When your hunting on public land that kind of stuff happens all the time. I worked a place all summer only to show up opening morning to have a dude sitting 10 yeards from where I was gonna sit. Nothing you can do......sucks.

Al, I was in NO way trying to say that you were not being truthful - FAR from it! You were shafted and you should be disappointed with your "friend" - All I was hoping was that it was just a case of "since you did good in that area of public land, I'll setup somewhere over near there and see how it goes" type of thing and not done with malice. From you remark about him claiming YOU honed in on HIS area - well that's enough for me to hear! Dissolve this type of friendship immediately. I mean in the woods - he may be a very good guy away from the woods and a good guy to talk hunting with, just not where the hunting takes place. I have not had the displeasure to experience this, but on public land I met up with another tye of slob hunter. I shot a 4-pointer it ran about 50 yards and diedand before I could get up to it a guy stepped up to it and shot it in the head, didn't gut it and dragged it off to his truck and took off with it. I was 14 at the time and it really soured me on hunting public land. I have not hunted on public land since then. This happened in SGL179 in Aleppo TWP, Pennsylvania.
Just make sure that if you do find a "Honey Hole", just keep it to yourself and Trusted (and I mean Trusted) friends ONLY! Horrible way to learn a lesson.
Good Luck, my friend! I'd hunt with you anyday!

BHF I think thats a great outlook but I find these strangers or friendsthat want to hunt the areas you have scouted and cleared shooting lanes in ..are generally to lazy to find their own ... Ive had it happen to me this year on this 80 acres I am currenty hunting in Alabama ..my son and I have scouted this land ...then went in HOT June to put up all our stands ...made sure to stay out of the bedding area and just hunt the frindges ...then just as the rut starts the owners brother-in-law shows up with a friend and now they have stand next to my syands and drive 4 wheelers right through the cutover where the deer are bedding ..of course I can't say much but it is a pisser!

dd

I didn't take it that way at all eemer. I was just trying to reinforce what I was saying. I even talked to a guy last night that was sitting right next to us when we had the discussion about were we hunt. Even he said "heck you drew the guy a map of were you hunt, and that he hunted up from you on the otehr side of the road" Needless to say, he was just as shocked as me that I was accused of honing in on someone else spot.

What really ticked me off was the guy saying I moved in on them. When you look at really what heppend they moved in on me. I was happy for the guy when he got the deer. After I though about what happened I did realize and still think that was crappy. Yes its public land but their is common courtesy and they didn't use it. To me it would have been differant if I didn't know them, but the fact that they new me and didn't have the courtesy to ask me just shows what type of people they are.

bhf i agree totally , i said i had been burned by a family member, i'll tell you the story, hunting, i finally find some decent sign, nobody i hunted with gave out specifics of the exact spot they were hunting, no gps cords, i trusted this family member and told him i had found some good sign, i hunted the spot for 3 days, the fourth and fith day i was unable to hunt, when i get to the area on the sixth day, there are 4 wheeler tracks going thru one of the scapes[:@], this area had not been bothered until i open my big mouth[:@], i am all for people that have never killed a deer or very few hunting where-ever they want, in fact i'll help'em, but it does kind of hit me in the wrong spot, that you hunt an area, and as soon as you leave it your "huntin buddies" go into see what your looking at/watching, i mean i don't go behind others and i would kinda like the same respect, as far as fishing, take a relative to a jamm-up spot, next thing i know he is there with another buddy, then his buddy shows up with another buddy, who shows up or tells somebody else, the day i need it, yes i was fishing a tournament, i pull up and the guy already there fishing itdog cusses me, i asked him if this person had shown him the spot, he confirmed, and then proceeded to cuss some more, lesson learned, this was on open water spot, i spent 2 weeks and 500$ plus in fuel looking for a spot that would help me in the tournament, now when i fish with someone i don't know or trust, we fish community holes or their spots,

yes, treat other as you wish to be treated, its to bad its not a recipical deal most of the time[&o]

me too, here is a pic of my best friend and his son, they worked on a spot, did their own work and it paid off, i knew where they were hunting, but i wouldn't dream ofbeing a scum-bag and cheat this kid out of the buck or the smile, now if my best friend had moved in on me, when i was hunting an area hard, i'm afraid it would change my feelings on our relationship, i guess you'd say i just don't hang out with that type/cal. person anymore, its called respect, i give it and expect it, if we don't share the same fellings, adios, you weren't a true friend to begin with...
anyway here is the pic

It's called public for a reason , and you gave them all the reason they needed . Tough luck .

noone except dad will ever get my hunting locations from me EVER! and thats the exact reason....best friends or not, they will end up on your lap one day.....exspecially if you bag something!...i killed a turkey one spring..and my friend knew it was within walking distance of my house.....i told him the opposite direction of course...but when he saw the pics later that spring he recognized it.....and hes always back there now.....a ton of other idiots are back there now too....but they must have just seen my truck there and seen me coming and going so they moved in....i hate being crowded....what your buddies did was pretty wrong id say.....nothing you can do because its public land(right?) but they shouldnt have done it....but you did tell them your exzact spot.....so i guess you can say.......lesson learned!

Look them straight in the eyes and lie.

This past season I let one of my buddies hunt in my new tree because he didn't know where he wanted to do the evening sit. I planned all day to sit in this tree. Just before walking out of the cabin and heading in the woods my buddy still didn't know where he wanted to hunt. I told him exactly how to get to this stand, he went in and shot a deer with his bow! I think I was more happier for him getting a deer that if I would of my self! I did my homework and I knew that stand would pay off and it did, I must be doing something right! It felt pretty good seeing him dragging this deer back out of the woods! Happy Hunting!