Chimney7
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2020
- Messages
- 276
Am I the ahole in this situation?
Just had a pretty negative encounter with an otherwise pleasant neighbor (neighbor A)in the woods. So a little backstory: neighbor A and I both hunt a mutual neighbors (neighbor b)30 acre property. We’re in a pretty heavily populated area, not quite suburbs but pretty close. So a 30 acre chunk is a good size property. I killed a buck and a doe there last year. So it’s a good spot that I don’t want to just abandon. I absolutely have permission as I ask every year. The very first year I asked for permission, about 7 years ago, I asked if anyone else hunted in there and neighbor B said no. I’ve been pretty polite to this guy as far as hunting goes, the first time I met him years ago he was telling me that he was hunting close to where my trail cameras where and he saw me checking them when he was hunting. I told him no problem, I didn’t know you hunted there and told him I would move them, which I did. Last year I tried to help him track a doe that he shot on the last day of the season, I saw the deer out my window up in the woods and helped him out the best I could. I have a ladder stand on the property which is roughly 200 yards away from one of his stands, that I put up a few years ago. Hunted out of it a few times during gun season and it’s still up to this day. The stand is close to my house, and that one of his is close to his house. I don’t think it’s an issue, found out today that he does. It’s also worth mentioning that neighbor A has at least 3 stands he hunts out of, possibly 4.
So today’s incident goes like this. I’m in a tree 6.30 ish that is actually close to two of his, like 70 yards. There is a stand behind me and one in front of me, it’s at the opening of a bowl, that is a pretty good spot where the deer come through often. Kind of close, but hey it’s 30 acres, the property does not belong to either of us and he has 3 stands that I know of all in the spots a hunter would want to be and are up year round. So I see him walking from the direction of his house with no bow, I don’t know what he’s doing. So I whistle a few times, get his attention and wave, friendly wave. He keeps walking towards me and walks right on by, further into where deer would be coming from, looks up at me and I wave again, nothing. As he’s walking away he says to me: if you’re going to hunt that close to my stand you might as well use mine. It takes me a few seconds to process what’s happening and that he is upset. So as he’s walking away I ask him if he’s got a problem. He says he does. I try to resolve it right then and there but he isn’t interested. He gives me the ‘ive been hunting here 25 years’ line. I ask him if he doesn’t want me hunting on the property at all, he tells me to hunt wherever I want, sarcastically. He also mentioned that he wasn’t happy about my ladder stand that is in my opinion more than far enough away from all of his setups. Long story short we resolved nothing, I was pretty angry, got out of the tree and came home. Now I’m pretty mad at a neighbor that I had no problems with before this, not only did he ruin tonight’s hunt, he tried to bully me out of hunting close to his spots by giving me the 25 year hunting spiel.
I can hunt this property after work so I do, I have just as easy access to this bowl area as he does. Am I wrong in what I’m doing? Does the fact that he has a bunch of stands up all the time mean I shouldn’t hunt near them when it’s on someone else’s property?
If you made it this far thanks for reading. Love to hear some feedback on if I owe him an apology or if he’s the a-hole.
(Edited to add that it’s an urban area and worth hunting IMO)
Just had a pretty negative encounter with an otherwise pleasant neighbor (neighbor A)in the woods. So a little backstory: neighbor A and I both hunt a mutual neighbors (neighbor b)30 acre property. We’re in a pretty heavily populated area, not quite suburbs but pretty close. So a 30 acre chunk is a good size property. I killed a buck and a doe there last year. So it’s a good spot that I don’t want to just abandon. I absolutely have permission as I ask every year. The very first year I asked for permission, about 7 years ago, I asked if anyone else hunted in there and neighbor B said no. I’ve been pretty polite to this guy as far as hunting goes, the first time I met him years ago he was telling me that he was hunting close to where my trail cameras where and he saw me checking them when he was hunting. I told him no problem, I didn’t know you hunted there and told him I would move them, which I did. Last year I tried to help him track a doe that he shot on the last day of the season, I saw the deer out my window up in the woods and helped him out the best I could. I have a ladder stand on the property which is roughly 200 yards away from one of his stands, that I put up a few years ago. Hunted out of it a few times during gun season and it’s still up to this day. The stand is close to my house, and that one of his is close to his house. I don’t think it’s an issue, found out today that he does. It’s also worth mentioning that neighbor A has at least 3 stands he hunts out of, possibly 4.
So today’s incident goes like this. I’m in a tree 6.30 ish that is actually close to two of his, like 70 yards. There is a stand behind me and one in front of me, it’s at the opening of a bowl, that is a pretty good spot where the deer come through often. Kind of close, but hey it’s 30 acres, the property does not belong to either of us and he has 3 stands that I know of all in the spots a hunter would want to be and are up year round. So I see him walking from the direction of his house with no bow, I don’t know what he’s doing. So I whistle a few times, get his attention and wave, friendly wave. He keeps walking towards me and walks right on by, further into where deer would be coming from, looks up at me and I wave again, nothing. As he’s walking away he says to me: if you’re going to hunt that close to my stand you might as well use mine. It takes me a few seconds to process what’s happening and that he is upset. So as he’s walking away I ask him if he’s got a problem. He says he does. I try to resolve it right then and there but he isn’t interested. He gives me the ‘ive been hunting here 25 years’ line. I ask him if he doesn’t want me hunting on the property at all, he tells me to hunt wherever I want, sarcastically. He also mentioned that he wasn’t happy about my ladder stand that is in my opinion more than far enough away from all of his setups. Long story short we resolved nothing, I was pretty angry, got out of the tree and came home. Now I’m pretty mad at a neighbor that I had no problems with before this, not only did he ruin tonight’s hunt, he tried to bully me out of hunting close to his spots by giving me the 25 year hunting spiel.
I can hunt this property after work so I do, I have just as easy access to this bowl area as he does. Am I wrong in what I’m doing? Does the fact that he has a bunch of stands up all the time mean I shouldn’t hunt near them when it’s on someone else’s property?
If you made it this far thanks for reading. Love to hear some feedback on if I owe him an apology or if he’s the a-hole.
(Edited to add that it’s an urban area and worth hunting IMO)
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