FLBandit

Man, it has not been my weekend for hunting. Saturday morning I had two hunters walk up on my blind, then today I think I encountered some anti-hunters. I had picked out a pretty good looking spot about 200 yards from the access road. It had acorns, water, thick cover and a dry creek bottom that ran down to the river (more like a creek at this point). Anyway, as I got situated I heard something in the woods. Some guy and two kids were crashing around and the kids were just yelling like crazy! I was a bit miffed that someone would let their kids do that. They came fairly close, but we didn't see each other. I thought about going to talk to them but figured no good would come of it. Finally they retreated back to the road, at that point I heard more yelling, and even what sounded like an air-horn. I know this is public land but really! Needless to say I didn't see much in the way of deer. The money for a lease is starting to look worthwhile.

halfbakedi420

when on public lands..plan on stayin 2 days longer than ya wanna hunt...take a 1 day hike and make camp..in the mornin go hunt...wont be as many people on a 1 day hike, and most the people will send the deer right to ya!!!

Champlain Islander

Hunting on pub lands is always a crap shoot. Some states have hunter harassment laws but seeing you were only 200 yds from the access road you probably don’t have a case. I suggest going in much farther and setting up. That takes the picnickers and dog people out of the mix.

IL-Cornfed

Granted, hunting on public land sucks for the most part but many states have hunter harassment laws and what that guy and his kids were doing would have been illeagal here in IL. Sorry about your hunt/luck

turkey guide

That public land hunting is really tough, although I talked to some guys that got lucky this year. I've had one public land turkey hunt and that was enough for me.