Public Land Woes.....

[Arcade Hunter]

So I get out of work later than usual but I have just enough time to get in for the last hour sit.  Not enough time to get into my scouted areas because they are in there pretty far.  I have a decent wind to try an ag field near the parking area, an area I have never looked at before.  There is sign galore; rubs, dozens of them and big runs all over the place.  Things are looking and feeling good.  I set up along the edge of some thick bedding and the ag field and i get brushed in real well.  I get my little hunting chair set up  and nestle in with about 70 minutes of legal light left.   Where I parked there were two cars, one had bike racks on it and a pick up truck.  I figured there were one, maybe two hunters back in here somewhere.   I minute or two after I sat down I watch another bow hunter enter the field from the same corner I did and he walks out into the ag in the wide open... He stops and is looking around and when he looks in my direction, I stand up and wave to him... just want him to know I am in here.  He waves back  and heads out the same way he came in.  No problem, its public and he has the same right to be there than I do.

About 15 minutes of light left,  I see deer legs off to my left and I carefully peek out to see if it is a doe.  Indeed it is, its a big doe with another one , a little smaller.  They are just standing there about 60 yards to my left and maybe 15 to 20 yds inside the ag.   Thinking I need them to walk towards me in a hurry cause I am running out of time, I hit my can call twice.  These deer do not have a clue i am there.  They proceed to walk  right for me... here they come... I  can see them real good now but I need the to move another 15 yards or so into my shooting opening.  That would have given me about a 20 - 25 yd shot broadside and the wind was perfect.

They take another step or two, stop, turn around and run back into the corner that they came out of.  Shit!   I look off to my right and I see a bow hunter just standing inside the ag about 40 yds from me, in the wide open.  Im thinking WTF.... this guy was wearing a white tee shirt, navy blue shorts and it looked like flip flops on his feet... a younger guy maybe 25 yo.  

This hunt is over.  I get up and grab my chair and start walking toward him.. we meet and start talking... he says He never saw me sitting there etc.... and we walk out chit chatting about deer hunting.  He told me he has been driving around the public for the last hour or so and he saw four doe cross the main road so he shot into the lot, parked and ran over my way.  (He did have flip flops on by the way).  Anyway,...

What crazy shit have you and gals seen out on public?

[rob-c]

Never thought about wearing  flip flops for putting on a stalk ..

[Jeremy K]

He sounds like a typical hack hunter .

[phade]

17 minutes ago, Arcade Hunter said:

So I get out of work later than usual but I have just enough time to get in for the last hour sit.  Not enough time to get into my scouted areas because they are in there pretty far.  I have a decent wind to try an ag field near the parking area, an area I have never looked at before.  There is sign galore; rubs, dozens of them and big runs all over the place.  Things are looking and feeling good.  I set up along the edge of some thick bedding and the ag field and i get brushed in real well.  I get my little hunting chair set up  and nestle in with about 70 minutes of legal light left.   Where I parked there were two cars, one had bike racks on it and a pick up truck.  I figured there were one, maybe two hunters back in here somewhere.   I minute or two after I sat down I watch another bow hunter enter the field from the same corner I did and he walks out into the ag in the wide open... He stops and is looking around and when he looks in my direction, I stand up and wave to him... just want him to know I am in here.  He waves back  and heads out the same way he came in.  No problem, its public and he has the same right to be there than I do.

About 15 minutes of light left,  I see deer legs off to my left and I carefully peek out to see if it is a doe.  Indeed it is, its a big doe with another one , a little smaller.  They are just standing there about 60 yards to my left and maybe 15 to 20 yds inside the ag.   Thinking I need them to walk towards me in a hurry cause I am running out of time, I hit my can call twice.  These deer do not have a clue i am there.  They proceed to walk  right for me... here they come... I  can see them real good now but I need the to move another 15 yards or so into my shooting opening.  That would have given me about a 20 - 25 yd shot broadside and the wind was perfect.

They take another step or two, stop, turn around and run back into the corner that they came out of.  Shit!   I look off to my right and I see a bow hunter just standing inside the ag about 40 yds from me, in the wide open.  Im thinking WTF.... this guy was wearing a white tee shirt, navy blue shorts and it looked like flip flops on his feet... a younger guy maybe 25 yo.  

This hunt is over.  I get up and grab my chair and start walking toward him.. we meet and start talking... he says He never saw me sitting there etc.... and we walk out chit chatting about deer hunting.  He told me he has been driving around the public for the last hour or so and he saw four doe cross the main road so he shot into the lot, parked and ran over my way.  (He did have flip flops on by the way).  Anyway,...

What crazy shit have you and gals seen out on public?

I grew up hunting public in VA and seen some real mean spirited people and some that are good sportsmen. Broken windows in trucks, all the way to people helping track a shot that you don't know and being invited on a dog push with the game warden. Mixed bag like public land. Some public can be better than private, that is for sure.

I haven't hunted public for deer in several years now but that is mostly driven by time. It takes mountains moved for me to get off work early and I'm at the point where I'll spend to have private access locked up to ensure I don't have a disruption when I do get out (certainly still happens from time to time). If I had more time or more convenient public access I might still take a stab here and there. Something to be said for being successful on public. It's not easy.

[Arcade Hunter]

8 minutes ago, Jeremy K said:

He sounds like a typical hack hunter .

Bingo!

I just never expected to see that!  Chevy Chase said it best:  "I couldn't be more surprised if I woke up and found my head sewn to the carpet"

[Steve D]

44 minutes ago, Arcade Hunter said:

What crazy shit have you and gals seen out on public

I have a ton of State Land horror stories but probably the one that sticks out the most is  where I ended up shooting a nice buck.

It was a very cold morning around 11° and this hill I hunted went straight up and took about 45 minutes to hike. I went in that morning while it was still dark and just before I got to the top where I wanted to be I spotted a orange coat at the top. WTF...so I dropped back down the hill about 100 yards because it was starting to get light and about an hr. later a nice 8 point come running through and I got him.

I like to hunt state land because it usually holds some nice deer (like the one you shot) but it never fails to amaze me how often after scouting a place and picking a spot when you go back in someone is already there or near by and have never been there before in their life.

One reason why when I scout and find a spot that I like I plan for a back-up spot nearby just in case.

[Arcade Hunter]

3 minutes ago, Steve D said:

I have a ton of State Land horror stories but probably the one that sticks out the most is  where I ended up shooting a nice buck.

It was a very cold morning around 11° and this hill I hunted went straight up and took about 45 minutes to hike. I went in that morning while it was still dark and just before I got to the top where I wanted to be I spotted a orange coat at the top. WTF...so I dropped back down the hill about 100 yards because it was starting to get light and about an hr. later a nice 8 point come running through and I got him.

I like to hunt state land because it usually holds some nice deer (like the one you shot) but it never fails to amaze me how often after scouting a place and picking a spot when you go back in someone is already there or near by and have never been there before in their life.

One reason why when I scout and find a spot that I like I plan for a back-up spot nearby just in case.

Totally agree.  I have been scouting this public a lot, I try to scout for a few hours while I am out there too.  The more options you have the better off you will be.  I am really starting to like hunting public, I feel that i am learning a lot too.  Getting excited for my opening gun week at Allegany.  Ill have to scout as I go unless I can get up there a few time at the end of October

[Steve D]

3 minutes ago, Arcade Hunter said:

Totally agree.  I have been scouting this public a lot, I try to scout for a few hours while I am out there too.  The more options you have the better off you will be.  I am really starting to like hunting public, I feel that i am learning a lot too.

Some of the state areas I hunt the deer patterns don't change all that much so I find my self scouting more for sign of hunters than looking for deer sign. I am finding more and more people are putting up trees stands and last weekend I even found a cell cam locked to a tree.

 I have a couple trail cams on state land right now that I expect to be gone when I go back hopefully some time this week.

 I like hunting state land but one never know what to expect or what you will come across.

Good Luck in Allegany!!! There is a lot of territory there and heard of some real nice bucks coming from there.

[ATbuckhunter]

Craziest thing ive seen are guys wearing no orange during gun season and a dude that was high out of his mind and had no clue where he was (or probably who he was) 

[Cory]

My land borders state land so I run into all sorts of amazing human beings. Like when a guy was sitting in my tree stand on my property and told me it’s public land and a public tree stand so I asked him then are those public posted signs ? He offered to shoot me if I didn’t leave his spot. Called police then he got out of my stand and took off running. 

[Bolt action]

Craziest stuff I see on public always ties back to pheasant hunting. I always wear orange. A few years back I was walking through some thick stuff that bordered a field. I was trying to help the dog and push some birds out of the cover. I heard a shot close by and actually had the pellets raining down around me. That was too close for comfort. Not sure if I told the wife about that one... Another time I was over at Carlton HIll for the pheasant opener. You could see teams of guys and dogs lined up along the road every 20 yards or so waiting for sunrise to start pushing the field. It wasn't uncommon to hear them get into shouting matches because one person got too close or had a foot in the field 2 minutes early or whatever.. I really enjoy hunting them, but now I avoid the opening weekend. It's not worth the drama.

[BowmanMike]

I just started hunting public this year and will only do so during bow season,maybe late season too. I walked some public on a trail last year during gun and two bozos are walking down the road ahead of us. They didnt hesr us until we passed them and not a speck of orange on either of them,full camo. Some folks are just not that bright,and i dont mean the orange...

[Arcade Hunter]

57 minutes ago, BowmanMike said:

I just started hunting public this year and will only do so during bow season,maybe late season too. I walked some public on a trail last year during gun and two bozos are walking down the road ahead of us. They didnt hesr us until we passed them and not a speck of orange on either of them,full camo. Some folks are just not that bright,and i dont mean the orange...

I hear that... some state land it is required to wear a certain amount of orange....

[Arcade Hunter]

I remember years ago when we used to hunt Allegany St Park.... we drove there and were staying elsewhere, Highbanks I think it was.  We get in the park and were driving to a parking spot, mind you it is 5 am... theres a guy with his shotgun swigging booze out of the quart bottle walking down the road... staggering down the road.... we did not go anywhere near that area

[Farflung]

This year should be a zoo on state land. Tons of new hunters, many of them took the online course w/o any field session in gun handling in hunter safety. Supposedly the hunting license sales are up by a factor of three. The gun opener should be interesting. Through our federation I have forwarded a idea to have all of the hunting incidents that occur over the next 5 years be indexed back to see if the new online course is contributing to accidents. Hope the request goes somewhere.

[Nomad]

When it’s wet and muddy, I’ll drive down and back in my camo Crocs , I just know at some point I’ll forget to toss Muck boots in the P/U bed, and have to hunt in them .

Camo Crocs ,the modern day moccasins !

Ill tell a public ( BLM ) hunt from out in Montana after I take the Mrs to lunch .

Edited October 13, 2020 by Nomad

[steve863]

43 minutes ago, Farflung said:

This year should be a zoo on state land. Tons of new hunters, many of them took the online course w/o any field session in gun handling in hunter safety. Supposedly the hunting license sales are up by a factor of three. The gun opener should be interesting. Through our federation I have forwarded a idea to have all of the hunting incidents that occur over the next 5 years be indexed back to see if the new online course is contributing to accidents. Hope the request goes somewhere.

 

You are panicking for nothing.  Just because people took the online course don't mean we will have tons more hunters in the woods this year.  As I said in another thread, people are just as lazy as ever before and awful few have the patience and will power to sit in the woods for hours waiting to shoot at a deer.  Just because hunting classes were online now everyone want to become a hunter??  Come on.  The majority of those courses were taken by friends and family member of hunters for the sole purpose of getting extra DMP's. 

[BowmanMike]

54 minutes ago, steve863 said:

 

You are panicking for nothing.  Just because people took the online course don't mean we will have tons more hunters in the woods this year.  As I said in another thread, people are just as lazy as ever before and awful few have the patience and will power to sit in the woods for hours waiting to shoot at a deer.  Just because hunting classes were online now everyone want to become a hunter??  Come on.  The majority of those courses were taken by friends and family member of hunters for the sole purpose of getting extra DMP's. 

You make a lot of good points there. I can say that the state land around here has been empty so far.

I wouldn't be surprised if the hunting accidents go up just based on the number of license sales alone. Doesn't matter much if the course was online or in person,if the hunter numbers double and most of the new sales are to newbies then more accidents will not be a surprise.

I will stay of public during gun season either way.

[left field]

Maybe it’s me and my naive faith in my fellow man, but I’d like to think that someone with no experience isn’t going to just show up in the woods and start blasting away. 
 

 

[BowmanMike]

18 minutes ago, left field said:

Maybe it’s me and my naive faith in my fellow man, but I’d like to think that someone with no experience isn’t going to just show up in the woods and start blasting away. 
 

 

Ah,an optimist,how refreshing.

[steve863]

I scratch my balding head when people talk about "orange armies" and that opening day will sound like a "war zone".  I sure as hell haven't seen or heard any such thing in well over 30 years.  Where I have hunted on opening days over the last 10 to 20 years you could count the shots on one hand on opening day or at the worst two hands.  Far from sounding like a "war zone".  30 plus years ago maybe it was closer to that, you had way more hunters both on public and private lands, but there are fewer and fewer hunters out hunting each year from what I've been seeing.  Thus, it would absolutely amaze me that now all of a sudden, just because NYS has online hunter safety courses you will be seeing a mass influx of hunters.  No way in my opinion!   

 

 

 

 

 

[Swamp_bucks]

Yea I feel you with the public land issue.  But that's what it makes it so rewarding when you do finally harvest an animal.  Takes a lot of patience sometimes more to deal with people then trying to find a good spot to hunt deer.  I've had guys yell at me telling me I was trespassing,or I'm not allowed in that piece of stateland  because their families always hunted it,  all the way to having people help me get put on deer and joining deer drives.    

[land 1]

All i can say is my private is close to a lot of State land and im always shocked at the lack of shots i hear on the state opening day, and on private i think there are several factors back in the day most guys used smooth bore slug guns with open sights and would think nothing about throwing 5 slugs at a deer running threw the woods, seems to be a lot less group deer driving, overall less hunters , more accurate rifles from guys sitting still in stand waiting for the right shot, and guys passing on smaller bucks that never use to happen back in the day

[Nomad]

Having gun hunted since the mid 70s, I’d say Steve’s post is spot on ,it’s almost depressing how few shots there are today . There was a time you couldn’t count all the shots , multiple guys emptying their pumps and semis at a running herd ,as it ran from farm to farm . Heck today by Sunday morning I wonder if anyone is out hunting . 
 

One would see pick ups packed  full of guys getting dropped off for drives , it was actually quite fun really .

[Steve D]

21 minutes ago, steve863 said:

Thus, it would absolutely amaze me that now all of a sudden, just because NYS has online hunter safety courses you will be seeing a mass influx of hunters.  No way in my opinion!   

The NYS Department of Environmental Conservation is seeing a large increase in people buying sporting licenses this year, especially hunting.

Mary Bailey, an Environmental Program Specialist with the DEC, believes the increase is due to more people wanting to spend time outside and social distancing during the pandemic, so they're turning to sports like hunting and fishing.

https://wbng.com/2020/09/10/hunting-licenses-on-the-rise-in-new-york/