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

[THunt]

Alot of times will deer hunting you can use people and they will have no clue they are helping you out. I dont know how many times and have circled around someone and had them scare something right to me.

[deadyote]

I was hunting a spot last year and was there on opening morning about an hour early.  I was working down this tree line just at light, when I heard a truck door shut about a half mile away and in the same spot as my truck.  There was only one way into this hole and I was already on it.  Thought, well, maybe they will see my orange and head another way.  I WAS WRONG!!!!   That ASS just decide that he would jog right behind me and then say as he is running past me that he was sorry.  This is seconds after legal shooting light and I am still hunting the tree line that I had seen a dandy buck in earlier.  I was so pist that I just turned around and walked out because I don't want to hunt a spot that this guy is going to jog through.  Actually I had an accidental discharge and began to talk to myself loudly.  Just as my finger slipped onto the trigger and it went bang, two does and a small buck took off right next to where the guy was running past.  Now he was pist!!!  The best part was that I ended up shooting my buck in that hole a week later.  It just ticks me off how some people have lost all hunting ethics.  I was raised that if you are the first there, it's yours to hunt.  If you are second, you should have woken up earlier. 

[Skyvalhunter]

Yea a guy has to be careful you would hate to scare the deer that the guy might come across!!

[ICEMAN]

  Actually I had an accidental discharge and began to talk to myself loudly.  Just as my finger slipped onto the trigger and it went bang, two does and a small buck took off right next to where the guy was running past. 

Was it a safety malfunction?

Yeah, please share a little more about the accidental discharge. Hope you werent just touching off a round cause you were pissed off.

[billythekidrock]

  I was so pist that I just turned around and walked out because I don't want to hunt a spot that this guy is going to jog through.  Actually I had an accidental discharge and began to talk to myself loudly.  Just as my finger slipped onto the trigger and it went bang, two does and a small buck took off right next to where the guy was running past.  Now he was pist!!!  ........... It just ticks me off how some people have lost all hunting ethics. 

 

[MADMAX]

I have had many guys pull up right next to me get out and try and beat me up the gated roads

In areas (clearcuts) at ST Helens open to camp in years past
I have had guys walk into/through my camp and say geez I wish I had a nickle for everytime I sat here on this landing watching the elk herd.

I have had guys drive around into the ditch to camp 100 yds down the dead end rd we are camped on.

I have had guys literally almost run the kid over to haul butt past him to the try and shoot the elk he was trying to get ahead of.
This was all during elk archery.

I can't wait to see how it is after my first rifle hunt for elk in 20 years this year.

On the other side of the state I gun hunt mulies
We were rolling through glassing sage one late afternoon and a truck came up behind us and dogged us so we pulled over, he and his buddy rolled past and was a minute down the road when a legal basket rack decided to make an appearance, he saw us coming and we stopped because the deer was between him and us and crossing the dirt road, I did not want to shoot it but he thought I was stopping to get out and as soon as the deer cleared the road bed he is running down the road shooting a lever action at it at least 5-6 times before he hit, now this is on the side of the road, he finally shoots it.
God what a moron,
Someday I hope to be able to pack up move to MT and be hunting with 2 mules up high.
Good luck to all this season bear starts Sunday

[Dmanmastertracker]

 Last season was almost my last ever. I was hunting public ground when I dropped a forky at first light in a very small cut I had been working all season at the end of a very short spur. I gave the deer some time to expire and as I backed off away from him and began to back my rig down the short spur to load the deer when I heard some jackpipe's honking and yelling, so I got out to see what was up and politely told them I had a buck down just around the bend and they immediately started cussing me out for "blocking" the road and hogging their hunting spot -they had come hot footing it down there when they heard the shots and wanted to see who shot "their" deer. I could smell the booze on them. I really thought it would get ugly, they had blocked me in with their rig so I couldn't drive out. After a lengthy shouting match and with the smaller one being dragged away by the other as I was about to smash him after a particular insult, they finally left. There were two other turnouts right next to them and anyone who had hunted that spur knew it dead-ended only a little over 100 feet further. It's amazing how worked up people get over deer, salmon, etc.. to the point they want to start a confrontation with someone, I'm not even sure at this point that if I had already had the deer in the truck that they wouldn't have tried to steal it, there was something seriously wrong with those two.

[h20hunter]

I'll post a good experience to balance a bit.

Year before last I and my group were hunting public land that we, and a few others, had trespass rights to access. You needed to go through private property and two gates to get access. We came across a few other guys that were allowed on occasion during our days hunting. One morning I hoofed it out a little earlier than most and got set up looking over a nice clearing. Not to long along comes one of the guys and says shoot, guess he hiked all that way for nothing. No worries I say, just set up a few hundred yards along the ridge and watch another clearing. I told him I'd sit tight and watch mine and check in with him when I was ready to move so he would know I'd be traveling. Obviously he was pleased and said good deal. We both sat up on our respective clearings, shot nothing, and chatted a bit later. Nice guy. Hopefully, next time I'm hunting and come across somebody they will be kind enough to help me set up where we both know deer are but not in his way. Karma is a funny thing sometimes.

[CMG]

Good post H2o, most tend to focus on the bad experiences, but I'm sure most who have posted here have had similar "good" experiences.

  I have tried to learn from my mistakes in hunting public areas as well as learn from others mistakes that unfortunately affected me. I have scouted new areas early in the summer that did not appear to have any pressure  until opening day, when I realized I missed the memo that everyone else obviously received? Learn from it and move on to plan "B". Sometimes "c" and "D".

  "First there" gets the spot doesn't always workout. Usually there is more than one point of access to an area. And you can bet if there is, someone will be using it. Most of the time you won't know it until daybreak and the orange shows through the darkness! Be as courteous to them as you want them to be to you. Not saying I haven't been p** off a few times I have! But at that point it is useless to make it worse.

  Some have shared stories of rigs being parked at gates or on the side of the road, and a decision to "go in" or "not go in" is a choice. I personally would not go past a rig parked if I had not scouted the area first. Or Like others have said, there may be a huge amount of area behind that rig, and if I was confident I wouldn't bust a fellow hunters hunt, it is public land. Just be cautious and courteous. 

  It takes years to learn an area, not only where the deer are but where the hunters are. Two years ago I was forced to explore a new area. I scouted during the early season a few times. Then I actually scouted during general season with my step dad,(who has a disability) Just to get an idea where other hunters were not. It proved to be a pretty good strategy. Should be a good area for a few years.

[banannaclip]

if someone is in the area i want too hunt i'll back out let him alone,and head to  plan b,or plan c, if your going too hunt you gotta have options.thats why i scout it out,never really had any issues.  it is public so thats the way it is.

[Elkaholic daWg]

Alot of times will deer hunting you can use people and they will have no clue they are helping you out. I dont know how many times and have circled around someone and had them scare something right to me.

that method does work!

[huntinkid20]

3 years ago my dad, brother, and I parked on a trail head near mt st Helens during elk season about an hour before light. we knew the area pretty well and knew there was some really nice meadows a few hundred yards down the trail. We hung out in the truck for a bit so that we could start our walk, getting to the meadows right at shooting light. We get out of the truck and throw our packs on a little early just to give us some extra quiet walking time. We hear a rig come flying up the road as we start into the trail. The guy slows down (doesnt stop mind you) enough to let his passenger out who RUNS past us on the trail  . There wasn't much we could do so we just kept on, separated from this other guy 75 yards or so. As we reach the meadows at first light, the guys winds a corner just ahead of us and starts shooting, over, and over and over. At this point we're thinking a huge heard, so we separate to try and cut off a scattering herd. Well the shooting stopped after 9 shots and my dad brother and i meet back up to go check it out. Turns out there was a 3x4 bedded not even 30 yrds off the trail. The guy kept shooting and reloading because he thought he could still see it breathing... All he could say was sorry for running ahead... Yea im sure he was. We congratulated him anyway and continued hunting. Its just kind of a bummer that people can rudely cut you off like that. I know i dont have anymore rights to the spot as anyone else, its just common courtesy i think.

[KimberRich]

I've seen a bunch of people state someone in your "stand"..  Are we talking about your tree stand or in your ground blind that you have built or just the general area that you were looking to sit in?? I'm assuming the latter but you never know.

[follow maggie]

Some of these stories are why I always bring my two good German friends with me- Mr. Heckler and Mr. Koch.  The white trash get pretty polite when those two make an appearance.

[BlackRidge]

I'll post a good experience to balance a bit.

Year before last I and my group were hunting public land that we, and a few others, had trespass rights to access. You needed to go through private property and two gates to get access. We came across a few other guys that were allowed on occasion during our days hunting. One morning I hoofed it out a little earlier than most and got set up looking over a nice clearing. Not to long along comes one of the guys and says shoot, guess he hiked all that way for nothing. No worries I say, just set up a few hundred yards along the ridge and watch another clearing. I told him I'd sit tight and watch mine and check in with him when I was ready to move so he would know I'd be traveling. Obviously he was pleased and said good deal. We both sat up on our respective clearings, shot nothing, and chatted a bit later. Nice guy. Hopefully, next time I'm hunting and come across somebody they will be kind enough to help me set up where we both know deer are but not in his way. Karma is a funny thing sometimes.

Ah, that was refreshing man... good to hear there are some good stories out there