Well, I tried state land today, and well we seen these three "turkeys" on top of the hill in an open corn field. So we put a stock on em' and got within 150 yards. We got the blind, decoys, and ourselves setup for em' which took about 15 minutes. I was glancing at em' through the binos, and realized these aren't just turkey, but turkey decoys. Someone else was hunting, and we were stalking his decoys. LOL. Well we moved out of there quietly and moved to the spot we were first going to. Well, the turkeys beat us to the spot. So we put a stalk on them and was partially successful. We got all setup, and here comes the hen(which had a decent tom with it)that was with the group that we seen. It comes three yards from the blind with my decoy spread. I was going to shoot the jake, but then the property owner decides its a good time to cut wood. On the way back from the hunt, here comes a Grandma and here grandson. Well, we asked them what they were doing, and they said they are going to dig up wild onions. Little suspicious, but I don't have anything against them. Last year, we caught a family digging up marijuana on the same state land and reported them to the DNR. They still haven't done anything about it yet. This morning will be a hard one to top.
Sounds like you need to start your own "Series of Unfortunate Events" books, you're off to a great start! But to answer your question, no nothing like that has ever happened to me. I've always kinda thought hunting public land is like going to Walmart, you never know what you are going to see. With that being said it feels awesome to be successful in anyway on public land!
Think I am a little confused. You said you were hunting public land so what land owner was cutting wood? As for the grandmother and grandson that is just unfortunate. I have hunted public land in IL and have had an incident or two with others but signs were clearly marked that they were not to be in the area during that time. After explaining they left. I never felt they were in the area to sabotage my hunt but I have had that happen in the past while duck hunting and I called DNR and they were ticketed for it.
We kill turkey every year off this stand land. Just last week, we had groups of 22 and 17 coming in, but they veered off. I hunt the border of the state land and private land. That's what I mean about land owner. He's a nice guy. He thanks us that we call him when we shoot a deer or turkey that goes on his property. He says every year he has guys just walk on to his property.We had a tom 250 yards away, but he was "henned" up.
