The landowner said the problem was not just trespassing. It was armed trespassing.
According to the Reddit post, he lived with his wife on a heavily wooded 20-acre lot in unincorporated Kern County, California. Over a two-day stretch, rifle-armed poachers had come onto the property more than once. He believed they were there to shoot deer out of season, and because it was private property, they had no permission to be there in the first place.
The Reddit thread can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/4puz2n/poachers_have_been_trespassing_with_guns_in_my/
One of the poachers allegedly shot a deer, left after being confronted before police arrived, and then came back later to take the carcass. That detail made the situation feel even more brazen. This was not someone getting lost on the wrong side of a fence. This was someone armed, hunting illegally, leaving, and then returning to finish what he started.
The landowner’s fear made sense. He said the tree cover was heavy, and he or his wife were often outside in the yard. With poachers firing rifles in the woods, there was a real worry that someone on the property could be mistaken for game or hit by a shot that was never meant for them.
The hardest part was the delay. The landowner said law enforcement was at least 20 minutes away. In a later comment, he said the sheriff took about an hour to arrive after he first encountered the poachers. That left him wondering what he was legally allowed to do while armed people were on his land shooting.
His question was not framed as wanting to chase people down. He wanted to understand California self-defense law, whether he could approach them while armed to tell them to leave, and when armed trespassers shooting on his property might count as an imminent threat.
That is where commenters pushed him hard toward caution. The repeated advice was not to confront armed poachers, whether he was armed or not. Even if the poachers were clearly in the wrong, approaching armed criminals in the woods could turn a property problem into a gunfight. Several commenters told him the safer route was to get inside, call 911, keep calling when it happened, and get wildlife authorities involved.
One commenter pointed him toward the California Department of Fish and Wildlife tip line, saying poaching falls under that agency’s world. That was the right lane. A game warden or wildlife officer would understand the hunting violation, the out-of-season deer issue, the private-property trespass, and the risk of armed people returning to the same spot.
Other commenters suggested cameras. Trail cameras could catch faces, vehicles, license plates, times, and entry points without the landowner having to walk up on armed poachers. The owner and neighbors were already considering that, but he was still worried about what to do in the moment when shots were being fired near the house.
One of the more practical ideas was a siren. A commenter suggested putting a siren on top of the trailer and setting it off when poachers showed up. The idea was not to threaten the poachers directly, but to scare off the deer and make the property useless to hunt. The landowner liked that idea because it could help him disrupt the poaching without walking into the woods and risking a confrontation.
Commenters were blunt that the landowner should not approach the poachers. Several said confronting armed people in the woods was dangerous even if he was legally in the right.
Others said he should keep calling law enforcement and get neighbors to report the activity too. Multiple calls from multiple properties would make the pattern harder to ignore and could help authorities understand that this was a recurring safety problem.
A number of commenters pointed him toward Fish and Game or the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Because the trespassers were allegedly poaching deer, wildlife officers had a clear reason to get involved.
Some commenters recommended trail cameras, better no-trespassing signs, and other deterrents. The goal was to build evidence and make the property a bad place to poach without forcing the landowner into direct contact with armed trespassers.
The thread ended with the landowner realizing there were no perfect options when armed poachers were shooting near his home. But the safest plan was clear enough: document the activity, call the sheriff and wildlife authorities, avoid confrontation, and make the land harder to hunt without putting himself or his wife in the line of fire.
Like The Avid Outdoorsman’s content? Be sure to follow us.
Here’s more from us:
