DNR on my farm

[tomandjerry00]

If it were to go to court, they could be there. But post the crap out of your property. Gives them much fewer reason/excuses to enter. Also, even a single wire fence around your property makes a nice boundary.

 

[fabsroman]

If it were to go to court, they could be there. But post the crap out of your property. Gives them much fewer reason/excuses to enter. Also, even a single wire fence around your property makes a nice boundary.

A single wire fence can make a nice boundary. However, it does NOT prevent DNR from coming on your property. About the only thing that prevents DNR from coming on your property is doors and walls, and that is only if DNR does not have a warrant for your residence.

Heck, police officers can come on your property too. They can even look into windows without a warrant. Now, if the police were just hanging out on my property all the time, I think I would be looking into a harassment case.

 

[Half-cocked]

What if they made a habit of doing this, against the wishes of the property owner?

Would it be possible to get a restraining order? File a lawsuit?

How far does their authority to ignore/violate the 4th Amendment go?

 

[fabsroman]

What if they made a habit of doing this, against the wishes of the property owner?

Would it be possible to get a restraining order? File a lawsuit?

How far does their authority to ignore/violate the 4th Amendment go?

I think contacting their supervisor would take care of the issue. If not, there is always the police harassment route in Court.

 

[mark71211]

A fence or gate does not matter. They can go through/over/under the fence or gate.

I hunt east of Salisbury on a plot of land that the the owner grows pine trees on. One year the own cut about two hundred acres of the land that is about 3/4 of a mile from the road which has a locked gate on it. So with the newly opened land a bunch of guys put up tree stand to hunt the up coming season. Opening day of gun season at 7:15am DNR comes walking into the cut and goes over to some of the guys and asks to see their hunting lic. So after the morning hunt we call the DNR officer that we normally deal with. He stopped by our camp we told him what happen he said he was sorry for what happen and would have a talk with that officer. After that day we never saw that officer ever again.

 

[fabsroman]

I hunt east of Salisbury on a plot of land that the the owner grows pine trees on. One year the own cut about two hundred acres of the land that is about 3/4 of a mile from the road which has a locked gate on it. So with the newly opened land a bunch of guys put up tree stand to hunt the up coming season. Opening day of gun season at 7:15am DNR comes walking into the cut and goes over to some of the guys and asks to see their hunting lic. So after the morning hunt we call the DNR officer that we normally deal with. He stopped by our camp we told him what happen he said he was sorry for what happen and would have a talk with that officer. After that day we never saw that officer ever again.

Most of my encounters with DNR have been pretty good. I had an officer check me and a friend in a pit blind. He waited on the road until there was a break in the action. Then he announced himself on the outside, asked us to unload the guns, and asked if he could come into the blind. We let him come in. At which point he said load up and keep on hunting until you get your limit. We had geese and ducks pouring in that morning. My buddy did not have his state waterfowl stamp. The officer told him he was going to write him up for that, that he was going to go to his truck to do it, and that we could keep on hunting until we reached our limit. By the time he got back from the truck, we had our limit of ten geese with 4 mallards on the pile too. As he came back up, he pointed out a pair of mallards to me and I dropped them too. Even with the citation, my buddy said it was a great day and he just went ahead and paid the fine.

Most of my encounters with DNR have been good.

Now, I would be pissed if one of them came to check me at 7:00 am on the opening day of deer gun season. They can wait for me to get out of the woods or come up around noon when it isn't prime time.

 

[GUNSnROTORS]

They can be there...

See the open fields doctrine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-fields_doctrine

My property is wooded ...

 

[Blaster229]

No, but they literally camped out for about 45 min waiting for us. This is all in a little tiny lake too, off selby bay. Just seems that resources could be used better.

Same reason that MSP helos dont fly around catching people running red lights.

To not use a specialized boat for"regular" duties would be a waste of money.

I'm pretty sure they don't use choppers for traffic enforcement because it's not feasible and the cost of fuel, hovering above a stop sign would be enormous.

 

[Crow Bait]

Most of my research on this topic has shown that "No Trespassing" signs do not prohibit officers from being on your property. And the observation/discovery of illegal activity out in the open while officers are trespassing is not considered a search according to the fourth amendment. So - basically, if you are outside you could be under survelliance in some way.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...-cameras-on-private-property-without-warrant/


A phyisical barrier with no work around - might make those same activities a search, but I don't know anyones property that is that well secured.

I am not a lawyer... so your results may vary.

 

[Skins_Brew]

To not use a specialized boat for"regular" duties would be a waste of money.

I'm pretty sure they don't use choppers for traffic enforcement because it's not feasible and the cost of fuel, hovering above a stop sign would be enormous.

So three DNR officers idling in a lake twiddling their thumbs for 45 minutes is an effective use of funds?

Waste is waste buddy...

 

[sxs]

Like a couple others have related, I've never had a bad experience with DNR either....and I've encountered them numerous times over the years. In any group of people, there are always some PITA's so I don't doubt there can be problems. I have encountered a couple DNR officers who were a bit 'serious' or maybe they were trying to just be 'professional' or something. But they also weren't rude. However, most were friendly. In one case, I had my young son with me for his first dove hunt. As soon as I saw an officer coming, I instructed him to point the gun in the opposite direction from the officer and unload immediately and I did as well. The guy was courteous and did tell us a neighbor more than a 1/4 mile away was complaining that we were 'shooting her house' (yeah right...with #8 shot field loads and we weren't even shooting that direction). He did tell me she complained a lot every hunting season as she didn't like to hear any nearby shooting. Then I had an issue that arose. , To explain how it came about: My son's 20 ga Mossberg was a Bantam model that came with a plug (wooden dowel) that prevented loading more than 1 round in the magazine at a time. That's great for restricting a new young shooter to 2 rounds (1 in the chamber, 1 in the mag) and he used it that way for a year or so while learning to shoot it on the trap range. In the Mossberg instruction book, it tells you to 'cut the dowel' to a certain length in make it a normal length plug for use when the youngster is able to handle 3 shot capacity for migratory birds. I did this then tested the mag after inserting the cut dowel. 2 full 2-3/4 shells could be then be put in the magazine, but the 3rd would only fit 3/4 of the way...in other words, it had a capacity of 3 (2 in the mag plus 1 in the chamber). I do remember being puzzled wondering why a 3rd shell would fit so far into the mag, but after thinking about it, I presumed the reason was to allow for 2 - 3" mag shells... perhaps even with a roll crimp with paper top wad...so I really didn't think about it anymore. Back to the problem: The officer definitely observed my son unload just 3 rounds. After checking our licenses, he took my son's gun and put 2 in the mag and tried to fit a 3rd round in there. At first, it was just like my test...3rd round would go in about 3/4 of the way. However, he began forcing it pretty hard and after a couple tries, damned if the shell didn't pop in. I couldn't believe it and was definitely upset because I thought I caused my son to get a ticket that wasn't even his fault. I told the officer I had cut the dowel and how I took instruction for how to shorten the dowel from the Mossberg manual. As it happened he said he believed me as it took a lot of force to load the 3rd round and it wasn't the first time he encountered this issue with a youth model shotgun. He simply instructed me and my son to go ahead and have fun hunting the rest of the day, but to cut the dowel at least an inch or so longer before next time out. (Aned BTW, I double checked and I cut the dowel EXACTLY the length Mossberg instructed...so be careful!).

 

[tomandjerry00]

A single wire fence can make a nice boundary. However, it does NOT prevent DNR from coming on your property. About the only thing that prevents DNR from coming on your property is doors and walls, and that is only if DNR does not have a warrant for your residence.

The idea isn't to prevent them from coming but give them fewer reasons to enter. Make your property less questionable/desirable for entrance than the property next door.

 

[Deersniper]

The idea isn't to prevent them from coming but give them fewer reasons to enter. Make your property less questionable/desirable for entrance than the property next door.

Just like you do for common criminals.

The constitution is done.

 

[pbharvey]

Interesting article on a similar circumstance
Green Group Under Scrutiny for Trespassing, Harassment at Woman’s Farm