Am I the jerk?

[Weldabeast]

I was already set up in a tree 1 morning and I see a light coming. I turned my light to the strobe mode and aim at the other guy....I see his light go out and I assume he backed out....after the sun comes up I looked and that guy had just stopped right where he was when I shined him with the light and sat on the ground. He was roughly 50-60 yds. Later I waited for him to get up and walk out then I got down and headed for.the truck. Other guy was parked next to me so I had to interact before I could leave. I asked why he didn't back out and find another spot and he said he didn't know any other spot to go. He was a firefighter and I make the comment of something like aren't firefighters supposed to be prepared and good at thinking on thier feet....I got the blank stare as I drove off...if u hunting public u need lots of different back up plans. I have no problems climbing down and blowing the "primetime" for people's who walk into my areas....if u are sitting on the road I have to remorse to walk right under u and be extra loud while doing so...the guys who set up.on the road and get angry when other walk by piss me off more than any others.. just got 1of those flat emergency/signal whistle from Dano to keep on my person while hunting....if anybody walks in on me now I'm going to go nuts with the whistle and mess it for everybody...I got lots of backups

 

[Apex7]

Yeah. I was up in a tree last year and after first light I saw a ground blind about 25 yards away. I doubt anyone was in it as there were no cars around the trail and this was “back there”. But I’m whistling a few times. Nothing. Later that day I met 2 Hunters while walking out. One asked me if that was me redlight hiking in this am. So he wasn’t in that blind but I walked in front of him at some point. Or near at least. I felt bad but sometimes public be like that.

Jerky McJerkface’s are out there. And sometimes it’s you. And you don’t even know it.

But that dude? Maybe he tried...but not too hard it seems. If that’s me. It’s already prolly a bust. Climbing down makes a bust of an am for both of ya. If ya stay put and a nice buck walks out. Then you get to met the jerk who shoots at your deer or vice versa.


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I get a kick out of hearing guys saying my deer.
I never owned a deer it must be nice.

 

[ColbyBlack]

Well, you did say you had a buck grunt at you. Lol

 

[KYRanger]

Good stories.... but don’t think this stuff only happens on public land. People hunt right On your borders. It’s one reason I hardly ever gun hunt anymore. At least with archery season, you are far less likely to have someone on top of you. Heck, I was bow hunting the past few weeks and right at prime time, 30 min before dark, I hear a guy walking and talking. I look through the tree tops and there comes a guy with two kids and a bag of corn on his shoulder. They pour the corn out, talk for 10 mins then leave. This was probably 60 yards away. I thought well, I guess they are on their land, so nothing I can do. Pretty much ruined my hunt. A few days later I try the spot again. Same exact thing. Even hunting on your own property you can still have encounters. I can tell numerous stories of people trespassing on my land while I’m in a stand! Makes for some interesting interactions!

 

[dalton916]

I hunted a piece of WMA here for years and killed a bunch of deer in an area that was about 50 acres out of several thousand available. This place had everything you could ask for and I never saw another person in all those years. I also never let anyone see me while I was there. Then one day......

I go walking in, get close and there comes the damn dreaded flashlight shine.....backed out, set up up on the ground about 500 yards away (archery) and 15 minutes after sunrise I shot a doe. An hour later I trailed great blood about 300 yards the other direction (back towards the truck) right to a gut pile.

That was 1998. I’ve never been back to the WMA, much less my little slice of heaven I had found. Not because I was pissed because someone found “my spot”, but because I hate hunting around other people AND I doubt I could ever find a spot there that compared with that one, lol.

 

[Wyatt_burp]

I hunted a piece of WMA here for years and killed a bunch of deer in an area that was about 50 acres out of several thousand available. This place had everything you could ask for and I never saw another person in all those years. I also never let anyone see me while I was there. Then one day......

I go walking in, get close and there comes the damn dreaded flashlight shine.....backed out, set up up on the ground about 500 yards away (archery) and 15 minutes after sunrise I shot a doe. An hour later I trailed great blood about 300 yards the other direction (back towards the truck) right to a gut pile.

That was 1998. I’ve never been back to the WMA, much less my little slice of heaven I had found. Not because I was pissed because someone found “my spot”, but because I hate hunting around other people AND I doubt I could ever find a spot there that compared with that one, lol.

3 years ago I hit a doe from my climber. She took off, I gave it half an hour. 40 yards of blood trail into the edge ofva clearing. Blood trail stopped and another hunter popped out. Said he saw a doe wobbling into the clearing, an arrow come down into the heavily bleeding deer, and she dropped. Dude packed his stuff up, shouldered the doe without gutting and rolled out. Said he was waiting so I didn't waste my time or think it was a bad hit. Just an jerk.

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[dalton916]

Hahahaha, damn.....

 

[sdoyle1]

One hunt this year I was hiking back in 2/3 mile all uphill. I was the only truck in the parking lot and left the truck. After about 80 yards it’s a steep climb up the hill to hit a nice groomed horse trail. Once I get on this trail id head up the east side of the valley to the end of the valley then get on the end of the ridge on the west side where the woods end and it turns into a picked cornfield. On the west side of the valley below the ridge there’s several acres of thick nasty bedding that was full of buck sign at the end of last season when I went in there. So I’m about 150 yards from the parking lot and halfway up my steep climb and hear a truck pull into the parking lot. I’m taking my time so I don’t get all sweaty walking in. I look back and see a green light headed my way. I turn on my white headlamp and shine it in his direction so that he’s aware of where I’m at. He just keeps coming. As soon as I get to the top of the step part he’s at the bottom just below me. He ended up following me with my light on the entire way until I stopped about and he went 50 yards farther and set up. I was looking for the tree I had been in a couple evenings before and trying to decide my next move. I was more surprised that he’d follow me step for step for 2/3 mile than I was upset. I finally decided I would go somewhere else but I wasn’t walking the long way around to avoid the bedding area so I took the shortest route back to the truck straight through the bedding area. Funny thing was to go back the way I did I had to walk about 30 yards from him and he proceeded to shine his light at me to let me know he was there. In the end I went to another access on the same property and found a nice pinch point that I’ll definitely hunt again even though it didn’t pay off that day.
Maybe I’m a jerk too. Lol



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[dalton916]

Definitely

 

[bj139]

3 years ago I hit a doe from my climber. She took off, I gave it half an hour. 40 yards of blood trail into the edge ofva clearing. Blood trail stopped and another hunter popped out. Said he saw a doe wobbling into the clearing, an arrow come down into the heavily bleeding deer, and she dropped. Dude packed his stuff up, shouldered the doe without gutting and rolled out. Said he was waiting so I didn't waste my time or think it was a bad hit. Just an jerk.

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That was one of my concerns last week.

 

[bj139]

During bow season in heavy woods you cannot shoot more than 50 yards, if that. If someone is farther away than that, what is the problem? If the hunter density is really high, the whole place is saturated with human scent anyway.

 

[Matki15]

During bow season in heavy woods you cannot shoot more than 50 yards, if that. If someone is farther away than that, what is the problem? If the hunter density is really high, the whole place is saturated with human scent anyway.

Well you may only be able to shoot 50 yards, but if that hunter is farther along where you think the deer are coming from the chances of you getting a shot are slim. Not to mention they may be upwind of you so any deer you may have in range is going to wind that other hunter. Or the other hunters may have made a bunch of noise setting up so the deer are already alerted to his presence. I’d rather have at least 150-200 yard zone where I know there’s no one else around but sometimes that can’t be controlled

 

[bj139]

Well you may only be able to shoot 50 yards, but if that hunter is farther along where you think the deer are coming from the chances of you getting a shot are slim. Not to mention they may be upwind of you so any deer you may have in range is going to wind that other hunter. Or the other hunters may have made a bunch of noise setting up so the deer are already alerted to his presence. I’d rather have at least 150-200 yard zone where I know there’s no one else around but sometimes that can’t be controlled

I understand what you say, but this is "public" land so I am not sure how much of this land you can claim as your own. I assume the answer is none.

 

[CooterBrown]

So I was hunting public for the first time in my life a few weekends ago on an evening hunt and I'm climbing up my sticks and a lady walks by (squirrel hunting) and I whistle and she sees me and motions that she is going to leave the area, and she does only to show back up 30 minutes before legal shooting is over. Then have a guy with a crossbow walk past me 5 minutes later. What idiot walks past someone the second time? What idiot leaves the hunting woods at primetime? Guess you can say my first public land hunt really broke me in.

 

[Matki15]

I understand what you say, but this is "public" land so I am not sure how much of this land you can claim as your own. I assume the answer is none.

I’m not claiming any land as my own. Even on public land there is (typically) enough deer and space to allow hunters to not pile on top of each other. It’s like what @Nutterbuster said on one of your previous threads. Nothing is stopping someone from going up and using the urinal right next to the one you’re using or even the one you’re using, but it’s not something most people would do if they were trying to be respectful. If someone sets up 50 yards from me there’s nothing I can do to prevent them from doing so. But I wouldn’t be happy about it. People who see no problem doing things like that tend to have a lot more confrontations on public land and I like to avoid those. I’m there to hunt deer, not debate with some guy over a spot

 

[Wyatt_burp]

So I was hunting public for the first time in my life a few weekends ago on an evening hunt and I'm climbing up my sticks and a lady walks by (squirrel hunting) and I whistle and she sees me and motions that she is going to leave the area, and she does only to show back up 30 minutes before legal shooting is over. Then have a guy with a crossbow walk past me 5 minutes later. What idiot walks past someone the second time? What idiot leaves the hunting woods at primetime? Guess you can say my first public land hunt really broke me in.

Oh man, on Friday someone climbed down and turned deer away from me with 30 minutes left to hunt. He couldn't see them and I assume he was miffed at not seeing anything all night.

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[bj139]

I like being alone so I mostly hunt weekdays and have to work around the holidays and weekends when I have to follow up a hit. There is not much else I can do except give up hunting completely. I had never considered before this year that other people hunting public didn't have as much right to be there as me. It still doesn't bother me as it seems to bother others. If I wanted to have private land to hunt, I would buy some.

 

[CooterBrown]

I like being alone so I mostly hunt weekdays and have to work around the holidays and weekends when I have to follow up a hit. There is not much else I can do except give up hunting completely. I had never considered before this year that other people hunting public didn't have as much right to be there as me. It still doesn't bother me as it seems to bother others. If I wanted to have private land to hunt, I would buy some.

All I have is Saturdays to hunt because of work schedule so I'm up the creek without a paddle.

 

[mattsteg]

I understand what you say, but this is "public" land so I am not sure how much of this land you can claim as your own. I assume the answer is none.

It's simply a matter of courteous sharing of a public resource, as well as a practical one. Minimize the overlap of the specific deer that you're hunting with other hunters, and giving them the chance to do likewise. If you set up 50 yards from another hunter on the same trail...either you're the jerk cutting off the deer just "upstream" of the dominant travel direction, the sucker setting up where the other guy's gonna have first-shot, or you're both screwed by 50%.

Don't be that jerk...and who would want to be either of the other 2?

 

[bj139]

It's simply a matter of courteous sharing of a public resource, as well as a practical one. Minimize the overlap of the specific deer that you're hunting with other hunters, and giving them the chance to do likewise. If you set up 50 yards from another hunter on the same trail...either you're the jerk cutting off the deer just "upstream" of the dominant travel direction, the sucker setting up where the other guy's gonna have first-shot, or you're both screwed by 50%.

Don't be that jerk...and who would want to be either of the other 2?

I would not set up within seeing distance of another hunter. As far as walking past their stand, sometimes it's unavoidable unless I give up hunting entirely, which I am reluctant to do. Cutting off HIS deer? Now that's funny. LOL. Most deer I have seen have come opposite to the direction I expected.