# Encroaching Deer Blind



## rabbott (Dec 8, 2005)

I was in the U.P. at my property this last week, My neighbor decided to put a deer blind up on the property line. The property is not posted on that side but it does have flags every 50 foot or so according to the flags it is actually half on his property and half on mine. The windows on the blind all look onto my property. I did leave them a note on their door to their cabin to move it, but I was wondering what my other legal options are if they dont move it?


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## 2tundras (Jan 11, 2005)

Dont bother with the prop line fight. Build a nice 6 foot by 6 foot fence on your land diretly in front of his shooting window. Maybe pin up a nice shot of a naked janet Reno.


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## RYANINMICHIGAN (Sep 27, 2006)

spark it up


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

First, you have to prove his blind is partly on your property. If your property isn't posted or fenced (flags are not either one of those) there is not much of anything you can legally do. Even the note doesn't mean much because you can say for certain the person ever got the not.

Since you know who it is, talk with them *in person *first. Second, you could post you property on that side but make sure you have the proof of where the property line is or again if any prosecutor issued a warrant for trespass (which I doubt any prosecutor would for a blind a few feet over in my opinion) they will want to see something in writting that will stand up in court..

You could put up a barrier like suggested, again make sure it is on your property.


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## walleyeguy22 (Feb 12, 2007)

Put a barrier up? Start a war with your neighbor? You are from downstate and I take it dont get up every weekend. Do you really want to start a war with someone when you are so far away? Skip the note talk to guy like a man if you piss him off he can just put the blind one foot on his side, then you can start with the pissing contests. He could be just confused at where the line is and it may be resolved very easy, maybe maybe not. Try and work it out MAN to MAN face to face, you wont know till you try, you can get more with honey than you can shat. If he's a jerk theres nothing you can do sure put up fences waste money do what you want, then he can do what he wants when you are gone. If you had 400 acres you could just hunt away from the lines i take it you dont so work it out man it's your only hope.


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## benster (Jul 31, 2006)

Good Neighbors are the best thing you can have. Like walleyeguy stated talk to him in person and work it out. We have great neighbors that watch our place when we are not up. I have even given them permission to hunt after we are done, late gun season, smallgame and none of them have ever taken us up on it. You don't want to start off on bad terms. Do you know the people? Maybe someone new just bought it? need more info.


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## sjhawkeye (Apr 25, 2006)

boehr said:


> First, you have to prove his blind is partly on your property. If your property isn't posted or fenced (flags are not either one of those) there is not much of anything you can legally do.


boehr, i was under the impression that is was not required to post private property (specifically for trespassing). several years ago i recieved a trespassing ticket. 

i was in unfamiliar area and was on state land and wandered onto private property. i was told i was responsible for knowing where i am at all times and that it wasn't required to post private property.

have things changed or was i mis informed by the CO?

thanks, 

sjhawkeye


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## MERGANZER (Aug 24, 2006)

Burn it to the ground!!!! Fall some trees on it and cover the area with moth balls THIS MEANS WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ganzer


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

sjhawkeye said:


> boehr, i was under the impression that is was not required to post private property (specifically for trespassing). several years ago i recieved a trespassing ticket.
> 
> i was in unfamiliar area and was on state land and wandered onto private property. i was told i was responsible for knowing where i am at all times and that it wasn't required to post private property.
> 
> ...


You were mis-informed. Except for farmland and adjacent wood lots the law has required posting or fenced for over 30 years for recreational trespass.


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## soggybtmboys (Feb 24, 2007)

Sounds like the fella did you a favor! Nothing like a new outhouse to warm a man's heart!


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## wyldkat49766 (Apr 21, 2007)

There is NOTHING worse than a property fight. We have property that butts up to 2 different 'groups'. They got into some sort of pissing fight and well we saw and heard what they would do. And it affected our hunts on that end of the property. One group would run ATV's up and down the property line between then the week before opening day and then on opening day also since they were able to get there more than the 2nd group. So what does the 2nd group do? They started cutting down trees so that they would land on the 1st groups. My uncle finally got through to one of the older guys and they eventually got it settled down but YIKES what a mess.


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## walleyechaser (Jan 12, 2001)

wyldkat49766 said:


> There is NOTHING worse than a property fight. We have property that butts up to 2 different 'groups'. They got into some sort of pissing fight and well we saw and heard what they would do. And it affected our hunts on that end of the property. One group would run ATV's up and down the property line between then the week before opening day and then on opening day also since they were able to get there more than the 2nd group. So what does the 2nd group do? They started cutting down trees so that they would land on the 1st groups. My uncle finally got through to one of the older guys and they eventually got it settled down but YIKES what a mess.


these kind of disputes are caused by a simple misunderstanding that gets out of hand.
It goes something like this.
New guy comes in and buys some property without a survey and original owner was a little vague or maybe even misleading about where the property lines were.
Guy on adjoining property decides to put up a blind along his property line which may or may not be accurate as well and all of a sudden a pissing match breaks out with neither bothering to talk to the other first.
Just because a blind overlooks the adjoining property doesn't mean there's any intention to shoot onto it as well. Some hunters like to see what's coming before its in front of them and there's nothing wrong with that either.

The best advice is to sit down with the guy and have a talk with him and it'll usually get worked out.
Just remember though that if we go into a conversation expecting a confrontation it'll usually happen.

BTW rabbott, there's also the issue of downstaters and/or city dwellers having had the property line mentality driven into there minds for years by neighborhood disputes over "inches" whereas locals, whether its yoopers or downstate farmers tend to be a lot more low keyed in their attitudes and not near as stringent so try to view the situation from both sides of the fence, no pun intended,


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## motcityman (Apr 4, 2006)

First of all don't do a pissing contest. Just sit in the blind on opening day and shoot a deer with him drinking a cup of coffee. Split the deer down the middle and shake hands..friends work for each other more then the other side would and what makes you think your stuff will not get taken or destroyed? while you are down state. remember kind words and good friends come hard to find. Plant food on the other side of your property to draw the deer over there maybe...just my 2 cents.


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## bigcountrysg (Oct 9, 2006)

If anything this sounds more like a zoning matter. Townships, Cities, Villages have zoning ordinances for how close you can put a building to a property line. After you have a survey done to show proof of the property lines and boundries. Then you can get the person to move there blind if it is on your property. Or if it is to close to the property line according to the local ordinance.


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

Deer blind is a building????


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## UPJerry (Dec 14, 2006)

Don't expect a deer blind too close to the property line to be a high priority for the township zoning administrator!


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## bigcountrysg (Oct 9, 2006)

It could depend on how the blind is built. Is it built like a shed, then yes it could be considered a building. Just because the owner is declaring it as a blind does not change that it is some type of building. 

If it is one of those tent style ones or a tree stand or commercial elevated platform blind then it could be completely different. 

But if it is a shed style built on the ground then yes it could be considered a building.


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## walleyechaser (Jan 12, 2001)

bigcountrysg said:


> It could depend on how the blind is built. Is it built like a shed, then yes it could be considered a building. Just because the owner is declaring it as a blind does not change that it is some type of building.
> 
> If it is one of those tent style ones or a tree stand or commercial elevated platform blind then it could be completely different.
> 
> But if it is a shed style built on the ground then yes it could be considered a building.


I was making at the end of my previous post regarding the differing perspectives of locals versus down staters and/or farmers versus city dwellers.
BTW Bigcountry, I'm not calling you out or picking on you, just using your post as an example.

Why in Gods name we even want legal arguments or zoning ordinances to come up when talking about hunting blinds is beyond me. Don't we already have enough government encroachment in hunting/fishing without inviting more?

This is just a real irritant for me as I've had two different friends having been in a situation where they owned a piece of property for a number of years, put a lot of time and cost into developing the property for hunting and then someone purchased the adjoing property only to build a dwelling on top of the property line so to speak which immediately made a 400 and some odd feet of their property unhuntable because of the 450 foot safety zone.
Why someone would want to move out to the country and then crowd their neighbor doesn't make any sense to me at all except in one of the cases the new neighbor lady liked to watch the deer and didn't like them hunted so it was intentional.

To rephrase all this and put it in its simplest terms, "Mutual respect extends far beyond legal property lines or zoning ordinances"! JMO


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## bigcountrysg (Oct 9, 2006)

That is fine Walleye Chaser, my whole posting was related to the fact, that this problem is not directly related to hunting or fishing. The building or blind was built on what possiblely someone elses property. If that is the case it is a zoning building problem not a hunting problem. At least not until the building or blind is used to take game. Then it could be recreational tresspassing problem.


I aggree with you on the respect Walleye Chaser. I mean there is enough room for everyone to hunt. Just because there is a window facing your property does not mean the owner of the blind is going to take deer from your property. He may use to look around but actually only take game off his own property.


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## walleyechaser (Jan 12, 2001)

Wouldn't it be great if these property encroachment issues could be cleared up as easily.

Mutual respect does go a long way but I guess its like common sense, just not as common as it should be.


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## Overdew (Sep 7, 2004)

boehr said:


> First, you have to prove his blind is partly on your property. If your property isn't posted or fenced (flags are not either one of those) there is not much of anything you can legally do. Even the note doesn't mean much because you can say for certain the person ever got the not.
> 
> Since you know who it is, talk with them *in person *first. Second, you could post you property on that side but make sure you have the proof of where the property line is or again if any prosecutor issued a warrant for trespass (which I doubt any prosecutor would for a blind a few feet over in my opinion) they will want to see something in writting that will stand up in court..
> 
> You could put up a barrier like suggested, again make sure it is on your property.


 
I agree, you should have a freindly conversation.

Can't we all get along.-Rodney King during L.A. riots


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## boehr (Jan 31, 2000)

CL-Lewiston said:


> Deer blind is a building????


No a deer blind is NOT a building and the township will not touch it. I'm sure if it was anything but a deer blind the poster would have stated such. This case is definetly a hunting question and all possible recommedations have been mention. Please let us know how things go for you.


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