What to do.............?
 

I really am depressed tonight.
2nd weekend of Illinois deer season. Took a doe the 1st season on my neighbors property. My father took an 8pt 140 class buck.(This is the last property I have to gun hunt)
Tonight I get a call from the landowner. He asks me not to return to hunt. He states the reason is that I have hunted in areas where I am not supposed to. Drove through his hay field. And have too many people hunting there. (My father and me)
To give you a little background his land is divided by a gravel road running e/w. When I sked 6 yrs ago.
He told me 6 years ago to stay on the south side of the road. He had friends that hunted the northside. No problem it was a better spot. But I was happy with anything.
5 years of these guys on the north moving in on me to the from the north to the south. They leave trash. They went from 4 guys hunting a 15 acre patch to 8 guys. They drove out in the cornfield adjacent to the 2 acre patch of woods I am hunting in. I never mentioned any of this to the landowner. I felt he would just get frustrated and just let no-one hunt.
Then this year came. My father and I drive in to the side of the road we are allowed to hunt. There sits a truck. Well knowing where this guy had to be, we decided to hunt the 2 fence rows back 200 yds from this. not much cover but 2 dead deer by 7:00 am anyway.
wEll the guy int he woods killed a small 9 ptr. and came out and talked to us. Repeatedly he talked about killing the 9 and that he and his son were the only ones to be in there. Ihtoguht well Charlie(landowner) doesnt remember us hunting there and just told the guy he could hunt there.
Later that day another person I know who also had asked permission to hunt there(previously). went to the spot and the guy who shot the 9 told him he hadnt fired a shot.(lied) Then while driving around I saw his truck parked on the edge of the clover field. (where he wasnt supposed to be driving) He also had invited 2 of his friends from work to hunt the spots my father and I to hunt there.He also hunted too close to Charlie's son in laws home.(I personally saw him do this)
Yet when Charlie called me I(indirectly) got the blame for .... hunting tooo close to his s.i.l.'s home,driving through the hayfield,not shutting gates,having too many people,not asking every year. ( iknow directly after calling guys who hunt the norht side they havent asked since the firstime they asked 10 years ago)
My question is...What would you do? I really never want to hunt there again. But I just cannot get over the fact I treated his place better than my own. Then I wathced as others treated it like a junkyard,like a mudbog and basically like it was theirs to what they wanted.
I want this guy to know Its their fault.. not mine. But now its just like sourgrapes
mainly this post is just to get it offmy chest. But my stomache is in knots and I cant sleep still. I know these guys blamed me for this. But nothing I can do to prove it.

RE: What to do.............?
 

Sounds like about all you can do is look for a new spot to hunt. If your not there, but the ones that are causing the problems still are, then the landowner should eventually figure things out. From my experience, when your stuck hunting with people like this, the best thing you can do is find somewhere else anyway. When something like this happens, everyone gets blamed, guilty or not. No need to let someone else damage your reputation. Sadly, there's just not a whole lot else you can do about it. You can point the finger at them, but they'll point back at you. Then the landowner still won't know what's going on. Its a shame a few people can ruin a good thing for everyone, but it happens.

RE: What to do.............?
 

That really sucks.Like Texan said, if the same things keep happening the landowner should be able to figure out that it wasn't you. You never know, he might figure it out and kick them out and let you back in. It sounds like its probably a good thing, if those others are going to be so careless, someone's going to get shot and if you're not there, it wont be you. Besides that, you might find a better place to hunt.

Steve

RE: What to do.............?
 

The thing to do is to write a letter.
Dear Sir, etc, THANK YOU for letting us hunt there the past years, greatly appreciated etc etc. We really enjoyed it etc etc. I realize there may have been some problems but we always tried to do the right thing etc etc and followed the rules you told usfrom the beginning. We never etc etc and I feel we may be being blamed for the actions of some of the others.etc etc. regardless sir, thanks for the past hunting experiences and if in the future if you should change your mind we would be greatly appreciate the chance to hunt your land again etctetc. Also, we'd be glad to do a little work or help maintain the place in exchange for such a privilege. Again thanks etct etc and I wish you a merry christmas/holidays etctetc. Sign (put your name here)

This way you get the benefit of the doubt in the future, he may change his mind, you show that you are a stand up guy and who knows what may happen. Even if you never hunt his property again at least you will be well thought of and he will have nice things to say about you, and last but not least, there is no skin off your back for doing so. Can't hurt you to be nice about it, and it may help. IMHO. hope it helps.

RE: What to do.............?
 

To bad your loosing it. This is happening all over the country.Land being closed and big fees being charged to hunt it .

RE: What to do.............?
 

I think nyorange is right. The land owner will see who the real slobs are and you can feel good knowing you and your Dad did the right thing. No use to burn your briges. The land owner may decide to let you hunt instead of the slobs. Hope it all works out for y'all.

RE: What to do.............?
 

Thanks all for your help.
I believe I will write a letter.
On a note , I really believe in 20 years at least in Illinois there will be no place to hunt for the average guy unless he owns the land. This land leasing/ourfitters/commercialization is a cancer that will kill our hunting tradition.