Outdoors
The BDN outdoors section brings readers into the woods, waters and wild places of Maine. It features stories on hunting, fishing, wildlife, conservation and recreation, told by people who live these experiences. This section emphasizes hands-on knowledge, field reports, issues, trends and the traditions that define life outside in Maine. Read more Outdoors stories here.
This story was originally published in April 2025.
It was dark as I settled into my tree stand. I pressed my back into the tree and calmed myself. I had about 45 minutes to wait until it was legal hunting hours.
Just as the faintest glint of daylight was breaking through, I saw a flashlight coming toward me. My initial thought was that it was Dad. I flicked my headlight on to signal I was still up in the tree.
I must have startled the guy because he started yelling at me and telling me that I was on his land and that I had better not shoot any deer.
I wasn’t on his land and I shot the first deer I saw that morning. He had no idea where the property line was.
The following day was Sunday. Dad and I started putting up “posted” signs. It was partially to ensure random people didn’t walk through our property, and partially to keep us safe and know who was around.
It is a habit that I have continued now that I own land.
A couple years ago, I bought a parcel that had two duck blinds and three deer stands already on it.
I don’t know how to duck hunt, but I plan to learn. I do know how to deer hunt and I have been working on ways to create ideal habitat for deer as well as finding a sport to pull in some black bears that I know are nearby.
Three weeks ago, I started posting the perimeter of the property for the same reasons that Dad and I had posted the other spot years before.
Over the winter, we had found an unmarked tree stand that was put behind my house, without my permission. I took it down and am waiting for it to be claimed.
I found another stand that, while not on my property, is facing it and if I were to be sitting in one of my deer stands, I could see the person in the tree looking back at me.
I have two friends that are learning how to deer hunt and need land access to be able to get into the woods and have the opportunity. I have offered each of them one of the deer stands to hunt from.
I want to be sure that I know who is in the woods on my property and that I trust how, where and what they are shooting at. My goal is to help each of my two friends get their first deer. By posting my property, I can ensure that they are the only ones in that area.
Posting my land is not about restricting hunting access but rather, controlling who has access to my land and for what opportunities.
I want my friends to shoot their first deer. I want them to spend as much time in the woods as they can to be successful. I don’t want someone without permission to ruin their hunt.
I will continue to post my property so that I can help new hunters have access to land and a treestand. I will continue to offer up time in the woods to my friends with children who want to take them hunting.
I will not feel bad about preventing people that I do not know from having free rein of land that I own.
