New hunter has question about hunting spots on public land
09-25-2010, 08:53 AM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 45
New hunter has question about hunting spots on public land
This is my first year hunting, I haven't even shot at a deer yet. I hunt on public land and didn't get an opportunity (not because I was lazy) to do any good scouting.
So today I was sitting in a spot that I "scouted" with google maps from work...saw nothing but it's next to some oak trees spilling acorns so I won't write it off just yet.
I decide to get down and look around a little and follow a trail with lots of droppings that dumped out into what looked like a food source. Bingo, I punched it into the GPS and decide to try and come back another day. I look up for a good tree and there's another hunter staring at me...I hope I didn't ruin his hunt. I wave and he waves back (stifling curses I'm sure) then I get out of the area as quick and quiet as I can.
Seeing as I have the coordinates now, I can easily go back to the spot. I thought it was a good spot and the presence of another at least lets me know that I'm not the only one. So is that spot fair game? Technically of course it is because it's public land but what's the right thing to do?
Thanks for reading my long post.
So today I was sitting in a spot that I "scouted" with google maps from work...saw nothing but it's next to some oak trees spilling acorns so I won't write it off just yet.
I decide to get down and look around a little and follow a trail with lots of droppings that dumped out into what looked like a food source. Bingo, I punched it into the GPS and decide to try and come back another day. I look up for a good tree and there's another hunter staring at me...I hope I didn't ruin his hunt. I wave and he waves back (stifling curses I'm sure) then I get out of the area as quick and quiet as I can.
Seeing as I have the coordinates now, I can easily go back to the spot. I thought it was a good spot and the presence of another at least lets me know that I'm not the only one. So is that spot fair game? Technically of course it is because it's public land but what's the right thing to do?
Thanks for reading my long post.
09-25-2010, 09:13 AM
#2
Typical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Kansas
Posts: 616
Respect your fellow hunter. If that were you sitting in that tree what would you be thinking? I was here first right? I would leave the spot alone for a week or two and maybe that hunter will have harvested his deer and you can have a turn in that spot. Some times on public land people changes spots pretty often. One leaves the next one comes in that sort of thing. Just try to be mindful of other hunters in the area and if you see one back out. Good luck!
Live it up! Doug
Live it up! Doug
09-25-2010, 09:23 AM
#3
Fork Horn
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Upstate New York
Posts: 411
Public hunting usually means the first one there gets the spot. Get there as early as possible and you may get that spot but you may also have the other hunter placing his stand within 30-40 yards of you.
You can also try to set up early morning, down wind of that location, this way when another hunter comes or goes, they push deer to you.
You can also try to set up early morning, down wind of that location, this way when another hunter comes or goes, they push deer to you.
Last edited by *twodogs*; 09-25-2010 at 01:21 PM.
09-25-2010, 09:37 AM
#4
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 45
Respect your fellow hunter. If that were you sitting in that tree what would you be thinking? I was here first right? I would leave the spot alone for a week or two and maybe that hunter will have harvested his deer and you can have a turn in that spot. Some times on public land people changes spots pretty often. One leaves the next one comes in that sort of thing. Just try to be mindful of other hunters in the area and if you see one back out. Good luck!
Live it up! Doug
Live it up! Doug
09-25-2010, 09:45 AM
#5
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 45
Thanks for the reply. Could you clarify that? If I setup upwind of other hunters, and their moving sends deer my way, then wouldn't the deer be downwind of me?
09-25-2010, 09:58 AM
#6
Banned
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 220
Somebody is trying to substitute leg work with technology.
If you want to find your own good hunting spot, sometimes it takes a couple of attempts of getting lost out in the woods and finding someplace that no one else is using.
I have often times told even my own family members that if your hunting spot produces a deer every year, but it is not a trophy animal - and you are looking for a trophy animal and not meat on the table - then you are hunting in the wrong spot.
Deer are creatures of habit - just like people. The smart ones don't always walk out into the open and yell - here I am shoot me.
Most people that hunts with me doesn't complain that they don't see anything, they complain that I walk too far.
When the day comes where a 350 lbs man can out walk a 125 lbs kid then it is time to hang it up.
Most hunters by nature will not go more then a 1/4 of a mile away from the main road and most real deer hunters goes a mile or more daily just to hunt deer. The problem is, when the people next to the road see's a big deer that you got, they tend to follow you back into the woods to try to intercept what you been getting. Sometimes polluting the area so bad with their scents and bad habits that they scare the game even further back into the woods.
My dad is famous for sitting 100 yards away from me and shooting the deer before they come to me and then telling everybody what a good hunter he is. If I didn't find the place, ask for permission to hunt there and then scout - he wouldn't have even known that it was there.
If you want to find your own good hunting spot, sometimes it takes a couple of attempts of getting lost out in the woods and finding someplace that no one else is using.
I have often times told even my own family members that if your hunting spot produces a deer every year, but it is not a trophy animal - and you are looking for a trophy animal and not meat on the table - then you are hunting in the wrong spot.
Deer are creatures of habit - just like people. The smart ones don't always walk out into the open and yell - here I am shoot me.
Most people that hunts with me doesn't complain that they don't see anything, they complain that I walk too far.
When the day comes where a 350 lbs man can out walk a 125 lbs kid then it is time to hang it up.
Most hunters by nature will not go more then a 1/4 of a mile away from the main road and most real deer hunters goes a mile or more daily just to hunt deer. The problem is, when the people next to the road see's a big deer that you got, they tend to follow you back into the woods to try to intercept what you been getting. Sometimes polluting the area so bad with their scents and bad habits that they scare the game even further back into the woods.
My dad is famous for sitting 100 yards away from me and shooting the deer before they come to me and then telling everybody what a good hunter he is. If I didn't find the place, ask for permission to hunt there and then scout - he wouldn't have even known that it was there.
09-25-2010, 10:24 AM
#7
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 45
Somebody is trying to substitute leg work with technology.
If you want to find your own good hunting spot, sometimes it takes a couple of attempts of getting lost out in the woods and finding someplace that no one else is using.
I have often times told even my own family members that if your hunting spot produces a deer every year, but it is not a trophy animal - and you are looking for a trophy animal and not meat on the table - then you are hunting in the wrong spot.
Deer are creatures of habit - just like people. The smart ones don't always walk out into the open and yell - here I am shoot me.
Most people that hunts with me doesn't complain that they don't see anything, they complain that I walk too far.
When the day comes where a 350 lbs man can out walk a 125 lbs kid then it is time to hang it up.
Most hunters by nature will not go more then a 1/4 of a mile away from the main road and most real deer hunters goes a mile or more daily just to hunt deer. The problem is, when the people next to the road see's a big deer that you got, they tend to follow you back into the woods to try to intercept what you been getting. Sometimes polluting the area so bad with their scents and bad habits that they scare the game even further back into the woods.
My dad is famous for sitting 100 yards away from me and shooting the deer before they come to me and then telling everybody what a good hunter he is. If I didn't find the place, ask for permission to hunt there and then scout - he wouldn't have even known that it was there.
If you want to find your own good hunting spot, sometimes it takes a couple of attempts of getting lost out in the woods and finding someplace that no one else is using.
I have often times told even my own family members that if your hunting spot produces a deer every year, but it is not a trophy animal - and you are looking for a trophy animal and not meat on the table - then you are hunting in the wrong spot.
Deer are creatures of habit - just like people. The smart ones don't always walk out into the open and yell - here I am shoot me.
Most people that hunts with me doesn't complain that they don't see anything, they complain that I walk too far.
When the day comes where a 350 lbs man can out walk a 125 lbs kid then it is time to hang it up.
Most hunters by nature will not go more then a 1/4 of a mile away from the main road and most real deer hunters goes a mile or more daily just to hunt deer. The problem is, when the people next to the road see's a big deer that you got, they tend to follow you back into the woods to try to intercept what you been getting. Sometimes polluting the area so bad with their scents and bad habits that they scare the game even further back into the woods.
My dad is famous for sitting 100 yards away from me and shooting the deer before they come to me and then telling everybody what a good hunter he is. If I didn't find the place, ask for permission to hunt there and then scout - he wouldn't have even known that it was there.
09-25-2010, 10:38 AM
#8
Banned
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 220
What my answer boiled down to was yes you could hunt there if it was public land, because it is first come first served.
But the right answer - which is what I was trying to explain is to find your own little spot, away from everyone else.
On public land, you can go as you please and do as you please and you could have walked right past his / her deer stand singing Beer Camp Songs and they couldn't do anything about it. You could get in trouble for harassment, but if you were not trying to harass someone - then all you were doing was taking your bow or your rifle for a walk.
As long as you are legally licensed to hunt and be there, then there is no conflict on paper.
But if you read enough of my posts and my experiences you will also read that hard feelings arise when one person uses another persons deer stand when the other person has their heart set on using that stand more then once.
Some of my deer stands, you could go there by noon on the first day and I am already tagged out and gone by then. That doesn't mean that I shot the only trophy animal in the woods, it just means that one legal game animal walked past my stand and I shot it and killed it and that was the end of my hunting season. Or that I thought that it sucked there and knew of a better place to hunt then that place.
I had a battle 20 years ago with a Ex employer who liked to sit on my rock, back in the middle of the game lands. They bought an adjacent piece of land next to the game lands and knew that they could drive up the road at 6 AM and be at my spot by 6:15. / That forced me to walk into the game lands at 4:45 AM and be at my stand by 6:00 AM - so that I could already be there when they were just walking in.
Many times they thought that they had beat me only to have me shine my flashlight on them when they got to within 50 yards of my stand.
Many times they shot a nice buck a day or two after I shot mine, on the exact same rock. Many times they wished that I would not be there on opening day.
My dad was the ones that introduced them to that section of woods and what they did to me was no more wrong then what my dad did to me many times. When it is public hunting, you can go anywhere you want.
You just have to be first and you just have to be willing to pay your dues. You also have to be willing to suffer the repercussions if you make the original owner of the spot mad.
Notice I said Ex employer?
But the right answer - which is what I was trying to explain is to find your own little spot, away from everyone else.
On public land, you can go as you please and do as you please and you could have walked right past his / her deer stand singing Beer Camp Songs and they couldn't do anything about it. You could get in trouble for harassment, but if you were not trying to harass someone - then all you were doing was taking your bow or your rifle for a walk.
As long as you are legally licensed to hunt and be there, then there is no conflict on paper.
But if you read enough of my posts and my experiences you will also read that hard feelings arise when one person uses another persons deer stand when the other person has their heart set on using that stand more then once.
Some of my deer stands, you could go there by noon on the first day and I am already tagged out and gone by then. That doesn't mean that I shot the only trophy animal in the woods, it just means that one legal game animal walked past my stand and I shot it and killed it and that was the end of my hunting season. Or that I thought that it sucked there and knew of a better place to hunt then that place.
I had a battle 20 years ago with a Ex employer who liked to sit on my rock, back in the middle of the game lands. They bought an adjacent piece of land next to the game lands and knew that they could drive up the road at 6 AM and be at my spot by 6:15. / That forced me to walk into the game lands at 4:45 AM and be at my stand by 6:00 AM - so that I could already be there when they were just walking in.
Many times they thought that they had beat me only to have me shine my flashlight on them when they got to within 50 yards of my stand.
Many times they shot a nice buck a day or two after I shot mine, on the exact same rock. Many times they wished that I would not be there on opening day.
My dad was the ones that introduced them to that section of woods and what they did to me was no more wrong then what my dad did to me many times. When it is public hunting, you can go anywhere you want.
You just have to be first and you just have to be willing to pay your dues. You also have to be willing to suffer the repercussions if you make the original owner of the spot mad.
Notice I said Ex employer?
09-25-2010, 02:41 PM
#9
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 45
Mr Deer Hunter I'm going to try and get out scouting this week and you can bet I'll look for something out of the way...I get no joy form seeing other people in the woods and I'm sure everyone feels the same way. Thanks for your reply.
09-25-2010, 04:01 PM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 1,462
Most likely the fellow that was in that tree won't be there every day. Is there a spot where he would most likely park everytime he walks in? Personally what I would do is when I walk into that spot, try and pick out a spot as far back as you can to see if he is there or not. If he is, I'd back out and see if I can figure out where he is parking. If you see only one truck/car in the area, its probably his. Then from now on if you can make a quick drive around before you hunt to see if that truck is there, then you know he is in. If its not there, then you know you should have an open spot to hunt. It is always good to have a few backup spots depending on wind and hunting pressure. Personally, I wouldn't set up 30 to 40 yards from someone, maybe its just me, but that just doesn't seem right. Those deer are heading to that spot from somewhere, if you can try to intersect them a few hundreds away from that other hunter than that is fair game.
I agree with getting as far off the road as you can. A lot of hunters are lazy or out of shape to trek a 1/2 mile or so into the woods. I've heard countless public land stories about people getting nice deer a ways back in the thick stuff and other guys complaining how they see nothing 200 yards from the road. The farther back and into the thick stuff you go, the more deer you'll get. Just be sure to have a good friend who help you drag out the monster when you get him! I know a guy who got a great buck that took him 7 hours to get it out of the woods.....I know it was well worth it though! Good Luck!
I agree with getting as far off the road as you can. A lot of hunters are lazy or out of shape to trek a 1/2 mile or so into the woods. I've heard countless public land stories about people getting nice deer a ways back in the thick stuff and other guys complaining how they see nothing 200 yards from the road. The farther back and into the thick stuff you go, the more deer you'll get. Just be sure to have a good friend who help you drag out the monster when you get him! I know a guy who got a great buck that took him 7 hours to get it out of the woods.....I know it was well worth it though! Good Luck!