Originally Posted by
Noogindad
I am very traditional and highly respect the social/humanistic “rules” so to speak. Has anyone had a bad experience in the woods during hunting season with other hunters? How could that have been avoided? What do you need to do to avoid potentially “aggressive” behavior? The bottom line is outside of the obvious safety concerns we all learned from the hunter’s safety course, what can I expect and what do I need to make sure I avoid embarking into a WMA? I have heard of many really bad situations in WMAs. Am I overly concerned, or are there some things I should know?
We will most likely start with small game season and “work our way up”. Before I do though, I have to get it in my mind, (and their mother’s) that we will be safe and have a great time. If we don’t get our kids involved we are going to lose this beautiful sport.
Thank you everyone!
Noogindad. I've been hunting both public and private land (hunt club lease) in Florida for about 6-7 years now and never had a bad experience with people. That been said, I do avoid areas where I know others are hunting, and when I see someone has the intention to hunt an area close to where I intend to hunt, I sometimes just move to another spot.
Most of the time I hunted Green swamp and can't complain. Never saw anyone in my area and those I came across never had any issues. Since I joined a lease in Jasper, I've been hunting only the north area and planning on going back to full time WMAs after this season. I joined a lease and they are also excellent people and never had any issues, but I realized that for some unknown reason I'm not enjoying it as much as I enjoy the challenge of public land. Besides, over the years I made good friends with people I met hunting WMAs and I miss hunting with them.
Small game hunting is the ticket. You probably won't see a lot of hunters, but you'll see a lot of parents taking their kids hunting.
If you enjoy the outdoors, hunting and camping, make sure to take the drive to Osceola. Not far from Jacksonville and the place is beautiful. You'll love the Ocean Pond campground and you can just walk and hunt from there.