and said the following.....

IN CT....the landowner has first right to the kill if its on their land. So he asked the landowner if he wanted it. Guy said NO.
So the warden then told the landowner, he was taking it to me since I was the one who legally killed it.
Guy went ballistic, says he's not letting that happen.....

Warden who was very cordial til now....but now loses his shxt on the landowner, You own the land, but the game is the state's ownership, since I am a warden under state employ, I now decide where the game goes and I'm giving it to him (me) who legally killed it. If you interfere with that...then I will arrest you for interfering with my duties.

Landowner who was all up in my shxt about me getting arrested, now looked like a slapped puppy, says, can't you take it to the homeless shelter??.....Warden says, that's what these guys (pointing to me) do! First off, they pay for the opportunity to hunt, They do a great job of managing the overpopulation, and taking the excess meat to the homeless shelter, now why would you want to interfere with that? Landowner just stammers off.....
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This ties in with private property that abuts public water too.

Many years ago I was wearing hip waders and entered a public lake from the public Access ramp. I was working my way around the lake in water that was above my waste. Beautiful morning of fishing. Guy comes out on his deck screaming at me to get off his property. I politely told him that your property ends at the mean high water mark so if my feet are wet I'm not on your property. He said he was calling the police. I agreed.....I'll wait here. In the meantime while.waiting for the PO Po he kept yelling at me that there is no way it's possible for me to "fish like that" legally. I responded......"if I was floating in a canoe would you be out here yelling?" .

Anyway.....cop came out....verified that I parked on public land and waded through.......told the old dude to go back in the house and leave me alone.

Private landowners on public waterways can be start raving lunitics!

I saw a YouTube vid recently of a kid in a kayak fishing a cove. Old guy comes out and told him that "it's illegal for you to cast toward shore" (he was pissy because the kid was casting near his dock). Kid was smart......says "sir....it's a lake.....any direction I cast is toward the shore". Lol
 
whacko said:
My comments were more geared toward land owners not having "control" over game animals on their property. There are not many who believe this to be true....but the ones that do believe it can be a**h***s and think they own the animals that walk on their land. Yes they can keep hunters off their property ......that's all well and good.....but the land owners need to obey season and bag limits even in their property......wild animals belong to the public no matter who owns the land the animal happens to be standing on.
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+1 Very much agree with this sentiment.
 
whacko said:
This ties in with private property that abuts public water too.

Many years ago I was wearing hip waders and entered a public lake from the public Access ramp. I was working my way around the lake in water that was above my waste. Beautiful morning of fishing. Guy comes out on his deck screaming at me to get off his property. I politely told him that your property ends at the mean high water mark so if my feet are wet I'm not on your property. He said he was calling the police. I agreed.....I'll wait here. In the meantime while.waiting for the PO Po he kept yelling at me that there is no way it's possible for me to "fish like that" legally. I responded......"if I was floating in a canoe would you be out here yelling?" .

Anyway.....cop came out....verified that I parked on public land and waded through.......told the old dude to go back in the house and leave me alone.

Private landowners on public waterways can be start raving lunitics!

I saw a YouTube vid recently of a kid in a kayak fishing a cove. Old guy comes out and told him that "it's illegal for you to cast toward shore" (he was pissy because the kid was casting near his dock). Kid was smart......says "sir....it's a lake.....any direction I cast is toward the shore". Lol
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Haven't run across that yet...but people that buy lake houses and have major rivers thru their land should expect not to have a private back yard. Anyone can park there in a boat or walk in waders and do whatever they want pretty much as long as its legal.
 
Mark from MA said:
Haven't run across that yet...but people that buy lake houses and have major rivers thru their land should expect not to have a private back yard. Anyone can park there in a boat or walk in waders and do whatever they want pretty much as long as its legal.
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Under Riparian Rights the land owners bordering rivers, own the land below the river to the thread (center) of the stream.
 
FisherTech said:
Under Riparian Rights the land owners bordering rivers, own the land below the river to the thread (center) of the stream.
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But not the waterway right? You can legally navigate by watercraft?

Lakes I know the land owner owns to the mean high water mark.
 
whacko said:
But not the waterway right? You can legally navigate by watercraft?

Lakes I know the land owner owns to the mean high water mark.
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You are correct. I know that this sounds petty, But an argument could be made that if you drop anchor or make fast to the bottom you could be considered as being on the land owners property.
 
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