Just a few give us all a bad name....
79Ford
10/23/07 7:42pm
So, I'm not one to complain much about other hunters, but I do not consider these hunters.
My parents live in a small town 30 miles from anywhere. The pavement on the county road stops about 2 miles before you get to their house. So needless to say they are in prime deer hunting country. Their house sits on a hillside about 150 yards from the county road and is very visible from almost any angle (you'd have to be way off the road to not see it). Every year we have road "hunters" who just drive up and down this county road looking for deer. Since one side of the road is public land and the other side is private ranch type lots, the hunting pressure on the public land side pushes a lot of deer accross the road and into the private property. Well, since my parents live so close to the county road and have plenty of trees for cover, the deer tend to hang around the yard and eat the grass and fallen cottonwood leaves. This is all fine and good except for thos road "hunters" who think that every deer is legal no matter how close it is to a residence. Twice in 3 days, and several imes every year I have had to go out in the yard in my blaze orange jacket waving my arms yelling at people that this is private property and to keep on moving. Just two years ago during the hunt we were in the driveway working on a pickup when all of a sudden *KABOOOOM*. As fast as I could get on a fourwheeler I was down there ripping these guys up one side and down the other. Then he had the nerve to say "well I need to go up there and see if I hit my deer". I didn't let him set one foot on the property, but rather I went up and checked it out. As there was no sign that he hit the animal I took his plate number and let him go. Another group stopped and got out of the truck. One guy couldn't see the deer so his buddy, gun out and laying accross the hood of the truck, told him "it's right there next to the big orange banner" (the one we had put up to tell people this was private property). How stupid can people get?
Then just a day or two ago the neighbor heard the same guys (same group of 3-4 vehicles every year) talking to eachother as they were stopped in front of his property. The one said "I'm not going to shoot anything over there" and the other one said "I'll shoot it right by the house if I see a buck, I dont care". Many of the people around here would not hessitate one bit to send some lead back the other direction. I just wish we didn't have to deal with these types of people and that they had at least some hunting ethics engrained into their brains.
It's sad when you feel more safe out in the woods with 60,000 high powered rifles, than you do in your own home. :>/
Well, sorry for the long post, I i'm just ranting..... Please everyone lets make sure to keep safety, both yours and everyone elses, as our first priority during the hunt. There are enough accidents as it is, we dont need any more caused by negligence and just plain poor safety habits.
My parents live in a small town 30 miles from anywhere. The pavement on the county road stops about 2 miles before you get to their house. So needless to say they are in prime deer hunting country. Their house sits on a hillside about 150 yards from the county road and is very visible from almost any angle (you'd have to be way off the road to not see it). Every year we have road "hunters" who just drive up and down this county road looking for deer. Since one side of the road is public land and the other side is private ranch type lots, the hunting pressure on the public land side pushes a lot of deer accross the road and into the private property. Well, since my parents live so close to the county road and have plenty of trees for cover, the deer tend to hang around the yard and eat the grass and fallen cottonwood leaves. This is all fine and good except for thos road "hunters" who think that every deer is legal no matter how close it is to a residence. Twice in 3 days, and several imes every year I have had to go out in the yard in my blaze orange jacket waving my arms yelling at people that this is private property and to keep on moving. Just two years ago during the hunt we were in the driveway working on a pickup when all of a sudden *KABOOOOM*. As fast as I could get on a fourwheeler I was down there ripping these guys up one side and down the other. Then he had the nerve to say "well I need to go up there and see if I hit my deer". I didn't let him set one foot on the property, but rather I went up and checked it out. As there was no sign that he hit the animal I took his plate number and let him go. Another group stopped and got out of the truck. One guy couldn't see the deer so his buddy, gun out and laying accross the hood of the truck, told him "it's right there next to the big orange banner" (the one we had put up to tell people this was private property). How stupid can people get?
Then just a day or two ago the neighbor heard the same guys (same group of 3-4 vehicles every year) talking to eachother as they were stopped in front of his property. The one said "I'm not going to shoot anything over there" and the other one said "I'll shoot it right by the house if I see a buck, I dont care". Many of the people around here would not hessitate one bit to send some lead back the other direction. I just wish we didn't have to deal with these types of people and that they had at least some hunting ethics engrained into their brains.
It's sad when you feel more safe out in the woods with 60,000 high powered rifles, than you do in your own home. :>/
Well, sorry for the long post, I i'm just ranting..... Please everyone lets make sure to keep safety, both yours and everyone elses, as our first priority during the hunt. There are enough accidents as it is, we dont need any more caused by negligence and just plain poor safety habits.
3,173
Get out your video camera and get it on video that they are shooting from a public road. In fact get video of them and their vehicles and license numbers on tape, then turn it over to the warden. I'm sure he would love video evidence. I would turn those jokers over to the authorities in a New York minute.
I have had the same type of experiences when I lived back east people did not seem to care whose land they were on. It seemed more often then not tresspassing was not taken as seroiusly as it is out west. One of the worst things you could of probally done was let the guys off the first time I believe in 2nd chances and all but when it comes to personal protection of family and private property you have to draw a line.
I would of turned in him real quick there is a big difference between accidental tresspassing and lame road hunters pulling crap like this. The law in Most western states says you must know exactly where the boundries are for your unit and private land that is the hunter is responsible to know both. what these guys did and seem to do is just the opposite it would probally stop if you started making examples of the law breakers.