Sorry to hear this Bob. Tresspassing on others lands is no good.
I had a new guy leasing land just to the west of us this year. I got to my stand around 7:15 am on Saturday, and saw this guy for the first time. I’ve had this stand in the same tree for 4 years. I go after first light as the walk in is steep and treacherous in the dark.
So, when I got there, saw this guy just 50 yards away on other property, I shrugged it off and went to another stand. But that is my favorite spot.
So on Sunday, I do the same and decide, I’m not letting this guy get to me after being here 4 years. So I go up my stand, get all set and tied in, pull up my gun from the ground, and I look over and he’s getting down. He got down and left.
I felt a little bad for him as I imagine he’s shelling out big bucks for the lease, but on the other hand, he should have done a better search for existing stands being so close to the line. If it bothered him to hunt near me, he should not have set up there, with my stand in plain sight.
I know when we started hunting this land 9 years ago, no one hunted it the previous 20 years. The land owners on all sides were encroaching the property. We showed up and they said, whoa, where did you come from. We did not get all up in arms, but they now know that we use the land and we don’t get people in there anymore.
Don’t know if this is your situation or not, but lack of use of land causes people to do stuff they normally would not.
ET