AIRASSAULT
PMA Member
So.. I was reading an old poll about whether people would sit in someone elses deer stand and it brought up some memories/occurences that I've had over my hunting years while hunting in private and public land.
I used to bowhunt a particular piece of property right on the south edge of the city limits of the town I grew up and went to school in. The first year I hunted this property, I shot about a 125" buck. The second year, I shot a 140". The first year I hunted this property by myself, the second year, the landowner had let two other people on this property but we never had any conflicts. The third year, I only hunted that stand a few times because I had acquired permission to hunt on another piece of property also. The fourth year during the summer, I went out to check my stand and clear lanes like I always do a couple months before season and I happened to notice a couple pieces of pink marker tape hanging off some limbs on the trail I used to enter the woods to get to my stand... this aroused my curiosity.. Not knowing whether the landowner had let someone else on the property or not, I decided to hunt that stand opening day. So, I'm sitting up in the tree for about a half hour and I hear a twig snap behind me from where I walk into the trees at and so I grab my bow and get ready.. out from under the canopy steps a man in camo, bow in hand, with an oh-shit look on his face that I'm up in MY stand.. I just waved and gave him the WTF stare. So he walks off and ends up sitting on the ground like only 70 or 80 yards away from me upwind of all the trails.. needless to say.. every deer that came that way snorted and ran off. I still ended up shooting a doe that night.... but, what the hell. I couldn't believe this dude was going to sit in my stand on private property and it even had my name on it. Maybe I should have asked the land owner about it.. but even if they guy didn't have permission I know he wouldn't have cared because he basically let everyone and their brother go in there after that. The next year the land was leased by some d-port city slickers.. and still is to this day as far as I know.
I've had several bad memories/occurances while turkey hunting public land close to home... these I can sort of deal with.. but it still breaks the ethics in my book:
One year.. it was the second to the last day of 4th turkey season, and my dad and I had roosted some gobblers. We figured out where we would set up and so the next morning, everything was perfect. We would yelp, and the two toms would slam back and they were getting closer and closer.. They had to cross an old dirt road and then come about 80 more yards until they got to us. I'm getting pumped with every chest beating gobble and all of a sudden.... BOOM! like 40 yards in front of where I'm sitting.. My dad and I just sat there and waited for awhile and then got up to see where this guy was sitting.. because it was on the edge of private property.. and the dirt road was the property line. Turned out.. whoever it was came in and sat on the public land right inbetween the gobblers and our yelping and cut us off.. I guess there was a possibility that they thought we were real hens, but, I dont think we sounded that good.
Another scenerio,different year, same public ground, same area. My dad and I were set up on some gobblers that we had roosted the night before and we had gotten in there with plenty of time to spare.. The gobblers were hammering back and forth, and we started to hear "fishy" sounding owl hoots getting closer and closer.. We could tell a couple guys were like only 20 or 30 yards away from us and so we flashed our flashlight at them to let them know we were there. They stopped and turned around and left the area...or so I thought.. The turkeys eventually flew down, and were right infront of us just out of shooting range and ... BOOM! right in front of us.. these punk asses just walked like on the other side of some brush about 80 yards and sat back down and didn't call at all..
People piss me off sometimes... But.. we didn't say anything.. Probably for the better.. I guess since it was public land there was nothing I could really do anyways, but still... where are the ethics in some people?
Sorry for the novel,but, I was just curious to see what everyone else would have done in these situations and/or if this sort of stuff has happened to a lot of other people.
I used to bowhunt a particular piece of property right on the south edge of the city limits of the town I grew up and went to school in. The first year I hunted this property, I shot about a 125" buck. The second year, I shot a 140". The first year I hunted this property by myself, the second year, the landowner had let two other people on this property but we never had any conflicts. The third year, I only hunted that stand a few times because I had acquired permission to hunt on another piece of property also. The fourth year during the summer, I went out to check my stand and clear lanes like I always do a couple months before season and I happened to notice a couple pieces of pink marker tape hanging off some limbs on the trail I used to enter the woods to get to my stand... this aroused my curiosity.. Not knowing whether the landowner had let someone else on the property or not, I decided to hunt that stand opening day. So, I'm sitting up in the tree for about a half hour and I hear a twig snap behind me from where I walk into the trees at and so I grab my bow and get ready.. out from under the canopy steps a man in camo, bow in hand, with an oh-shit look on his face that I'm up in MY stand.. I just waved and gave him the WTF stare. So he walks off and ends up sitting on the ground like only 70 or 80 yards away from me upwind of all the trails.. needless to say.. every deer that came that way snorted and ran off. I still ended up shooting a doe that night.... but, what the hell. I couldn't believe this dude was going to sit in my stand on private property and it even had my name on it. Maybe I should have asked the land owner about it.. but even if they guy didn't have permission I know he wouldn't have cared because he basically let everyone and their brother go in there after that. The next year the land was leased by some d-port city slickers.. and still is to this day as far as I know.
I've had several bad memories/occurances while turkey hunting public land close to home... these I can sort of deal with.. but it still breaks the ethics in my book:
One year.. it was the second to the last day of 4th turkey season, and my dad and I had roosted some gobblers. We figured out where we would set up and so the next morning, everything was perfect. We would yelp, and the two toms would slam back and they were getting closer and closer.. They had to cross an old dirt road and then come about 80 more yards until they got to us. I'm getting pumped with every chest beating gobble and all of a sudden.... BOOM! like 40 yards in front of where I'm sitting.. My dad and I just sat there and waited for awhile and then got up to see where this guy was sitting.. because it was on the edge of private property.. and the dirt road was the property line. Turned out.. whoever it was came in and sat on the public land right inbetween the gobblers and our yelping and cut us off.. I guess there was a possibility that they thought we were real hens, but, I dont think we sounded that good.
Another scenerio,different year, same public ground, same area. My dad and I were set up on some gobblers that we had roosted the night before and we had gotten in there with plenty of time to spare.. The gobblers were hammering back and forth, and we started to hear "fishy" sounding owl hoots getting closer and closer.. We could tell a couple guys were like only 20 or 30 yards away from us and so we flashed our flashlight at them to let them know we were there. They stopped and turned around and left the area...or so I thought.. The turkeys eventually flew down, and were right infront of us just out of shooting range and ... BOOM! right in front of us.. these punk asses just walked like on the other side of some brush about 80 yards and sat back down and didn't call at all..
People piss me off sometimes... But.. we didn't say anything.. Probably for the better.. I guess since it was public land there was nothing I could really do anyways, but still... where are the ethics in some people?
Sorry for the novel,but, I was just curious to see what everyone else would have done in these situations and/or if this sort of stuff has happened to a lot of other people.
