A few weeks ago I found this spot about a mile in a half back in on public ground. I hung a camera and had loads of pictures and got me pumped up. I have been practicing all winter and summer and I feel amazingly confident on my shooting and my new spot for opening day everything is just perfect. Went back there today to leave some marking tape close to the tree i picked out and i found a game camera 50 yards away. It was like someone stole one of my bows. I know i know its public land and I get it guy has 100 percent right to be there just like me. My goal is to get in early like 2 hours early opening day. To try to be the person in there. My only beef is most people are considerate and go to another spot if someone is in theirs. There are however people who I have had set up right on top of me. And thay is what I'm worried about. I have no clue how to handle the situation if he does that. Any thoughts on this?

Well, that's life as the song says. No guarantee that the person that set the camera up is going to be there any way, so you're stressing over something that may, or may not actually happen.

Not a single thing you can do if he sets up next to you. Not unless there is a law in your state that says a hunter has to stay a certain distance from another hunter.

Many of us hunt public land exclusively, so we deal with it all the time. When I can, I just try to walk a way from the crows. Beleive it or not, if you get in a spot where you can walk 20 minutes away from the trauck, you aren't likely to see a soul.

That's what I thought its about 35 to 40 minute walk back in the way all the twists and turns are. I just started hunting public land 2 years ago. Most of the time i don't see anybody. I had 3 instances that I did see people 2 difference guys saw i was there first and apologized and moved on the last scenario the i flashed my light he looked up said i was in his spot and climbed 15 yards away from me. I climbed down and went home

Its happened to me several times i had a guy one time sitting basically under my tree stand and it was along walk back to that spot! But alot of those guys are weekend warriors and only a couple times and done and you have it all to your self!!

If I had to put up with that kind of crap, I'd not hunt. I don't think game cameras should be used, period.

I had a couple of heroes lease the forty acre plot between me and the two hundred acres owned by my farmer friend just this year. I've hunted both parcels for the past 34 years. Now, I have to drive my truck a few miles to go around the forty acres which is posted. Game cameras are aimed down my old travel trail like I'm a criminal.

I've no use for game cameras, or four wheelers in the hunting woods. Anyone who uses either is no traditional hunter if you ask me. I'm an older guy and I won't use either to the day I die.

See that's the problem when others think they own public lands as well as private with no permission. You think you found the spot and own it and the other guy thinks he has as well also and now you have a delema. Surely someone is about to screw up an animal so I'd look and have another spot or better yet multiple spots.

One season my buddy and I had yes 12 P and Y located in Pa. and the anticipation was so great. Opening morning we each went to a different spot so was could compare what we saw and what happened. It was private land on all these spots so we were supposed to be the only ones in there. Both of us had issues with sneak in's and each of our morning hunts were runnied that resulted in climbing down and tossing intruders out. That afternoon we hunted together and one of our stands was taken and my truck got damaged.

Who learned who? There's always going to be issues unless you have a club and its patrolled to keep others out and off and then they come back in the dark and spot light and shoot your deer. Not many secrets with big deer either the ones who are after them know and a lot of times they are scoundrels too. One season I lost 11 stands between my buddy and I it was expensive. Could not leave stands out.

Flip a coin. Either you go there, or somewhere else. Don't worry about things you can't control. You'll be better off if you have several different spots anyway. MP

Put your phone number on a piece of paper with a note; Hello, I'm also hunting here....give me a call so we don't mess each other up.

Take about three or four different colored shirts in there, walk by the camera,, change shirts, and walk again..just enough for it to get your shirt tail..The goal is to make them think that there are allot of different people walking around in there. Maybe they will go elsewhere...Good luck

GDS wrote:"Put your phone number on a piece of paper with a note; Hello, I'm also hunting here....give me a call so we don't mess each other up."

Absolutely! I was going to post the same thing. Get back there and leave a note in the strap on that camera (in a sandwich bag).

Talk with the guy. You may find a new hunting friend and be able to coordinate times to hunt the area--maybe even together. As President Trump said, "What do you have to lose."

:^)

Keep scouting... always best to have plans A,B and C. Never only have one plan for the day, anything can happen causing your only plan not to work.

I agree have a back up spot. You should anyhow, even if no one else is hunting there. Wrong wind direction ect...can ruin a good spot, pays to have several spots.

What Mr. Stout said x3 or 4

Foxbo, you seem to have a mindset that says "my way is right and anyone who doesn't agree is wrong" Don't use cameras if you don't want to, but don't knock those do. JMOP John

He may have been hunting that spot for 20 years, if so he won't give it up so easy. Have a backup spot just in case and do as George said.

You are going to get in there early only to have him walk in on you. Sounds like a headache. You know where he is going to be, now find an equally good spot in the nearby vicinity, where he won't screw you up.

John, I'm just the way I am. I don't see the use of trail cameras as a need to hunt. I don't see the use of four wheelers as a need to hunt. I hate both. If you're too damn lazy to walk into your hunting area, or too lazy to scout properly, then why hunt with a traditional weapon?

Traditional is all about taking game without lazy tidbits. If you feel scoring on game is so important, then why not stay with sights and a compound, or Xbow?

For me, hunting with a traditional bow is simple as I may not bad a big game animal for two to three years. Sometimes, that period may be even longer, but I don't care as I'm not in the woods to be a killer. I'm out there to be a woodsman and traditional archer. Trail cameras and four wheelers are no part of that for me.

Agree with Mr. Stout. Leave a note and number. If he doesn't respond, maybe check back to see if he removed the camera. If it looks like he's going to hunt there, I guess it's time to look else where, or maybe he's like it was mentioned, "a week-end warrior" and will be gone soon.

Was listening to a conversation the other day about hunting spots. Seems one guy had picked a waterhole but counted 5 cameras already there! He moved on looking for the access trails. What made me wonder is if those 5 people are going to hunt or party?

In our public land there is no place where someone isn't claiming with either a camera, a tree stand or, most often, both. Add to that, most people have at least two set ups and some have as many as ten. No matter where anyone goes, they get blamed for cutting off someones deer. The law is first come first serve, except most think that it does not apply to them. However, we share our opening week with youth hunters with in line muzzle loaders and shotguns. Last year while just taking a back rest I propped my Big Jim seat against a fence post that marked the corner of the public land. A young guy and a younger girl struggling to carry a muzzle loader came across the alfalfa, saw me and went to opposite side of the field about 250 yards away from me and sat down. I was not planning on staying there, I was just resting my back, when I saw a yearling 6 pointer. I was not going to shoot it, but I blew on my fawn call. The 6 pointer came trotting straight at me. It was about 15 to 20 feet away, and the young girl shot, grazing the little buck, it left some blood, but they never found it. Her older brother told her to shoot. The little girl went to the hunter safety class that my older brother ran. When he took his grand kid out with the youth season, he figured the kid was shaking too much and took the gun and shot a button buck. Mr. safety instructor also sprayed my wife and son with bbs once because a pheasant got up between him and where they were walking. I have not talked to the sob for 20 years, I do not associate with reckless fakes.

I stated that wrong, the girls brother went to the hunter safety class that my brother ran.

I can imagine someone on another forum posting - "I've been hunting this spot for a couple of years and I go in today and find a game camera 50 yards from where I hunt."

I agree with leaving a note and working it out. You may be the one perceived as "intruding" on another's sweet spot.

I've gone in the woods and got to my tree stand and there was someone already in it. Maybe it's just me but it's not worth the hassle getting into a fight over a nights hunting. I did let the person know he was in my tree stand and moved to another spot. Wished him luck and told him to be careful. He never hunted that stand again but put one up less than 100 yards away. Public land hunting can be tough now most of the private land is posted around my area. Hanging a stand doesn't mean you've claimed that space for yourself it's still open to anyone who wants to hunt that area. Now that I'm retired I hunt mornings during the week and very seldom see another Hunter. I hunt off the ground now so I just move to another spot when I get crowded.

Foxbo: on the positive side with camera use it let the O.P. know someone else was in the area. If the camera had not been there two hunters would have been having coffee together opening morning. Now someone can make a move. I would does as George S. suggested.

I think I'm going to try the note idea. Hopefully to get in touch with him. I'm all for others using the spot its public after all. I just wanted to know how you gents would handle if the person was an sob and climbed up right next to ya after you flash him letting him know your there

I would fully expect to see someone hunt the spot, which is exactly why I would keep looking for a new spot. When I hunted public and we looked for a new spot, we first looked for deer sign and then looked for signs of other hunters. Never even considered an area that had hunters. Since it was a time when brush blinds were by far the preferred method, it was easy to know if others were hunting an area. I no longer hunt public but I would imagine it is much more difficult to know if other hunters are in an area since blinds and trees stands have become so portable.

Not sure why you would even take the chance of having a conflict when you have this much more time to find a new area. Much better to find a new area now than during the season.

Hate to say it again as it's already been said,public land is public land for a reason. I wouldn't get your hopes to high as far as a reply back to your note but hey maybe he or she just might. Good luck to you.

A few years ago my brother found a stand set up 20 yards from his. He left a note that said, "I had my stand up here and am only 20 yards away, and will be hunting here". The note he received back was, "I will be hunting here too". My brothers last note was. "I'm retired and will be hunting this stand EVERY day". The guy removed his stand. :>)

Go deeper. I hunt a wilderness area that I rarely see anyone unless it's out of my own camp.

Hunting public land offers more positives than negatives for me. I try to find the unlikely spots that offer food and cover, but which don't look appealing to the hunters. Most hunters read the same articles in the game and fish magazines and are all looking for this picturesque white oak bottom crisscrossed with fresh trails and piles of fresh steaming droppings. Everybody and his brother is going to set up in these places. I have found that if I take advantage of all that traffic and hunt the less pressured areas of heavy cover and during unlikely late morning /early afternoon hours, I can enjoy some successful hunts. I hunt the management areas during the weekdays and private land on the weekends. Deer aren't going to a spot covered up with human sign.

Another thought is to learn how to use the other hunters in your areas to push game to you buy their movements. A note is ok but what if the other person is an aggressive type and wants it all for themselves that's not going to go so well.

Another thing is limit what you say to other hunters you do encounter so yu don't educate them because they can use it to choke you out also.

A note can also work the other way for you and you could become buddy also? Its a crap shoot and you have to learn to overcome the set backs because your going to surely encounter the variables.

I do not understand a person taking another person's property.

I have never seen an item that did not belong to me and had the urge to steal it.

I hunt on private land with some family members that we have sole permission to hunt. I hang inexpensive tree stands but still lock them in place because I know that some people are just terrible human beings.

I had a Sabor climber, one Tuesday I left it hang when I went into town for lunch. No one was on the public piece. When I got back someone stole the seat part and cut off the safety strap. I went to torges seats. On bur oak the rope can make creaky noise until they settle in, so I was leaving them. I thought for a week that no one wanted them, but I was wrong. For four years straight the game warden told me that if someone was in my tree stand that I could not even go talk to them. I asked how many other people he told this too every year. He said, "none, just you". I told him that I have not hunted out of tree stands in years and that he should go tell people that hang tree stands. I put up a ladder stand about 10 years ago in a spot that no one ever hunted. I could have shot an elk out of it, no deer, yes two untagged cow elk were in the area. About half the time when I went to sit on it, someone else was already there. I never talked to them or tried to kick them out, but I never put it up again either. I try to hunt where no one can set up a tree stand, the only problem with that is with people taking super long shots with muzzle loaders during the youth and early muzzle loader seasons.

Pretend to be sick. Sneeze,, cough, groan aww man this sucks, hack spit. LOL bet he doesnt come back for sometime maybe ll season.rflmao

If someone sets up near me, I move. If I find someone sitting in my treestand they're getting out, one way or another. MP

I would think if someone was in my stand, I still have the right to remove that stand at any time. So...

There ya go. I agree with the last two. It may be law that on public land one hunter can use anothers stand legally but its not cool or respectful so.Well bud ive came out to move my stand. Git

I'm still trying to figure out how a camera is considered cheating. I do my scouting so I know where to put the camera not the other way around.and for those against quads...do you feel the same about using horses? or is that being lazy to?

I had this happen to me last year. Couldn't contact the guy so the only thing I knew to do was get in front of his camera multiple days. Why would a guy want to hunt a spot where there's multiple pictures of "some guy walking around" which is you just getting in there and getting pictures taken of yourself to make him feel it's already taken area.

I think the use of cameras is getting out of control. Nevada is mostly public lands that is often times hard to get to because land owners shut off access. The few watering areas in the units I hunt are camera'd up, especially for elk. I usually just stay away from those and try and glass up em up, like I have been doing for years.

I'm kind of with foxbo on this. field craft is going away because of all the tech available. I know guys that have a dozen or more cameras out there and shake my head. They're good guys and I would hunt with any of them, but I am saddened that hunting has become so commercialized, that it has made it a competitive sport.

Talked with a friend of mine who has a bull tag. Has a blind near a watering hole. I guess there are containers in these blinds making appointments for lack of a better description. Just fricken crazy.

Happened in MN on public land. Went in and put up a tree stand in the morning, came back in the after noon and a guy was brushed in right below it.

Simple fact is the world is full of A holes so there are bound to be some in the woods. I just take my stuff and move on.

There are some good replies on this thread. True that you can use them as drivers,

But

There used to be a code that one honored the other. So many generations have come about since. I would say now at least 50% or more of people in the woods today are not in there for the solitude, overall conservation experience. They are there for a game, an Espn game. It is " cool " to kill today. Used to be when you were new at a job, you kinda kept quiet and slowly earned your right to join in on the joking, etc. No more. Day one these people are staking ground. Me, me, me.

I say if you are there first, and a light flash does not turn him around in the early morning, switch over to squirrel hunting, close in too. Don't branch out and become his driver. Stay close. Talk to all your friends on the phone normal voice. Give up the entire season to do this. Even during the week if need be.

That's good Hutton! I flashed a guy like that during gun season but he still climbed up a tree 50 yards away. We sat there looking at the same woodlot until 1100(no way was I giving in and leaving). He got down and left, probably for lunch. At 1120 I shot a big 8 pointer. Boy was that nice!

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