What would you do?

[Kritter Gitter]

So me and my buddy came down to Oak Ridge last weekend and done some scouting. We found a spot and put our stands on at the base of the tree. We get here this morning and there is some moron sitting in the tree not 4ft away!¡ Would any of you guys do that! Says he seen it, but decides to hunt there any ways!

 

[DC219]

That happened to me some years ago on public land on an afternoon bow hunt. (Unfortunate reality of hunting public land) I moved about 100 yards away and sat on the ground. A short while later I shot a huge buck. The guy hunting next to my stand helped me track it, but we never found it. Anyway, to answer your question; there's really nothing you can do. Public land is first come, first serve. I'd never do that to someone though.

 

[Tn Joe]

Just because you leave a stand doesn't make it your spot. You should've got there before him this morning

 

[DMD]

Just because you leave a stand doesn't make it your spot. You should've got there before him this morning

^^^This is the reality of it

 

[Jim Fred]

Yeah that's painful when it happens. I consider my blinds/stands on public land pretty much fair game. I have learned to manage my own expectations and actually expect someone to be in my stand/ground blind now. Makes figuring out a new plan that much easier when it happens.

 

[dryhorn2]

1st come 1st served, if you want your spot get there first

 

[Talome13]

What would I do? I would tell the guy good luck, move my stuff and never hunt public land again. That's exactly what I would do.

 

[Grnwing]

Not much you can do, he got there first. I don't leave anything on public land, not because it may get stolen but because it draws attention from others. I know when I come across a trail camera or stand or trail markers, I start to analyze it and figure out why someone set up in that area. I will move on to my next spot. I also plan that if that stand gets hunted, where would the deer go to avoid it.

 

[philsanchez76]

A lot of less experienced hunters see a stand and think ok this must be a good spot. And they are lazy thinking someone else got the scouting done for them. This is why I never leave anything set up. Always set up and tear down same hunt. Hate that for ya though.

 

[rem270]

If it was me I would've avoided the placed and moved on a little ways. But first come, first serve on public land. Nothing you can do but move on and not let it ruin your hunt.

 

[GRIT]

A lot of less experienced hunters see a stand and think ok this must be a good spot. And they are lazy thinking someone else got the scouting done for them. This is why I never leave anything set up. Always set up and tear down same hunt. Hate that for ya though.

BINGO

 

[Huntaholic]

Well I did eat at waffle house on the way there, and I also drank 6 cups of coffee. I think nature would call, I would do my business, get my stand, and move 100 yards or so upwind of him.

 

[Huntaholic]

I dont miss hunting public land at all. I remember once years ago turkey hunting at Catoosa with one of my kids. We got on a very vocal bird, (HIGHLY unusual up there) and while I was calling him in some MORON started calling behind me to the bird. I did everything I could to let him know I was there, even got to the point of whistling at him. Not happening, he was coming on regardless. I told my son that as soon as he got nearly within sight I was going to start cackling like a setting hen and run that turkey off. Thats EXACTLY what I did too and when I did it we got up and started walking straight at the gobbler to make damn sure he blew out of the country.

 

[Ski]

A lot of less experienced hunters see a stand and think ok this must be a good spot. And they are lazy thinking someone else got the scouting done for them. This is why I never leave anything set up. Always set up and tear down same hunt. Hate that for ya though.

Unfortunately that really happens.....a lot. It's by far and above my biggest gripe about public. My brother actually has an old junk climber he uses to decoy those folks. Hangs at the base of a tree in the wide open so it can't be missed, and sure as the sky is blue somebody sets up within bow shot of it every time.

 

[backyardtndeer]

Get there first. While not exactly the same, the corn feeding jacklegs on the property behind us setup a ground blind smack dab on the middle of the trail the deer were using heavy to go on and off our property. The stand I have hunted for nearly 25 years is on a little ridge looking down into the bottom about 75 yards off the property line. They setup less than 10 yards from the property line. I know they heard me shoot a day before they set it up. So on opening morning of rifle I made sure I was in the stand earlier than they would get there. Paid off for me.

 

[MUP]

Just because you leave a stand doesn't make it your spot. You should've got there before him this morning

This is the way it is basically. It's a first come first served deal.

 

[Ski]

I understand hanging a stand doesn't claim a spot, that public land belongs to all of us. But I also understand common courtesy and consideration. There always were scumbags before but these days people don't even try to hide it. They think it's ok to be a selfish prick. No shame.

Personally I've only ever hunted public by still hunting or from a mobile stand that is carried in & carried out. I'm not a fan of allowing ladder stands or semi-permanent hang-ons, but I respect/recognize that it's a thing and do my best to avoid an area with one present, especially if it's being used. They're hardly ever in a spot I'd want to hunt, anyway.

That said, I was scouting a local spot early this season and was pretty close to a mile from the road when I found some promising sign. It was a transition of thick running along side open woods and a rub line 20yds away & parallel to the transition. I even bumped up some does then a couple bucks 50yds past the doe beds. A little further and right where the bucks had jumped up was where the thicket "J" hooked, and sure enough there was an old broken folding chair with red logging ribbons marking a trail from it out to the old logging road/hiking trail. Somebody seasons before had found a good spot and marked it so that anybody could find it! Probably didn't expect anybody else to be that far back.

 

[Tn Joe]

I understand hanging a stand doesn't claim a spot, that public land belongs to all of us. But I also understand common courtesy and consideration. There always were scumbags before but these days people don't even try to hide it. They think it's ok to be a selfish prick.

I get what your saying but how was the guy to know how long that stand had been on the tree or if anyone was going to show up to hunt? Bottom line on public land don't put a stand up and expect someone else not to hunt it or close to it and ALWAYS have a backup plan or two.

 

[DayDay]

I've scouted and found promising spots on public land. I'd usually carry a climbing stand in and out. I've set up next to or near other hanging stands and near ladder stands several times. Sometimes I didn't know the other stand was there when I climbed and other times I did. I usually hunted on weekdays and never saw anyone come to those stands.

 

[EastTNHunter]

I hate it when someone tries to claim their spot on public land by setting up a blind or treestand in the location. It's first come first serve.

 

[Urban_Hunter]

Just because you leave a stand doesn't make it your spot. You should've got there before him this morning

Pretty much this. There are so many stands on public land, if you never hunted by one you would never hunt. I wish they would enforce the regulation in place that is supposed to prevent people from leaving private property on the wma's

 

[scn]

It sort of works both ways. I'd probably climb the tree my stand was on and tell the MF that he better be fast on the draw.

I had a friend that did it years ago on an Archery hunt at Hiwassee Refuge. He had hung a hangon in a tree the evening before the hunt. He got there the opening morning and found someone hung in the same tree. There were some words, and David climbed into the tree and killed the first buck that came by. Needless to say, the other guy didn't have a very productive morning.

 

[Talome13]

I hate it when someone tries to claim their spot on public land by setting up a blind or treestand in the location. It's first come first serve.

It's like putting your beach towel on the unoccupied chair at 5am, and then waiting until noon to come out of your room.

 

[Talome13]

Who is to say that guy hadn't scouted the area many more hours than the OP? Maybe he decided not to leave his stand there.

 

[hunttherut]

Just giving the guy the benefit of the doubt.....There's a chance he may not have seen your stand if it was dark when he climbed up.

 

[killingtime 41]

Well to answer your question if I'd seen the stand no I wouldn't have even considered hunting there. Why well I'm not an asshole like so many. Plus I know how to hunt so I will find my own spot. There's plenty of places I tell myself. It's called common courtesy.just because it's public land doesn't mean a man's ass won't get whooped for outright disrespect

 

[Talome13]

Well to answer your question if I'd seen the stand no I wouldn't have even considered hunting there. Why well I'm not an asshole like so many. Plus I know how to hunt so I will find my own spot. There's plenty of places I tell myself. It's called common courtesy.just because it's public land doesn't mean a man's ass won't get whooped for outright disrespect

With all due respect, this is not the answer. We don't know enough of the story to start talking about courtesy and disrespect. If the guy saw the stands there and set up because he thought, "Hey there are stands here, this is where I'll hunt." Then yeah, that's pretty crappy. But at the end of the day, technically he did nothing wrong, and it should never result in violence.

 

[Mtncur76]

So what would you do if you got to a spot first and no trucks around and you walk in a mile and find a stand you going to walk back out and go some where else . Dont think so first one there is there spot. I would probley been upset if some one walked in on me when I was there first and missed up my hunt just because they hung a stand when they scouted didn't think you were supposed to leave stands on wma's over night or days ahead

 

[ruger7mag]

Well to answer your question if I'd seen the stand no I wouldn't have even considered hunting there. Why well I'm not an asshole like so many. Plus I know how to hunt so I will find my own spot. There's plenty of places I tell myself. It's called common courtesy.just because it's public land doesn't mean a man's ass won't get whooped for outright disrespect

You're exactly right, someone's ass may get whipped for outright disrespect. It's outright disrespectful to take a dump by someone's stand because they beat you to a spot. It's outright disrespectful to climb a tree right next to someone that beat you to a spot. It's outright disrespectful to raise hell and ruin another man's hunt because they beat you to a spot..... I'd be real careful these days causing that kind of trouble. I mainly hunt private, but I'm smart enough to know that I need to head to plan B if someone is in my top spot on public.

 

[Lost Lake]

Most of this problem could be easily solved by not allowing stands of any type to be unoccupied at any time.

Carry it in, carry it out. That way, the overwhelming urge to hunt the spot because you left a stand there, when no one else knew it, wouldn't exist. It'd be easy to just move on from the occupied area because your stand is already on your back, and not claiming the area like a property marker.

That'd put an end to that chess match.

But, there's no way in heck I'm gonna knowingly hunt a place that already has a stand in it. It's just asking for trouble and two messed up hunts.