The first adverse impact is a landowner death. Ideally when a landowner dies we receive a call at the office and as a minimum attempt to negotiate the lease contract until the end of the current season. We are often successful. The worst case is when we have no knowledge of the death until a member is hunting a property and is told by the new owner to get off his land. In these cases if we cannot resolve the issue with the new landowner we drop the lease attempts. The correct membership response in this case is to cease hunting, notify the MAHA office and plan another day’s hunt somewhere else. Tenant farmers often assume they have hunting rights when all they have is farming rights or cropland access. In all cases we negotiate with the person with the legal right to negotiate land access for that property be it a corporation, family LLC, trustee, land trust or any of the many other permeations if not the ideal the actual landowner him/herself. This is a headache that your membership dues pay for the MAHA staff to handle. Member reaction if being confronted with a tenant he is to continue the hunt and tell the tenant to call the MAHA office.
Professional hunters, or those under some level of sponsorship from a manufacture/video company, have been found on MAHA leases and have attempted to displace members. This is an easy one as a simple call to the local sheriff as with the guides above and a follow up call to the manufacture or video company also reinforces MAHA’s predominance. Correct membership response in these cases is to ignore the “professional” hunter and continue the hunt. Trespassers include several types: neighbors, pretend members, pretend landowners, low life slob hunter, past members, unauthorized guests of current members and members hunting w/o reservation. Neighbors of a lease property may have been hunting that property for years and feel it is their right to do so in spite of the landowner contract. MAHA response is simply to notify the landowner that if his neighbors continue to trespass we will end our lease, typically withholding the current payment. Membership response when confronting a trespasser is to continue hunting and tell the trespasser to leave. Pretend members are those that when found by a current member say they are also members and the office must have screwed up the reservation. This has been a surprisingly successful technique with the current member, typically an honest person believing in the good of others, backing down and cursing the office for an administrative error that ruined his hunt. Correct member response is to demand MAHA ID and government photo cards to prove membership. Not having both on hand when on leased land is a violation of Association rules and a strong indicator the pretender is not who he says he is. The member is to continue his hunt and tell the pretender to leave the property. Pretend landowners do the same as pretend members. Or, another variation is to state the landowner gave them permission to hunt. Correct member response is to continue hunting and tell the pretender to leave. Low life slob hunter, typically a road hunter, rarely has the guts to hunt by himself and typically is with others, jumps from vehicles to shoot or conducts drive hunts through our land and everyone else’s. Member response is to ignore all of them, notify the MAHA office and the staff will make control of this issue a landowner responsibility. Usually, these hunters do not return to the same property for a second hunt. Past members that have retained their membership material and quickly flash their card to show membership. Check the date on the card, it must be with a year of the current date. Group these trespassers in the low life category.
Unauthorized guests of current members. Every year we dis-enroll a member for sneaking on a guest(s). If one is encountered notify the MAHA office and we will respond appropriately and quickly. The one we should never have to deal with is the current member that feels he can hunt without a reservation. This is usually detected by a member hunting the property with a current reservation and being impacted on by another member using the pretend member excuse of administrative foul up. We view this very dimly and will discipline those that hunt without reservations. The member with the valid reservation knows who he is and he should stand his ground telling the other to call the office. First year leases have been the most commonly trespassed land. Typically, these are honest mistakes of the neighbor or relative that is unaware of the landowner’s contract with MAHA. Once informed the land is under lease the offending hunter usually departs never to return again. In all cases we notify the landowner to correct the trespassing problem and frequently the landowner was completely unaware his neighbors or relatives had been hunting his land without permission.
All in all trespassing is part of the hunting business and while the overall incidents are a low percentage compared to the many successful days a filed they are a significant interference for the encountering it. The examples above should show if such an incident is encountered common sense should prevail. First, always have proof of whom is being encountered is who he says he is. Proof if not offered freely automatically brings the circumstances into question. Second, trust your Association maps. We have been in this business for a long time. Our mapping program and especially our written signed land contracts has been hammered through the test of time. Finally, armed with this knowledge all that should encounter a trespass situation should never let it ruin the day any more than the time it takes to assert your rights for what you have paid for. Leave the headaches for the MAHA staff. We pay the money to the landowner and the landowner knows who writes the checks. |
Guide services have been caught placing their clients on MAHA leases in all three states. In each case the MAHA office seeks retribution through the local sheriff and conservation officers and has been highly successful even in cases of less than clear-cut proof and only suspicion. In several cases the “guide” has been wanted for vehicle, game laws and other violations with outstanding warrants. Membership response if hunting a MAHA mapped property with a current reservation is to continue his hunt and tell the guide to contact the MAHA office.
These toms came from a property hunted by 6 hunters last year, a 1/4 section or 160 acres. Three for spring turkey, two for rifle deer and one for quail. Spring turkey success rates on this farm the last several years has been very high with one hunter his fourth year hunting that spot having missed a bird, all others filled at least one tag each spring. The two deer hunters did not harvest any deer off that property to date and have continued to hunt it due to having seen quality racks. The quail hunter returns each year to that unit of land and does find the coveys to work his dogs. Other members have scouted the same property and selected others to hunt. Having such multiple use land during various time of the year is the habitat we seek and the cause for the low annual membership price.
