03-21-2018, 01:49 PM
I don't think anyone would disagree with your desires to keep your private ground private- in fact I'm pretty sure all good sportsmen would like to see trespassing violations under current law treated more seriously (stricter fines, etc.).
However, this new law does away with the responsibility of landowners to take care of their own land - they no longer have to identify uncultivated areas with orange paint or any other posting; they can prosecute anyone anywhere and say they were trespassing- and even if the accused is guilty, the accusers don't have to pay the legal fees of the accused- even though in a reverse scenario guilty trespassers do have to pay fees of wronged landowners.
Compound this with the "stand your round" legislation, and we've got a serious intimidation factor going on. In essence, good sportsmen will shy away from public areas just because they border private- thus surrendering to those landowners those surrounding areas that are actually paid for by the public. That is the gripe here- and that is exactly what the Wilkes brothers and other over-reaching landowners are pushing for with this.
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However, this new law does away with the responsibility of landowners to take care of their own land - they no longer have to identify uncultivated areas with orange paint or any other posting; they can prosecute anyone anywhere and say they were trespassing- and even if the accused is guilty, the accusers don't have to pay the legal fees of the accused- even though in a reverse scenario guilty trespassers do have to pay fees of wronged landowners.
Compound this with the "stand your round" legislation, and we've got a serious intimidation factor going on. In essence, good sportsmen will shy away from public areas just because they border private- thus surrendering to those landowners those surrounding areas that are actually paid for by the public. That is the gripe here- and that is exactly what the Wilkes brothers and other over-reaching landowners are pushing for with this.
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