Entitled hunters

[Notime]

I'd like to see everyone's thoughts on state or county land with adjacent landowners being entitled to hunt that property exclusively. I am torn about bringing this out and was told to let it go but to me it is a slap in the face.

This morning I used county land and county trails to go hunting, the same as I do most years. I got in the stand about 5:50am, an old rickity thing made from scrub oak, a piece of plywood and old carpet. The stand has been there for years as the carpet was covered in moss. During my travels I tied into other trails on the county land opened by a landowner and drove past 1 other hunter, we chatted and I wished him good luck and continued on my way, another 400+yards. At 7:20 I shot a little buck and I waited and watched 4 fawns until 11 am when I left. On the way out I passed the original hunter and a second who seemed to be taking a pic of me. Not a huge deal or so I thought. About 10 minutes later a truck rolled in and gave me hell about respect and driving down a trail (open to everyone) between his group of hunters on county land, (I saw 2 hunters total).  He informed me that his guys hunt there and stay away from the west and south side of this piece because other people hunt that. I had no idea anyone was in there hunting because it is such a pain in the dupa to get too. I doubt that I will ever rifle hunt it again because this has left a bad taste in my mouth. I let it go this morning but now I fell I need some advice from someone with a true moral compass. I do have GPS coordinates to some good looking hunting ground, lots of sign, if anyone is interested!

[leech~~]

This is nothing new. We hunted state land up in Hubbard for about 25 years and had a very nice area for the most part all to ourselves for years at the end of a logging road. A few years back another group for another logging road started to push over to the area we hunted. I met them a few times and they told me that this is known as the "Oliver's Woods" and that there granddad had been hunting it since the 60's. I said really, we have been hunting around here for about 25 years and have never ever seen any of you or anyone come in front that area? The next year our stands started to getting chain sawed down a few weeks before the season. We left that area because it was getting logged off anyway and found a new spot a few miles away. Glad we did because I ended up with this nice fellow! Lot of wood up in that area. Good luck in your new spots!

 

[nofishfisherman]

I've dealt with the exact same thing about 5-6 years ago.  I was planning on hunting a piece of public land adjacent to some family land.  When I got out there the neighbor nearly gave himself a heart attack with how worked up he got.  He claimed the land was his (clearly it was not) and that he hunted every inch of it (it was 400-500 acres, no way he hunted it all).

We hunted it for one year and the guy made such a stink that it took the fun out of the entire season.  We moved to a new spot the following year just so we didn't have to deal with him.  We talked to a lot of other hunters in that area and they were all really friendly and all agreed that one guy was a royal PITA. 

When you run into people like that you just have to do your best to avoid them.  Make sure to give them as much room as possible.  I ask them where there stands are exactly so that I can make sure to give them plenty of room.  Also if you are on an ATV you may want to switch to walking in to make less noise.  If you do shoot something and need the ATV to haul it out then wait until after dark when everyone is out of their stands.

You shouldn't have to tip toe around so much but some times its easier than confronting them or finding a new spot to hunt.   You just have to decide how much of a fight you want to have.  Personally I hunt partly because I enjoy the quiet time in the woods.  If there is someone who interferes with that then its not worth it to me to hang around for too long.

[Neighbor_guy]

It's called hunter harassment. Call the C.O. Or Tip.  It might not help you now to get them cited or ticketed. But it will help the next guy. 

 

Good luck. 

Edited November 15, 2015 by Neighbor_guy