Ethics? Respect?

[Grill-n-man]

What is going on with the respect, morals, and ethics of people today? Took my son on the juvi hunt Saturday evening. We got past the buddy stand and to the ladder stand where we were going to pop up the blind when I noticed someone had hung a clmbing stand on a tree about 26 yards from my ladder. As we sat there the madder I got. I know that the lease rules are first come first served, but come on. When you walk 8 yards past a buddy stand, walk less than a hundred and go by a ladder stand at 12 yards then hang your stand 26 yard from the ladder stand it should be obvious that someone is hunting there. I know it wasn't there when we put the 2 stands up because I looked at the pine its in and it had the same problem the other two close to it has, no cover. I have been bow hunting out of both and it wasn't there the last time I hunted. Two years ago we put up 2 ladder stands and week before muzzle loader opened a guy put up his ladder about 50 yards up hill facing my wife's, hung trail camera, and cleared a shooting lane to within 20 feet of my wife's. Come on. I know its first come first serve but really. I can understand if you don't know but really you didn't know. The guy from 2 years ago said he seen it and seemed upset that he had a pic on his trail cam of me dragging and posing with my wife's deer. I would say the same for this year. I have a 6 year old that goes with me and again I will have to be extra careful of some idiot that can't seem to find his own spot. Point of this is- What has happened to us hunters where it has become acceptable to put a stand right next to someone else? You know if you wanted to hunt that spot and someone else has already set up it isn't any different than when it was public and someone else had set up. Simply show some respect and manners and find a different spot.

 

[Mike Belt]

I can understand your feelings because I have run into this a couple of times in the past. I've also been on the opposite side of the tracks. I've had places I scouted and wanted to hunt. Before I could hunt there someone would hang a stand somewhere in the vicinity. Now I felt like I had to back out of the area but noticed as the season came and went the guy that hung a stand in there didn't hunt it but once during the season. He "tied" up a great area and never hunted it just by hanging a stand there. I'm not saying that's what happened in your case but it does happen like that as well. I don't know which is worse; someone hunting with you or someone preventing you from hunting an area even though he doesn't hunt it.

 

[Hunter 257W]

I hear what you are saying but taking the other hunter's perspective, if a new guy gets onto a leased property he may verywell find that every good spot there has somebody elses stand sitting on it. Some guys buy a dozen of more stands and put them up in every conceivable place they might hunt. They can only hunt one at a time but by default expect all those other places where they have stands to be reserved for them and not hunted by others. Operating under those rules, only a handful of hunters can fill up a thousand acres. A new guys comes along and there's nowhere to hunt except to put a stand up close to somebody elses.

Not trying to be rude here - just looking at it from the other guys perspective.

As for me, I hunt my own property exclusively for this very reason.

 

[Scioto]

We also have these modern conveniences known as telephones (including mobile "smart" phones) and e-mail. On my lease, I have set up my primary stand, a ladder stand. I also marked three "secondary" stand locations, but those I will hunt using my climber. They are 200-300 yards from other members' primary stand locations. I will not hunt out of those secondary locations of mine without calling and e-mailing the other member first to (a) find out if they are hunting on a particular day and (b) that they are ok with me hunting 200-300 yards near to them. If they aren't, that's ok. I'm there for the joy of hunting, the woods help my soul, and I'm not out to be a d!@& about it.

 

[MUP]

Eh, I'd say you're giving the bloke too much credit...he's not a hunter if he can't find his own place to hunt...imo.

 

[easy45]

I would be polite at first but I would tell him the problem and ask him to find a new spot

 

[cfmartin1833]

it happened on my lease too. Myself and a couple other guys set out ladder stands out about 200 yards apart from each other. Our 3 stands are in different areas of som food plots that are linked together by trails. Then I back when bow season opened, and there were 4 box blinds built out in the middle of the food plots. You can see the box blinds in the wide open from our ladder stands. I have decided that im not hunting my stand for muzzleloader season....I may be a war zone in that area!

 

[Diehard Hunter]

I understand completely. If I could have gotten out of the blind Sunday, I would probably be sitting in jail today. Very few people have respect for others any more. Sunday my daughter and I were sitting in the blind with a buck in the field in front of us. She needed for him to come 50 yards closer for a Shot, and he was walking straight at us. About that time a truck comes driving in. This was 30 minutes before sunset. An adult without a juvenile that figured juvenile weekend would be a good time to try and shoot a hog. I got him stopped and he said he was sorry, but the damage was done and the buck was gone. What is worse is I had checked to see if anyone was hunting the area and told people exactly where we would be before we went there. Why would anyone in their right mind take a chance at ruining a juvenile hunt? He even drove past my truck to get to us! Earlier in the day another adult without a juvenile had decided it would be a good time to drive through the fields and scout some.

Ethics, respect, and common courtesy have gone the way of the dinosaur.

I am just thankful that she got another opportunity at a doe right before dark, but that buck would have been nice, it was the biggest she has seen in the woods to date.

If I could afford land, you can bet I would be buying it

 

[TN RDG RNR]

We are having issues also. There is about an acre of land that 4 people want to hunt. LMBO. Our policy is that we all paid the same amount and leased the whole 800 acres. Still a lot of tension.

IMO it has to be first hunter there. I personally always move out of a spot when others move in. Just not worth it and I would say in most cases if a spot is relentlessly hunted your not going to kill a mature deer there anyway.

Set up this board at the entrance sectioned off in 30 sections (12 lease members) sign in to an area. Everyone will not be happy no matter what but hope at least everyone can agree that its fair.

 

[Winchester]

These things are EXACTLY why I don't like large leases with multiple unknown members, you never know what kind of people your dealing with. I also understand how hard it is to get a piece of property exclusively for yourself!

 

[huntncoach]

I am on a 20 member lease and our policy is that you mark your areas prior to the season with your name,etc. and no one is allowed to set up within 200 yards of your area. Members are supposed to have 2 areas maximum. This seems to work for us. Oh, and several of us did not know each other prior to joining the lease.

 

[deerhunter10]

that's a respect thing. what a pain so blessed not to have to deal with that. I would bring it up and just try to talk it out surely he would understand. cant believe he did that anyway.

 

[hitek7]

Just because a stand is up on a lease does not make it your area, IMO. If that was the case, the person that had the most money to buy the most stands could have the most hunting places. Hunted a lease several years ago where there were ladder stands everywhere (30+ on 300 acres). If I wanted to hunt an area, I went in and hunted it with a climber if noone was in the ladder stand. Now I could see if I was hunting the stand and someone came and got in the other stand, that would make me mad. Now we have 340 acres between me, dad, and brother. Every stand we have is very everybody and we pick our area each hunt. I normally give them fist pickings.

 

[Grill-n-man]

Several good points. Had one on the lease last year that had put up 13 stands trying to claim property for himself, but these hunters? are not hard to figure out what and why they do that. He is the reason for a 2 stand limit per hunter. Agree that each member pays the same and has the same rights as the next to hunt especially when it comes to club food plots. One point is that there is a big difference in 26 and 50 yards with a shooting lane cleared to another's stand verses 200-300 yards from someone else. There is a reason that my stands that I do put up are not deep in the woods and can be seen by others, its called a child and keeping him safe while trying to teach him hunting and to enjoy being out in the woods. Most, like me, would agree that all someone has to do is show some respect to others and all usually ends well. Wouldn't be the first time I told someone to hunt out of one my stands when I wouldn't be hunting because if you can show me respect I show it to you. I guess the biggest thing is trying to teach my son the way I was taught and so many have seemed to have forgotten. We are losing so much so fast and the last thing we need is enemies from within. And for those of us that remember, you used to be able to hunt most anywhere with a $15 permit or get the land owners permission. But those days are gone and will never be back. And I would say that in the next 10 years you had better own it or hit the lottery. Just sit back and think what the lack of respect for others has already done to us in "civilization" and think if its that bad in town then how bad is it going to get in the woods. Already enough people getting stands stolen, trucks broken into, etc. And if we ain't going to look out for each other then who is and what are we teaching the next generation?

 

[Hunter 257W]

As soon as people started showing restraint in shooting bucks and letting antlers grow this was bound to happen. Back when nobody ever shot a big buck it was just deer hunting and most every deer was like the other guys deer. If a group of shooters shared a property and one guy shot a fork horn buck, nobody got jealous. Now we have some really big bucks but they are still rare enough and hard enough to kill that nobody wants to risk somebody else hunt their spot and kill "their" buck before they get it. I can understand that. It'll never be the same again but maybe with time as more and more people shoot big bucks, the novelty will wear off somewhat and some of the jealousy will go away. Antlers will always be a problem though. If deer were like squirrels we wouldn't have any of these issues.

 

[Bone Collector]

I can understand your feelings because I have run into this a couple of times in the past. I've also been on the opposite side of the tracks. I've had places I scouted and wanted to hunt. Before I could hunt there someone would hang a stand somewhere in the vicinity. Now I felt like I had to back out of the area but noticed as the season came and went the guy that hung a stand in there didn't hunt it but once during the season. He "tied" up a great area and never hunted it just by hanging a stand there. I'm not saying that's what happened in your case but it does happen like that as well. I don't know which is worse; someone hunting with you or someone preventing you from hunting an area even though he doesn't hunt it.

Mike this happens all the time on Public land too. I brought it up one year and actually had folks tell me on Public land, i should back out and not hunt an area out of respect for the guy that hung a permanent stand on a WMA. I just sat there reading the response dumbfounded, as to why I should vacate an area i scouted, due to someone sticking a stand there.

First come first serve means just that. It should not matter who's stand is where. first to the area gets to hunt it.

either that or it is not actually first come first serve....

 

[WRbowhunter]

Hunting on public land I deal with this all the time. For me it depends on the location. If its an area that I like to hunt then who ever put up the stand better beat me to the spot if not to bad. If its just an area I walked around and found then I have other spots to hunt and will move on and let them have it. With a first come first serve type of hunt you run the risk of limiting yourself using a ladder or lock on stand by not having an option of moving a bit further down the trail or another location.

 

[WestTn Huntin man]

I am on a 20 member lease and our policy is that you mark your areas prior to the season with your name,etc. and no one is allowed to set up within 200 yards of your area. Members are supposed to have 2 areas maximum. This seems to work for us. Oh, and several of us did not know each other prior to joining the lease.

Similar to a Air Force base I hunted while stationed there. You were allowed to mark 2 stands on a map. No one could set up a permanent stand with in 200 yards of your spot. If you were not checked in and on your stand by 9 a.m. someone else could hunt the area. If I remember correctly no vehicle movement was allowed between 6 and 9 or 7 and 9 something like that.

 

[TheLBLman]

Set up this board at the entrance sectioned off in 30 sections (12 lease members) sign in to an area. Everyone will not be happy no matter what but hope at least everyone can agree that its fair.

My club does something very similar to this, and most seem to be happy with this arrangement. All members are free to place ladder stands anywhere they like; and all other members are free to hunt them as well, first come, first serve, you pick an area. If someone with deeper pockets wants to put out more stands, it benefits everyone who might want to use them.

No particular area or "spot" belongs to anyone. You simply choose your hunt compartment for the day, and you may exclusively hunt that same compartment days on end, so long as you don't leave the property for more than 24 hours (at which time you must remove your tag from your compartment on the board). While it can be disappointing if someone hunts an area you preferred for several days, that also means many other areas can be unhunted for many days, and we have approximately 2 compartments per member, insuring plenty of good options.

This works well because it's fair to everyone, no one has special privileges over anyone, and the compartments were laid out in such a manner they're all good. Each hunter is limited to his chosen compartment, until he decides to change compartments, requiring him to do so at the tag board. You generally don't have to worry about another hunter interfering with your hunt. Your area is "undisturbed" except to the extent you're personally disturbing it. This system has contributed greatly to a quality deer hunting experience for us.

 

[Grill-n-man]

Here is an interesting view that I really never thought about until talking to a buddy of mine about the first come first serve idea. Who is actually the first on the first come first serve idea- The person who gets in the stand first or is it the person who scouts/finds a spot, hangs a stand, sets up to hunt, ect, lets say in August, only to have someone come in later, lets say September, and hang a stand? Interesting point of view ain't it cause technically the person who got it done in August was the first.