Someone is hunting "your" spot on public land...

[mulehunter]

400 million in American no wonder why Public Land has some ANTS walking around with Rifles. Its going be very interesting in 10 years from now.


Mulehunter 

[BENCHLEG]

it is life deal with it. find a spot away from the road and hope that you do not see anyone.

[kramman]

If I run into someone on the trail or in the woods I try to have a polite conversation with them asking them were they will be hunting as I do not want to accidentally shoot them or get shot myself.After I say this they  usually  tell me there intentions so I adjust accordingly.I also mention if I have a partner hunting the same area and ask the same of them.Most people ive dealt with have been pretty nice.But yes first come first served.Having said this ive also seen people literally run around me to get to a spot first.If they are that much of an ahole then they probably are not the most safety conscious hunter in the woods and I will leave the area. 

[haus]

pshh, being in your stands one thing.....where it really gets screwy is public access land that's open to vehicle use on the weekends. ie the Weyerhaeuser timber lands. holly **** its a texas land grab scene every day 

[Armadillo]

First Come first serve. How many of you tell the truth when another hunter greets you in your spot asking if you've seen any deer?? Thats the real question 

[Ray]

I have been out bear hunting and some guys asked me if I had seen deer. I always answered the truth in that case. When I'm out deer hunting it will not be the same. LOL

[Fish4Fun]

We hunt nothing but public lands and do well just about every year. There are areas we hunt that our stands are 2+ miles back in the hills now due to closed roads. We are on the roads walking in 3 hours before daylight, just to get ahead of the others that hunt the area. Go in as quiet and as quick as possible without getting over heated walking up hill. As already stated, know where the animal trails are and where the escape routes are. Sit just off of them, where you can see the direction they are coming from and be quiet and still in the darkness. As daylight breaks you are usually ahead of the animals deer or elk, and since you were so early they have pretty much all but forgot about you. Now comes the fun, as daylight approaches and the other hunters bumble into the woods, the animals stay just ahead of the morning rush hour. Usually the fun will last a couple of hours as hunters criss cross through the woods and the animals stay ahead of them. Nothing better than a wide eyed guy seeing a buck or bull on the ground after he has chased it straight to you.    My brother and I have taken 33 bulls and several cows using this tactic on public lands elk hunting.
Just makes you want to hand a guy a can of Alpo Dog Food for bring them straight to you every morning.

[kbdavear]

First Come first serve. How many of you tell the truth when another hunter greets you in your spot asking if you've seen any deer?? Thats the real question 

Well, I don't have anything I would call "My" spot, but I have a few that I am hoping work out. I have to say that I am honest about what I see or dont see when I am out. I figure your out there and there is not much reason to lie about it. I am from S. texas so the public land thing is new to me. I am sure that my outlook on this may change in the coming years. I do know for a fact that I have had people lie to me though. I get the secrets about your spots, but at the same time....You can only get 1 deer and total 2 bear a year. Unless you get drawn for something (Which I do not completely understand yet).

[kbdavear]

I would also like to ask, which I believe one person commented about.

If you come across a road/trail that has a vehicle parked at it. Will you go ahead and head down the road/trail? I ran into this last year a couple of times (because I was lazy and got out later than normal). I chose to not even head into the area because I just didn't feel comfortable walking into an area that someone was hunting (not knowing where).

Also, how many people wear Orange during Bear season?

[Skyvalhunter]

Go in and hunt it!!

[robodad]

I guess I'm a bit unusual in that I look for the places where there are the most vehicles/hunters etc... I grew up in Wisconsin where deer drives are the norm and the woods at daylight look similar to a cupcake with sprinkles on it and have always filled my tag, If I am looking for a monster then I change to an area with less pressure and "still" hunt and if I happen upon another hunter I just adjust my coarse, no big deal, those folks have just as much right to hunt the area as I do and I respect that and I expect they would do the same !! Life is too short to be upset about silly things like that, enjoy the woods for now and the folks that use them it may not be available in the future !! 

[Fish4Fun]

If you come across a road/trail that has a vehicle parked at it. Will you go ahead and head down the road/trail?

One year some guys set up a travel trailer right infront of the gate of the road we were going to hunt on opening day. They were thinking that NO ONE would beat them up the hill opening day of deer season. As we slipped past them with flashights in the dark we heard their alarm clock going off, we were miles ahead of them by daylight. An hour after daylight those guys finally made it up the hill to see the 2 bucks we had killed half hour after daylight. If you know an area is getting hunted by others, be there and gone before most guys show up.

[carpsniperg2]

kbdavear just because some one is parked there does not mean there is not room for you to hunt. there is plenty of ground down most logging roads that you can get on. the sooner in the am you can get out the better. there is very few people that i know that wear ornage during bear hunting i carry orange in my pack if we get a bear down but i do not wear it when hunting. i have never bumped into anyone bear hunting "other then road hunters" so far knock on wood

[vandeman17]

To expand on my previous post, having a few hunters out in the woods has never really bothered me, especially when whitetail hunting because if I know the area well enough, I have a good idea where the deer will travel to get away from the pressure. The comment about the guys setting up a trailer at the end of a road reminds me of opening day of duck season two years ago. We got to our spot that we had scouted mid day the day before opening day. My buddy and I were sitting in this parking area hanging out when a camper pulled in. These dip S#%ts didn't say a word to us and just started setting up their campers and going about their business. A little while later, a few more of my buddies showed up and a few more in the other party showed up. Even at this point, the other group hadn't said a word to us so I decided that we were going to hike out to the pond that night and sleep next to it to make sure we got our spot. The pond isn't huge and there was 5 of us in my party so I had three guys set up at one end and two guys at the other. About two hours before shooting time I saw headlamps coming our way. I told the guy we were setting up here and that the two other guys were setting up at the other end. He got all bent out of shape, saying that he had hunted there opening day for 20 years and that we were being jerks by spreading out etc. I politely told him that we were obviously there first and when him and his party pulled in, if he would have come and talked with us, we could have figured out a way to both be able to hunt the pond. Trying to be the better man I went down to the end of the pond and had my buddies grab their gear and come hunt with us so the other guys could have that end. What made it better was that we did 90% of the shooting that morning so our work paid off for us. Moral of this long story is that if you run into a situation where you come upon another hunter in "your" area or spot, it is probably your best bet to talk to them and see what you can work out. More often then not, there can be a plan devised that makes both parties happy.

[kbdavear]

kbdavear just because some one is parked there does not mean there is not room for you to hunt. there is plenty of ground down most logging roads that you can get on.
 there is very few people that i know that wear ornage during bear hunting i carry orange in my pack if we get a bear down but i do not wear it when hunting.

The spots it happened on last year were kind-of limited. The end of the road was really the only spot to hunt. I was just nervous about heading up and 1 messing up there hunt and 2 coming out at the bottom of the clear cut with a "*censored*" looking through a scope. I know they are out there.... If I know the area, and I know there are plenty of spots I would probably head on in and try to get into one of them. However, that is why I try to have more than one area, which I am slacking on this year. Putting all my bears in 3 bushes, but the season is long.

I dont wear orange during Bear season either, but I too carry it with me. I was just asking that question because it was presented to me by a Loved one that, well, ummm, JUST DOESN"T GET IT.