What Ruins your Hunt?

[Marc Anthony]

The cell phone is the LAST thing you want to leave behind, IMO. You can always just simply shut it off! I know 2 people who fell out of their stands and one who cut his femur artery while field dressing a deer. The cell phone saved the 2 who fell but not the other guy, although he did call for help.
 
Anyway, I hate hunters who use their 4 wheelers to go to their stands! I even had one clown show up on his 4 wheeler at 7:30 am, at my location and ask me if I had seen any deer! I just said simply "No". Then I packed up and left for breakfast as I wasn't going to see any deer for a few hours.

[buckhunter21]

Anyway, I hate hunters who use their 4 wheelers to go to their stands! I even had one clown show up on his 4 wheeler at 7:30 am, at my location and ask me if I had seen any deer! I just said simply "No". Then I packed up and left for breakfast as I wasn't going to see any deer for a few hours.

 
You have to be kidding me?  LOL  Way to keep your cool!

[passin through]

Mosquito's are the bane of existence here.  and they are HUGE......I saw a couple flying off with a squirrel just the other day.....
Dogs don't really bother me too bad as we own the area pretty much and if there's one come by its usually mine & doesn't hang around...if it does I have a sling shot I use on crows so .....
People wise...again we own the area so if someone comes thru they are bad wrong and I don't really count it as a ruined hunt to insure they don't make the same mistake again.  (Although the few people that have walked/rode up on me count it as a ruined day I'm sure)

Squirrels barking is something I love to hear though.....kinda like a natural tripwire...if I set them off when they quit i know all is well...if something else sets them off i start looking a little more intently.....sometimes you never see what sets them off ...all part of it

[Woods Walker]

The cell phone is the LAST thing you want to leave behind, IMO. You can always just simply shut it off! I know 2 people who fell out of their stands and one who cut his femur artery while field dressing a deer. The cell phone saved the 2 who fell but not the other guy, although he did call for help.

 
Where we hunt, the coverage is spotty at best. It can't be relied on, and in my experience, if people know I have it, they call me. When the day comes that I need an electronic leash in order to hunt, whether it'd be from my buddies or the landowner, then  that'll be the day I stop hunting. I HATE the damn things. They remind me of work, which is what I go into the woods to escape.
 
I don't want or need to have every single moment of my existance known to anyone who thinks they need to know. It's my time, and I'll live it according to my wishes. We can talk at the end of the day about who saw what. If I die out there, then so be it. It beats hell out of a hospital or God forbid a nursing home. At least my last moments will be spend doing what and being where I love the most.
 
And just for the record, my Ziess 10X40's are the one item I never leave behind! [:)]

[Legnip]

I would absolutely love to hunt the burbs like that. Getting permission is the tough part.

[Legnip]

I don't mind another hunter, if he is supposed to be there. Some years we have had to run tresspassers off more than one. Our neighbor ran someone off one day from a ground blind that the tresspasser built, then he had to run the guys brother off the next morning. Talk about wanting to start a fight. Grrrrr....

[shadow]

What ruins my hunt....let me tell you.
First off I'll say I truly LOVE to take my daughter(s) and nephews with me and they really enjoy being out there. They will also be old enough in the coming year or so to start hunting with me and not just tagging along.
But... as what happened this past Saturday our first time out this season, we got settled in to our 2 person ladder stand and 10 mins after we get there (2pm) we see a fawn walking toward us. I thought this is gonna be good, my daughter already has someting to focus on, take pictures of and generally not get bored.
After 1/2 hour it walks off, then it comes back about an hour later with another fawn, both still spotted, they mill around for about another 1/2 hour and a large doe comes in and she is also eating acorns and leaves off some brush...
THEN I hear it......dad I'm cold, when can we go?

Here it is, looking promising for an afternoon hunt, a few deer already seen and its ONLY 4:00.
So we sit for another 1/2 hour, she dressed in her warm? fall camo on a beautiful 60 degree day, and we get down and leave.
So that is what ruins many of my hunts not being able to stick it out with the kids for a longer period of time. I don't complain and they keep coming with me so I guess its not all that bad. And hopefully this season one of them will be with me this time when I kill a deer so they can experience that part of it as well.
 
So far i've been fortunate and this is the only real "complaint" I have.
I guess I'll also add cell phones, I make sure mine is on vibrate and my wife would be the only one calling but I still hate having it on, but its a safety thing.
And... I still haven't found that one tresspasser I had caught on my trail camera but having someone out there while I'm hunting would also ruin my hunt.

[vipertech]

I have to slightly disagree about the previous 4-wheeler comments.  I have personally witnessed deer, more that once, just stand there gawking at me as I drove by on my 4-wheeler.  Maybe it's because I hunt the family farm and they are used to motorized vehicles like tractors and such.  In my experience, they just do not seem to be overly concerned with 4-wheelers. 
 
I use mine every year to get most of the way to my stands.  I park it roughly 200-300 or so yards from the woods I hunt.  Ever since using it, I've had pretty much the exact same results as during the years I didn't own one.  From hauling deer out of the woods, shortening my time to/from the stand, to helping with chores, it is by far is the best hunting tool I've ever purchased. 
 
In any event,  I understand where the comments are coming from.  I was hunting our private land a few years ago when a group of two riders tried coming down the trail through our woods.  They happened to see me and instead swung wide around the woods.  It did tick me off to an extent but within an hour or so, the woods was all quiet again.
 
So my vote goes to other people. I would have to say unfortunately, that the "orange army" is most often the cause for a ruined hunt in my case. 

[epapineau]

I get everything done early so I can get in my stand with plenty of time before prime dusk, then some "hunter" goes romping around in the woods 20 minutes before dusk and sets up a tree stand to hunt for 30 minutes and get down! God, I need to find some good private land!!! Its gettin hard to come by since the farmers found out they could lease it to hunters for money!

[clfenimore]

I try not to let any thing push me out of the stand I hunt property that is shared with other hunters and there are sometimes dogs in the area. I've had deer pushed to me by both and I've had deer pushed away as well. I sometimes have to confront trespassers and inform them that they are on private property the land owner request that we ask trespassers to leave and let him know who it was. I get back in my stand and stick it out or go to another stand location.
Mosquitoes are relentless once they zero in on you they don't quit. I'm sure there in Louisiana the Mosquito's are thick and are a problem longer than here in Missouri. After a cold snap they disappear here. You know one place where you wouldn't think the Mosquito's would be bad that's Minnesota I haven't hunted there though I went on a chartered fishing trip a couple years ago and the mosquitoes were terrible. I was in Louisiana many years ago My uncle took us to a swamp area at night we had flashlights and caught crawdads well actually all we had to do is pick them up those mudbugs were everywhere. we had a couple of coolers full in no time. We all sprayed down with repellent so The Mosquitoes didn't bite too bad mostly they would get in my face they were swarming our lights though.
I've been looking into Hunting Louisiana next year I have a cousin who lives near there only in TX It looks like a Non Resident can buy tags fairly inexpensively and there are lots of public land areas I was thinking Area 2 or 3 they both have thousands of acres of WMA's do you have any suggestions?