I have to do a little ranting today as this has been on my mind all weekend.
I have been a public land hunter since i started this journey about 15yrs ago driving an hour to 3hours one way just to find decent deer hunting which wasn't decent at all due to the influx of hunters, hikers, etc. A few years ago i met a guy and started squirrel and coon hunting with him and he introduced me to several farmers and i now had private land. I hunted several farms from bow opener-gun week in December and never seen another person until opening day at gun week 4 guys filled a small 20 acre woodlot with me.
The next hunting season came and my buddy tells me that some guy has been stopping him on another farm asking for permission slips, how long we have hunted there, who's cameras and stands are who's, etc. He said the guy kept telling him how he's hunted there for 20yrs, etc. I never seen this guy but found his stand and stayed away from that area out of respect until he slap's up a 2 man ladder stand 40yards from a stand we hung and put out a camera and apples. The year after that we are walking in to bow hunt and a truck comes screaming down the road and he pulls into the field and jumps out and throws his hands up and i said what's your problem? He asks what we are doing and i said hunting, He says where and i said in the woods, I'm far from your stand so there isn't an issue. He says well I'm using my climber and insisted i tell him where i was sitting. I said where my camera is and he says oh i was going to sit there with my climber.
I tried to be nice to the guy and offer some advice cause 2 weeks before that they cut a lot of trees down and made a mess of the back half and he kept telling me he's hunted there 20yrs he knows everything about those woods. I just ended up leaving that night. Forward to gun week i tried to go hunt those 2 farms and there was a bunch of trucks that i had never seen before and was told by the landowners myself and 2 other guys were the only ones to ask permission. I ran into a guy at one of them that walked in on me and we chatted and he apologized cause he had never seen anyone else out there and said since i picked that area he would stay out of there. Fast forward to this year i land permission for a new farm and told its only 3 of us hunting and i scout it and find about 10 stands. I go to my best farm where the guy who walked in on me was and now there is a camera on a tree right on the trail that i brush hogged through crp to give the deer a nice path to my stand.
I went to check with the landowner for a new slip and he made it very clear that another guy who's hunted his other farm had been there 20yrs before he purchased the land and doesn't want issues as the guy lives right across the road from the woods. I explained i met the guy and there shouldn't be issue. he says well just letting you know that's his spot, you can hunt it but just figure things out with him. I bet a $100 bill the other guy went a cried cause this marks 4yrs of hunting out there and never had an issue or been told about anyone else. I scouted a new piece Saturday and it looks promising but i found several ladder stands in there.
I guess it beats driving an hour to public land and not seeing anything when now i can drive 15min and do the same thing. All these farms are in coop with a local hunt club that i refuse to join because of their b.s. and most these guys bring all their buddies, etc out there from what one landowner who kicked them out explained to me. Ive done all this work, stands, scouting, etc and now have to worry about hurry up and shoot a deer before someone else does syndrome.
Thanks for listening to my rant, just had to get that off my chest.
I have been a public land hunter since i started this journey about 15yrs ago driving an hour to 3hours one way just to find decent deer hunting which wasn't decent at all due to the influx of hunters, hikers, etc. A few years ago i met a guy and started squirrel and coon hunting with him and he introduced me to several farmers and i now had private land. I hunted several farms from bow opener-gun week in December and never seen another person until opening day at gun week 4 guys filled a small 20 acre woodlot with me.
The next hunting season came and my buddy tells me that some guy has been stopping him on another farm asking for permission slips, how long we have hunted there, who's cameras and stands are who's, etc. He said the guy kept telling him how he's hunted there for 20yrs, etc. I never seen this guy but found his stand and stayed away from that area out of respect until he slap's up a 2 man ladder stand 40yards from a stand we hung and put out a camera and apples. The year after that we are walking in to bow hunt and a truck comes screaming down the road and he pulls into the field and jumps out and throws his hands up and i said what's your problem? He asks what we are doing and i said hunting, He says where and i said in the woods, I'm far from your stand so there isn't an issue. He says well I'm using my climber and insisted i tell him where i was sitting. I said where my camera is and he says oh i was going to sit there with my climber.
I tried to be nice to the guy and offer some advice cause 2 weeks before that they cut a lot of trees down and made a mess of the back half and he kept telling me he's hunted there 20yrs he knows everything about those woods. I just ended up leaving that night. Forward to gun week i tried to go hunt those 2 farms and there was a bunch of trucks that i had never seen before and was told by the landowners myself and 2 other guys were the only ones to ask permission. I ran into a guy at one of them that walked in on me and we chatted and he apologized cause he had never seen anyone else out there and said since i picked that area he would stay out of there. Fast forward to this year i land permission for a new farm and told its only 3 of us hunting and i scout it and find about 10 stands. I go to my best farm where the guy who walked in on me was and now there is a camera on a tree right on the trail that i brush hogged through crp to give the deer a nice path to my stand.
I went to check with the landowner for a new slip and he made it very clear that another guy who's hunted his other farm had been there 20yrs before he purchased the land and doesn't want issues as the guy lives right across the road from the woods. I explained i met the guy and there shouldn't be issue. he says well just letting you know that's his spot, you can hunt it but just figure things out with him. I bet a $100 bill the other guy went a cried cause this marks 4yrs of hunting out there and never had an issue or been told about anyone else. I scouted a new piece Saturday and it looks promising but i found several ladder stands in there.
I guess it beats driving an hour to public land and not seeing anything when now i can drive 15min and do the same thing. All these farms are in coop with a local hunt club that i refuse to join because of their b.s. and most these guys bring all their buddies, etc out there from what one landowner who kicked them out explained to me. Ive done all this work, stands, scouting, etc and now have to worry about hurry up and shoot a deer before someone else does syndrome.
Thanks for listening to my rant, just had to get that off my chest.