OK, here is the story.

About 6 months ago, a "buddy" of mine asked me if I wanted to come and hunt with him this year. I have a group of old friends that I have been hunting with, but we aren't on much land, and we usually never get more than 3 deer between 5 of us. Well, after about 4 offers, I finally told him that I would come hunt with him. BIG MISTAKE!!

He owns 80 acres, and his neighbor has 200. This got told me that his neighbor never hunts except for opening day, and we can hunt both properties. There is also some state land near him, but I told him that under no circumstances did I want to hunt state land. I would go hunt with my other group before I hunted the state land.

So I went out to his place the weekend before firearm opening day, and he told me that he was putting me on his neighbors property because he, my host, wanted to be the only one to hunt his 80 acres. I thought that it was a little rude, but figured it wasn't that big of a deal. So we set up my blind, and it seemed to be a great spot. That night, I saw a couple of dozen deer grazing in the field.

Well, I went up to his place 2 days before opening day, and he told me that his neighbor was upset about my treestand being on his property. I told him that I thought that all of that had been squared away already, and he didn't say anything. Then he assured me that he had a really good spot scouted for me(still not on his property), and we could go put my stand up. When we got there, there was already a stand there. So we started walking. He told me not to worry, that he would find me another really good spot. When we got there, I said that I thought we were on state land. He swore that we weren't. He also said that because we were so far away, that if I got a deer, he would bring out his horse and help me get it back to his place. On the way back, we ran into the farmer that allegedly owned the land. He said that it was ok for me to hunt his land.

So opening morning, I walked a mile and a half to get to my spot and and when it got light, it sounded like I was in a combat zone. There were 4 hunters within about 100 yards of me. I couldn't tell where they were, because I couldn't see more than 20 yards into the woods. At about 10:30am, I took a very large doe. I walked in for lunch, and he said that after the evening hunt, he would bring out the horse and get my deer back for me.

So I went back in for the evening hunt, and when it got dark, I called on my cell phone and asked if he were coming out soon. His exact words were, "No man, you're on your own." Then I dropped the call. I tried to call back, but no answer. So I started dragging this deer out. I made it about a mile to a farmers field(the same farmer that said that I could hunt his land), and finally couldn't drag it any more. So I moved the deer near the lane that goes back to the field, and figured that I would bring my truck back to get it.

When I got back to the house, my "host" was standing in the yard smiling at me. I asked why he left me hanging and he said excitedly, "Because I got a 7 point, and I'm not going to leave my deer out ther for the coyotes." No matter how many times I tried to explain to him that he had given me his word, he refused believe that he had done me wrong. He even told me that he couldn't believe that I wasn't happy for him. When I got in my truck to go get the deer, he climbed in with me. I told him that I didn't want, nor need his help now, he refused to get out, acting like he was going to save the day.

I got to the field and retrieved my deer. I was going to go get my tree stand, but my light battery was dead.

That night, I took a shower and went straight to bed.

The next morning, I drove to Muskegon to hit the grocery store(he had been at MY food), the bank, and run a couple of other errands. He called me on my cell phone to ask where I was, and I told him. He then said that because I didn't hunt in the morning. that he and his wife were leaving, and that I would have to get my stuff out of his house and make some other arrangements. So I went back and packed up. Then I went to the woods to get my treestand. As I was walking back, I saw him dragging his deer down then lane to his house. When I got to the house, my deer was laying outside of the poll barn and there was another deer in its place.

I loaded up my deer and called my other hunting buddies. That told me to get there as fast as I could and to only stop for beer.

The rest of my trip was great.

Am I being over sensitive about this, or was my "friend" being a real jerk?

What I din't mention in the story above were the 3 UNTAGGED bucks hanging in his pole barn. I'm still not sure if I should report him for that.