When you guy's hunt public land, and encounter a "idiot", who has NO clue about deer hunting, and he is marching in and around the area you hunt, do you confront him and tell him to move somewhere else? Or do you move? I think I am going to have this problem all of next year, it started late last year with two guys shooting 1980's model Bear bows, shooting about waht...120 fps? walking through the woods 50-75 yards apart, arrows nocked, "deer hunting", or at least that's what they told me. I know with it being public, they have the same right's as I have to hunt there, but I put in a lot of time trying to find a spot as far away from these "deer hunters" as possible, and have not seen but maybe 3-5 others the last 5 years hunting this spot, and they actually hunted...IN A TREE, and were very cautious about walking around me, that is totally cool with me, but these other guy's have me smokin.

That's the tough thing about hunting public ground, there really isn't much you can do except move yourself. If you confront them, you never know how they'll react.

My suggestion would be to do what you can to move further back in the woods. In my experience, most people prefer to stick close to the roads and don't want to hike any real distance. I usually get 1.5 - 2 miles back into the woods if I'm hunting public ground.

Done that

I have several spots on public ground in Ogle county. I've found if I go in the middle of the week I have the woods to myself most of the time. Sat & Sun I hike about a mile to get away from the crowd.

If you are going to hunt public land this kind of stuff is gonna happen.........and plenty of other irritating stuff. It's part of the package unfortunately.

I usually ask them to move on, and they normally comply. I don't change spots though, once the other guy moves on he usually accidentally drives deer toward me. When I enter a public I look hard for other guys and avoid their set up if I see them.

Like washington said if your willing to hike 1.5 to 2 miles deep in the woods that would eliminate most of them type of hunters. I have a spot on public land here in ohio thats a 2 mile hike that is my favorite spot to hunt. All the hunters out front push all the deer to me. While hunting this spot i average seeing about 50 deer a day!!

Those old bows will make a kill. Maybe not the way those guys are making all that noise. Have you thought about trying to educate them rather than confront them? If you can help them become better hunters it is a win for everyone.

I too was wondering what the age of the bow had to do with anything. Do you have to have a newer bow to be a good deer hunter?

I find confronting people to be, in general, non-productive. And confronting people with weapons could have unpleasant consequences.

I hunt public land and I've found the way to avoid other hunters is to go waaaaaayyyy back where nobody else wants to go.