first off, call the cops every time u see someone on your land, and keep calling - every time. if u post it, people need to get permission, case closed.
secondly, w only 20 acres, u could search all of it for stands and cameras in an afternoon.
I would confiscate anything I found and if they chained their stands to the tree, I would rip them out w a truck or a come-along.
landowners do NOT put up w this crap around here. I've met a landowner that cut the tree down w a stand locked to it.
I hunt A LOT and landowners take stands ALL THE TIME.
Just pictured someone with a chainsaw dropping the tree so it fell on the stand and leaving the crushed remains for the trespasser to find later. Made me smile...
It is too bad that you have to post the land and that people do not respect your right to do so.
Some people in Attleboro have been lobbying to allow hunting with written landowner permission only. Norfolk got it passed.
http://www.thesunchronicle.com/news...cle_321079e6-1c8f-595f-afd0-9514da97efe2.html
They have been lobbying for a while:
http://attleboro.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/resident-wants-hunting-law-in-attleboro
(Included to explain how the following statement dates from before the Sun Chronicle article.)
Chief issued statement to appease landowners here:
http://attleboro.patch.com/groups/p...t-hunt-on-private-property-without-permission
in which he references:
City of Attleboro Ordinance Chapter 11-Section 14, states 'No person shall discharge any firearm or other explosive in any of the streets, sidewalks
or other public place within the City of Attleboro, except in the lawful defense of person, family or property or in the performance of any duty required by law.' So in Attleboro, you can only hunt on private land. (Although Sweeden's Swamp is listed...)
Here is an interesting article on deer management on a small tract of land (20 acres is greater than 6 but the same rules apply. Deer have a large home range...):
http://www.qdma.com/articles/quality-deer-management-on-six-acres
" you need to understand that you will not be able to influence deer health, deer density, adult sex ratio, fawn recruitment, or buck age structure in the local population
through the harvest choices you make"
For all other hunters out there, please let people know that getting written permission to hunt on private property should always be done.
I have been around with you folks before on this. You do not need permission to hunt on private land in MA unless it it posted, or per town by law. MA uses the open field doctrine, yes getting permission is always nice to do, but not mandated by law.
Don't take this the wrong way, but requiring all hunters to get landowner permission for all (non-posted) land that they might be on in a day seems like a bad idea that will eventually end all hunting in this state. That is why we have/need the open field doctrine. It is too bad that you can't come to some working agreement with the people who want to hunt your land. Obviously you have the right to post it and report trespassers but if the local PD gets a lot of calls, it might lead to town ordinances that do not allowing hunting by anyone anywhere in town. Perhaps posting Hunting with landowners permission signs would be a better idea. Just don't give anyone permission.
White Feather