I could really use a hand.

[Wood7143]

My concearn is finding a place to hunt, and dealing with hunter ethics. I have not been able to find private land to hunt. With all of the public land in my area I have never had trouble finding a place to hunt. In the last 3 years I have not been able to hunt, now this year I am Archery Hunting and was looking forward to the Gun season. This season I am always running into someone or vise versa. I spend a lot of time Turkey Hunting public land as well. This has given me a chance to see a lot of public land I mean a lot. I am always running into grounds blinds on public land so I stay away from those areas. I never know if they are for gun season or turkey or archery. I find the ethical thing to do in my mind is to just keep out of those areas. When driving around looking for places if there is a vehicle parked I stay away from those areas as well. I don't want to walk in the woods an mess up things for someone else. There seems to be some many more people in the the field it almost seems useless to try anymore. I got permission to park at a business from the owner so I could access some public land. I am the only person that has asked yet 20 yards behind the building there is caution tape marking a trail that leads to 2 grounds blinds. Owner says someone is parking in his without permission and going through his land to get to the public land. I moved to this place because where I was (in my backyard) 3 people came through the public land I was hunting 2 of them when they saw me just kept walking around in the area until close and one guy apologized and told me where he was headed (that to me would be the ethical thing to do). Am I being to nice? Should I be saying the heck with it when I see vehicles parked somewhere and just go in anyway? When I find a ground blind should I leave the area alone? I know I can just get to some of these spots earlier, before anyone else? How can I sit in a place knowing someone else put in the time an effort to set a place up for themselves. I sat twice this week on public land getting in at around 10am and planning to sit until dark twice I had guys come in the last hour of the night and just walk around until close. Seems like a total waste of time to even try to hunt anymore. Is there such a thing as being to ethical or taking ethics to far? What do I do?

[Dan Salmon]

Public land is tough, but I don't think it's a reason to stop hunting.

I understand your frustration with the situation at hand, I hunt public land exclusively myself and deal with these types of jokers everyday also. I guess that I've just come to realize that it is going to happen and try not to let it bother me as much as I used to. There are lots of things that can happen in these situations and not all of them are bad. A lot of these guys walk around so quickly without really taking a look around, that they miss lots of opportunities and/or push deer that they never even knew were there into me. I've taken 2 or 3 deer in the last 5 years or so on public land areas where I'm pretty sure those deer were bumped by the other hunters moving around in the area.

Would I like to have my own private place to hunt? Absolutely! But, in my current situation, a big land buy is not in the cards. I instead put in the leg work to be in the best possible stand positions possible, make the extra effort to get to those spots earlier than other hunters and then hope that the other hunters will respect my hard work to get into those situations and leave me be, It doesn't always work, just last year I had a hunter that I thought I had shined off with the flashlight prior to opening only to find once first light came around that he sat down 100 yards away in the middle of one of my firing lines. It apparently didn't bother him that I was sitting 100 yards away looking directly at him. When he got up and left at 8:00am, he proceeded to push 3 doe and 2 fawns in front of me.

Ethics would lead me to find other places to hunt in that situation, others have different ethics. I struggle to accept that my ethics are the correct ethics that all others should follow. There are lots of different situations out there, some a person will never understand and can only speculate how another could ever figure that his actions are ethical, but, I guess, it is what it is short of breaking a game law.

Hang in there, if you are finding the right areas to hunt, and can get into them prior to others, stick it out and reap the benefits of the others inadvertently working for you. There are just some jerks in the world, don't let them beat you, the reason they are jerks is because others have let them get their way before.

[Wood7143]

I don't think that my ethics should be shared by everyone either. I just often wonder if I am to concerned about getting in someones way. The whole ground blind deal we have where I live is at times rediculous. It is as though once a ground blind gets made that area turns into that persons private area. I have already gone into state land and set up to get yelled at because they thought that being able to see someone means they are to close. Or set up within a 100 yards of an empty blind and the "blind owner" comes in later and throughs a fit because I am there. People walking public land is great as you mentioned they often move animals around. As long as they respect that you are there.

[Dan Salmon]

Don't know for sure what state you are in, but if someone is making a stink and problem about you having gotten into an area before they did in the morning and they are wrecking your hunting for the day, at least in WI you can contact a warden and have them investigate a case of hunter harassment. State land is first come first serve, it doesn't matter if you've been hunting there all season and have 100 trail cameras and stand sites setup or not. If you are there before him and he makes a stink about it to the point of ruining your hunt, call a warden.

This law was setup because of anti-hunters, but more and more, it's not the anti's that we need to worry about, it's other hunters. It's really sad that it has turned out this way, but what do you expect when everyone seems to think they are going to shoot the next B&C record buck. I mean, after all, that's what all the guys selling DVD's and Magazines are telling me I'll do if I just follow their directions.

[Wood7143]

I hunt the Kettle Morain State Forest in Wisconsin. I had someone tell me to turn someone in for hunter harassment and just don't want to be "that guy". I was really hoping to get hear opinions from other hunters like you to see if I am in the wrong. I always end up deer hunting alone. Must of my buddies either have a group or family land they hunt and are full. I don't want to cause trouble with other hunters and really want to be respectfull to them. When I was 17 years old I had access to private land for deer hunting and was the only one allowed to hunt it. Day light came I looked over my should and there was someone else there. They jumped all over me about how long they have hunted there and I needed to leave. When I told the land owner and showed him where I was he was pretty wild that this guy was there. The land owner came out with me the next day and the guy was back so the lan owner kicked him out. Awesome for me right? True story. Three days later I actually grunted in a really nice buck I put a good shot on him and watched him run about 30 yards and fall. Not more the10 minutes later the same guy and his two buddies came walking through on the public land came to the property line and asked me if I shot. I said yes told them I saw him go done. One guy stayed with me blocking me while the other two went and tagged my buck. Young and not knowing better I never got the back tags and was actually really scared. I never hunted there again. I was on private land and shot the deer on public land which was stupid.

[Wood7143]

You are right though as long as we all follow the articles and DVD's we will all shoot huge Bucks 4 1/2 years old and older. The buck I shot at 17 would have quailified as a wall hanger for sure. I love to hunt and really look forward to it every year. Bird hunting takes the prize for me as my favorite (any bird) for sure. I only hunt public land for Turkeys, Ducks, and Pheasants and have really good luck. Never had a problem finding places to go. With so many acres of public hunting grounds in the Kettles there is definatley room for all of us. Your input is much appreciated

[Dan Salmon]

So you are in So. Eastern WI. I to enjoy bird hunting, more upland than waterfowl anymore, but a good duck and goose hunt would still be top on my list of great ways to spend a day.

I deer hunt in Marinette County. I haven't run into anything like you describe. Sorry to hear that you've had that kind of experience, it would surely make me rethink hunting too.

Stick it out, I'm sure you'll figure something out.

[Sierra]

I was looking around and just noticed this thread. When I lived in Michigan, my very first day hunting in my life, I had a situation like this. I arrived very early, setup my blind and crawled in and waited. Just around daybreak, some other guy wanders in and starts setting up about 20 yards behind me. I didn't think of confronting, so I got up (noisily so he knew I was there and that he was causing me to move) and went to my Plan B location that I had chosen. Not long after being in that location, someone pushed in some does. Unfortunately, I only had a buck tag. In any case, I would suggest having a few spots planned out, get there early, and decide if you want to confront or not, or call a warden if there is a problem.

I did find that most hunters out there seem to be lazy, and didn't want to go too far from the trail. I was able to find space of my own by simply getting farther into the woods off the trail.

Lastly, I put a dot on my map when I saw someone with a setup and where it was. After a while I got an idea of where people were and were not going, and also where I thought the deer might go because of the absence of people, and/or people walking to and from their spots. No idea if that was working for me, but I saw deer and had a good time.

Good luck man.

[spearfisher]

I feel for you. I'd worry more about being shot at if it was me. I used to hunt the Talledega National Forest some. Great place. HUGE. I bow hunted there a lot. Took a couple of decent deer. My problem was my "buddy" that I hunted with. He sucked as a hunter. Later as a friend too. We would scout together. Split up to cover more ground. I would always find good spots with sign all around. Put up my stand and hide it best I could. It was public land after all. I'd see or shoot deer. He would come up with a big fat zero every time. Then he started getting to our jump off point an hour ahead of me when he could. He was there first, so he'd help himself to my spot. I didn't mind did I? :/ One day he arrowed a buck. Bad shot, wounded the animal. Never recovered it. He did it out of my stand too. Now it is public land and I don't mind him using my climber etc even if it is "my spot" that I picked out. He did pick his own after all. I did mind it when he knew I was coming and he just happened to get there 30mins to an hour ahead of me. After he wounded that buck, that did it for me. I stopped telling him what I would find while scouting and never admitting to seeing squat after that. I finally stopped hunting Talledega all together after a problem with a turkey hunter. He actually got to the spot I wanted first. No big deal. I just drove down another half mile and parked at that road and slipped in. At day light gobblers would go off like crazy. I figured there were ten birds around me gobbling. Six of those were from the direction that I had intended to hunt. I set up and started to call. Some were double and triple gobbling. It was going to be a great day I thought. Then dufus starts calling. He sounded awful. You'd have thought someone was strangling the turkey that was yelping. One by one his birds were going quiet. I even got up and moved. I probably went another half mile up and over. Problem was, I kept getting gobblers to talk back and he could hear me. So like a big dumb bubba he keeps moving closer to me. I finally had a hot one going. I set up and was calling back and forth with the gobbler and I hear something behind me. I look back and see a big flipping idiot with a shotgun leveled at the hip walking slowly towards me. I was in the middle of a logging road with my back against a big treefall. He couldn't see me most likely but I know he did when I waved real quick. Now I'm in a panic b/c my bird is almost to me and bubba is about to mess it up. Not to mention his gun is aimed at my head. I wave again. Bird gobbles. I look back, all clear. BUbba is still coming. I wave again. He never stops. Walking forward, gun level at the hip. Screw it, I stood up and looked at the guy, hands up in a WTF gesture. At this point, he looks AROUND me and I hear wings. I look back to see the biggest gobbler I ever called in flying away. I turned around to dog cuss this stupid B. He was turned tail and hauling back towards his truck. Guy was in overalls and a croaker sack with eye hole cut outs. I was so flippin pissed. First thought was to chase him down. But he had a great headstart. Second thought was to pepper his ass with my turkey load but its a 3.5 mag. My luck i'd have really hurt the dude. All this went through my mind in a flash. Now, would I have really chased him down? No. Would I have REALLY shot at him? Heck no. But for a brief moment I wanted to hurt the dumb B that 1 screwed my hunt and 2 didn't seem to mind he'd have to shoot past my head to get a turkey I called in. Fortunately for me, I had started spearfishing. I just started hitting the water a lot more and pretty much stopped hunting period unless it was fish for a long time.Good luck and I hope you get things worked out.

[rthomas4]

I guess I'm extremely lucky to have private land to hunt, and the only problems I encounter are poachers and trespassers. I do know that here in SC, it is illegal to set up a ground blind or a tree stand and leave it on public land. DNR requests that any hunter who finds such permanent stand sites should report them to the local WMA wardens. The law clearly states that an area is first come first served, and that any structures left standing that can be traced to the individual who placed them will result in fines and loss of hunting priviliges.