Folks, Im fed up with the outlaws in East Texas. We have a lease on the Neches River outside of Palestine. In the past, this land was public and anyone could go on it to hunt, swim, fish, etc. So now we have this land under lease from a private land owner and are trying to keep the outlaws out. We have built fence, put locks on gates, and posted signs. Nothing seems to work. They are now cutting fence, driving in, and stealing game cameras.

Does anyone have any legal tips to stop this behavior?

Unfortunately there are a group of people in that area that have no regard for game laws or any laws for that matter. I do not want to sound discouraging but I do not like your chances of curtailing this behavior.
Be careful of what you do as folks with that mentality will play the victim if they are in any way harmed by your actions.
Trespassing is a felony in the State of Texas, but my guess would be it is hard to build a case. Contact your local sherrif and game warden and try to build a case by using concealed video game cameras over junk trail cameras.
I have a moultrie I can send you for a bait camera, just send me an address. Would be cool to gut the camera and mount one of those blue bombs the banks use on bank robbers. A bunch of smurf blue renegades would be amusing.

Good luck!

The dummy camera is a great idea. The best play would be go get the game warden out there as often as possible, his testimony and your pictures should be more than enough. I also agree with the above reply in that you shouldnt confront them yourself. These type of people arent worth getting yourself into a legal mess, let alone getting hurt.

Good luck to you

Maybe offer a couple of your local Deputy's a hunting spot on your place, may get exciting after their stuff comes up missing.

Just put a sign up that says : This property is under constant electronic surveillance. Trespassers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Even if you don't have cameras out that might be enough of a deterence because they will be looking for the cameras and not finding them and getting nervous about it. It's a mind game.

A GW is a good option as well.

Thanks for the advice. Its pretty well impossible to keep folks out on foot. They can sneak in however they want. Better yet, we have caught folks who have come in on boats from the river side and hung tree stands. But, I have thought about downing some trees and pushing them with our dozer to make roadblocks in areas where they are driving in. I just dont know how to keep these folks from cutting barbed wire fences. It just perplexes me that folks would do this. I guess they didnt grow up building them all the time. If they did, they would realize the effort put in to building them in the first place. Dang outlaws!

They say you can't fix stupid and if that's true how do you expect to do anything about generations of inbreeding? They do it because uncle dad and aunt grandma did it and the mentalities just, well, bred into them.

G.W.

Trespassing IS NOT a felony in Texas unless the violator is in possession of a firearm when apprehended. Most trespassing citations on hunting property are Class C misdemeanors as hunting/wooded property is considered "agriculture", so citations are written as: Criminal Trespassing on Agriculture, Class B misdemeanors are also written trespassing but usually on private property at someone house.

my wife's grandfather repurchased all of the land from the old homeplace in E TX. They only go out there every now and then, and apparently the "locals" figured it out. I seem to recall them saying that the house was literelly stolen piece by piece. Windows, doors, fixtures, plumbing, wiring, EVERYTHING. One "neighbor" actually moved one of the fences to claim some of the property. Luckily they figured that out before it was too late.

The good news is that my BIL is a state trooper and knows all the GW in the area. The bad news is that Cherokee county is very rural with a lot of outlaws. So its tough to get the GW to babysit your place to catch folks. Hopefully throughout deer season, we can be on the place more and curtail some of this activity.

When I had someone cutting my fence in Red River county, the first question the deputy asked me was if there was any live stock on the place. He said that if you have so much as one goat on the property, it is a felony to cut the fence in the state of Texas. I tried to convince him that I didn't have a goat or a cow, but I had turned loose a ton of pigs and I'm sure they all got out through the cut fence. He didn't buy it. I say buy a cow and turn it loose on the place.
I also discovered that when the local deputy and the game warden began asking questions about my place, the neighbors stopped talking to me and nobody has been back on my place.
Thanks!!!
Matt

Good Luck!!

If the are caught with firearm it is a class A Misdeameaner punisable by up to 1 year in jail and $4000 fine! Trust me I know...Crimanal Trespass with deadly weapon,that can cover rifle,pistol,bow!

Call TPWD headquarters in Austin tell them the situation, see if they can pick a weekend or two and bring in some reinforcements and get some help from local so your bil should be able to ask for some help from some of the other troops in the area. This what we had to do when I hunted in Jasper, TX on the Angelina river they were just as bad. After several arrest's & tickets they finaly slowed down and went else where. Good luck tough battle ahead.

Game Warden!!!

Unfortunately I hear this all the time from people with property in East TX. That's why I'll never live or own a place there. I really do hope you get it resolved though.

After about two years of looking for land for a family friend I found a nice quiet place up in Red River cty.It sits next to a 3k acre place.Unfortunately there is an old farmhouse down the road with about twenty cars out front,not a color match on hoods or doors on any of them.I told him I was a little concerned about the locals but he said I think its fine.Maybe he was caught up in the euphoria of owning his own place.About 2 months after buying a BRAND NEW travel trailer the ranch foreman next door called and said you better come up here.Nothing left but ashes.He swears it was mice chewing the electricals,I think it was rats playing with matches.

Thanks for clarifying that on trespass but I think we know these guys are not coming in there to get excercise. They are poachers, armed and ready to steal wild game,day or night and if they find any personal items such as cameras and stands they will steal them as well.
I had an opportunity to lease a 500 acre property in Wood, County with some agriculture on it. Loaded with deer but the farmer informed me that the locals would be there when I was not. I had children I was teaching to hunt and could not take the risk of running into a poacher so I declined.

Good idea on the livestock. The law will bury em for cutting fences if that's the case.

It's not that bad.. just got to know how to put the fear of God in people.

This is why I refuse to spend money on a lease in the nac area...

Do what my buddy did and boobie trap the place real good. That seemed to clear his place up for a while. Just took some rusted nails set up and some barbed wire in tall grass to send em a message

we're around the nac area and didn't have any issues until some out-of-towners came around with their own lock & key.. but the items that were taken were replaced within a cpl of days.

Let me prefice my rant by saying that not all folks in East Texas are outlaws. I am fron East Texas myself too. There a lot of good folks wherever you go and some bad. I just wish the outlaws would find their own place to hunt and stop poaching and theiving.