Troy Esau

In this article I'm going to address some of the less than enjoyable aspects of owning and living on our hunting property. I know it may be hard to imagine that there could be any downside to owning your own hunting bush, or even having sole permission on a prime piece of hunting land, but as with many things in life, it's not all sunshine and rainbows, or in my case, big bucks and long beards.

Sadly, in the world that we live in, if there is something that you have that someone else wants, there is a small percentage of people that will stop at nothing in order to get it for themselves. Poaching is a very hot button topic for me, as I have witnessed it many times, and been in danger on account of it. From witnessing people shooting off the roads (illegal in Manitoba), to shooting out of a vehicle, to spotlighting, to shooting animals without a licence, the list of negative shooting practices goes on. All these acts of poaching take away from the true outdoorsmen and women. I find it hard to not become extremely angry about these acts of criminal activity for a couple of reasons, the biggest being that it gives hunters a bad image in landowners minds and will often cost the law abiding hunters their permission to hunt on that land, and simply it isn't safe. Landowners have one bad experience with a poacher and will shut down all hunting on their property for everyone. I take issue with road hunting because of the very small window of time it takes between stopping the vehicle and pulling the trigger. I find it hard to believe that these people are taking the time to think about what is behind the animal, or if there is a hunter sitting perched against a tree on the ground that you can't see. Your bullet travels a long ways after it hits or misses the intended target, and is deadly. The road hunter can hop back into his truck and drive away after he misses the animal, but what if the hunter that had permission on that land was sitting on that bush edge for hours and was the unlucky recipient of the stray bullet? They are leaving behind loved ones, possibly young kids, like in my case, over just doing something that we all love to do. So, I urge everyone reading this to really make sure you know what is behind your intended target. Take the time to look twice because you wont ever forgive yourself if your errant shot ends someone else' hunting days.

I have been shot at from a vehicle passing by on a few occassions, and it is a very eerie feeling. This past fall my wife was sitting on our property in a treestand and a vehicle drove by her a few times very slowly, and eventually stopped on the road and a shot was fired. They were less than 100 yards away and ran into our property to see if they hit the deer, quickly ran back to their truck, and scurried off. She felt totally betrayed as we do not let anyone else hunt on our property, and a bit scared for her life as bullets can ricochet in many directions.

I don't think there is an answer to stopping this percentage of people who are trying to steal what you have. I try hard to inform my local authorities when I witness acts of poaching and if you hunt long enough you will most likely see some act of poaching. How you deal with this is up to you, but just know that every time a landowner has a bad experience with hunters the higher risk you have of losing that permission. I for one love to have access to lots of hunting land, all of us hunters need a place to go and sit in a stand or blind and just unwind from the world. Hunting for me is a huge stress reliever for the most part, when I encounter acts of poaching it makes me very frustrated and also wonder if the landowner will assume it was me being reckless on their land. In the past I have been blamed for things that happened on land I have permission to hunt on, but they certainly were not me or any of my hunting party. All of this just seems to reasonate with me alot deeper now that I own my own piece of hunting paradise and are regularly reminded of the people who are just out there to try and steal what you work so hard to try and obtain. Putting in the work in the hunting woods is what makes the success so much more special. The harvests of animals that are truly earned mean so much more than just a complete fluke on a total whim. So I encourage everyone to get out and go earn that next prized animal, the age old saying goes “you get out of a situation exactly what you put into it”. This rings true in hunting aswell as many other aspects of life, earn it for yourself don't steal it from someone who is trying to earn their own keep.