A Bit PO'ed

I have a story to tell y'all that really ticked me off this weekend. I have been watching and laboring my place down here to grow some good to descent bucks for a couple of yrs now. Lots of labor, time and money into it. This last Sat night while sitting in my stand, at 5pm I heard a feeder go off on an adjacent property that is not suppose to be being hunted. NOw mind you, I have had deer everynight coming into my plots at 5:15pm. At 5:15 this night I heard 3 gun shots real close behind me. Scared the crap out of me to be honest. They were within 100yds of my stand as is the feeder. I waited until dark to climb down giving it the 'ol college try and nothing showed up. Here is where I start to get po'ed. I heard a 4 wheeler coming back to where the shots had come from. Let me back up a bit. After the shots, I heard the animal crash approx 40yds from me in the thicket. Now there must have been 2 guys on this wheeler and I heard one tell the other, "do you what we are looking for" and the second said" yeah I shot a big 'ol doe". Now for us here, this was the last weekend for the reg deer season and it is "BUCKS" only except for managed lands and then by permit only. WTF are these guys shooting does for? I had plenty of chances to do just that, but followed the game laws. I tried to wait them out after getting out of the stand and hurriny back to my truck, but I guess they heard my truck running and did not exit the woods.  Then while sitting this morning, this same 4 wheeler came riding back into this property at 7:15am. Again "WTF"? Since I had to get back home today, I could not wait on them, but I guarantee this next weekend, if a shot is made, I will be on them like white on rice. Done playing around. Warden in tow........This is not right for these guys to be doing this and it will ruin it for the rest of us. MPO................

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

Gary,
I can sympathize with you and your frustrations.....As you know I am not a fan of baiting and ATVs when it comes to hunting....My third biggest problem this past season in WI was hunters that have no respect for other hunters and put up stands in close proximity to others...I had one guy put up a stand within sight of mine only 200+ yards away....I would never infringe on another groups hunting "area" let alone put a stand up within a quarter mile of theirs....I certainly believe in other hunters rights, but when other people infringe on your rights and reduce the quality of the hunt, they are crossing over the line and are no longer welcome in the hunting community until they see the error of their ways........

There is no place where I hunt in WI or MN that a four wheeler has been that I have not walked to at some point in time....As far as I am concerned only disabled hunters should be allowed to use them no matter where they are....In the west a horse will go where you cannot drive or walk to....It should stay that way...Horses are tradition but ATVs are a scourge...ATVs alert and spook animals....They make it easy for lazy hunters to get from one area to another...Hunting was never supposed to be easy, it is supposed to be fun, and the actions of some are taking the fun out of it for others.....I suggest that those who like it easy to stay home and play video games....

When it comes to hunting seasons, ATVs should be allowed but only in places that highway vehicles are allowed....Game retrieval has been made easy with the use of game carts, even an old f@#t like me can pull a 200 # buck out a mile and a quarter without help...The states that allow in field boning make game retrieval even easier...So the ATV excuse for game retrieval should should only be applied for the disabled or elderly.....

My son had one stand in MN that produced 3 fine whitetails all 140 or more...Another group came into that area cut an illegal trail through the woods and put up stands just a couple hundred yards from my son's....They went around a gate where ATVs were prohibited, drove down the illegally cut trail right past my son in the dark and parked underneath his tree before walking to their own stands....WTF.......

Gary, I know where you are coming from on this one and I certainly agree...Now I think back quite a few of those bad encounters and I am getting P.O.ed too.....Sure hope that the tougher laws we are seeing that are restricting ATV use will help...I hunt one area in the Superior National Forest that ATV use has been prohibited for a few years now and the hunting is really getting better as far as seeing game and less hunters as you venture farther from the main roads where they park....The old scars of the ATVs are still there and there is the occasional violators that sneak around the gates but it definitely is a better experience.....

TTL,
Randy

On my place there in Wi, I have blocked off old trails to keep the neighbors from coming in and running through my woods. Last yr, one of them did just that on his b-day weekend and tore up one of my foodplots. You want to talk about po'ed. He did replace the seed that was planted, but how do you replace blood, sweat and tears. On a place that my uncle and I have that is 62 acres, we have tried to keep that chunk of woods as natural as possible since mostly all around us has been cut for timber and low and behold, there are trails through there that you could drive a full sized truck through. Don't know who did it but we have some suspicions. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and double Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. The more natural it is, the more comfortable the deer are and the more the deer are to move at all times of the day.  Alot of Coloradains hate people from Tx because of the atv thing also. I watched one show with Tred Barta elk hunting outside Vail and he found a set of tracks that po'ed him off also in a place that they are not allowed. I agree they have a place and use, but not in my deer woods.  LOL  If someone has to use it to keep hunting because of a dissability, then come on, I'll help ya, but don't use it as an excuse not to walk in. Heck I have to walk in over a mile to my stands now and in some places even further.  JMO.

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

I hear you guys.  ATVs aren't allowed where I hunt in Wyoming and that is one of the main reasons I go there.  Most of the people don't go more than 1/2 mile from the roads they can drive on and a lot don't even get out of their vehicles.  We have a lot of various game where I go, but if you talk to a lot of these yahoos there is nothing left!!!  Most of the time the animals we take are 1 to 3 miles from the road and are either carted or backpacked out to our camp.  If ATVs were allowed, the area would be ruined in one or two seasons at most.  Anyone that intentionally encroaches on another hunter who has a stand or blind in an area is a slob and probably is a jerk on the highways, etc.  I've had people park right in front of my camp and walk right by my camper when there are thousands of acres to hunt.  That is one reason I like to wait a few days until the opening day crowds are gone.  The few that are out later in the season are normally the true hunters that know what they are doing.  The area I hunt up around my place in northern Michigan is such that it's almost impossible to get into with an ATV, so I'm never bothered there by them either!

Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

I agree with you guys. ATV has their place and it is not running all around spooking game. It was just last night the guy that lives behind me was out on his 4-wheeler running the line fence right at dark. I had been setting there for 3 hrs and here he comes right at dark. Can you say goodbye deer.

I hear ya on that. My cams tell me when and when not to be in the stand. What the game movements are and at what times and weather, travel directions with what wind too. Times like that you wish you had a paintball gun with red paintballs and had a message attached to them. "You're lucky this is only paint, now go home".  LOL

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

  Yep, had someone come in on me with an atv when I was bowhunting.  I was on State land (no atv's allowed in State Park)and heard him come putting along 100 yards behind me.  He went up to a house bordering the State land and I knew he came from neighbors property.
   So, I headed back to my house (also borders the State) and figured it was a good time to introduce myself to my neighbor.  Turned out it was a friend of his who had no business cutting the property.  Long story short, he made him apologize for screwing up my hunt...but...oh, well...no deer....
   I have a quad, but use it only where I can... 

Jeff

I have hated ATVs for years and a friend has took a few deer out for me but that was all as we always walked in. I had surgery on my shoulder this year so Mommy got me a old used one if I would have killed a deer shooting left handed. With a beef farm it will come in handy but the half mile walks really help in keeping me in touch with what is going on.
I do hate when some butt head drives by because he can’t walk out that far.

P.U.S.H.
In memery of SSG Gene Vainc HHC WV, SFC Eric Minor A Co RI and SFC Dan Crabtree B Co OH Guard, 2nd 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne)
Pray that our troops are home for the next season, in Victory!!!

 I think if you dont own land you shouldn't be allowed to buy one.