OT: A little ethical dilemna...

[bigbore442001]

Last week my father and I had set up a treestand on state property. I had walked through the area and did not see any sign of other hunters. So I figured that I would not step on anyone's toes, so to speak. I remember last muzzleloading season seeing a stand on this hill top area but this year it was gone. I figured whoever was hunting last season was hunting with the muzzleloader or shotgun and was not interested with the bow and arrow.

I set up a stand the saturday before opening day and looked again. No stand in the area. Well I hunted Tuesday afternoon without success. No big deal as that is the nature of the game.

Yesterday after getting out of work I saw a pick up truck parked at the location where I have a stand set up. I got out and then soon met the other gentleman.

We had some discourse on the issue. He claimed that he has been hunting this spot for ten years and he knows the people across the street who can attest to that.He stated he had his stand set up weeks before the season and had scouted the area thoroughly,etc.

I told him that I had checked the area and did not see any stands. He retorted that he hides his stands well and that there is another person with a ladder stand down the way. I asked if he ever hunted a particular spot. He said yes. I told him that my father had a ladder stand and it was stolen. I'd love to have a talk with that person.

He wasn't too happy but civil about the matter. To make the story short I told him that since he was on vacation I won't hunt this area for that time.

I do want to chat with him. I just want to let him know that I don't want my stand molested with and I would like to see the ladder stand that someone else set up. After I hunted one spot I went back but he was gone.

I will have that little discussion with him.

[86er]

I think you are being reasonable. Following up with the guy will let him know you are serious and also that you know who he is (superficially). There is probably a way to work it out with a degree of fairness. I had a similar situation on Long Island. I set up a ladder stand on State Property (660 acres). I left it there year round so anyone scouting or otherwise passing through would know it was there. The State says if I don't take my stand in and out every day it becomes abandoned property once I leave it. For a few years I never saw anyone in the stand - until one day. On that day I explained the deal but agreed to hunt elsewhere that day since he was there first. After that I did two things: I engraved and painted my name on the stand and I hung up a sign. The sign read - "This is Joe Riekers ladder stand. I have left it here for responsible hunters. I will try to be here first, but if I show up after you settle in please be courteous enough to relocate when I arrive. I hunt Tue, Sat and Sun in the AM until 9:30 and in the afternoon starting at 3:30. Enjoy". Only once after that did someone come to the stand. When they got there I looked down and said "Hi, I'm Joe". The guy said "Thanks" and went on. When I parked at the access I hung a sign in my window that read "I'm in the Green ladderstand with the sign". Most folks knew what that meant.

[Griff]

bigbore, I also think you're being reasonable. It's public land... putting up a stand does nothing to grant one exclusive use... but it's simple courtesy to yield to them what are in place. Just because one has hunted an area for 10 years also doesn't give one exclusive rights. Definitely a situation that requires a little tact and diplomacy. Okay, maybe a LOT!

Joe, good solution.

[madman4570]

I think you were very respectful with that guy. See thats what you get with those darn tree stands?(go to ground) No really that can be a problem on land you dont own if the other guy wants to be a jerk.A compromise is always a better solution if possible.You played it right.

[rafter-7]

Boy Howdy.

I guess I take a lot for granted in the hunting dept. about 90% of the time I go where I want for what ever I am after... ducks to furbearer on up to big game!

My state has a PLOTS program that I am enrolled in. The state pays me money to open my land to public hunting and trapping. Since I did this 3 years ago I have seen LESS hunters and less garbage on my land. What I used to give away for free I now recieve almost 10 grand for from the state game and fish

PLOTS = private lands open to sportsman

^
7

[rjohns94]

In Pa, we are not allowed to hang stands overnight on state game lands. I see a lot of them done that way. I'm still trying to figure out why others ignore that rule. I think under your circumstances, you have handled it well. I have taken the time to clear sevearal places to hunt and it always miffs me when I find someone in a tree I have cleared out with shooting lanes. Oh well, glad I have a place to hunt. If I complained too much, I should either give it up or buy my own land.

[Doc Hudson]

bigbore, I also think you're being reasonable. It's public land... putting up a stand does nothing to grant one exclusive use... but it's simple courtesy to yield to them what are in place. Just because one has hunted an area for 10 years also doesn't give one exclusive rights. Definitely a situation that requires a little tact and diplomacy. Okay, maybe a LOT!

Joe, good solution.

+ Several!

Use of public land dows not make it private. i think you were pretty darned decent to let the guy hunt during his vacation, especially since you have as much right to hunt there as he has.

Good luck keeping things civil. Stuff like this can lead to hard words or worse.

[piller]

Looks like you handled it like an adult. As a fellow hunter and member here on this forum, I am proud of you.

[Modoc ED]

bigbore442001 - Seems to me you did a pretty decent job of handling the situation but it is public land which to me means first come first hunt no matter what previous clearing/preparation has been done prior to opening day, etc..

Around here, a ranger/game warden will take down a stand and confiscate it if one is found on State, Federal, County, City, or any other public property.

[rangerider7]

I don't know much about other states but here in Texas if it is "Corp Land" you must take your stand down each time you use it or they will confiscate it. When you go to claim it, they will issue you a citation for 250.00, I think that is the sum. Many hunters try and go far enough in so that they will not be able to it. It works sometimes but it is just longer to walk for the hunter too.

[L_Kilkenny]

Judging by your description of his demeanor I say you went too far in being reasonable. Sounds like it was all give on your part and all take on his. I used to run a trap/snare line here in Iowa. Road ditches are fair game and considered public. I had installed my line on opening morning and was re-running to double check my memory. I came upon a stretch of snares that had other snares set 3' away from mine. The other "trapper" was down the road a bit and I pulled up to address the situation thinks that he hadn't seen my snares (they can be hard to see in deep weeds). I pulled up and talked to him about it and all he could say was "I know, I've been running this line for 20 years". Well, I had been running my line there for 10 and had never run across him before. There was nothing I could do. The next day when I checked my line 4 or 5 of the trails had caught coon. The coon was gone and there was no way to tell who's snares caught it. I also had 4 other coon stolen at different locations. I was so mad I pulled my line and haven't trapped since. All that over a some $12 raccoon. Another time I set a snare under a road bridge. Came back the next day to find my snare gone with a note that read "don't set next to my sets, if you want your snare back call xxx-xxxx". Well I did some looking and found his trap, in the water, covered with wet leaves about a dozen feet away. I yanked it, crossed out his number and wrote in mine. The next day I received an irate call from him yelling and screaming and throwing a fit. I simply explained to him that I hadn't seen his set and he shouldn't of taken my snare. I told him if he wanted to trade his $5 trap for my $.50 snare he could come on over. He never showed.

LK

[redlevel42]

I realize it is the only option for some, but I just would quit hunting (or shooting at all, for that matter) if I didn't own my own property. I guess I am spoiled. We never had a whole lot when I was growing up, but we had 300 acres of our own land to hunt, and my best friend's family had about twice that much. I would be literally afraid for my life if I had to hunt public land in Georgia.

[madman4570]

redlevel42, Yes we do get spoiled having big acreage to hunt.But somtimes such as Turkey hunting I feel more of an accomplishment when taking a bird say on State Game lands.Actually here in Bradford County,Pa the amount of Hunters have drastically declined.(not so much so just across the border in NY for some odd reason)Maybe cause of the City and Jersey folks?? But in Pa there are huge Farms that the farmers love to have their woodchucks shot(or maybe help them Hay-It for several days and No problem You are set for Deer Hunting!I do have to say some of my very best memories and Hunts were on land not owned by myself.Somtimes where I am now it feels like shooting fish in a barrel.Example today I drove up to the Summer Place and did a walk around of the woods(about 2 hrs)while driving up my driveway I have to go slow because turkeys in the Driveway.Kinda takes the thrill out of fall Turkey Hunting.But yes owning your own if able is a wonderful thing to have,but if not then I could not give up shooting or Hunting. See ya!

[Jason_W]

Never had that problem hunting public land in Vermont.

Everyone's taxes and license fees pay for that land, so as far as I'm concerned, he who gets into the woods first has his pick of spots.

[horsesoldier03]

You have no need to appologize. I hunt public land regularly. There is a reason its FREE. If he expects exclusive rights he needs to pony up the cash and buy land or a hunting lease. You have no responsibility to scower the country side trying to determine how many other stands are in that area. I will never put up another blind in the immediate vicinity of a prehung stand, although I have had others do that to me and yes it is frustrating. Here in KS stands may be left up 1 month before season and taken down 1 month after, however, if you get to your stand and someone is hunting in it, you have NO RIGHT to force him to leave, you may request but if they say NO you have no recourse.

[brucew44guns]

For 5 years now I have been planting new trees, and working with smaller volunteer trees that have come up on their own, here on my place in Kansas. The deer around here just use my place as a freeway to get someplace else, I'm hopeful that some fine year they will be more comfortable in staying here to hide out. Only talking about 35 acres of pasture area that I'm letting grow up, but even out here in tooleyville there are many hunters that crowd the available hunting space during season. Mostly townies, some of them don't look like folks I want to be in the brush with just to get a deer.

[HATCHETTJACK]

opening morning here in north carolina, public land is prolly the most dangerous place to be i did it once, spent most of my time hiding behind a tree..
thank god i have a big back yard with deer in it... otherwise i wouldnt hunt.... you wouldnt believe peoples disrespect for other peoples land either, i have caught them hunting in my backyard over my corn pile many times... they always say they didnt know it was my land, and i always reply, i bet you knew it wasnt yours
to no avail... takes an hour for the law to show up, and they are long gone by then... if i hold them by force, ill be the one in trouble.. dont know what to do

[bigbore442001]

Here in Massachusetts there is really no time limit as far as how long you can leave a stand up. I know on watershed land for the MDC you can leave a stand up for thirty days before you have to take it down.

I did go back and check my stand at lunch hour. No one touched it and I saw six turkeys running around the base of it. I may hunt it in the morning.

[Jason_W]

I didn't realize that public land hunting was such an ordeal in other parts of the country. Vermont actually has a tremendous amount of public land given its small size. I've hunted state and national forests and wildlife management areas exclusively for the last six years, and I've never had a problem. I've encountered other hunters, but that was just an opportunity to compare notes and shoot the BS. Never any tense or hostile encounters with others. I didn't know things were so competitive in other states. It almost makes me reconsider my plans to relocate.