OT: I don't like hunters!

Why?

Because they seem to have no respect for private property. Last year, our fence was cut twice by someone who apparently needed to drag a deer out. They don't seem to care at ALL that we have cattle, and that having the herd escape could be disasterous.

Even when they don't cut it outright, they unclip the wire from the t-posts and tangle it up so that they can cross. This leaves us with compromised fence. I've spent the last two weeks straightening out the areas where these "stewards of the forest" having been coming and going as they please.

Sorry for the rant.

I do agree that there are many hunters who are bad examples. And unfortunately I think the percentages are quite a bit higher than 10%.

What can I do except make sure that nobody that I hunt with does anything rude, inconsiderate or illegal?

I just don't see why anyone would think that another persons property is free range for them, to do whatever they please. They obviously didn't have any parental input as children.

Now here is a guy who can deal with a few things, an army ranger, with all kinds of extra training, like the pow school, etc. also a pronounced martial arts background, I've seen him still win fights after recieving a broken jaw, years ago when he used to do the matches. Now none of that ever means anything, but I had waited for the day one of these people went to far, thinking to myself, if he ever gets a hold of one of these clowns, it's gonna get ugly real quick.

Well he's camo'd up, hangin out in the woods given em H$LL, nails em poachin, gets em convicted plays it by the book, so they burn his barn down in retalliation. Wife and kid are now terrorized by this. All over a whitetail deer. I hunted his place, carried my trusty M1A handloaded with a light 130 grain hollow point and a nice load of IMR 4041, forget that one now. It was miserable, how can you relax and enjoy hunt in a veritable war zone. Well some how we got some quality time on the place, friend takes a nice one there. By now this made the front page of the news, still have copies of it. So while my friend is field dressing the deer, a white van rolls up slowly, I look at my friend, and ask, who might this be, you expecting anyone ? He says no, so I drop out of sight and focus my scope on them, just in case. I see the letters, FOX NEWS, I'm like WTF ????? Great, here I am thinking it's a drive by going to happen. More media, they want the story on the barn and even took footage of all of us, hanging the deer, etc. What a weird night that was.

One time, wore my hunting tag in the Adirondacks, while doing some hunting a few miles in, run into some northern "behuniaks" say good morning, they stare at me, I keep walking, now there was 12 of them, all liquored up, encamped right on the trail like a bunch of camo'd trolls, and he says you ain't gotta wear that, matter of a fact it pi$$es me off. Here I am thinking, hey bud, did you happen to see what a lune like me carries for a hunting rifle and can still lug it for a few miles and can hold a 1" group to 300 yds no problem. Thinking to myself, why are these people messin with me, I just want to enjoy the place, walk. explore, do some hunting etc. I got as much distance between me and them as I could, then out flanked their camp, and observed for awhile, make sure I did not grow a tail. Drunken, filthy bad guys. I forgot my tag was exposed, it sure drew em in, called my buddy a few miles ahead and told him we need to cross that camp on the way back, but in a pair. I walked right through again, not a peep out of them.

People are literally insane over deer. Tresspassers, property owners, signs, people poaching, ATV's, all the associated problems and issues, it's insane absolutely IN-sane ! I spoke the trooper about my friends problems on the 400 acres, they discussed it with me, as I had some similar issues at our place, told them I knew him, they were really worried about the standoff up there. Tough to patrol a place that big, they obviously had a tough dillemma, very hard to catch people, etc. etc.

I keep a tight lid on our place, they know better to cross the line during the season, I just don't even want to deal with them, stay out and leave me alone, please, it's one of the few things to enjoy this time of year, friends visting for a hunt on prime habitat, with lots of clover patches and grasses, abundant wild apples, they dig right in over here. My friends have taken the largest bucks off the property in the past, I could care less, I take what makes sense, some people just get crazy, tell em you saw a big one, boy that will draw them in. There are no trophy size deer here, some very elusive older bucks rarely seen, and a nice overall composite herd. What is it that makes people so crazed about deer?

I only hunt our place now, I go out to my stand and just enjoy the outdoors, get some peace and quiet, fill my tags when the time is right, and provide some food for myself. People used to hunt to survive, a cultural tradition, passed on generation to generation, by people who respect the lay of the land and others property. The attitude some of the hunters have today is terrible.

Landowners: Make sure your land is posted legally. Often we'd round up trespassers but have to let 'em go if the criteria wasn't met. And be willing to sign a complaint. Odds are you won't have to go to court. Most plead out before trial.
Meanwhile, you'll be surprised to see how far even one ticket will spread the word in your area.
Often, trespassers are busy violating more serious game laws that may tie into an ongoing state investigation somewhere, so call your ECO regardless. Since remaining legal areas to hunt is shrinking, hunting pressure may even increase for some of you. Bottom line, be careful out there. Don't wear brown during deer season and be pulling out a white handkerchief. People have been fatally shot doing that.

Kestrel

I reallize the problem is we just have'nt created enough descriptions yet for describing the difference, so "hunter" will act as a title for both the good and the bad. Sort of like "hero", the word should be reserved for the elite few that actually are heroes, but it gets used to describe allmost anyone that dies for the news medias profit.

Sorry about the lengthy post, but this issue (both sides) is pretty close to me.

Dan

When we first bought our land I was shocked that the hunt club with several hundred acres behind us thought nothing of crossing the well-marked property line and coming far onto our property. If they came upon my shop they usually wanted to know what I was doing out here, didn"t know there was anybody around. Not exactly comforting to have strangers shooting around you, assuming nobody lived there.

My solution was to lease hunting to a small group. Their primary job is to run off everybody else. Works like a dream. One guy organizes it and I see the same faces every year. They don"t pay a lot, and know it, so they"re very eager to keep me happy. My rules are always followed. Last year they gave me a rifle in addition to the payment.

Individuals? Not worth the trouble. After several years with the same group, I get almost no individual requests "cause everybody knows it"s leased. Works extremely well for me.