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Anti hunter or just a jerk?

Its east of Brownfield at Mound Lake.

The person who was leasing it to us called me back today. It seems the person who put the gate up recently bought some of the property from several out of state owners. He then went and had a restraining order put on the other owners and had the gate put up and locked them out too. The judge issued a cease and desist order so the leasor was not able to contact and discuss it with us. He said the other owners did know he was leasing it out and I think he said to pay the taxes. He said they have gotten a lawyer and a new restraining order was put on the newer owner and the cease and desist order was lifted. He said the lawyer and the judge says that it doesn't matter if he is the majority owner or not. It's the majority of the owners who make the decision. He said this all came about in the last 2 weeks. He said that they are working towards a resolution to this and expects everything to get back to normal in a couple more weeks. He said that if things don't get worked out he will make sure everyone can come get their stuff. I'm taking this with a grain of salt. He seemed sincere about it but words are cheap.

I was contacted tonight by another person that was on it and he has a feeder, a tripod stand and 2 hog traps still out there. The feeling is we haven't been officially notified of any changes. So if we all go out there with our contracts in hand then we are acting in good faith within the contract. Technically we believe that one owner gave us permission so we still have it. The question is which one of us wants to test the waters. I'm not planning on going and cutting the lock off. But there are others that have more at stake who may do it to get their stuff back. Slowly we are all getting in contact with the others that are on it. If we can get everyone together we may go in together and hire a lawyer and spread the costs out. We'll just have to let it play out and see what happens.

The gunshop owner that is on it and myself agree that we still have the right to be on it. He had mentioned that he was apt to cut the lock too. From what I heard today at the gunshop I expect the lock to be cut in the near future. The only person I know that has equipment still on it won't answer my phone calls. I'm off on saturday so I'm going back out and do some looking.

I didn't word the sentence right. One of the people that was leasing the land from the land owner was in contact with his own lawyer. Sorry I phrased it wrong but it wasn't the landowners lawyer.

I found out what happened. I went to the local gunshop today to talk to one of the owners cause I remembered he was on the same lease. It turns out the land is owned by several people. The guy that was leasing is out is a minority owner of the land. He was leasing it out without the knowledge of the other owners and keeping the money for himself. The majority owner (55%) found out and came out and put a gate up and locked it. One of the other guys that was on the lease got in touch with the majority owner and found out he is anti-gun and anti-hunting. He was in contact with a lawyer who says the only thing we can do is go after the guy who was making the lease contracts. The other owners are off the hook because it was being leased without their knowledge. Now here's the problem. The majority owner put the gate up before anyone could get their stands and feeders off. I didn't have one out there so I got lucky. They don't know what they are going to do to get their stuff off the place. I don't know what the lawyer said about that. He did say it would cost more to go after the person who leased it out to us than what we lost on our lease payments. So I guess I learned a lesson in the school of hard knocks. Now to find a new lease that I can afford.

I only know one other hunter and I cannot get ahold of him yet. I know his feeder is still there cause I saw it with binoculars.

I have an address on the lease and I went back and found an e-mail address from when I made the payment through Paypal. I sent an e-mail to him earlier so hopefully I will get something back. If not I will send a letter in the mail. My wife went to the appraisal district office this morning and found out there are several owners. He is the person they said who gets the tax statements and pays them for the other owners. The address they have for him is also the same one on the contract. The tax office person also said there have been no transactions on the property in over a year. I am wondering if another owner decided they didn't want anyone one else on it and took it upon themselves and locked it. It's frustrating because it was something I could afford and within a few miles of town.

Thanks

I went out to the hunting lease I am on last night and they put a gate up and locked it. I haven't been out there in couple of months so I had no idea. The website we used to renew on and get updates is no longer working. The contract I have says I am payed up through Oct. of this year. It has no mention of the owner having the right to cancel at any time for any reason. I have the phone number of one of the owners which was the contact person and have called and left messages with no response. Is this legal for him to do? I figure since I was not contacted about any changes that I still have a right to be there. But I am not the kind to just go cut the lock and go in but I am tempted to do so. I know Texas has some weird property right laws. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Tim Tate