Hunter harassment ?

[almostthere!]

We were up in our trees on this knoll in the shape of a peninsula. There were five of us surrounding this peninsula. one in the middle and 4 guys in 4 corners. Come Sunday and guys from other hunting parties started roaming this area like there was no other hunting grounds. The first group of three came in on their atv way after legal shooting time in the morning hours. One of the late comers sat on top of a ridge looking straight at my brother-in-law, who is in a clear cut and could not have been more than 75 yards from this where the guy sat.

Later that evening, another group of three came in and did the same thing. The only difference was they were hunting squirrels. BTW, they came in way after legal ATV usage time as well, 4pm.

We were in plain sight and they saw us too, but they didn't care. One of the guy came and stared at my brother-in-law, who was in the middle, then went back over the knoll to look for squirrels then came back to look at my brother-in-law again and repeated the process one more time. The guy with the ATV went over to my uncle's location and fired 5 shots at a squirrel. He did this after passing my uncle about 50 yards.

Would these situations be considered hunter harassments. I know small game is still open, but to roam willy-nilly by deer hunters, who are situated in their tree stands, is just plain wrong.

They were lucky they didn't come my way. I would have made my presence known with my boss equipped 300 magnum browning.

[kentuck_ike]

Were you on public or private land?

[almostthere!]

Public.

[Outdoors_Junkie]

It only takes a couple of jerks to ruin you hunt. I hunt on public land by URL and have had few similiar run ins. Not sure what we can do about it.

[fishinNhuntin]

Sorry to hear that.....I've been there. My brother and I a few years back were set up just like you in a concentrated area on public land. We thought getting out there early would GUARANTEE us the spot and in turn a big buck or two. It seemed like just minutes before legal shooting the woods was a moving sea of orange and guys started coming in from all over. I could see three guys from my stand my brother had a guy set up 50 yards from him. They have as much right to that spot as I do was their thinking....and they do. Ethicly I think it sucks but it's the nature of the beast. We decided to pack up, move until we didn't see another hunter, and then set up. Talk about ruining an opening morning. We had to move back into the area quite a ways but we found an area without other hunters around, lots of fresh deer sign very THICK cover. (the area we originally set up in was fairly open). We got set up about noon or so. I shot a buck at 12:30 and my brother got his the next morning. From talking with some of the other hunters in the area the deer hunting SUCKED....we just smiled. That was about four seasons ago. Since that time I've hunted elsewhere but my brother hunts there every year. He's gotten at least one buck a year and has seen no other hunters since. Can't say this would happen to everybody, but try to stay focused next time and try "scouting the hunters". Make something good out of a bad situation. Hope this help!

fishin'

[Swill]

I hunt public land too and man I think some of these people are just clueless. I am all for a little small game hunting, but my hunts have been ruined plenty of times from others. Lets see... I am the only one parked in a 5 mile area, and one could assume I am hunting on the side I parked on, so of course around 5pm a small game hunter walks stand....

Gee I am sure glad I use scent control, wash in all the oderless soap, and spend my evenings on Google Earth picking the sweet deer stand spot...

Plus it was not like I was 1/4 mile from my truck and I was not even close to an access trail.

I think next year I am going to see if one of the local farmers will let me bowhunt their property. Beats the public land adventures...and all the wasted time...

[Tinkhamtown]

Welcome to my happy hunting ground.

I am hunting private land with permission of the farmer landowner. The stand I've made is 4' X 6' with roof,

1'open strip on three sides. A nice desk chair, small wood stove, and a 5 gal bucket with plastic bags. This is mounted on three 4"X4"X7' so I can pull it with ATV. My land 21.5 acres is kitty corner to the farmers. The back of my property is next to a 21.5-acre cornfield. The owner of the corn field has put up a 8' by 8' chip board and foam stand and a 4' by 4' quail call back pen 50 yards on one side of my stand and moved in a 12' covered trailer and a Chevy blazer 50 yards on the other side of my stand. A very threaten sign was on the 8 by 8 stand. Every morning at sun rise they are running they pay loader and building fires and in general banging and clanging around to scare deer away. The threaten sign was removed after a call to the Washington county sheriff but the harassment has just continued. What is a sportsman to do? A call to the game warden in Forest Lake wasn't returned. Deer hunt is being wrecked and even though it is against the law I can't get any help. Right now I am just living with the problem.

[eyefever]

The ATV issue should be reported to the DNR. As far as someone sitting 60 yards away, I don't think that matters much. I hunted a crowded piece of public land for the opener and saw eight deer on Saturday. We have also shot bucks on this stand almost every year we have hunted it. I had two guys within eighty yards on a clearing and three others on the other side of me, the trick is to get into an area with thick brush and just cut some lanes. I talked to two of the guys hunting by me and they didn't see a thing. I believe that if you exercise good scent control and keep movement to a minimum you can still have success hunting public land.

[Jeremiah Johnson]

I hate it when ATVers dont follow the deer hunting hours, they do that alot in our public forest. you should have called those guys in. As for 2nd group of guys on the atvs, I dont think they could have been ticketed if they were only hunting small game, in other words, they would have to have a deer hunting license on them. Those guys were just disrespectful and incondsiderate, sorry to hear that.

[bigyooper]

My uncle had a couple of guys do the same thing in MI last year. They guy explained that it was public property and he could do what he wanted to. After firing 2 shots into ground my uncle told him that that was OK but this (Contact Us Please) gun has a mind of it's own.

I am pretty sure my uncle said that the guy thought about it for about 5 min. and left.

They sure do it different in the UP!!