benhuntin

Why is it that some hunters think that just because they have hunted an area on public land for 20 years that it is THEIR property? I have hunted several areas that
there were no indications that anyone was hunting and had other hunters walk up to me in my tree and say this was their area. I even had one guy drag his ladder stand in and set it up about 15 yards from mine. He said he had been hunting this spot for 20 years and wasnt about to give it up. How do you other public land hunters handle this. I guess im just going to have to hike farther in and let those
!@#%$^ have their spot.[:@]

kevin1

Stand your ground Benhuntin ,
public land is just that , public . First come first served .

tbonecpa

I hike over 3/4 mile into the swamp and haven' t seen a hunter in 4 years. I even leave my stand back there and if you can find it and want to climb 40 ft up the tree you can have it. I used to hunt 1/4 mile from the road and two years in a row I had " company" but no more. " My spot" will remain a secret but if someone finds it, no big deal. The first time they drag a heavy northwoods buck nearly a mile to the car they will think long and hard about doing that again. The funny thing is that most of the deer sign is near the road but when the hunters move in the deer move back by me. Last year I had shots at 3 mature bucks on opening day and have taken a mature buck on opening day 4 of 5 years. It is like an outfitted Canadian hunt with all the beauty and serenity without the travel or cost. Leave the crowd behind.

formula1

Two ways to solve this problem:

1) Most public land hunters are lazy. They won' t walk far and the ones that do usually have success. Go deep into the property.

2) Find a good hunting lease and you won' t have this problem anymore.

Warren

I agree with thonecpa & formula1. Let the guy have his spot and go some where else. The guy is wrong but why fight it? It is best to just avoid him and go deeper in. Now if you get a nice deer make sure you drag it out past him.

Rack-attack

Hunt where they don' t

There is always some corner - some ugly piece of land that others do not hunt. Set up there.

Then sit and see nothing like me[]

PAhunter86

I' ve noticed the same thing. Seems like the deeper in you go, the less hunters there are. Where there are less hunters...maybe there could be more deer[]

Public land is everyone' s land. So if anyone tells you its their hunting spot, tell them its your land just as much as it is their land....thats why its public!!

skeeter 7MM

Well it should be a moot point, as the early bird gets the worm. However having been in the same position the best advice has been given, go where access isn' t easy. The good thing is after pressure the deer will come to you, easy access spots on public land are only good for a few days and then go very dry via the pressure push put on the deer by lots of boot & truck tracks.

punt

I would just go find a different spot where nobody is at. You know they are wrong but it is best to just avoid it.

Dan O.

You could strip down to your underwear, start talking to yourself, roll your eyes around in your head and then howl at the sky. It you keep that up for a while the hunter that' s bothering you might take the hint.

Dan O.