5000 acres, and...

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Pilgrim, let me play this out where I am from. You scout an area, place a stand, come back at a reasonable time and find bubba sitting in your stand. If bubba is a respectable person and not just a squatter, he ought to move. Now, if this is at 0900 or 1630, generally accepted that you snoozed you losed.

Now, there is some real wisdom in what Buck said about going places people won't go on public land. The purpose is twofold. First, to find less pressured game. Second, to get away from everyone else. I've been there, done that. In a 44,000 acre plot, I hunted the area farthest away from driveable roads. Even then, I still came across a stand or 2. I found somewhere else and did not set up on top of them. Why would I? Lots of other places to go! And I normally had several stands in the woods to take advantage of various factors.

And every year, someone would take a respectable buck within walking distance of the state campground at the gate. Why? Because they watched everyone launch out the gate in the morning and overlook a large area with good cover. It wasn't because they were following the herd of hunters.

Now, don't make too much out of this reserved tree business. Taken out of context, it sounds like there should be a maitre 'd standing there with you harness when you arrive. It's a matter that someone DID beat you to scouting that area. Would I put up a stand in that general area still? Sure! People move in/out of areas, change strategies, etc. But if I planted myself in their stand, or in this case on the tree they took the time to rake, prune, etc, and it was a reasonable time, and the guy showed up, I'd move on.

Now, I tried to indicate this is woods hunting where I am from. Where pilgrim and the guys are going into those beautiful landscapes, I don't know what applies when it comes to situations where you bump into someone. Tad more difficult claiming a rock me thinks.

And this is where I grew up hunting in Florida. Maybe things have changed. I was still dealing with stand thieves despite chain and lock an hauling them in miles. But I also never had an impolite run in until I was stationed in NJ.
 
Originally posted by globemaster3:

First off, read what the OP said. He RAKED the area, path in/out, etc. not just hung tape. Heck, I've seen a rainbows worth of tape in the woods and generally ignore it. No telling how long that's been there. But raked? If you can't tell that in the woods, you're blind. And your not give a darn reaction says enough.

As for my situation, not really public land (on base) but when a person invests some significant $ on the area, it was generally regarded as good practice to give way if they showed at a reasonable time. Called common courtesy
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Around here clearing/cutting brush, and clearing paths to your stand are also against the rules. Somebody raking the area clean around their stand would be obvious to the blindest of fools. That's why one would be foolish as 'ell to do it....unless he was trying to "stake" out that spot. I call 'em "yelp tracks' or "Bud scrapes". Turning an area of public land into your own personal spot does not make it that. Just makes it more attractive to other fools with the same mindset. The OP would have been better off to spend the time he wasted cleanin' his spot and making it inviting to other other hunters, by scouting out alternate areas. My reaction is not from not giving a darn, but from dealing with folks on pubic land that can't find their way 100 yards off the road without leaving a trail of tape like Hansel and Greta. The same folks that butcher a tree or set their stand up a week early to ward off folks and many times set up another within sight just to keep folks farther away. These are the same folks that holler and scream whenever someone else "invades THEIR space". Get a clue....it ain't your space if you ain't already there. These folks feel the rules and "public access" don't relate to them. That they are only driving a few nails into the tree and changing the landscape a tad. Those small oak saplings they cut for a shooting lane aren't important and the rules against it don't really apply.....not to them. The empty poly bags that had the corn for bait are wadded up behind their stand from the last 4 years and the rubber gloves they used to gut their fawn they shot are still layin' on the gut pile. Most of these folks spend an hour two weeks before season scouting a area and think the first easily accessible spot that looks good is gonna be ignored by other hunters, or they have the mindset that markin' it somehow makes it "theirs". The real sportsmen that use public land do not need a nature trail to walk in on nor do they need to advertise their tree so it can be seen for a hundred yards to find it. They leave the spot they hunt from looking as it did before they got there and pick up the litter the other idiots leave behind. They don't sit on those idiot's stands because they don't want to be identifies or mistaken for the idiot that made the mess. In Wisconsin, you leave a portable stand unattended between sun-up and sundown, it better have the owners name and address clearly marked on it or it is public property and can be used, moved or taken by ANYONE, legally. Leave it up overnight other than the Friday before opening day of the regular gun season and it becomes public property, even if it is marked with the owners name and address and can be used, moved and removed legally by anyone. Pails to sit on, lawn chairs, marking tape are all considered littering if left after you leave, as the rubber gloves on the bait pile are. The local warden loves it when folks report these things, as it irritates him more than it does me.
As for the idea that if one spends money to bait an area on public land, it somehow "saves" that spot for him exclusively, what part of "public" do you not understand? You hunt public land and you expect other stupid folks not to take advantage of someone else's stupidity? You expect courtesy from those folks, you need to extend that same courtesy to them. They beat you there, you should be courteous enough to move on. Yes, it only makes sense to talk to folks you know are hunting the same area to avoid conflict.......but markin' out and stakin' out an area is only gonna invite controversy. Folks going to the local high school football games here, got into the habit of thinkin' if they put down a blanket it should save that spot for them on Friday night. Other folks should be courteous and find another spot, regardless of how early they got there. Got so by Wednesday night half the bleachers had blankets duct taped down to em, and come Friday night it was a constant argument because someone with a blanket shows up 20 minutes after the game started and someone else was sitting in THEIR spot. The school custodians now remove any blanket on the bleachers earlier than a half hour before the game and rightfully so. Cleanin' an area in the woods or setting up a stand is no different.
 
Wow Buck! The vociferous pontification you provided proves to me a couple things...

First, you have never hunted outside your own woods and think everyone operates by the same rules as you.

Second, I qualify as a "real sportsman" in your book.

Third, you are one grouchy dude...

The rules where I have hunted, in all 6+ states, differ in great detail. Every place I have hunted permit a stand to be placed all season. Not a day, not a weekend, not a month, but all season. It's the law! It's not littering. You take a stand, and you are stealing. Get caught by the stand owner taking his stand, and you are in for a world of hurt! Period! Game wardens where I am from take a dim view on stand thieves! But, despite chaining them and locking them to the tree, it happens. Seeing someone with bolt cutters in their vehicle or in the woods where I am from is a quick way to get labelled a stand thief and treated as such!

And in showing this same thread to four other military hunters here in my unit, all of whom have hunted multiple states, and they were unanimous in their feelings on the topic. Does it make sense to highlight your stand's area? No, we are in aggreance there. Would you set up on the guy's tree or sit in his stand? Heck no. Set up nearby? Maybe, depending on the situation. What would you do if you found someone in your stand when you walked in? I was the kindest of the bunch.

I think I might be familiar with the types who might have jaded you this way. Although it was public land, I stayed the heck out of their way. Although I might have had "equal access" to the spot, it was not worth the slashed tires, armed confrontations, or bullets through the windshield it would have cost. Those same jokers are the ones I am opposed to as well.

Let's not run through another discourse on baiting where legal. We've been through that here plenty. But, it's generally accepted in the areas where I have used that tactic not to mess with someone else's spot. Don't like it? Too bad! Get ready for a direct confrontation if you cross that line and don't back down. That's how it works in those places.

EDIT....We also agree on the litterbug problem!
 
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As someone else alluded to, that man may have been hunting that stand for years before. But I feel your frustration, as I have been in your shoes. That's how it sometimes goes on public lands. Personally, I never tape or modify an area I'm hunting. If anything, I might set a few bright eyes tacks. That helps keep a lid on my location.
 
Stories like these are why I'll never hunt on public land nor on military hunting reserves. Too many stupid people with guns of which I'm sure about 1/4 are drinking.
 
Wow Buck! The vociferous pontification you provided proves to me a couple things...

First, you have never hunted outside your own woods and think everyone operates by the same rules as yo
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I could say I've gotten the same feedback from your posts. ;)

I am fully aware that other public lands do not always go by the same rulebook as my state does, never said they did. I do think my state has one of the best philosophies on public land access tho. I also do not consider Military bases as Public because they are under their own rules and enforcement and give privileged access(and rightfully so) to military personal over the general public. At least the 60,000 acre base next door to me does. I hunt it, but mostly for grouse and woodcock. A $20 permit for every game species and different permits for bow and gun. I am also blessed with hundreds of thousands of acres of state, federal and county land within a half hour in all four directions. I also have a thousand or so acres of family land I am privileged to hunt. My woods is quite large.:D Guess that's why I don' t have a problem with walkin' to another spot if somebody beats me to one. Since the areas you hunt allows stands to stay all season, must they be tagged? Does the law also state that no one else can hunt within a certain distance at any time? I guess some of the confusion comes from when I say someone beats you to your stand, I mean that specific spot in the woods, or the tree, not the stand you put up.


Grouchy? Yeah maybe a tad. Old farts generally are for one reason or another. Comes with the territory. Iffin you're still in a unit, then I was probably huntin' public land for many years before you were born. Even with having private land to hunt, I still enjoy bein' able to put a day pack on and sneak hunt in the big public woods from sunup to sundown and never cross my trail. In that half century I have yet to tell someone else they need to leave when they were there first. While I may have been irritated they were there, I still moved on. I may have been there first and when they showed up and whined they had no place else to go, I moved on. Grouchy? Maybe, just a tad. Most folks out there are just trying to have fun. Maybe life don't give them the time to scout and learn woodsmanship, so they only do have one place to go on a tract of land consisting of tens of thousands of acres. Probably why they feel the need to put out bait as opposed to using and trusting learned skills. I give those folks a break. They generally don't get that many opportunities anyway and are appreciative of bein' given a chance. But I don't have time for those that think that somehow they are special and that particular spot is theirs, just cause they say so. Or they trimmed a shooting lane or dumped some Deer Cain on the ground. The can beller, scream and get red in the face all they want. Even if it's an empty hole, I'll stay there just to irk the 'ell outta 'em. I tell 'em I'll leave, when they show me the deed.
 
well said Buck, I do hunt public land in Western Washington, lots of Timber Companies out here, they allow access (foot, bike, or horse) during hunting season, behind locked gates.
The gates used to be open for vehicle entry, but due to campers (brush pickers) leaving trash again and again, the timber companies have limited access over the years.
I ride my mountain bike in, usually a few miles or more, haven't scored this year yet (still have 2 weeks left) but that's hunting on public land.

not whining, just accepting the challenges, life does not always allow scouting as much as I'd like, so;

There are other ways to increase your odds;

research game taken in previous years (fish & game reports)

Topo maps, etc... take advantage of the tools you have at your disposal and make the most of it!

May not get a deer this year, but I will give it my best shot!! (pun intended!):D
 
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