Finch

I just acquired some new hunting land recently. There are alot of deer roaming this land and I have already seen a few bucks, couple shooters. This is my archery club's hunting land. I have found some great spots and then get to looking around and see a treestand built in every spot I look. I was going to initially find a place for my climber but the deer would have to get through two tree stands and one ground blind before they even reach me. One of the tree stands has a mineral block out (illegal now in VA) and there are two nice deer trails coming right by it.

I went walking above this stand to find a nice ambush spot but it is really thick. I saw a buck come from this direction the other night so I'm sure they are bedding in the thick stuff above this guy's stand.

Would you guys try to find a spot above these hunters to cut the deer off or not worry about it? I normally don't try to cut off another hunter but this one is not playing faily.

mauser06

any way you can.....i hunt public land ALOT. my best advice is think like the typical weekend warrior hunters....and then think like a deer. when your thoughts cross youll know where to hang a stand. them guys will be using probably ATV trails or the like to get to their stands. once on stand they probably wont stay TOO long. probably mornings and evenings. typical weekend warrior style. UNLESS these guys are dedicated hunters. ive found 90% of the guys arent TOO serious and are easy enough to beat and outsmart. im actually PLANNING on other guys being around me on the opener. im also planning on them leaving WAY before i do. my buddy hunted out there before and said they will be gone by noon at the latest. good...kick the deer up..get them moving..maybe send them my way. ill still be there waitin. then when they come back in the evening hey...ill still be there if they didnt kick me up a shooter buck..waitin for them to do it again. deer will pick up on trails that hunters use and frequent. deer dont live by being dumb. sure they might even USE the trails the hunters walk in on. but not when they are out there hunting. hunting with other guys around is a diffrent ball game. sometimes it just plain stinks. they ruin everything for you....sometimes they will help you out. sometime you wont even notice them. i dont go out and TRY to screw other hunters. i just plan accordingly. i know the guys around here have no sense of respect..i had a whole FAMILY come by on the rifle opener. COLD...dad and i were there at like..4 am..public land we beat everyone...20min before shooting light here comes a whole family. dad and i shined our lights...they shined them back. WTF..you serious. daylight broke. we were surrounded by guys within 50yds of us. could hear deer blowing all day. they screwed us. they had the right idea on trying to intercept the deeer from US...but they dont know the wind patterns of the spot me and dad still whacked 2 does that day..but man we would seen tonnnns more if they werent there. i think they got one doe shot. they also WOULD NOT LEAVE. they left...but 1 at a time to "hold their spots" they were theifs if anything...funny thing is the year before dad and i were draggin 2 does and buck by 9am on the opener..them same guys were walking the trails. they followed our drag marks back to your honey hole because of the snow!! that was our last opener there. pathetic..i know its public land..but give eachother some space....its 11K ACRES!!!

sorry for ranting lol....just be prepared for what other hunters MAY be like(specially since they already break laws) and show respect for them..although your all out to get a deer it dont need to be a fight and war over it and hunting spots...if its too crowded id keep lookin

Finch

Yeah, I hunt alot of public land as well. However, this is private land that the archery club owns. So I think the guys are smarter than the average weekend warrior.

I don't want to screw their hunts up or have them screw up mine. I really would like to be one step ahead of them though. It seems that all the nice open spots are taken. Of course these are the spots that would be easiest for me to set up in a climber.

I don't even know if some of these guys are going to hunt these stands. Some are fairly old looking but then again I don't want to step on any toes.

I will look again soon but this guy is right on the edge of the open woods and the thick woods.Hes got the perfect spot. I don't even know why he needs to sweeten them up. [&:]

Thanks