The unwritten rule

[pickleguy]

The toughest part about this is if you approach this person remember he has a loaded gun & don't think there isn't people out there that won't use them. If a person is unethical who knows wher they will stop. No bird or hunting situation is worth it.  I hunt next to some public land & unfortunately I have to accept things like this. I used to let it bother me to the point I would let it disrupt my whole household. You have to leave the situation knowing you ar the better person.

[hookset6969]

I don't like how this guy cut you off but..... Would any of us shoot a deer that came walking in front of our tree when our neighbor happen to be rattling and the deer was headed in his or her direction?

[Marc Anthony]

ORIGINAL: hookset6969

I don't like how this guy cut you off but..... Would any of us shoot a deer that came walking in front of our tree when our neighbor happen to be rattling and the deer was headed in his or her direction?

A deer that walks in front of your stand is a little different than a guy stalking the Tom you're after. This guy went through 2 different properties that I knew of just to get between me and this bird. I think a deer that walks in front of your stand is a different scenario, don't you?

[Woods Walker]

Yes it is.

A more comparable scenario would be if you had a duck decoy spread set out on a pothole, and some ducks came and sat at the far end, and someone else started stalking your pothole and then shot the ducks right off the pond by your decoys!

I actually HAD a similar thing happen to me when I lived in Wyoming. I had a dozen decoys set up on a pot hole, and I was hunkered down on the berm side in the weeds, when I saw 3 guys stalking the pothole. There were no other "ducks" on it at that time other than my decoy spread, so I guess I musta FOOLED them and they were going to shoot my decoys! I stood up before they got into range, and they immediatley turned tail and got out of there, probably more embarassed than anything else.

[pickleguy]

I had a guy stalk my deer decoy once while bowhunting the guy & I didn't get along from day one & he thought it was wrong that I shot doe's. I watched him move in on the doe decoy & the I started laughing. You want to see the ultimate in embarresment. To this day if the guy knows I am hunting the neighboring property he will do anything & I mean anything to spoil my hunt, including taking a push lawnmower in to his marsh & pushig it back & forth. Little does he kow that he pushes deer to me. omeday he will move the ultimate wall hanger right to my stand. I will get the last laugh yet.

[buckhunter21]

IF he wasn't trespassing, I guess it's definately legal, BUT, not ethical as has been said.  Poor sportsmanship as has been said.  How big is this property?  If it's a larger property maybe you could hunt further away from the line....Brings me back to hanging a stand right on the property line.  Is that ethical.  It's sure legal, but what does everyone think about that?  Regardless, I don't agree with what he did...Sorry to hear that Marc!

[DeanoZ]

Definitely unethical..and in NJ would be illegal...no stalking birds in jersey, and although some still do it..I'm glad its a law..at least you have something to hang your hat on when someone tries that crap!

This year was my second season Turkey hunting, on public land nonetheless, so I was not sure what to expect given the story's I heard and my experience deer hunting.  The piece I hunt is not too bad in terms of # hunters / acre, but you still see stupid people doing stupid things.  On opening day i recall hearing two close shots abot 100 meters from my position and I thought to myself..."damn someone manged to get the Gob I had roosted the night before...".  Naturally, I was curious so  I walked up the hill expecting to find a hunter just on the other side of it with his trophy.  To my surprise I found nothing...no vehicle, no hunter, or sign of a hunter..hmmmm.  It was not until the following day when I happened across a guy who hunts there during deer season that I came to find out it was him who took the two shots (he missed).  More to my surprise was his admission that he took the shot at a bird that was on private land (which he did not have permission to hunt) that bordered the stateland close to where i roosted them the nite before.  He called it HIS honey hole [8|].  The sad unfortunate truth is guys like this are everywhere, in every state, in private and public hunts/parcels.  They've managed to sap the woodsmanship, ethics, conservation, and sport out of hunting.  The only thing you can do is not get cuaght up in their madness and lost your sense of ethics and who you are.  Take the time to set the example in the woods for others to see, especially the youth of this country.  In the end, its not about the kill...if it were we all might be running around like these clowns.  Its about the experience and the opportunity to spend time with all of God creations, put in the proper perspective its about as close as one can get to God.

Sorry for the diatribe, but like Marc and others here its an emotionally troubling subject for me..thanks for listening [:)]

[MRHunter]

Unethical and potentially dangerous. I am glad no one was hurt. If that hunter new you were there, he should have backed off.

I had a similar situation happen during deer season a while back. I was hunting State Forest Land not too far from road access. I had found a good deer trail I wanted to sit on. Just after daylight another hunter moved in to my right at 35 yards. The woods were open enough he clearly saw me. As luck would have it, 15 minutes after he arrived I saw him pull up his rifle looking over to his right. Then a shot. He shot a nice 8 point. This 8 point was only 80 yrds from were I was and would have passed 30 yards below me had this other hunter not moved in. I know he was in his legal right to do what he did. However, in my mind this was a very unethical move on his part.

[scottflesher]

I agree. No laws broken, but laws should never be broken. As wildlife enthusiasts and outdoorsmen, we should have an ethics code that is stricter than common law.
While I haven't had this happen to me (thank goodness) I have had several uninvited hunters on my parents property. While our land isn't vast enough to grant permission to every hunter who asks, a fellow hunter should respect the rights of others to post their land. I've been bumped off several old hunting grounds due to an ownership change and while it stinks, it happens and i'm not upset at the new owner.
We all should respect each others decisions, even if we don't completely agree with them.

[mikeal1234]

yes hunting ones own property has gotten harder over the years niow i stick to a parcel of national fporest thats abpoout 1 half mile from the logging road i take in then ist six m,iles to the next loging road so i hunt this ....... my neighbers tend to shoot anything on there land wether itrs jumping the fence as they shoot they dont care as long as they had sights on it before it jumped .......... i let them come get their ........... normaly not legal deer raccoon and or anything else off my property ......... done called wioldlife on them a number of times but i think they just dont care i have actualy had one come out walk my property once and say i dont see anything ............. and promply left.............