One Thing I Don't Want Around My Stand!!

[Cabin Fever]

5 Days before season opens and THIS is walking by one of my stands??? REALLY? Can't say anything, neighbors property. I assume it's his kid maybe having a paintball party while they were off from school on Columbus Day? Oh boy....

Edited October 13, 2011 by Cabin Fever

[virgil]

That sucks.

[Lawdwaz]

Wow......

I wouldn't sweat it too much as far as odor and spooking deer. People put too much emphasis on this IMO.

Guys have been small game hunting, hanging stands, cutting wood etc. all day then hunting the same area and killing deer for years.

The deer don't just vacate the area until the coast is clear..........................

On a different note, I never understood the attraction to those guns. Why the phuck would you ever want to be running around shooting at people with a gun of any kind? Hell, I don't even like kids running around with toy guns. YMMV.

[arrow nocker]

at least it wasnt when you were on watch.I have the neighbors come crashing through the woods on his noisy as quad all the time when i sit on watch just outside my bedding area on my property.I think they do it on purpose.Just to piss me off.

[Rev Ev]

I've paintballed for years now. Its a ton of fun and you use the right protective gear. I think it helps build respect for weapons in kids. Plus since I'm older and have a job, I can by some awesome gun that will out shoot theirs. That way I know who's getting hit.

[NY Trophy Hunter]

Ah, that's a problem.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I wouldnt worry about it. Maybe just mention it to the neighbors and ask them to remind the kids not to keep it up.

[Geno C]

sucks, you never know whos in a spot when you not. literally... You keep out of a spot and control your scent and then see something like this, it happens almost everywhere...

Thats why when my buddies opt to stay out of a spot on public land i lough, because when your not there someone else is... not saying your spot is public but just saying lol

make the best of it "Its all good"

[G-Man]

well it happens, you think your spot is all nice quiet scent free..and find out someone else has been there,,,its not the end of the world....

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I know you can't say much because it is his property but you might want to remind them that is is archery season this saturday....I have taken the safety approach and had it work. they didn't realize the hunters would be out this early...they weren't around the rest of the year.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Oops, I missed the part about it being the neighbor's land. Not much you can do in that case. Maybe just mention the safety thing like Culver said.

[Doc]

I wonder how the various parcels of state land have escaped this sort of thing. I'm not talking about an occasional neighbor kid or two. I mean organized paintball events. It's certainly not illegal. And the mood that the DEC is in these days, I'm surprised they are not inviting this kind of participation on state lands. They seem to be in a mode of encouraging all kinds of non-hunting uses of state lands. After all, they have no problems with the big mountain bike clubs hacking a maze of trails and painting trees.

Ha-ha.... that will be the next thing. We'll be in our stands surrounded by paint-ball armies ..... lol. They can join in with the hikers and bikers.

And by the way, anyone who thinks that such intensive activity doesn't effect deer behavior, doesn't really understand deer behavior very well.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

reminds mo of what happened about 8 years ago up north during the Archery opener. It was cool morning...nice and quiet. I placed buddy of mine in a climber at a logging road intersection on my uncles property. I was on the other side of 200 acres. He called me on the radio with a "Wherein the hell did you put me" comment. He was sitting there and hears this steady crunch...chrunch getting closer ....He was surrounded in a pine cluster in a harwood knob and could only see about 25 yards. It kept getting closer so he stood and got ready. her comes 2 ladies in full jogging gear trotting right through the woods. They were as surprised to see him as he was to see them. They fell all over themselves apologizing. They wer not hunters and no one in their famlies were. They thought deer season was still weeks away. Most equate deer season with all the shooting and give little thought to bows and that the seasons could be different.

I asked him if he had booted them off the property since it was posted and I was the only one with permission.NOPE...he didn't ...said they were to cute and he hoped they came back...lol. He never was that serious of a deer hunter

[Dom]

I really cannot keep any one from were i hunt its stateland how ever i do not like to have cig butts all over the ground went to my spot yesterday and there must have been a chain smoker sitting by the tree i picked up about 15 or so guess i will be finding new location who ever left them is an a hole why would you smoke in the woods any way i am a smoker myself but never on stand i chew instead

[Doc]

Ha-ha ..... At least he didn't get hit in the back of the head with a paintball.

I have watched joggers go running by in their little spandex flourescent colored jogging suits, prancing like some kind of gazelle. I must admit to a certain amount of respect (maybe even a bit of jealousy) for anyone who can climb that friggin killer-hill and still have enough strength left to be running back in as far as I am. After all, after you climb that ridiculous hill, about 3/4 of a mile with a slope that has you almost on your hands and knees (well that might be a slight exaggeration....lol), I am another 3/4 of a mile deeper in. You have to give it to someone with that kind of stamina. However, when you have spent a few hours patiently waiting on stand, that sort of thing is not exactly something that you welcome....lol.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I really cannot keep any one from were i hunt its stateland how ever i do not like to have cig butts all over the ground went to my spot yesterday and there must have been a chain smoker sitting by the tree i picked up about 15 or so guess i will be finding new location who ever left them is an a hole why would you smoke in the woods any way i am a smoker myself but never on stand i chew instead

While I dont condone leaving your butts in the woods, I used to smoke and smoked in the woods all the time. Know how many deer I shot right after I outed a cig? You dont think chewing tobacco smells?

[WNYBuckHunter]

Doc, as far as the deer and having their patterns changed by a little human activity, I have to beg to differ with you. I have trail cam pics of someone getting out of their truck on a trail where my cam was, and no less than 2 hours later, 2 bucks walking right through the same exact spot. Then other vehicles going by a few days later and more deer walking right through there just a little while later. Its a working farm, so the deer here are used to smelling people and seeing them working and walking around the land. Now if you are talking about some remote spot, where the only people a deer might ever see are the ones trying to shoot them, well, then a game of paintball might throw them out of their patterns for a few days.

[Localqdm]

Doc, where do you hunt that you can get almost a mile in? I can't seem to find much state land around that is much more than a mile wide, and they all seem divided by access roads making them seem unlikely to find your own little corner of peace out there away from the orange crowd.

[Caveman]

I wonder how the various parcels of state land have escaped this sort of thing. I'm not talking about an occasional neighbor kid or two. I mean organized paintball events. It's certainly not illegal. And the mood that the DEC is in these days, I'm surprised they are not inviting this kind of participation on state lands. They seem to be in a mode of encouraging all kinds of non-hunting uses of state lands. After all, they have no problems with the big mountain bike clubs hacking a maze of trails and painting trees.

Ha-ha.... that will be the next thing. We'll be in our stands surrounded by paint-ball armies ..... lol. They can join in with the hikers and bikers.

And by the way, anyone who thinks that such intensive activity doesn't effect deer behavior, doesn't really understand deer behavior very well.

Doc I can understand your frustration at having to share a hunting spot with non-hunters but at the same time you seem almost too hostile, like anyone using state land for anything other than hunting is doing something wrong. Keep in mind in a time when you can't pry people away from electronic media more people enjoying the outdoors is not necessarily a bad thing.

Also their tax money to maintain the land is just as green as ours.

[ny hunter]

If these kids do this a lot the,the deer are used to them.I don't think you are gonna have a problem unless they do this when your hunting.

[Doc]

Doc I can understand your frustration at having to share a hunting spot with non-hunters but at the same time you seem almost too hostile, like anyone using state land for anything other than hunting is doing something wrong. Keep in mind in a time when you can't pry people away from electronic media more people enjoying the outdoors is not necessarily a bad thing.

Also their tax money to maintain the land is just as green as ours.

I suppose you have to have had a few hunts busted before you can truly appreciate the frustration. I think the attitude hardens a bit when you find huge chunks of what used to be prime hunting land now riddled with a dense maze of mountain bike trails hacked into what used to be quite pristine forested land. And yet if I clear a couple of shooting lanes, I find out that I have broken the law. Yes, I have learned to cope by simply deserting large chunks of land that used to be very productive hunting grounds. I am expecting the ATV people to start pushing their influence to get chunks of state land opened up for riding trails. Sure they all have a right to over-run any state parcel that exists. That doesn't mean that I have to cheer them on. Am I bit hostile about turning semi-wilderness into Coney Island? ..... Yes I suppose I am. Is that unreasonable?.... No, I don't think so.

[BUCKrub91]

I used to ride a noisy dirtbike through the woods all the time and would see deer almost every time... a few kids playing paintball arent going to drive them away

[Doc]

Doc, as far as the deer and having their patterns changed by a little human activity, I have to beg to differ with you. I have trail cam pics of someone getting out of their truck on a trail where my cam was, and no less than 2 hours later, 2 bucks walking right through the same exact spot. Then other vehicles going by a few days later and more deer walking right through there just a little while later. Its a working farm, so the deer here are used to smelling people and seeing them working and walking around the land. Now if you are talking about some remote spot, where the only people a deer might ever see are the ones trying to shoot them, well, then a game of paintball might throw them out of their patterns for a few days.

My experiences are relative to typical state land that is used for hunting. I can only tell you that in the 67 years that I have been wandering and hunting this particular chunk of state land, I can assure you that the activity that has been added to this parcel has definitely altered deer patterns to the point where bowhunting is a useless effort in those areas where the mountain bike trails have been added (which is a huge amount of the total area). Those areas have very little daytime deer movement since at any moment they can expect to see and hear 5 or 10 bikers go by, or some merry band of hikers. Fortunately I have found small areas that are not impacted with human activity.

[Localqdm]

Wasn't basically all state hunting land bought with HUNTING license sales and through taxes on HUNTING equipment?--There is no Pittman Robertson tax on 4 wheelers or paintball equipment. In that sense I agree w/Doc, hunting should get the priority on state lands.

[Doc]

Doc, where do you hunt that you can get almost a mile in? I can't seem to find much state land around that is much more than a mile wide, and they all seem divided by access roads making them seem unlikely to find your own little corner of peace out there away from the orange crowd.

I can think of at least three chunks of state land that have large areas of un-broken hunting areas. One would be Hi-Tor in Naples and another would be in the township of Bristol and another in South Bristol. The hills are such that roads are limited in terms of how close they can actually get to each other. My hunting has always been in these areas so I can't speak of other areas of the state.

Actually, when it comes to the orange crowd, I welcome them and use them during gun season. Things get a little tougher when it comes to bowhunting where we are actually trying to pattern deer movement and move in to that 20 yard range. That's not exactly a condition where you want throngs of people walking by. fortunately I have been able to squeeze into the edge areas where nobody seems to go ...... yet. I have pretty much been pushed out of some very good hunting areas by the new activities that have taken over the area. It's not much of an impact on gun season because all the non-hunting uses cease as soon as the orange army invades the area.