Falsely Impersonating A Land Owner

[Lilpig]

The other day I walked out to my deer stand and found a note on it that said: No trespassing on this property. "This entire woods is owned or leased by ------------ ------ Road Landowners LLC. If caught you will be fined and charged prorata for the trees cut or damaged"

Now here's the kicker, I was given permission from the land owner! He told me where his land starts and ends but NO ONE'S PROPERTY LINES ARE MARKED.

I have reviewed the area with several maps and can't see how I'm not on his land.

So we put a note on my stand in very polite words asking whomever put the note up to post their property because we were given permission from -------- ------ to hunt his land.

I told this to a friend of mine and he said the person who posted that sign on my stand was breaking a law by doing that. Something about Falsely Impersonating a land owner. Is that really a law?

I'm not a person who goes after UNnecessary conflict but if they come out while I'm hunting I would like to have some truth to fall back on besides the fact I have permission to hunt.

[steelerfan]

I know we have some anti-hunting people around here who buy & sometimes find old no-trespassing signs & put them up where ever they think looks like a good place...on public land no less, because they don't like the fact that there are hunters there & feel there shouldn't be any. They obviously don't know the laws enough to have them spaced properly or at the right height, or even filled in & signed, but I guess they think that just because the signs are there it'll keep hunters out.
As far as the law you're talking about, I can't say for sure but I would think someone could get in trouble for doing that as they need to trespass in order to post those signs in the first place, right ?

[Dredly]

They could be hit for trespassing but there is no law that I'm aware of for "impersonating a land owner". More then likely whoever put the note on your stand isn't aware that they don't own "the whole woods"

[ungawa]

They could be hit for trespassing but there is no law that I'm aware of for "impersonating a land owner". More then likely whoever put the note on your stand isn't aware that they don't own "the whole woods"

I once did some "improvements" to the wrong property by mistake. Fortunately, I had a lot of heavy equipment out there and it caught the attention of the land owner. He came out and asked what we were doing on his property. I said, "We're not on your property." Proceeded to walk around with him, pointing at some maps and the land, and actually convinced the guy we were not on his property. I realized my mistake too late, long after the work was done. But that fact that we had both agreed we were not on his property probably helped us resolve the situation with him in a reasonable manner.

[knight0334]

You can verify ownership pretty closely with Butler County's GIS mapping here. http://maps.co.butler.pa.us/viewer.htm

There is a possibility that the "Road Landowners LLC" had a long forgotten lease or Right-of-Way. Which you'd have to look up at the courthouse.

There is no law about about "Falsely Impersonating a Land Owner" as far as I know. But there is trespassing and other laws that may hold up against such activities.

There is the possibility that the person you got permission from doesn't own the land. Mistaken property lines happens quite often.

[bnkrtstk]

Put a game camera where it would capture the image of people walking past your stands. Show the landowner the pic and ask if he knows them.

[Fazer6PA]

You can verify ownership pretty closely with Butler County's GIS mapping here. http://maps.co.butler.pa.us/viewer.htm

There is a possibility that the "Road Landowners LLC" had a long forgotten lease or Right-of-Way. Which you'd have to look up at the courthouse.

There is no law about about "Falsely Impersonating a Land Owner" as far as I know. But there is trespassing and other laws that may hold up against such activities.

There is the possibility that the person you got permission from doesn't own the land. Mistaken property lines happens quite often.

Be careful of using online GIS property mapping because they are notoriously incorrect. They are meant for informational purposes and do not supersede a deed or survey. Your landowner should verify his property lines and post accordingly.

[Lilpig]

You can verify ownership pretty closely with Butler County's GIS mapping here. http://maps.co.butler.pa.us/viewer.htm

There is a possibility that the "Road Landowners LLC" had a long forgotten lease or Right-of-Way. Which you'd have to look up at the courthouse.

There is no law about about "Falsely Impersonating a Land Owner" as far as I know. But there is trespassing and other laws that may hold up against such activities.

There is the possibility that the person you got permission from doesn't own the land. Mistaken property lines happens quite often.

Thanks for the link Knight. I found the piece of property in question but for some reason when I use the search button and put the parcel name or the owners name in it, nothing happens. Does the search option work for you?

[knight0334]

Thanks for the link Knight. I found the piece of property in question but for some reason when I use the search button and put the parcel name or the owners name in it, nothing happens. Does the search option work for you?

Can you narrow down the area for me. You can PM me the address or parcel numbers(with municipality name) if you want to keep it private.

[knight0334]

Be careful of using online GIS property mapping because they are notoriously incorrect. They are meant for informational purposes and do not supersede a deed or survey. Your landowner should verify his property lines and post accordingly.

Right. Its for informational purposes only. Its enough to get a ball park figure, but as you said you need to check the deed or survey to know for sure.

Butler County looks to be mostly PLSS, which should get the OP very close. PA uses Metes & Bounds primarily for deeds and surveys, but a great portion of the western part of PA that was surveyed after the Revolutionary War was surveyed using the more modern(relative to M&B's age) PLSS version. Thus why much of such area has north/south/east/west property lines versus Metes & Bound's "from old oak tree 300ft westward to large rock with iron pin, then northward from center of small stream," etc, etc. With parcels plotted with PLSS, its much easier to accurately lay out land lines on GIS mapping.