You know, I really try not to rant about gun season and gun hunters. I'm all for the we are all hunters and should stick together theory. I've really over recent years tried to just take it for what it is and deal with it because it's not changing anytime soon. But my GOD!! Does it really have to be that bad? Almost a carbon copy of what happened last year to me it was like I was reliving a nightmare. I have a nice 120ish buck heading right down the happy trail making his way through the thickets towards me. 1st dang buck that I saw since gun opener and he's a shooter (for me). I was saying to myself you have to be kidding me this is too good to be true. Perfect wind, he's 70 yards away slowly making his way. There really is nowhere else he's going to go except by my stand at 20 yards quartering away. I'm up with release clipped on and it's a matter of minutes and it's a done deal. All of the sudden at the edge of the swail field i'm hunting I see a flash of orange. Then another... and another... and another.. and another... etc.... One guy (i'm assuming the ringleader) talking in a loud voice giving some half #@%*& gameplan on a drive. Buck stops dead in his tracks and looking behind him at the source of the voice. He can't really see them because the stuff is so high. Then another orange dude pops out of the woods into the field about 80-90 yards away from him like a freight train. I swear he broke every tree in the woods. Buck goes flying away from them and me... gig is up. I'm so pissed i hang my bow, take my arrow off and fling it somewhere. I'm just wearing an orange hat and keep my vest in my pocket to put on quick for occasions like this. I rip it out of my pocket and throw it on. Start to climb down and the flee the field on a full sprint! The land is posted tighter than tight and I can't believe they had the balls to trespass on it. They litteraly had to walk through the golf course to get to that side of the field. Un freaking believable. Again.. I really dont' want to continue to bash gun season, but I'm so tired of dealing with the crap that goes on. It's a daily fight fending off stuff like this. Why can't people just hunt normal and on their own land? rant over... sorry.
Since it takes at least half a brain to bowhunt all of the dumb asses gun hunt! My brother had a guy set up 20 yards from him in the dark on opening day of gun. This was after the guy walked right under him and my brother shined his light in his eyes. The guy was so close that my brother could tell what was on the sandwich he was eating! He got the last laugh though, he purposely scared away a little buck that he didn't want the guy to shoot then he climbed down and pissed under the guys tree. Needless to say he didn't see that moron again.
That sucks. I love guns and our right to bear arms, and I know we've got some idiots in our own ranks, but... Yep, I'm right there with you.
It's not that they hunt with guns it's just that a lot of slob hunters happen to be gun hunters. I feel for ya.
i feel your pain, but i don't believe you should categorize "gun hunters" as the problem. it sounds more like a TRESPASSER problem to me. this was the first year in awhile that i didn't catch anyone, but i didn't do any walking near property lines, only to and from the stands. hope you get another chance at that 120 or a better buck
One of the many reasons I'm glad Texas is mostly private land. People almost have to have private land to hunt on which makes them not trespass as much, IMO. Even though we have our fair share of trespassers, I don't think it's as bad as much of the US
that sucks about the tresspassing, you gotta understand that most hunters in general, just want to hunt and kill something...they will go to the extremes to get their fix...gun or bow. it's just easier to shoot at a deer with gun on a deer drive than it is a bow...more gun hunters = more incidents like this..if there were no guns, then it would be the same with archery.
Ya know, the issue at hand has nothing to do with what they're hunting with. Nothing. It's a game of numbers, really. We deal with the same issues while bowhunting. Trespassers. Sloppy hunters. Hunters that don't give a damn about anyone but themselves. But....there are WAY more firearm hunters than bow so........chances are greatly improved we'll run into issues. But it truly isn't "the gun hunters" that are the problem. Society in general has absolutely ZERO respect for anyone.
Bingo! Gun hunting is like shopping at Walmart, you are not an idiot because you do it, but a lot of idiots do it! :p Look, there are many sloppy bowhunters too. It's just that hunting with a bow does not lend itself very well to sloppy behavior.
One of your best posts ever, Mobow.. And great follow-up description with the Walmart analogy, Fitz... I love it.
I got thinking about this some more. Wondering ..... why? If I was one of those guys that happened to be trespassing while carrying a gun :p, why would I want to go through that and take a chance of getting busted to kill a deer? Why do the hunters that carry a gun get down from stands after an hour of not seeing anything and start their drives or wander around still hunting? Why do hunters that carry a gun trespass on land they know they shouldn't be on to kill a deer? I got thinking about the quote above and I think I'm missing a part of the answer that i overlooked. Take a lot of these guys that grab their gun, sight it in, grab a bucket and go sit in the woods hoping to see something. Most of them only out in the woods for the first few days or week at most. So yeah ... you're right they are going to try to do what they think gives them the best chance to "get a shot at something" before their season comes and goes. I guess if I had 3 or 4 days to kill a deer I'd be beating myself up trying to get it done. Wouldn't in a million years trespass, but I'd do everything else in my power. I suppose the bowseason (or gun season if taken seriously) is a year long event. We see several deer, pass, scout on etc..... It almost gets taken for granted how good we have the woods and the amount of deer we see compared to gun season. Now take someone that doesn't even think deer until a week before the season. Then the season is over 3 or 4 days after that. I guess I can see why some of them go a little nutty....(kinda)
