Hunting Etiquette ??????

[duckaholic]

I don't know about you fellas but I have had a problem in the past few years with people moving in on my stands. Last year my father harvested a 180 class buck out of a stand we had hung a year earlier. This year we went to talk to the farmer who owns the land and he said that a couple of high school kids had been seen walking out of the area where our stands were at. We got ahold of the kids and found out that they had heard about the deer my dad had shot and now they want in on the action. We don't know for sure who told these kids this info, it wasn't us. But it seems that as the years go on more people are starting to hunt at an earlier age. They also seem to want to prove themselves more than they do enjoy the hunt and at everyone else's expense. I am glad there are more hunters out there, and glad they are starting earlier. It just bugs me because to me hunting doen't start and stop at the kill. It starts with the research and stops momentarily with the kill. Once the celibrating of the kill is over, it starts all over again! Now that I got that off my chest what do yall think? Good luck to all!!

 

[rutnstrut]

I know just what your talking about. Even if someone has permission to hunt the same farm, it still is not "ethical to set-up right on top of the guy who has hunted the place for ten years or more. I have recently had a big problem with this same type of thing. What makes it worse is that its not just one farm, its almost as if one guy had fallowed me around all summer and talked to every farmer that i had hunted on my entire life. Some people need to learn a little common courtiousy and "hunter ethics", just because it is legal doesnt make it right. what makes it worse is when you finally run into the guy and he explains that he also has permission and that he will be in the same timber this year and you only find out a day or two beore the season opener, and he explains that he will be using his climber anywhere you see orange reflective tape on a tree, which you later find near every stand that you have hunted the previous ten years. I guess the real problem i have with this is that it changes how you have to hunt the place, you cant exactly leave the place until rut because hes probably going to running all over the timber the first chance he gets, and if you decide to hunt on a monday and decide to let the area cool down until the following sunday but then hes in their tues., thurs., ang sat., then the place just gets over pressured and drops both of your chances at connecting with a shooter. Because no matter :how good they think they are or how much they know" theyre still leaving scent each time they enter the timber and educating all the deer, well i could go on all day about this because it really burns my @$$, and i know just where you are coming from and it really stinks especially for the local guy who has been there forever, good lick with your problem.

 

[Maggs]

I hear ya man. I have one farm that I have hunted for several years. I don't have exclusive rights and never will even though I continually help out the farmer & his wife. They just have a hard time telling anyone NO and they believe there are plenty of deer out there and "one less won't hurt anything". I just keep telling myself that it's their land and the sooner I recognize this is the way it is the better. This farm has gone from my main hunting spot to almost an afterthought. Then I have some friends who own ground and think of the deer as brown rats. They are always after me to come & hunt even though there is a local bowhunter who has been in there for years. They just don't understand when I tell them I don't want to step on his toes. The common reply is "He doesn't own the land, we do". As much as I'd like to help them out with their "deer problem" I know how I'd feel in the same situation. The truth is at this point there is still plenty of land to hunt if you're willing to work for it and there is no sense in making fellow hunters into enemies. Maggs

 

[Pupster]

I have a similar situation. I share a property with another hunter and until we actually sat down and figured out a way around potential confrontation, we just kept running into each other.

So this is what we decided.

For both of us to at least have an enjoyable hunt we decided on a schedule. He gets the weekends and Wednesday afternoons, I on the other hand get everything else. I tell him the week I take of vacation and he yields his days of hunting as I do for him on his vacation.

I NEVER go in on his days and he NEVER goes in on mine. We haven't seen each other in 3 years. We both kill deer and we are both happy.

He knows where my stands are and I know where his are. He can sit in mine and I can sit in his by invitation.

I've found if you comunicate and stick to what you agree on you will get along better.

Something to think about.

Pupster

 

[bukket]

A custody agreement for hunting rights!!!! I love it pupster. You just need to trade holidays and you'd have a perfect formula that the courts could adopt!!!!!

 

[IowaBuckMaster]

I just hate it when you set up your stands in August, then stay out till late October, only to find out someone has set up within 50 yards of your stand and stinkin the place up. Burns me. I could never do that. I just won't share an area with someone I don't know. Odds of getting a trophy drop in half. Odds aren't that good anyway without someone butting in.

 

[woodlot]

I see it both ways duckaholic. These kids are probably like I was ten years ago. Just learning about deer hunting and don't have a clue what there doing. My first year I hunted my brother-in-laws timber that another man had permission for too. Granted I was smart enought not to put any stands in the same area as his were but I still managed to screw his hunts up by getting to the stand late and other things. He finally waited at my truck one night for me to come out of the timber and had a talk with me on ways we both could better hunt the same area and things I was doing wrong. Learned a lot about bow hunting from him that year and we've gotten along fine everysince. Your right about the part of trying to prove themselves. Thats all it was about my first few years of bow hunting. Just try talking to them again, sounds like you tried once, and just let them know your thoughts and your feeling on Hunting Etiquette. Who knows, it might work?