Yorktown Brothers Shoot at Hunters Who Wander on Their Property

Evan Bray November 14, 2012 at 12:42 am

That seems back assward. There are so many things wrong with this story. First off, who hunts at 9pm at night within town limits? It was pitch black out at that time, had been for several hours, last Friday. Those jerkoffs are doing it all wrong. Second, if armed strangers appeared on my property, I can't shoot at them. Good to know. Where I come from, we have a "make my day" law. Third, if you want to hunt inside town limits, after dark, don't be a retard and know where you are and DO NOT trespass.
Back assward indeed.

Evan Bray November 14, 2012 at 12:45 am

Lastly, where am I allowed to hunt within Yorktown city limits. I didn't even know that was an option. FDR park? Turkey hill and Granite Knolls and Sylvan Glen too? Oooh, Tea Town?
Seriously, where can I hunt, legally, in Yorktown? I wanna bag a free range turkey.

Bob Rohr November 14, 2012 at 01:38 am

Well Evan you can hunt with a bow and arrow in Westchester. NY is not a Make my Day State, please remember that, it wills save you time and money. NY is basically a no other choice State. Read Article 35 of the NY Penal Law.
I lived way Upstate and I will share a recipe an elderly woman gave me for Wild Turkey:. 1 large pot Carrots, Onions, Potatoes and any other vegetable and seasoning you like. Put a clean Brick in the water and bring to a boil. Put in the dressed Turkey and cover. When you think the Turkey is ready, throw it out and eat the brick, it will be more tender! Wild Turkey is nothing like farmed Turkey. I know we tried it twice. Woodchuck is better.

Jason Everett November 14, 2012 at 01:48 am

You can hunt on DEC land and private property in Westchester county by BOW only. The fact that the hunters wandered onto private property, and were armed (bow, firearm, ect...) is enough to cause alarm for the property owners.

Jack Pimento November 14, 2012 at 06:01 am

A quick Google of the address shows they were hunting on the southern end of Turkey Mountain, almost to Rt 129. I'm not sure where Evan gets his info on this and the article doesn't state what weapons the hunters were carrying, but if guys with guns showed up in my back yard at night well after sundown, I think I'd shoot at them too.

Mike Rodriques November 14, 2012 at 12:18 pm

If they're in your house, you shoot them. If they're on the property, call the police.

Evan Bray November 14, 2012 at 12:22 pm

Good info. Thanks guys.

NorthCountyHound November 14, 2012 at 01:01 pm

I have hounds and security lights as a first line of defense which dissduades solicitors, UPS, FEDEX, US MAIL ( i got rid of my mailbox years ago and pick it up once a month. I just sort it there at the P.O. and leave the junk for the deadbeat feds to clean up. Anyone else whois unfamilar is meet by the sound of Mr. Mossberg being racked and a polite "can I help you". I rarely see the same peole twice, which is the whole purpose.

Will November 14, 2012 at 02:06 pm

Hypothetically - I have wandered onto the property which they're talking about while hiking, purely by accident. While I didn't see and posted signs I did see another sign that was made at their airbrush shop that said they would shoot and release dogs onto anyone who came onto the property and that I was under surveillance cameras.

Marty November 14, 2012 at 06:02 pm

Evan, I don't know if I'm reading the same article you did. I don't see anything about
the hunters being there in the dark or after 9pm

Evan Bray November 14, 2012 at 06:25 pm

Good eye, Marty. It was actually a detail in another article. This one: http://yorktown.dailyvoice.com/police-fire/two-yorktown-men-charged-shooting-hunters
By the way, I've been looking into it and the NYS DEC only permits deer hunting from "sunrise to sunset." If these asshats are telling the truth, they were wandering around in the dark for about 4 hours; their story doesn't pass the smell test. These guys should be charged too (for the record: I really don't think they property owners should be charged for defending their property from armed asshats). I don't car if it's a gun or a compound bow; either one can kill a man. Bows are just quieter. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/8305.html

Evan Bray November 14, 2012 at 06:28 pm

If you google "night deer hunting" you will get many examples of people being charged what most states take as a very serious crime: deer hunting at night.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/10/05/3578824/4-york-co-men-charged-with-illegally.html

Plamena Pesheva (Editor) November 14, 2012 at 07:45 pm

According to the Yorktown police report, the two men were arrested on Nov. 9 at 9:37 p.m. The police did not specifically say what time the two hunters wandered onto the Padovani brothers' property.

Will November 14, 2012 at 07:52 pm

You can't hunt after sunset (it is illegal), but you're able to track an animal that you've already shot after sunset (just don't carry the bow). Usually with bow hunting you'd fire at the animal, the animal runs away and bed down or hides. So the hunter will wait 1 -12 hours for the animal to bleed out (painlessly). My guess is that the hunters had already waited and were in the process of looking for the animal. Now, it is ILLEGAL to discharge a firearm or bow:
• so that the load or arrow passes over any part of a public highway, • within 500 feet of any school, playground, or an occupied factory or church, • within 500 feet of a dwelling, farm building or structure in occupation or use unless you own it, lease it, are an immediate member of the family, an employee, or have the owner's consent. • You may hunt waterfowl, over water, within 500 feet of a dwelling or public structure as long as neither are within 500 feet in the direction you are shooting. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/28182.html You can’t just shoot someone on your property in NY; “Equal or lesser force” to defend yourself. And if you do shoot someone on your property, don't kill them (you want them talking) because you'll probably be charged with a homicide anyway.

Alexa Guarino November 14, 2012 at 08:02 pm

This is ridiculous! I am a bowhunter in Westchester County. The hunters should have asked permission to retrieve the deer from the private property. A simple google search can give you the phone number associated with the address which allows you to gain acces to the property WITHOUT trespassing. Just because you shoot the deer, doesn't mean you have the right to follow it onto private land. I can tell you right now, who ever shot that deer, had his bow on him. When you shoot a deer and make a bad shot, you bring your bow with you incase you need to take another shot, this time one that is fatal. As hunters we don't want the animal to suffer but sometimes bad shots do happen. You know what this means? This means you DON'T track a wounded deer at night because it is illegal to be "hunting" after dark. Not only were they trespassing but they also had their bows with them past sundown which in itself is illegal.
I am all for protecting my rights as a hunter but this falls on the irresponsible hunters that didn't take the appropriate and necessary steps to locate their deer. Drop the FELONY (are you kidding?) charges and charge the hunters because I'll say this confidently, if someone enters my property without permission and I feel threatened, I wouldn't hesitate to grab my shotgun too.

Will November 14, 2012 at 08:47 pm

I mostly agree with Alexa here. The rules and regs for hunting are pretty simple and straight forward. We hunters tend to know the laws regarding hunter better than the police. But there is more to this then what we are reading here though. I (hypothetically) know this property; these guys come looking for you when you cross their property line, which is not posted on one side by the way. Maybe even the side the hunters crossed and the hunters aren’t totally innocent here too. I think the local DEP officer needs to talk to them.

Bob Rohr November 14, 2012 at 09:33 pm

Folks, the Law is the Law. You cannot go around firing Guns at people who wander into your back yard in NY.
Hound if you racked that 12 ga at me, you will be in handcuffs for menacing. Right or wrong the Law is the law and it is very clear. I had to take the training every year and pass the test. Article 35 of the penal law is not very long or diffacult. It covers all types of physical force and when it can be used.

JD November 15, 2012 at 02:27 am

Obviously Evan hasnt a clue, yet feels he knows enough to pass judgement and comment. There are a few spots the public can bowhunt with permission from the NYDEC or county parks. All other spots are privately owned by landowners who may grant permission for hunting if they wish. If a hunter shoots a deer and that deer runs off out of sight, sometimes, depending on shot placement, the hunter must back out and let the animal expire rather than pursue it causing it to run further. Sometimes this recovery occurs after dark. The quicker the recovery, the less chance the coyotes will get to the dead deer, rendering the meat useless. So Evan, think before you type, or better yet, dont comment on something you obviously have no idea what youre talking about. Just a thought.

JD November 15, 2012 at 02:48 am

You are absolutely allowed to recover your deer after dark with permission from a landowner if the situation requires. Recovering is not hunting. Recovering is your responsibility as an ethical hunter. You must do everything in your power to find the animal you shot. As far as firing off a few rounds of anything in someones general direction....Are you kidding me? If you think that's ok, you need your head examined. Inside your house, different story. Hopefully these 2 idiots with guns get a mountain of paper work and legal fees to stop their itchy trigger fingers. What if one of your relatives was hiking legally and was hit by one of their "warning" shots? Who would be crying for justice then?

Evan Bray November 15, 2012 at 10:51 am

These guys, obviously, didn't get permission to enter the private land; hence the crazy brothers shooting at them; so by your logic they aren't responsible or ethical. How do you know they abandoned their bows at sunset to comply with the law? Were you one of them? Most hikers I know stop hiking after dark, unless they are lost, so I don't think any hikers would have been out at 9pm on a Friday night, 4 hours past sunset. The whole story is crazy.
So are you saying definitively that they abandoned their arms at sunset, tracked the dying deer for 4 hours in the dark, got permission to enter private land and then the crazy brothers just started firing of rounds in their direction just for fun? I don't get it. The "hunters" very well could be in violation DEC hunting regs; not enough detail to know in the story.

AH November 15, 2012 at 11:59 am

As a hunter, I must point out that there was nothing illegal about what these hunters were doing, and I find it shocking and outrageous to read comments suggesting that it's okay to shoot a deadly weapon at men who may have accidentally wandered onto or too close to private property.
First, bow hunting for deer is completely legal in Yorktown on DEP property this time of year. As this and other articles indicate, they were legally hunting on DEP property. While the two brothers were arrested after 9 pm on 11/9, nothing indicates that these two hunters were hunting at night. At best, the articles suggest that the hunters were looking for their deer after dark, but there is no indication that they were actively hunting the deer or even in possession of their bows when the brothers started firing at them. Moreover, having some knowledge of this area (and after doing some research via Google Maps), it's not even clear to me that these hunters actually made it onto the Padavoni brothers property; if they in fact did enter private property, it's hard to say they actually knew they were on private property, which is necessary to call them trespassers. (More specifically, to be guilty of even a trespassing violation in New York under New York Penal Law, a person must KNOWINGLY enter or remain unlawfully in or upon the premises.) Anyone who hunts in this area knows that there are no private property or "No Trespassing" signs in the area where these hunters were fired at.

AH November 15, 2012 at 12:11 pm

Putting aside the plausibility that these hunters weren't doing anything wrong (other than maybe mistakenly wandering onto private property), in New York it is ILLEGAL to use deadly force to protect your property. The only circumstance under which the Padavoni brothers would have been justified in firing their shotguns at the hunters is if these hunters were threatening to use deadly force against the Padovoni brothers (i.e., requiring the Padavoni brothers to act in self defense). Again, nothing in these articles suggest that the hunters were doing anything other than being unsuspecting guys trying to track their deer, perhaps without even having their bows on them. Notwithstanding the flawed legal argument, it's morally outrageous to suggest two hunters deserve to be shot at if they entered unmarked private property. Is it because you're opposed to hunting as a sport? If so, voice your concerns to your elected officials about the sport, but not at its legal participants. What you're suggesting isn't too different from shooting rifles at two unsuspecting guys who accidentally end up on your property in pursuit of a soccer or baseball. Disgusting!
While all of the facts of this story aren't clear and this story is pretty crazy, I must ask: why give two men who fired shotguns at human beings the benefit of the doubt over people who, based on the facts we know for sure, weren't doing anything wrong? Now that's really crazy!

Evan Bray November 15, 2012 at 12:23 pm

I love hunting. Trespass is trespass though. The headline of this story confirms they were trespassing. The brothers should have fired rock salt instead of live rounds and it wouldn't have been deadly force. I come from a state with strong property protections. I never suggested theses guys deserved to be shot. I expressed great surprise that the bros that they were the ones charged. And for the record, ignorance is no excuse for trespass. If these guys were responsible and chose to hunt inside of city limits, they'd know where they were and would get permission to enter private land to track a deer. Perhaps the bros have dead bodies on the property and would not have granted permission. They don't have to oblige their tracking. I know NY is insanely liberal, but there are still some basic property rights left.

Will November 15, 2012 at 01:43 pm

AH and JD obviously know what they're talking about. Most of this private property is not marked either, as AH and I know. How would they know they were trespassing (walked off state property and onto private property)? AND to shoot at someone who is trespassing! Call the police, that is why we have the police. We can't take the law in our own hands.

Will November 15, 2012 at 01:43 pm

As JD says too, don't push the animal to run, let it expire and track it after dark if needed, without the bow. Most of us hunters know all the laws regarding hunting and follow it to the T; we don't want to lose our hunting licenses. As far as shooting rock salt at someone, no one knows what the guns are loaded with. If the police saw you with a gun that you had loaded with rock salt, they would assume it was loaded with lead. Rock salt can still do some damage or kill at close range too. The hunters didn't shoot at the brothers either, why would the brothers just open fire and some random people on their property. As hunters we are told to look beyond your target too, to see where the bullet will end up. What if one of the rounds fired did hit a hiker (granted state parks close at sunset)? As a hunter I been accused of hunting illegally hunting in Yorktown, but it is legal. Some citizens don’t realize large game hunting is legal with a bow and small game hunting is legal with a shotgun.
All the information we have is from the media, we don't know if the hunters knowingly entered private property. We don’t know when the shooting occurred, just when the arrest occurred, and we do know that the hunters were fired at.

AH November 15, 2012 at 02:35 pm

I'm glad you're not against the sport. In response to your comment about the hunters trespassing: as with most things in life and the law, the devil's in the details and shades of grey matter. Here, both the headline of this article and the story itself only indicate that the brothers wandered onto private property. (I see the other LoHud articles calls them trespassers, but until they've been charged and found guilty, such a label is really not accurate.) None of the articles on this incident establish as a matter of fact that the hunters knew they had "wandered" onto private property or even that they should have known, and being on private property without a showing of what they knew of should have known is not by itself trespassing. As I mentioned previously, the end of the DEP land is not marked well in this area and private property is also not clearly posted. It is very possible that these hunters did not know (and were not the least bit ignorant in not knowing) where the DEP property ended. Since you seem to want to give the brothers (who seem to have more clearly disregarded the laws of NY) the benefit of the doubt, I need to point out the other (very possible) side of the story.

C Gajowski November 17, 2012 at 02:55 pm

I grew up on a farm, still in the family. People hunt and hike and often cross private property, not always intentionally. There is a strong tradition in Great Britain, and in most rural areas, of accepting that people may walk across private property - but carry the responsibility to respect the property in turn. Hunters usually ask permission, but some tear down posted signs and fences, others ride ATVs and snowmobiles drunk, and damage property in other ways. Bow hunters seem to be among the responsible, maybe because it takes more skill to use a bow well.
You don't get to shoot people who are not directly threatening your life in this state. I would guess that someone out in the woods isn't exactly planning a home invasion and quick getaway. You don't because: 1, It's the law. 2. You do not know why they're there - are they lost or looking for help? 3 It's the law. 4) are you ready to accept responsibility for someone’s death or serious injury? Notify the police. A protection for property owners I WOULD like to see: immunity from lawsuits by individuals who injure themselves while doing anything of a personal nature on someone else's property (not on commercial properties where they are paying for use). Now hunter/hikers can sue property owners for injuries brought upon themselves. Reform this part of the law; let people be held responsible for their own actions. I’d prefer this sort of legal protection over the prospects of shooting at people!

Alexa Guarino November 17, 2012 at 10:52 pm

The hunters were down by the stream...there are no trespassing signs every 3 or 4 trees along that side of the perimeter of the property.
Also, the hunters were discovered because of their head lights...that means it was dark. Lastly, think about this for a second. It was dark. Unless the brothers were feet away from the hunters, they couldn't see the direction they were shooting. And since they weren't feet away from them, stating that they had fired over the hunters heads is a tactic by the media to make this story more "juicy". The only thing that the brothers should have been charged with is illegally firing a firearm in westchester county, not a felony. AND the hunters should have been charged with trespassing. No ones lives are ruined and both get a little slap on the wrist so they second guess their actions if this situation were ever to come about again.

Eugene January 9, 2013 at 06:40 am

There are people who think it is ok to shoot at people who wandered onto your property? Are you literally out of your mind? If they are breaking into your house, or are actually threatening you in some way, such as pointing the weapon at you, then you can defend yourself. I want you people who thought it was ok to shoot to take a guess at what one of the reasons a police department is there for. Take a wild guess as it relates to this incident. First of all, I think it was an over-reaction to get upset about hunters looking for deer that they shot. However, if they are on your property you have the right to get them off, either by telling them and they leave, or by calling the police to tell them to leave. If any inappropriate behavior was found by the police, he would take proper action against the hunters, verbal or otherwise. I am not a hunter, but do realize the dangers of having idiots shooting at people because they are scared because of their own perceived dangers. The law is clear on that in N.Y. The appropriate punishment for a hunter, or anyone else who may trespass, is not death or injury. Call the police, if necessary.