I think the laws on posting land are backwards. Now, the landowner, in order to avoid strangers entering land and killing pet turkeys and deer, must buy and nail up signs posting the land. I have had these signs torn down and animals killed anyway. Recently someone shot one of my pet turkeys and when confronted had the excuse that the land wasn’t posted, so anyone has a right to enter the land and shoot it up. No wonder so much land is posted in Vermont. So I went out and bought “posted” signs at $2.50 apiece and walked around nailing them up. This nailing was rather difficult due to my advanced age and fear of ticks.
People have said that it can’t be required that hunters find the landowners and ask first. My God, they might have to ask more than one person who owns the land and maybe even go to the town land records. I have had people ask me if they can hunt on my land and they didn’t seem to be under stress with the effort to ask.
I have also heard that the amount of game animals needs to be controlled, and hunting is the best way of controlling. What does that have to do with asking for permission to enter land for hunting? I would rather have volunteers than have to hire professional hunters if my place was over run with deer eating crops and plantings. Hard enough to keep woodchucks and raccoons out of my garden.
Others have said they didn’t bother to post and don’t care if people shoot guns on their land, especially if that land is miles away and they can’t see it. I like to watch these animals on my land as they wander the fields. So do my neighbors.
Since posted signs are supposed to restrict access to land, my proposal is that hunter fees have a part that collects money into a fund that landowners can use to hire people to post land. Then the cost is on those who cause the need for posting instead of the landowner. Second, it should be required that a hunter ask for access to land and have to ask at least at the house on the land for how to contact the owner to ask.
Peter Grant
Bristol