Joggers/Hikers/Spookers

[jackULL]

Despite the fact that every time I hunt, those joggers/hikers/spookers loves to purposely disturb my hunt area and me, I've been seeing doe movements. But deers may not hang there for long because of them. How do you deal with those spookers? It is a public place in Westchester county, NY (3S).

[turkeyfeathers]

Buy private land, get permission to hunt someone else's or deal with it unfortunately

[Caveman]

You would be surprised how little the deer care if they're used to it.  A place I used to hunt in Albany county had a lot of joggers and dog walkers.  The deer weren't bothered at all since they saw it every day. 

[shawnhu]

Despite the fact that every time I hunt, those joggers/hikers/spookers loves to purposely disturb my hunt area and me, I've been seeing doe movements. But deers may not hang there for long because of them. How do you deal with those spookers? It is a public place in Westchester county, NY (3S).

How do you know they are purposely disturbing you and your hunt?

If you feel you have solid evidence of this, call the DEC. It is illegal to harass wildlife and hunters.

If you hunt these areas regularly, have the proper phone numbers on speed dial to report illegal activities. Good numbers to have are DEC ECO, DEP Police, and local town police.

X-Calibur Lighting Systems

http://facebook.com/XCaliburLightingSystems

[DirtTime]

Buy private land, get permission to hunt someone else's or deal with it unfortunately

There you have it. Or try to find public land that is farther away from the mass population.

[Jeremy K]

You could put dog crap all over the trail ,aint nobody like stepping in that.

[pewlodar]

Don't sweat it. I hunt public parks in my town. People biking, walking dogs, talking up a storm. If people are there all the time the deer are use to them and don't care becuase they never leave the trails.

[greensider]

call the dec they are breaking the law by harassing hunters its that simple

[DirtTime]

call the dec they are breaking the law by harassing hunters its that simple

Actually it's not that simple. Proving people were purposely trying to ruin your hunt on public land would be tricky, very tricky. Did they see you ( I doubt this one more then the rest as bow hunters go above and beyond to not be seen by deer so most people won't see you either )? Did they come under your stand and make a ruckus? Did they throw rocks at you or scream about hunting? Did they bother your vehicle?

 

All those people have the same rights to be there as you do. There is law enforcement going to care if someone is on public land laughing or talking loudly. Hell, there's not a damn thing you can do if the break out a blanket and a radio and have a picnic. Or if a bunch of people use the area for a paint ball war game area.

Is it frustrating? YES!

Should people respect hunters? YES!

But, the bottom line is, YOU DO NOT OWN THAT LAND!

It comes with hunting areas where other people use the land for other recreations heavily.

 

As people on this thread and other threads like it have said, if the area gets heavy use from people deer will be used it. The smells the noise etc. . Perhaps try to set up play the commotion to you favor?

 

I apologize for being a bit gruff. I just don't get why so many hunters get mad when you know you are hunting an area with a high volume of human traffic and people making noise. Or ask how to deal with it.

I get that for some that's your only option. But you know what you are getting into, or at least you should, so you just have to suck it up and hunt. I also get that people get frustrated and need to vent, nothing wrong with that.

Edited October 25, 2015 by ....rob

[Five Seasons]

I've watched mature bucks not a 100 yards from people and dogs remain unphased due to familiarity.

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[Doc]

I have seen the difference before and after the maze of mountain bike trails were hacked into the state land that I hunt. There has been a definite change in deer behavior and these formerly productive areas are now quite ruined for hunting. Yes, you may see deer hold tight while the "spookers" (I love that word....lol) go by. And yes they will continue to hold tight in their beds until after it gets dark. That's the other thing they have become accustomed to. They know that after dark these invaders are no longer there and the movement can commence. If you are a hunter, that's not exactly a useful pattern for them to develop unless you are a jack-lighter...lol.

 

What can you do about it? .... Nothing. The state land is for the use of all citizens, and they are now deciding to push their right to use it and in the process pushing us out. And the state is encouraging it by allowing mountain bikers to hack trails into the hills and splatter paint all over the trees, and saw and remove trees that get in their way ..... All things that hunters would get severely fined for.

 

One good thing is that as soon as gun season rolls around and the shots start going off, the terrified hikers and bikers and bird watchers run out of the woods in terror.

[G-Man]

Well I had a friend sitting in one of my stands last week, the logger drove by his stand with the skidded 2x driving him insane and he rattled off a text to me complain about it, I told him to stay put the deer didn't care.

He moves and not 20 minutes later a nice buck walks thru,all on trail cam, can see skidded go down and back 2x and 20 min later a buck walks out eating, but he was gone to another stand...sent him.the pics he's was oh...guess I should of stayed...

We are bothered by more stuff than the deer are , another hunter walking over to see of you saw anything , at. Buzzing thru, hose back riders, cars on a quite dirt road your hunting by, the neighbor cutting trees, fact is deer know when they are being hunted and when they arent..

[ApexerER]

I lease property with some friends...My stand is about 100-150 yards off a set of rail road tracks. Most days it is quiet other than the occasional train. Other days there are 4 wheelers ripping up and down the tracks with exhaust systems that I am sure are not legal. Whenever that happens I get really annoyed. Well yesterday morning I had a doe bed 38 yds in front of my stand. What happens....its a 4 wheeling day. Wheelers ripping up and down the tracks, guys hooting and yelling to each other. Sounds like the are seeing who can do the best donuts. Any ways this doe didn't care at all. She even got up and fed a little bit before laying back down while all this was going on. She didn't alert or anything. I figured they would be used to the train knowing it never leaves the tracks but they must feel the same way about the 4 wheelers.....

 

[Doc]

Well, all I can do is to relate 50 years of hunting the same state land parcel which spanned before and after the advent of the carnival atmosphere of bikers and hikers and invasion of clusters of laughing, shouting people engaged in all kinds of recreational activity in a rather constant fashion, and I can tell you through that personal experience that the critters do not carry on with normal daylight patterns that they used to before the invasion. Yes, they have adapted, and those adaptations do not favor hunting.  Yes there are certain activities that the deer have been trained to relate to food such as logging activities. And yes, with people showing up in unusual places at unusual times, there may be an occasional deer that gets pushed out of its bed and happens to run by a hunter. But that reduces your hunting to hoping for coincidence rather than using patterns, strategy and skill.

 

So if jackULL is disgusted with the "Spookers" (I really do like that term ... lol) in his hunting area, I certainly am not going to suggest that it is all in his imagination or that he doesn't really know what he is talking about. I know exactly what he is talking about.

[jackULL]

Thanks guys for the suggestions & opinions... 

 

I totally understand that we all share the same public land and everyone has the right of using & enjoying it. The spookers purposely stop walking (three of them) as soon as they found out my ground blind stand, about 25 yards from the hiker trail, and started laughing like mad and talking really loud about their day. They are not in their hikers outfit or even jogging pants, but regular clothes and so much more smoking pots while walking. Of course, perfect place to smoke weeds.

 

And yes, those deers has rights too, to walk on those hikers trail and of course with nice droppings left behind, which I assume the spoolers don't like. 

 

Also, If they are real hikers and not spookers, they know how to respect the hunters, as they know the standard forest rules (kinda).

 

Therefore, I can either call DEC to report the spooker smokers or shoot them with a sling shot with estrous :)

 

 

[phade]

ME and Moog hunt property that border a park with a jogging trail in the sightline. You can even hear the conversations.

 

I love it late season when it times just right when a doe is asking for it and a jogger is going by. Their reactions are priceless to the 20g. And yes, it's safe...shooting away from them. But it's loud no doubt and they jump a bit.

[dbHunterNY]

it's public land and something you deal with.  they don't bother the deer that much, only to make them run off.  you can prevent this by getting off or away from the trail as much as possible.  find bedding areas and the escape routes deer take from them when the first people come through.  then come in from another way to not drive deer out before daylight.  sit and wait.  I've even patterned hunters this way.  most hunters take the same hiking trails then turn off trail once their close to their spot.  

[cdmckane]

If you can, figure out where the deer go when they get spooked, then go there before they get spooked.  I was constantly frustrated by the guy who used to ride his wheeler just off the property line at my mother in law's place, until I figured out that the deer just went deeper into the woods, still on my MIL's property.  I don't hunt that stand often, but if I see his light on when I drive by on my way up there, you bet I'm hunting that stand because I know he'll be riding through just before daylight and pushing deer right towards me. 

[DirtTime]

 

What can you do about it? .... Nothing. The state land is for the use of all citizens, and they are now deciding to push their right to use it and in the process pushing us out. And the state is encouraging it by allowing mountain bikers to hack trails into the hills and splatter paint all over the trees, and saw and remove trees that get in their way ..... All things that hunters would get severely fined for.

 

Sorry if I am wrong on this one Doc, but last I knew anyone who used any state forests or land has to follow the same rules. You are not allowed to cut trees, even downed ones. I used to camp in state forests for a weekend all the time, hunted them, fished them, and the rules/laws were the same for everyone. Did this change? 

 

Well, all I can do is to relate 50 years of hunting the same state land parcel which spanned before and after the advent of the carnival atmosphere of bikers and hikers and invasion of clusters of laughing, shouting people engaged in all kinds of recreational activity in a rather constant fashion, and I can tell you through that personal experience that the critters do not carry on with normal daylight patterns that they used to before the invasion. Yes, they have adapted, and those adaptations do not favor hunting.  Yes there are certain activities that the deer have been trained to relate to food such as logging activities. And yes, with people showing up in unusual places at unusual times, there may be an occasional deer that gets pushed out of its bed and happens to run by a hunter. But that reduces your hunting to hoping for coincidence rather than using patterns, strategy and skill.

 

So if jackULL is disgusted with the "Spookers" (I really do like that term ... lol) in his hunting area, I certainly am not going to suggest that it is all in his imagination or that he doesn't really know what he is talking about. I know exactly what he is talking about.

Who said it was his imagination? I see no replies even remotely making that sort of comment. The replies are if you hunt a highly human populated area for deer, you have to deal with that. It's your choice to hunt there, so it is what it is.

 

Thanks guys for the suggestions & opinions... 

 

I totally understand that we all share the same public land and everyone has the right of using & enjoying it. The spookers purposely stop walking (three of them) as soon as they found out my ground blind stand, about 25 yards from the hiker trail, and started laughing like mad and talking really loud about their day. They are not in their hikers outfit or even jogging pants, but regular clothes and so much more smoking pots while walking. Of course, perfect place to smoke weeds.

 

And yes, those deers has rights too, to walk on those hikers trail and of course with nice droppings left behind, which I assume the spoolers don't like. 

 

Also, If they are real hikers and not spookers, they know how to respect the hunters, as they know the standard forest rules (kinda).

 

Therefore, I can either call DEC to report the spooker smokers or shoot them with a sling shot with estrous :)

I have to ask, what are "hikers clothes"? I am not a fashion guru so I honestly didn't know that I/other hikers have to wear specific clothing. If I go small game hunting, I just wear a pair of jeans and a warm jacket, I don't bust out my deer hunting/turkey hunting clothes.

What kind of ground blind/stand? A store bought blind? 

[jackULL]

rob

i guess if they are really wanna hike, they could have bring a back pack with hiking shoes and not sneakers. and definitely not smoking weeds on t-shirts. i used the mirror blind, maybe they got amazed of it...

[philoshop]

I was pelted with stones by anti-hunters on state land in the mid 1980's. There were no serious injuries, but it was a little scary being alone in the dark, carrying a bow, and having 10 angry people surrounding me. There were no cell phones then, but I called the local police about it when I got home.

The police and DEC insisted on escorting me to my hunting site the next day. There was no rock-throwing, but they took a half dozen nitwits into custody for verbal harassment. I don't think any were charged, but the cops wanted to make their point.

I've often wondered if any of those people grew up to be serious enviro-terrorists, or if it was just a fad because some loony professor from Alfred University told them it was cool.

[Rhwrhwrhw0426]

I've heard stories about the farm sanctuary near Watkins Glen. They don't like hunting on all the state land that surrounds them.

[Doc]

Sorry if I am wrong on this one Doc, but last I knew anyone who used any state forests or land has to follow the same rules. You are not allowed to cut trees, even downed ones. I used to camp in state forests for a weekend all the time, hunted them, fished them, and the rules/laws were the same for everyone. Did this change? 

I have no idea what may have changed or not, but I can tell you that this is an 847 acre wildlife management area that has been turned into a maze of mountain bike trails. Much of it is on the face of a very steep hill where it was necessary to literally hack the trails into the dirt (pick & shovel work), and clear (with chainsaws) each trail up the hill. The chainsawed logs are still there along side the trail. trees are painted with various colors to denote the different trail systems. It is not some covert activity that some one snuck in there and did. On top, the same kind of painted up, muddy, cleared trails blanket the whole area in a maze of trails that are so dense that most of them pass within site of one another, and there is no place that is out of earshot of bikers and hikers going by.

 

So you are definitely wrong. The rules/laws are not the same for everyone. As a hunter, do not get caught cutting even the scraggliest of saplings or branches. But apparently as long as you are not a hunter, you can get special dispensation from the state to mangle, dig, hack, paint, cut,  and disrupt any state land that you want to use in the name of organized recreation. Does that represent a change? ..... I have no idea. This area has been screwed up this way for quite a few years now (6, 7, years or more), and I'll bet it's not the only one that is being butchered in this way. And anyone who thinks that this kind of circus atmosphere can be installed on formerly undisturbed forested land without changing the hunting there is also mistaken. I have seen the change.

 

[jjb4900]

I was pelted with stones by anti-hunters on state land in the mid 1980's. There were no serious injuries, but it was a little scary being alone in the dark, carrying a bow, and having 10 angry people surrounding me. There were no cell phones then, but I called the local police about it when I got home.

The police and DEC insisted on escorting me to my hunting site the next day. There was no rock-throwing, but they took a half dozen nitwits into custody for verbal harassment. I don't think any were charged, but the cops wanted to make their point.

I've often wondered if any of those people grew up to be serious enviro-terrorists, or if it was just a fad because some loony professor from Alfred University told them it was cool.

yeah, I think it may have been a bit crazier in the 80's......I can think of a few incidents down on Long Island.......one in particular, they attempted to have a deer hunt of Fire Island that they shut down after a day or two because of the anti's.

[Core]

Almost wish I had this problem at the state land I'm on. 50% is swamp/marsh that requires a boat. 40% is disgusting thorny cover that you cannot get through without gasoline and matches, and 10% is decent land all surrounded by the other 90%. It is all knarly as heck.

 

I've watched mature bucks not a 100 yards from people and dogs remain unphased due to familiarity.


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Not mature, but I have a picture I took in August of a button buck sniffing my arm while walking around Old Forge, NY, its head taking up half the frame. I got its actual nose goobers on my forearm. It was just walking around the houses. Funny how the ones out in the woods don't treat me the same way, though!

 

There is no doubt that changing habitat affects the animals that live there. Everyone knows this and the more trails and access to people you have the more the animals will change their behavior. That said, animals that are used to the status quo will certainly not be continually spooked by it. Case in point the deer I mentioned above. I also have video of my three year old chasing a doe across somebody's yard on the same night. Doe didn't start trotting away (not spooked) until my kid was 5-10 yards away. They get used to that. Doing that in the middle of the woods is certainly impossible.

Edited October 29, 2015 by Core