Just got my new issue of the DU mag- no more Donnall Thomas, that;s for sure-replaced by Doug Larsen for the LAST CALL finis article- back pages--Any idiot who would string an electrified fence wire across any river, no matter if he owns both sides of said waterway- is asking for a major league lawsuit-trespass be damned. When I was about 15, hunting with Dad and Granddad with retired judge Boardman on his private 180 acres farm near Rives Junction, with Ralph Woodhurst, gun room manager at Smith & Winchester back then- former top live bird shot as well- The Judge winged a big rooster, which flew right across the neighboring fence-and that property owner had it posted. MI law states that you have to have the owners' permission, even to retrieve wounded game that you lawfully shot- so Dad volunteered me to hike around the owner's fence line to get permission, while he held the 20 gauge Model 12 that was my 13th Birthday present (I still have it)-- The "Lady of the house" was at home, her husband had gone to the elevator with a load of corn- I told her that if we were able, with the Judge's fine Shorthair, to retrieve that wounded bird, we would clean it and give it to her and her husband (who didn't bird hunt) for a Sunday dinner, and she said "OK" go right ahead. The bird couldn't outrun Judge Boardman's dog, we dispatched it and field dressed it, and gave it to her. It was the only rooster we put up all day, the rest were hens and quails- at that time, quail were protected- but due to that, we obtained permission to hunt his 120 adjoining acreage, and next year MI opened a quail season concurrent with the pheasant season. The best move any serious and ethical hunter can make is to obtain and keep good landowner relations- like money in the bank!!
Two things:
Run - the way your granddad, dad and the Judge handled the wounded rooster was both the exact right way and the textbook solution. The only rub is when no one is home at the landowner's house.
2. As to the electric fence - I came across that trying to get on the Ruby back in 93. The landowner - don't know who it was - ran it to the bridge abutment. As with lots of bridges out that way, the deepest spots usually are the bridge holes and this one was no exception. The banks were near vertical and full of pencil-sized willows - nothing to grab onto - and the water went from zero to over the top of the waders in less than the length of my boot. It was prime trout water crossed by a public road and one where the law said I as a license-buying member of the fishing public, had every right to enter. Only that landowner had crafted things so it was impossible.
I suspect these days they probably have drones and guards with 270s to back it up, but the electric fence ended that part of the day for me.
