What do you do?
 

It's muzzleloader and in public land. So I set in early this morning. It was an hour before light. As I'm getting ready to climb I see headlights in the parking area a couple hundred yards behind me. I didn't see him walk in but the guy settled in 60 yards from me. I figured it out when I heard him shoot. An hour later I see a buck cruising 66 yards away heading right for his location. I didn't know exactly the guys spot but I knew the buck was well before where the guy was. I tried calling but to no avail. I had a shooting lane on him but didn't take it. I just felt hesitant about it. What would you do?

get up and leave. only other option is to beat the tar out of him. which I would do if hunting on private land, and he had no permision to be there. public land, I would expect nothing else.

It's public land...

I am not sure if the op is asking what he should do about the situation where he is hunting, which is grin and bear it or leave, because it is public land or if he is asking should he have taken a shot he wasn't comfortable with to prevent the other guy from getting a shot. In that case thee is no question, if it isn't a good shot, don't take it.

well , if you didn't know where he was exactly and had doubts, you made the right choice by not shooting.tough pill to swallow but that's hunting on public land. take pride knowing you did it right.

oltimer you posted as I was typeing.
yup , totally agree.

I agree with OT. Safety and an ethical shot are most important. Hunting public land is always a crap shoot. Everyone has the same rights to hunt it. It would have been better if the second person coming into the parking spot went elsewhere but most of the time that doesn't happen. Hunting on public land that close to the parking lot is just asking to have company. For the OP, I think you made the right call.

The question was rhetorical in a way. Had I not known he was there I would have taken the shot. Not to scare the deer and screw him but to harvest. I was confident about it. It was just a grey area scenario.

Set up farther than a couple hundred yards from the parking lot. Few hunters are willing to walk in a full mile to hunt. I never get serious until I'm at least 2 miles from the nearest road/parking lot/ business/ house etc...

I agree. It's the way this place is laid out.... It borders a river and private land. With parking right in the middle along with a body of water. Someone was already parked at the access point to walk a long distance in and I wasn't going to chance tromping on their hunt. The walk from that spot is about a mile in and you hit the river. Which I've made the walk only to have someone come in on a boat from the river side or still walk in on me. I get it... It's public land. Had I saw the guy I would have tried to wave him off. I'm in a climber. I know public land is a crap shoot and you deal with it. It played out the way it played out. I just wanted to open the discussion.

I will second this response, definitely tough to take but it was the right choice! The other response to move to a different location with more difficult access is good also.

Whenever you are going in or see someone coming in after you IMO you are obligated to letting people know where you are. It's a matter of safety. Good bright flashlights are a must. You see his and he sees yours. Most times if you are in first and someone shows up and you are shining them they will be the one to relocate.

As you weren't sure of his position you made the right choice to not shoot.

Here is something that I don't get. It makes perfect sense to me but it is not on the books.

In IL you cannot bow hunt within 100 yards of an inhabited dwelling without the occupants permission and it is 300 yards for gun hunting. So...................

on public land why isn't there the same guidelines for space from hunter to hunter? First guy in has right and others have to space out the required minimum yard. Of course if they are known to each other. Makes sense for safety IMO.

What I would have done I have did. Get out of the area if letting the other hunter know you were there and he/she still stayed in the area.
Instead of scouting public hunting areas I would start looking for places to hunt on private property. Farmer down the road from me will let any one hunt his woods and fields for deer if they first ask permission and promise to shoot at least one doe.

Get rid of cable TV only use basic cell phone IE no smart phone and the money saved will many times make payments on property of your own or a lease to hunt.

:D Al

Places I don't hunt
 

When I can see headlights from a parking lot. I'm too close. Two hundred yards from a parking lot usually means more hunters in so many acres, near that parking lot.
Pre-season for me is pre-season hiking and walking.

On an opening day I had one hunter enter the area I picked on public land. He was lost. He was so lost he was heading in the opposite direction from his vehicle; the one he was attemping to find. Of course, we were deep.

Guys, one thing we need to be more specific about when we post about public lands is describing the land we are referring to. Some of these areas are huge, and others are small. So if we describe the area by acres responses will fit better.

As to hunting near the parking lot, well that depends on many factor. Last year I shot a 10pt 15 minutes after sitting down. I was about 3/8-1/2 mile from the parking lot. That afternoon I shot a fat A doe less than 100 yards from the parking lot. The area I shot the doe looked right to me. A dried pond bed with raised banks. I laid on the bank peering down towards a creek bed with my body mostly exposed and me considering a nap or 2 (but the thoughts of bugs crawling onto my face or into eye ears kept my head up. Shortly before dusk started falling 3 does came in and only 2 left.

It's all relative.

You made the right call for sure. I know it sucks but have had similar things happen to me over the years that cost me deer and or hunting opportunities. When I used to hunt public and land and I was short standed I would get up and move if they refused to and I made all the noise I could while doing it and if I had to use the bathroom I'd pull it out and water a tree or a deer trail of there was one nearby. But I would move to another spot. The biggest buck of my life came into a field once as I was walking into the woods.....I put the scope on it and lowered the rifle in the same breath because I knew in the adjacent field there was a pasture with horses in it. That field and horses were well beyond my muzzleloader a range but I could not take that chance. I know guns/ballistics etc and still look back on it and it makes me SICK but I know I did the right thing. Freaky, strange, and odd things CAN happen and there just not worth it. You made the right call no doubt.

I hunt public land exclusively. You made the right call. I often had other hunters coming in in the dark and if I was already in my stand I would hit them with my flashlight and let them know where I was. Most move to a different location and if the tables are turned I have to be the one to relocate. Its only hunter ethics 101. But sometimes you have a slob hunter that will deliberately park his butt right by you. That's when I go tell him to please move to another spot. If he refuses I notify him that he will not see any deer there because I will make his sit a waste of time. I might just have to take a dump right behind a tree by him and whistle while doing so...lol

If someone is already in a stand that I had intentions of hunting I will keep on moving. If someone doesn't afford me that same courtesy, then we can just hunt together that day as far as I'm concerned.

Also, I won't rule out hunting any particular spot on public or private land, regardless of it's size, proximity to roads or parking areas.




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I understand what you're saying. I've also taken deer on 30 acres of public ground. "2miles in" is rarely possible in many areas because the land isn't available like it is out west. So some of us need to "get serious" on much smaller chunks of ground.

If it's still dark and someone is coming in on me I use my flashlight to signal them. Typically they simply head another way. You did the right thing by not taking a shot you weren't sure about. No deer is worth risking someones life.
-Jake

My thought is that a hunter who's nervous or queasy about a shot shouldn't take it. This is telling you something's not safe, ethical, or whatever.

You did right.

For humor, in one certain location, I have seen libtards from Indiana University hiking 3 miles to my hunting spot on opening day of gun season. Same area another year the Boy Scouts are camping 2 miles from the parking lot on opening day and hiking everywhere. That place sucked no matter how far I would walk.

Seriously, with satellite and topographic maps available I will study an area and find places most lazy hunters will not hike to. That can be 200 yards or 4 miles from the starting point. There will be somewhere off the beaten path for me to hunt.

good idea.

but he won't get 2 miles away if he's wearing an ankle bracelet.

Swayze - funny guy or lunatic ?

I am the op and wanted to thank everyone for the comments. I am catching up on them. To answer one post as to size and what is relative. The area that I was hunting is not large a all when it comes to land space. I don't know the acreage right off the top of my head but it's like he was saying the area can only handle about 8 hunters tops. If I see vehicles parked in one of the four or five spaces to park I don't bother going in but I know where exactly to go if there is a vehicle already there... Anyway thanks for the replies and the discussion...