You're not first - what next?
 

We're discussing hunter ethics in this coming Sunday's outdoor class. The situation is this:

You're hunting public ground. You have a favorite spot to hunt - you've been saving it until now. You arrive at the usual pull-off and there's already a vehicle parked there. You're spot is only 300 yards from the pull-off. You have no idea where this fellow is. What do you do?

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

well if its a multiple car spot i would go, but if its the first one there hunts only, than i would not go.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

Go to your spot...Its Public land, if he is in "your" spot, you will need to find another, but Public land is just that, you take your chances.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

There's no one-car or multiple-car - this is public ground.

This situation plays out over and over in Indiana. Some people think it's o.k. to take the chance of walking in on someone else, other people think it's wrong to take the chance.

I'm neutral, but our class will be using this data to discuss the issue and debating the ethics of the situation.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

always have a plan b in place on public lands...

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

i hunt public land ALOT of times. do other guys park near me? sure do. do i see other hunters? sometimes. are there days theres cars near mine and i didnt see anyone? yep...a bunch. just because theres cars there doesnt mean diddly squat! A-its public land B-they could be anywhere. most public land will hide more then 1 hunter!! C-ive had numnuts walk straight to me and sit down and not care! more then once! just yesterday i had a squirrel hunter move into my bow setup and sit less then 50yds away! i had a orange hat AND vest on too and wasnt too high in the tree!! he parked right beside me. D- if someones near my spot ill quietly walk to my BACKUP spot or drive to my backup spot!

theres no good reason NOT to park there. heck i park places just to throw people off. ill hunt and park across and a little ways down the road just so people dont know where i am! but unless i know the area is TINY and that hunter HAS to be near or in my spot im still going to walk in. just my thoughts on the subject

i also dont think that had much to do with ethics! maybe finding someone IN your spot will show ethics...some guys will fight over it. some guys will take a dump or try to screw up the other hunter. some guys will quietly walk away like i would. but a parking lot means nothing. you must never hunted an opening day of rifle season in PA!!:D bring your class to a State Game Lands on the first Monday after Thanksgiving..put your orange on and walk around the first day! youll see 100s of cars ontop of eachother. probably witness a fight or 2 if your lucky and there long enough. heck...you might get shot at for walking in someones spot! i have alot of ethics..but a parking spot means nothing to me. sure theres bad apples out there..those are the ones youll find fighting..or chucking lead your way. dont doubt it dont happen. i know a guy that was hunting a open farm opening day. he was up in a tree stand another guy came along..said he was hunting there or he would blow him out of the treestand and had the gun pointed at him. the guy in the stand had to call the cops over it and before that they got into a fist fight!

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

Need more info. I deer hunt in the white mtn national forest, ie all public, LOTS of room. There are often cars parked at the logging road when we get there and we never see them.

If its lots of room, sure head in, but if you find them in "your" spot, move along quietly.

If its a small spot, move along without getting out of the car. Did this during youth turkey weekend with my 14 year old. Had a bunch of birds roosted in a field, short walk in from the road. We get there early enough to get setup and there's a car there. They had seen the same birds the afternoon before. We moved on, they called in the birds and missed.

Just be nice and do what you would like others to do if it were reversed.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

The State Game Lands near Burgettstown PA are a prime example of this. I always know the first day of PA gun season because the sides of the road are packed withs cars and trucks.I often wonder what it looks like in there when the sun comes up. Last year there were seventeen vehicles parked together in one stretch. I'm not talking spread over a couple of miles, seventeen together. To answer your question, if it's just one vehicle and the area is bigenough for a couple of people then I'd go on in. I'd just make sure to keep my eyes peeled for the other person.
Being as I hunt 69 acres with two other people, I pretty much know where the others will be.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

O.K. Point taken - the public ground is very large. There are multiple places to pull off, lots of room, miles of road and even more miles of hunting locations. That's the point. Do you take the chance of walking in on someone when there's lots of room? Or, do you see no reason to move because there's plenty of room everywhere? Some believe, with plenty of room, why take the chance of walking in on someone. Others believe, because there's plenty of room, the chance is minimimal and worth taking to hunt a favored spot.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

I go in and hunt. If I come across them in the woods, then I move. I hunt a place that has 1 access spot. I've pulled in with as many as 6 cars there and hunted without coming across another hunter. A parked car by no means reserves an area. You don't know which side of the road he's on or anything.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

This is my first year of hunting public land. I generally try to get there early so that other people will have to decide whether they are going to walk in on me. ;)

The places I hunt have limited parking spots. So, you could be hunting a mile and a half from the parking lot, but your vehicle will have plenty of company.

If there was a ton of access spots and parking, then I'd probably move on to the next spot.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

You have as much right to be there as he/she does. Proceed as planned, but I will say if you discover the other hunter in close proximity to your location, a move will be required. But that could work to your advantage as well.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

Proceed as planned. he could have gone in any of 360 degreees and could be a mile away from your spot. If you get to "your" spot and he's there, move on and get up and get out earlier the next time hoping he will extend the same courtesy to you.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

Happened to me 3 years ago. Being a teacher I'm off the entire Thanksgiving week. I drive to the 59,000 acre WMA. I see one other truck there.???[:-]So I drive thinking ..YES!! I got this whole place to myself. UT oh guess who is parked where I park.Mr. blue truck. We are both heading upi a trail that is 2 miles long. I said,"How far is your stand?" he says," Oh, about 1/4 mile." I said good.Mine is 1/2 mile. I'm going back to this desolate spot whereI killed a small spike buck.One pine tree in a palmettoe field that you can see a sapling crossing between 2 bayheads. I'm in my Summit .

Then all of a sudden I see a light and hear that sound of loud splashing coming through a bayhead heading toward my tree. [:@]
I reckon we both got disappointed. He went about 100yds and set up in another pine tree. I stayed for about 1 1/2 hours and left....

So now...as many have mentioned before. It's good to have more than 1 good spot.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

I'd probably find a different spot. I know that I'd hate to have someone walk into where I'm set up at, so I just don't risk it. Plus, I always have a bunch of other spots in mindthat I'm able to check out to see if there's another good area.

But luckily, not many people hunt in the area that I do. Some people do go off-roading on the trails there sometimes(including me) but they don't hurt anything.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

Depends - here in MI it is legal to leave a portable stand up. If I've spent a day or more scouting an area and putting in a stand, I'm going to that stand regardless if there are other vehicles parked or not. If I didn't have a stand already up (walking in with a climber for example), I may or may not head into "my" location. That would also depend on a couple things - if it were a morning or evening hunt. If it were the morning, I may choose to head up the road a bit then come back to my 1st choice of spots in the afternoon simply because if a confrontation is forthcoming, I would rather it be in daylight.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

Happens to me too often. I get very depressed when I go toward my stand and someone is there or too close for comfort. I don't have many spots anymore. The park I hunt has closed off much of the land my other spots were on and it pushesother hunters closer together. I just decided to get there earlier than them. I just hope they have enough sense not to set up right on top of me! I know it's public land and these are the things one has to deal with.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

Public land is first come, first served, but I would go ahead as planned.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

Well, I've been to public ground where it was so packed, the only way you could have a parking spot opening day was to claim it and stay there the day before. Don't see much point in trying to get into a situation that crowded! Otherwise, I would probably move on just because I don't want to end up right on top of someone and maybe not know it til sunrise. I know I would not appreciate somebody setting up under my nose after I was there. Besides, you never know who's out there and I don't want to be mistaken for a whitetail (or run into some nutcase). This is a midwest scenario - might look at it differntly out West....

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

go in as planned if hes there find another spot and appoligize for walking in on his hunt and wish him luck. do not start a confrontation.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

RESPECT The other hunter didn't know it was your spot. Don't ruin his hunt. If at all possible try and be there when they come out and find out where they are hunting. Work together and you might find another hunting partner. I always thought there should be a system seeing as how you can't leave a stand in the woods.(at least not in wi)

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

I drive to another spot .
Public is and always has been "first come-first served" and should be . No matter how you enter the original spot you're gonna spoil the other guy's set up . A public where I used to hunt had only one usable access since all the land around it is private , if there was a vehicle there when you got there it was pointless to park .

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

Folks I really appreciate the input and we did indeed use your data in our discussions yesterday morning in class. I appreciate the honest answers - there are no wrong answers.

It appears we're pretty much split on "go ahead" and "hunt somewhere else" - that data was confirmed in our class as well. About half thought - especially in a bow hunting scenario - if much time was spent scouting and preparing then slowly stalk the stand and avoid confrontation. The other half decided avoid any confrontation at all by hunting somewhere else. The bottom line is, most hunters really do want to avoid confrontation and that's good news.

So, next time you're all set in a favored spot and someone walks in, chances are that guy is sorry and did try to avoid you. We've all had cases of self-serving people that walk in and set up even though they know you're there, but they are in the minority and that's indeed good news.

Again - thanks for the help.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

About 4 years ago, I was hunting a spot on public ground. I hunted it all day Saturday and Sunday. Packed up camp on Sunday night and went home. I decided to call in Monday and take a day of vacation. I drove back to "MY" spot early that morning. I just knew I would see a deer due to all the deer sign. I rounded the corner and my heart just sank. There was a truck in my parking spot. I lost all hopes of killing a deer. Drove another 1/2 mile down the road and just pulled over and walked in the woods with a flash light. Walked out about 100 yards and climbed a tree..30 minutes later shot a small spike. I may be wrong and Im sure you guys will let me know..But my experience in hunting public lands is scouting doesnt all ways pay off. My way of thinking is the hunting pressure causes the deer to abondon normal trails, and the more hunters the more likely deer will be jumped and forced into moving around. How do you feel about this..Wrong or agree.

RE: You're not first - what next?
 

I dont think you should go ahead as planned because you risk really pissing somebody off and who knows what that guy would do to the hunting area people can be real jerks. I dont think you should go home because your chances at getting a deer just dropped 100%. If you drive to another spot then that guy will still think he is the only person hunting there. Thats why I think you should park at the same spot and hunt around him. Maybe you will run into him exiting the woods or at the truck and explain to the hunter that you had scouted the area and planned to hunt it but didnt know anyone was also looking at hunting there. Maybe then you can come to an agreement without making anybody mad.