Reply #164: I noticed your comment . . .

[msmcghee]

. . He said I could fire a warning shot in the air to get there attention from a safe distance if they don't leave when they see your car or truck coming out.

This sounds like very bad advice. If I was hunting and thought I was on public land, and someone stopped from a distance to check me out and then fired a shot - I would definitely consider the possibility that they were trying to shoot me. It's not that easy to know if the shot was fired in the air or toward you - especially if you were surprised by it. I'd consider any threatening shot as an attempt to kill me and I'd defend myself if I thought I needed to.

Also, what's a safe distance? Further than the range of my gun?

I know farmers who have claimed that shooting near a trespasser to scare the shit out of them is OK - they'd just claim they thought it was a deer in the brush or a coyote if they hit them.

It is very easy to end up on private land if you hunt by foot. Ranchers post signs along the highway, if at all. But there are seldom signs posted away from roads.

I always ask permission when I can find the house and I've sometimes wasted several hours trying to find the owner's house. But if they don't post signs and you can't figure out who owns the land - you can justifiably assume they don't mind hunters on their land. At least that's how it works here in the west.