After an incident yesterday where I had 3 guys walk in on my set carrying crossbows at 4:30 after I had been sitting since 1:30, got me thinking if I'm part of the majority or am I part of the minority. What happened was I took a chance on hunting a stand by a dirt road which at certain times receives no traffic but sometimes (depending on what's in) receives a fair amount of traffic. I am one that washes my clothes, showers and puts great effort into my preparation before each hunt, so as I'm sitting from 1:30 until 4:30 paying close attention to the shifting wind, debating whether or not to move to a stand that would suit the changing wind, a truck pulls up. As I watched 3 guys jump out in full hunting clothing, slam doors and loudly discuss where each are going to sit I realized my hunt was over for the evening, I packed up, got down and walked right by them and on my way out was asked... "seeing much". So I got thinking, I wondering how many people put time in their preparation like I do? Maybe its not as many as I thought and i'm part of the minority or were these guys just transformed gun hunters that think since they have a "gun" they can hunt like a "gunhunter"? This was public land and I fully understand the possibility of getting stepped on by other hunters is something you have to deal with but to watch how those guys bowhunt really opened my eyes to the way other guys go about it. So what do you think?
Some people just don't have a clue.......Like you, I spend loads of money and time to make sure I'm as scent free as possible, and try to do everything to the best of my ability. I also spend time hunting public land, and there is rarely other hunters to deal with, but the ones I do run into are total jackwagons. I try to get as far from the road and parking areas as possible to minimize contact. Whether you are the minority or majority depends on the data sample. I'm guessing most people using this awesome Website are out doing things right, or at least trying, but also think there are alot of people out there that don't spend any time researching, or scouting, much less practicing scent control. Keep up the hard work, and take pride in knowing you are doing your best. It will pay off over time.
If I ran into the same situation on my way out I would politely try to find out where they were going to setup and if possible how frequent they hunt the area. Than scout a spot deeper in that way hopefully you can hunt cleanly if they show up again. And also maybe they will drive deer to you when they do show up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I hunt alone on posted land for a reason, and I'm very thankful that I can. I don't think I'm some perfect hunter in the woods by any means, but I've found it's a lot easier to deal with my own ignorance than someone else's. With that said, I think almost always, the majority of people participating in any activity are weekend warriors, so you have to accept that fact when hunting on public land. Sounds like you should try to venture further from the road to avoid them.
I think most everyone on this forum does it the right way. I'm like you when it comes to scent free, getting in early and all. I think we all on this forum are in the minority. Most people are just unaware of how bad they are and some just don't care. I I have a guy I work with who laughs about scent control and putting out scents as well as all the other stuff. He hunts 1 week a year and goes in when its light and leaves when it's still light. He kills anything he sees and thinks he is an awesome hunter. You just have people like that all over the place. It's really a shame. Keep doing doing what you are doing. I know it's annoying.
