Re: my 2 cents
I sat this weekend by my house. Saturday and Sunday there were 2 fella's walking around in full orange, pushing deer around. On Friday deer were coming out into the fields in scattered areas. By Sunday all deer that entered the fields were coming out from directly behind my house. Scent control to me is a religion, and I never use routes entering or leaving stands that will bump or give any reason to put pressure on deer. These deer continue to relocate to my backyard until a group of shotgun hunters that I allow permission to, walk through and bust them out. Then they live in the fence rows until mother nature forces them back in. My point, I could notice the difference in behavior and sense of alarm these deer were already put into to. When they would enter the field on Sunday, 2 of the larger does were always on alert while the others fed. They all eventualy walked across the road to the picked cornfield, but took their time in doing so. Now my sancuary isn't that large, but the deer population nearly doubled just by 1 group of 2 guys. It's not hard to see how these deer are already into refuge or large tracts that are not opened for depradation.
The other thing that put uneasyness into my bones was the fact that I DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE OUT THERE HUNTING UNTIL I SAW THE ORANGE. I do trust the people that have permission to walk through during shotgun season, but every year there is a new group that thinks they are sneaky and can get through here and push the deer onto someone else's ground and then shoot them. The problem there is that most of the deer are bedded within 100 yards of my house, which you can't legally hunt because it is within the 200 yard limit. All it takes is some newbie in the tresspassing group to stumble upon these deer, which break out through my back yard, and upon intial instinct to shoot, I mean that's why they are trespassing for in the first place, and send the slugs directly at my house because they didn't know it was just over the hill they were shooting towards. Now take the scenario to me sitting in my stand, thinking I am the only one around like usual, and having these guys come through in orange. Makes you think a little bit. These guys were on someone else's ground, but the distance between us was well within slug range. Although my children were gone this weekend, these hunters were on the trails they use to walk and ride 4 wheelers around on, once again within slug range.
I agree with everyone that this Holiday hunt was not a "NEEDED" or even a "HUNTER SAFE" extra season. There are too many guys sitting in trees with no camo, and people running around with slugs. I'm not much of a gambler and the DNR shouldn't be either. Odds are they will crap out if this continues...