What Ruins your Hunt?

[reeper0697]

Something that pisses me off like no other is to be sitting in a stand not seeing any deer only to find out a few days later that other people were down at our hunting ground doing drives earlier, when they have other places to hunt, and not telling us until a few days later or even asking my uncle (the tax payer) to hunt or do them.
But my uncle always says, "they have been hunting here for years I can't tell them to stop." First off yes you can, and secondly they don't help doing ANYTHING there they only call and come around during hunting season. Man, I just got steamed talked about it.

[Jslotter]

What really ruins the hunt for me is crappy weather on days Im available to hunt, hunters who are wandering through the woods on opening day of rifle season, finding my ladder stand on opening morning 2 years ago holding up a tipped over tree that fell directly on to it, and its still holding but the ladder is warped all to hell Relatives who decide to go to the shooting range on the land and spend all day shooting targets rather than hunt because they were bored and didnt see any deer that day.

[suburbanbucks77]

The thing I hate the most is getting in one of my stands and then seeing a hunter in a climber 30-40yds away.

[stormshooter4]

Reeper,
  Your uncle sounds like he doesn't want to cause waves. For the last 10 years I have hunted a farm on top of the hill. On my way up to the farm, I would pass a section of woods and  a cemetary. There was always 4-5 cars/trucks parked there. 3 years ago I found out the same farmer owned it so I posted that up too. Since then, no cars/trucks show up now.
  Years ago on another place, I had  a cat come out, it decided to climb up the ladderstand I was in, and settle on my shoulders. Needless to say, couldn't hunt then trying to keep the cat off me.

[drdaven]

I have got a good one. 
During the late archery season, I chose to hunt the ten acre parcel behind my house.  Mind you, I am suppose to have exclusive rights to bow hunt this parcel.  However, knowing that the neighboring farm had been hunted hard all through the gun season, I figured this small ten acre woods would be great and if history repeated itself, I would be harvesting my choice of mature does as they filed past my stand.  Regardless of my "exclusiveness", I thought I'd better park my truck on the far side of the woods to let anyone from the neighboring farm know that someone was in the woods.
 
Well, shortly after first light a button buck waltzed on through and made his way into the meadow.  He stood there looking at my truck but soon settled down to munch on the green clover I had planted.  I was watching him for a few minutes when he suddenly picked his head up tall, looking in the direction of my truck.  Hmmmm... I wondered what had him all worked up.  Then he bolted back into the woods, literally flat-backing it past my stand.

Then I saw him.  A hunter walking straight for my truck.  He stopped about 6 feet from the back bumper.  Stood there for a second.  Reached into his pocket and withdrew his cell phone.  Made a call.  Replaced the phone into his pocket.  Then promptly walked 30 yards past my truck and sat down just inside the edge of the woods, not 80 yards from me.

Now you should know that Michigan holds a late doe season which immediately follows the muzzleload season.  This guy was carrying a shotgun so he could easily reach not only the far edge of the woodlot but also could easily reach me.  Blaze orange is a requirement for these late gun hunters but not for the late archers.  I for one choose to wear a blaze orange hat, even though I am legal without.
 
So, I made darn sure my hat was not covered.  I climbed down and approached this yahoo whom, I will state, had removed his orange cap (might just spook a deer ya know) sitting a mere 30 yards from my truck.

The only thing I had to say to him was to ask, "The TRUCK isn't a BIG enough sign for you?"

His reply, "I didn't know where you were at!"

To which I firmly stated, "EXACTLY!  And you have a shotgun!  Just where were you going to shoot.....not knowing where I was at?"

"I was going to shoot out here in the open (plowed) field.", he said.

Yeah, right!  Idiots!  The problem is this.  There was a different guy hunting this neighboring farm, just about every day of the gun season, muzzleload season and now the late gun/doe season.  None of these guys knew who was where.  Very dangerous group of yahoos!

[ranwin33]

So... you didn't want him hunting in the area because you were there too and he didn't know where you were?  I'm guessing where he was hunting it was OK for him to be there, since you didn't say otherwise.
 
I can see your point, but I also look at it from the perspective of where I hunt.  I've got 100 acres to hunt on, to my south are 14 or more hunters on about 140 acres, to my east are another 4-6 hunters and 150 acres.  I don't know where any of those guys are, and if any are crowding our borders which I'm sure they do, they'll easily be within 80 yards of me.  It's just something that we have to deal with.
 
Anytime you put a bunch of people in the woods with guns it's going to be dangerous, that's just part of hunting, unless you own a couple of thousand acres.

[BucknA]

Swirling winds at inoppurtune times.

[bowman12]

Timberwolves is what ruins our hunts. They always start howling right at prime time, and after they've moved in the deer really shut down for quite a while.

[msbadger]

Bowman12...OMG....I had no idea that wolves could get as big as the one I saw in my latest issue of  NAHC...it was a blk one and in length taller than the guy hoisting it up and weighed 190+#...I think near 200#....Just a pic and my stomach flipped...well a person just couldn't defend them selves from something like that with out a good sized gun...it's head was the size of a big blk bear!

[msbadger]

I'd have to vote "other"...because it's usually my own dumb mistakes that will "ruin" a hunt....most other things listed are usually givens you can plan on or take care of