How close is too close?

[chucker34]

Hello. I will be slug hunting for deer in a stand of woods next week near a cabin we are building. The neighbor on the land adjacent to ours has hunted the same woods for years and got some nice bucks. I have been trying to talk to him in person just to introduce myself and let the topic of deer hunting come up naturally but he never seems to be home. I know that come this weekend, we'll both be hunting and we'll only be about 200-300 feet from one another in our tree stands since our strips of land are long but narrow and we're both trying to be near the popular trails. He has seen my stand (and I saw where he puts his last year) and talked to my father-in-law, who owned the land before us, asking if I was planning to hunt. My father-in-law said I bowhunted but wasn't sure if I would gun hunt. So the neighbor has an idea I could be there no too far away from him and will be able to see me in my blaze orange. I am not too concerned about safety (or negotiating with him since we are both hunting on our own land) but wanted to know different opinions on how close is too close to be to another hunter? I bet there'll be some different ideas depending on where you hunt and what the hunting pressure is like.

[TURKEY FAN]

if i can see you, then that may be too close. It also depends on what you are trying to accomplish, if your trying to close in on a buck that has been using the area, and you are taking one side and he is taking the other then that is a differ case, but be careful of the shot.

[Stump_MN_Hunter]

200-300 feet in my opinion is far too close. You should have talked to him and brought up the fact that you would be hunting and what your intentions are/were. He might be none to happy to see you there opening morning. I know I wouldn't. I know your hunting your land and he's hunting yours, but my hunting etiquite(sp?) tells me not to hunt that close to someone. Who knows....he may have a spot for you to sit on his land. That way you guys won't be too close to each other.

[kevin1]

I try to be considerate ,
and in your shoes I'd try harder to contact the neighbor and come up with a reasonable system for when both of us would be out . Leave your phone number in his mailbox and see if he calls . The odds are that he's wondering the same thing .

[chucker34]

We each only have a couple of acres of woods and want to keep away from the cabins on the other ends of our property (and adjacent neighbors). And believe me, I'm not being a jerk about it. I've thought it through several times. On one hand, the guy has been hunting there for years and throroughly enjoying himself. I don't want to take that away from him. On the other hand, opportunities for me to hunt where I live are few and far between. Public land is crowded and there's not much land available for lease that I could afford. On the other hand, I watch does and fawns sneak across our (and the neighbor's) property almost every afternoon/evening to get to an adjoining State Park and alfalfa field. And as my father-in-law who previously owned the land has said, many of the bucks the neighbor's shot down there over the years have probably been on our property - and that I have just as much right to hunt down there on our own land as he does on his.

But again, I agree the two key pieces here are to be courteous and safe. That's why I tried to call the guy every night this week. He doesn't have an answering machine and is working long days to bring his crops in. I finally got a hold of him last night and he was very cordial. I introduced myself as his new neighbor and then cut right to the chase. . I let him know for safety's sake that I would be down there too this weekend. He seemed nice and glad I called. He said that last year, this guy who always trespasses on our land set up so close to him (and directly in his main shooting lane) that he was afraid to lift his gun. Anyway, I let him know where I will be and I saw where his stand was. We'll be close to one another but not too close as we know where one another is and out of one another's main shooting lanes. I think he was relieved as he thought I would be sitting in a ground blind much closer to his stand that I use for archery.

I feel relieved that we got this out of the way beforehand and told him I looked foward to meeting him in person. His upbeat reply was, yeah, I'll probably see you this weekend!

[1dahunter]

Thats cool its sounds like things are working out Good Luck!!

[tirty poiner]

i would ask him if he had a place on my land that he really wanted to hunt so if he did then you could stay were you are. but i think that is to close for gun hunting it might be differnt for bow

[timbercruiser]

I don't care if you are hunting with a spear, 200 to 300 feet is too close. No way I would set up that close to someone if I knew they were already there.