The landowner said the problem had gone past a simple misunderstanding. According to the Reddit post, hunters were trespassing and shooting on private property in New York, even after the owners had already posted no-trespassing signs and told people to stay off the land.
The Reddit thread can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/17zxxlk/ward_off_hunters_trespassing_and_hunting_on_our/
That alone would be enough to frustrate most landowners, but this situation had another layer. The property owner said they had put up fences, and the trespassers had cut through them to get in. They also found hunting stands set up on the property.
At that point, it was hard to treat the problem like somebody accidentally crossed a boundary. A hunter who wanders over a property line once may be careless. A person who cuts a fence, sets up a stand, and keeps coming back is making a much more deliberate choice.
The landowner was worried about safety too. They said they were concerned that if the hunters kept coming onto the land and shooting, someone on the property could get hurt or accidentally shot while walking around. That is the part that changes the whole tone of the situation. This was not just about property rights or annoyance. It was about unknown armed people moving around land where they had no permission to be.
The owner also seemed to understand that they had to be careful with how they responded. They mentioned that they believed they could not set traps because if someone got hurt, the trespassers might be able to sue. That was the right instinct. Even when trespassers are completely wrong, booby traps or anything designed to injure someone can create serious trouble for the property owner.
So the real question became how to stop the hunters without crossing a line themselves.
The strongest path was evidence. Commenters pushed the landowner toward cameras, documentation, and contacting the right authorities. Trail cameras near the places where the trespassers entered could show who was coming in, when they came in, whether they were armed, and whether they were damaging fences. Cameras near parking areas could also capture vehicles and license plates.
That matters because trespassing complaints can become much stronger when the landowner can show a pattern. A single report might be hard to prove. Photos of the same people cutting through a fence, entering posted land, carrying guns, and using stands would be much harder to brush off.
The fence cutting was another important detail. If someone damages a barrier to get onto private land, the issue may become more than trespassing. It can also involve property damage, and that gives the owner another reason to document everything and make reports each time it happens.
Several commenters also pointed the owner toward game wardens or environmental conservation officers. That made sense because this was not just random trespass. It was trespass tied to hunting. Wildlife officers deal with illegal hunting, poaching, hunting without permission, license issues, and unsafe activity in the field. If people are hunting private land without permission, a game warden may be more useful than treating it like a normal neighbor dispute.
The landowner had already tried signs and fences. The next step was making the trespassers easier to identify and harder to excuse.
Commenters told the landowner to make sure the posted signs followed state and local rules. Some places have specific requirements for where signs must be placed, how far apart they must be, and whether they need to be maintained.
Others recommended trail cameras, especially cellular cameras that send photos before someone can steal or destroy the device. Several said the cameras should be placed near common entry points, pathways, and parking areas where they might catch faces, vehicles, and license plates.
A number of commenters said the landowner should contact game wardens or New York environmental conservation officers. Because the trespassers were hunting and shooting, this was exactly the kind of complaint wildlife officers would understand.
Some commenters also told the landowner to report the cut fences as property damage. That detail showed the trespassers were not merely lost or confused. They were damaging a barrier to gain access.
The post ended with the landowner looking for a legal way to protect the property without creating trouble for themselves. The answer was not traps or confrontation. It was posted boundaries, cameras, documentation, police reports, and getting the game warden involved before someone got hurt.
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