I broke lease law, or did I?

[AKElroy]

We have a new hunter on our lease, and he dropped some stuff off this last week. It was iffy whether he was coming back this weekend, and driving the property, my son and I come across a pig trap with this large boar and a smaller boar trapped inside.

I assumed it belonged to the new guy, as neither the owner or any of the regulars have ever trapped on the property. That assumption was not accurate, and has ruffled some feathers.

Ignoring the prime directive when hunting someone else's property to "leave it the way you found it", I dispatched both pigs and dragged them to the boneyard.

A few hours later, the owner comes to check out HIS traps. Apparently, he is now trapping and selling the live pigs, which if they run the size of this boar, he said can fetch upward of $150.00. Who knew....

Anyway, I wonder what our readers would have done in this situation.

 

[Sol]

Hmmm not my land, not my traps, not my pigs not my problem. Should have just let them be. Whatever their fate would have been.

I don't hunt or know anything about hunting ethics but common sense says leave them alone.

 

[rondog]

What Sol said.

 

[Sav .250]

Hmmm not my land, not my traps, not my pigs not my problem. Should have just let them be. Whatever their fate would have been.

I don't hunt or know anything about hunting ethics but common sense says leave them alone.

Makes sense to me.

 

[AKElroy]

I agree with the sentiment, but leaving the pigs to die of thirst is a nasty way to go, and I assumed the new guy was not coming back for at least a week. The trap showed no signs of bait, and it is a simple swinging door trap, so there is no "setting" it. They nudge open the door and walk in, can't walk out. It looked to me like he may have dropped his trap, and the pigs simply followed older scent of bait into an unbaited trap that he intended for later use.

Again,six years on the property, and the owner had never set traps before, so in my head it had to belong to the new guy.

In any event, I may have to pony up for what the owner could have sold it for, which I may offer to keep the peace.

 

[JoePfeiffer]

I'm not sure what I would have done. In the current situation, I'd pay whatever reasonable amount he says they were worth, since that's what the mistake cost him.

 

[sage5907]

I agree with JoePfeiffer, I would call the owner and offer to pay him what he thought the pigs were worth. If you don't you may loose the lease. I also think the owner should have told you he was trapping hogs on the property, since a hunting lease can also include shooting the wild pigs on the property. That's really a good looking hog, many hunters would pay $150 to shoot a hog like that, but not in a trap. I like the looks of a brown long haired hog.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Not my trap, I suppose I would have passed.

"...Apparently, he is now trapping and selling the live pigs,..."

Wow, that's different in Texas. Tennessee is in full tilt boogie exterminate the wild hog problem before it gets worse mode: feral pigs can't leave a trap alive. Too many people releasing them to stock areas where feral hogs have not yet taken root.

 

[Patocazador]

If it's a good lease and you want to keep hunting it, pay up .. and apologize. The owner can probably "suggest" to the club's leadership that your presence there is unacceptable otherwise.

 

[gspn]

I'd have just made some calls to let everyone know that whoever owns the traps…they've got hogs in them.

My assumption would've been that someone was going to kill and eat them…so I certainly wouldn't have intervened.

I think the thing to do now is offer to pay the guy for the loss or volunteer to go help catch a few to make up for it. I lean toward volunteering some labor because I've got no idea how much a hog would sell for…but I can pretty easily tell when a guy has done enough labor to replace a hog.

 

[buck460XVR]

Ignoring the prime directive when hunting someone else's property to "leave it the way you found it", I dispatched both pigs and dragged them to the boneyard.

A few hours later, the owner comes to check out HIS traps. Apparently, he is now trapping and selling the live pigs, which if they run the size of this boar, he said can fetch upward of $150.00. Who knew....

By your own admission, you did wrong. Nuttin else needs to be said. You owe the Land Owner an apology and whatever he could have sold the Hogs for. If he lets it go at that, consider yourself lucky.

 

[AKElroy]

I just offered to pay the owner, and he wouldn't take my money. I appreciate everyones feedback. We are seeing more pigs than ever before on this property; we just drove the property and chased a half dozen, even in the middle of the day.

Owner is glad to sell them if they wind up in the trap, but he is more motivated to just kill everyone we see. Even the little footballs that are too cute to shoot. If he knew I ever pulled up a shot on one of those little guys, that probably would get me tossed!

The other side of this is that it was hardly fun or sporting to shoot these trapped hogs. I actually felt like I was cleaning up someone's mess. Pulling that 200 pounder out of that 8' deep trap was a serious pain in the back.

Having shot trapped pigs a few times in the past on a friends ranch, it always leaves me feeling just a little sick in the gut. The first is easy enough; the rest get pretty animated. It's always ugly.

 

[Art Eatman]

You did what seemed right at the time, based on the idea that the hogs would have been left to die of thirst if the new guy didn't return.

You had no way at the time of knowing if the trap was the owner's or the new guy's.

 

[hartcreek]

It is a hunting lease.....the owner may have broken the lease by setting the trap. Check out the lease agreement also check out the regs. It may be illegal for him to trap and live transport.

 

[AKElroy]

It is a hunting lease.....the owner may have broken the lease by setting the trap. Check out the lease agreement also check out the regs. It may be illegal for him to trap and live transport.

As for the lease, it is really more of a release of liability than a formal agreement, so he can do hat he wants. The pigs are so numerous, I don't care if he shoots them from the air, he's not going to make a dent. Now if I drive up and find him in one of my blinds, I will have an issue.

As for transporting live pigs, this is not one of the highly regulated counties. No license is needed to sell them for slaughter in our county that I am aware of, and there are several buyers within 20 miles. There are some regulations for selling them to re-populate another area, a practice that TDPW strongly discourages.

 

[3212]

Apparently,we are starting to have problems up north in Pennsylvania.The Game Commission has declared free roaming hogs a threat and open season year round.I wonder how they fare in these below zero temperatures we're having?

 

[PBR Streetgang]

If I remember correctly,in many areas trappers are required to have some sort of ID tags on their traps...............

 

[buck460XVR]

If I remember correctly,in many areas trappers are required to have some sort of ID tags on their traps...............

.....and in many areas it is against state regs to molest someone else's traps. These regs generally relate to game and fur-bearing animals. I don't know what the trapping regs in Texas are on exotic livestock.

 

[JoePfeiffer]

I just offered to pay the owner, and he wouldn't take my money <snip>

Sounds like a good outcome all 'round.

 

[Art Eatman]

Seems resolved.