kmachstang

Hello guys,

I'm a fairly new hunter, been hunting only waterfowl for 2 years now. This past December I decided to go out for Deer hunting. I did a lot of reading in magazines and on the internet to try and educate myself to the proper techniques and strategies.

I didn't have too much luck, had one in range just after legal time but other than that didn't see anything. Only got out 4-5 times in the 2 weeks the season was open due to work travel.

I had a lot of fun with it until my last day... It was the last day of the hunting season, typically I was heading out at 4am and was in the woods by myself but since this was the last day and it was a saturday there were quite a few trucks parked at the entrance to the woods. I started wandering down an old logging road, my spot was about 2 miles in. I was probably 3/4 of the way there when I had to enter the woods to go around a flooded out portion of the road. While I was in the woods I heard a fairly close shot. Stopped for a minute and continued on my way. Once I had avoided the flooding I popped back out of the woods onto the logging road and was about 50 yards from another hunter who was prone looking further down the logging road. I froze for a second, to figure out exactly what I should do. I decided I would head into the woods and try and find a suitable place to not waste the day. I went about 200 yards off the road and set up against a tree. I probably stayed there for an hour to an hour and a half when I saw the other hunter walking down the logging road back towards the vehicles. There was still plenty of time left before hunting close so I decided to head to my spot. I went back out on the logging trail and hunted my spot till sunset. After packing up my blind and walking the 2 miles back to the truck it was very dark. When I got to my truck I noticed there were two guys hanging out near their vehicles. One of them jokingly shouted look there is a deer! And I joked back Don't shoot! I then asked how they had done and thats when things got ugly.

One of the guys says I don't know why don't you tell me how I did since you were so far up my butt! He proceeded to drop as many F bombs as he could possibly fit and informed me about his 50 years of hunting experience and how I better not pull a stunt like that again or it might not go so well for me. I tried explaining why I was so close and that I had every intention of respecting his space, but he really wasn't interested in anything other than swearing at me. At this point I was pissed off, but I bit my tongue apologized and went on my way.

My question for the more experienced hunters is what should I have done in this situation?

Topgun 3006

Exactly what you did and don't look back!

ModernPrimitive

First of all, I'd rethink dragging a deer 2 miles!

I've been on both sides of that situation, it's tough. If nobody was hurt or arrested, you did just fine.

Are you on public land? leased land? private with landowner permission? hunt club?

kmachstang

Yeah I know 2 miles would be a long haul, but I typically try to stay away from the hunting pressure so I can do my own thing. It was on a public wildlife management area. Thanks guys. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't something else I should have done for next time.

HDMontana

If on public land, you did more than a lot of people out here in Montana do. The first day my son was old enough to hunt, 12 years old in Montana, we got to a spot early, sat and waited. Soon after it started to get light, the deer started moving, but so did the lazy hunters who chose to sleep in. They saw us from a couple of hundred yards away but still walked along the creek bottom right in front of us by about 50 yards. I new that the morning hunt was a bust and I was not in the best of moods at that point so we left. On the way home, I asked my son how he felt about those people walking right in front of us. He said he wasn't happy about it. At that point I told him that he learned that he should never do the same thing to someone else. I guess if nothing else, he learned a good lesson on hunting respect that day. HD.

NebBuckHunter

You didn't do anything wrong. You just met some jerks.

Father Forkhorn

Sounds like you did things correctly.

GTX63

There will always be those out there that just do not get the "Public" part of government hunting ground.

elmoughler

Sounds like you did the right thing. Thats what sucks about public land sometimes, but its part of it.

MZS

You met some redneck hunters and did the right thing. If you like deer hunting and do not have private land access, look into bow hunting - you will find it is a lot less hectic and hunters like you met will less likely to be out on the public lands. And I am not saying all gun hunters are rednecks - I gun hunt and so does my son. But on public land, things can get pretty ugly during the gun season, as you found. I hunt public land with my bow, but I choose smaller parcels that are generally overlooked and avoid the "nice looking" spots where everyone tends to hunt. For gun hunting I generally hunt our own private land but I have gun hunted one small public parcel a few times that is always overlooked by other hunters. Another option for public land gun hunting is the muzzle-loader season - this is a lot less hectic on public land as well - last fall I almost got a deer on public land this way - nobody else was anywhere near.