# Hunting season... Again.



## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

Just a reminder for everyone to stay safe!

It's here again and I'm stuck at home. Yesterday afternoon around 4 I took my family down to a new forest service pond down the road in the ranger. We were wearing our orange, the pond is RIGHT by the road. Most city people are home by Sunday afternoon anyways. We went there to look for bear tracks, I've seen lots of big ones and my Papa is an avid hunter and tracker (me too) and since bear season is over we were looking for traces of the BIG ONE hoping he had made it. 

We get there, and start looking around when a man bust through the woods obviously ticked that we were there. It's youth hunt but he had a pretty nice riffle in his hands. He angrily pointed out that he was hunting there, screaming at us for disturbing "his" plot. He asked me "YOU KNOW it's hunting season, RIGHT?"

Weeeelllll my BA side reached out and took over. I looked him straight in the eyes and gave him my sternest "YEP!". He stormed off and we kept looking. This guy was wayyyyy too close to the road! And sorry DUDE but it's forest service, free access to EVERYONE ANYTIME. Not like he had a truck parked there either so we knew he was there. Ugh. IF you don't want to be disturbed hike your happy fat tail OFF the beaten path. Some people. :evil:

Be safe guys!


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

You have hunting on Sundays? Ugh. I honestly would rather they extend hunting season than take Sundays away.


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## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

I hate hunting season!!! Ours starts Sat for 11 days. We already have uninvited people on our property checking things out. Horses can't even go outside on the weekends.


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## Speed Racer (Oct 21, 2009)

I guess I'm lucky; I live in a very rural area and all the neighborhood men are farmers and hunters, so they keep an eye on everyone's property.

Except for one strange incident about 6 years ago where someone shot a gun off right near the house, there haven't been any issues with hunters, dogs, or gunshots near my property.


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

Yes, and what REALLY ticks me off is that the stupid city folks come out here and use the forest as a shooting range for two weeks prior to gun season! And mid day at their deer camps they blast off hundreds of rounds for fun. They are just "shooting themselves in the foot", the deer know and come hide out at our place and other private property. Which then gets hunters on the fence lines.....

Last year we had someone hunting on us, IN OUR DEER BLIND!
It's booby trapped now, filled a bucket of horse poop and water and if they open the trap door wrong it's gonna get them directly in the face.


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

Ugh.... hunting season opened a while ago here.

We're friends with one of the Game Wardens, he and I were going to go pick up our jointly-owned steer from the butcher and I got a call of "got idjits to deal with, give me an hour". Apparently a group decided to ignore the posted signs that a particular piece of state property was closed, cut the locks off the gates and go shoot geese in the pond! 

His favorite this year was when he saw a hunter and stopped to check his license/permits, was admiring his kill and asked where he had shot from. Guy pointed to a lil thicket down from the road and then the guy's kid piped up, "Oh no Dad, you shot him from right over there ON the road. See, there's your spent round!". And since shooting from the road (or something like within 40ft of a road) is illegal....bye, bye trophy, hello ticket and free trip to the county jail. 

I am snickering.... there's about 75 Antelope eating breakfast with my cows this morning. They ran from the state property up North where it's legal to hunt them and are eating the pile of old hay that we cleaned out of the hay barn yesterday. Very illegal to shoot them now, private property AND it would be considered "baiting" them since they are eating hay.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

It's too bad some folks have a bad experience with hunting season. It's such a great time of year to be out enjoying the outdoors. Utah is 745 public lands, So lots of public land to explore. And our hunting seasons start in Aug with Archery and go through November. So 1/2 of the year somebody is hunting something. I don't avoid riding during hunting season. Just try to avoid the high traffic areas.

Forest Service land is public land. no one individual controls a given spot. Your hunter has no rights to complain about you checking out a pond. As you say, if he doesn't want to get distrubed, then hike farther off the beaten path. Or at least post some indication that a hunter is in the stand. I guarantee you that the Bears and Deer can't read the sign that the stand is occupied.

I ride my horse back in 7 miles to hunt. I don't get upset if I run into another hiker or horseback hunter. I do get ****y if I run into somebody on an ATV since the area is closed to wheeled vehicles. I always figure that If I have to obey the law, they should obey it also. And if they don't like the law, get it changed for all of us.

I have no patience for poachers or idiots. I hope the law enforcement gives them all serious tickets.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

Wow, need to edit my post, Don't know how my typing got so bad. 74% of Utah is public lands. and Aug-Nov = 1/3 of the year not 1/2.

I often hear other hunters complain about how many other hunters they saw during their hunting trip and I think about how I didn't see another hunter in my entire field of vision for a weekend and realize they must not have been very far from the road. If you are not willing to travel to remote sections of land, you need to be willing to share what is easy to access.

And sometimes having others around is not a bad thing. If the animals never get distrubed they may just bed down and never move. Having a few others around, often helps keep the game moving and improve your chances of bumping into what ever you are looking for,


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

i dont mind hunters, its the deer shooters we have here, So far no sundays though. Most of them here dont get too far from their trucks, I imagine its too hard to drag the beer coolers. The so called hunt clubs in eastern Va are disgusting. they just line up along side the roads, turn dogs loose on another road, not caring whos land it is then shoot the deer as they run out into the power line access along the roads. You cant even still hunt or stalk deer on your own land because of them. Basically hunting season ends after bow and blackpowder close, the the dog hunters ruin everythign till mid january.


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

Joe4d said:


> Most of them here dont get too far from their trucks, I imagine its too hard to drag the beer coolers.


Yeah. I've got no quarrel with sensible hunters - heck, I've been one from time to time, and might be still if I didn't hate loud noises. If it was up to me, though, having beer and guns in the same place would be treated the same as driving with an open container.

And then we get the "target" shooters who set up right next to the (dirt) roads, spend hours blasting away, and then leave a pile of empty shells and beer bottles. Don't know how they can afford it, as last I looked ammo wasn't exactly cheap.


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## prairiewindlady (Sep 20, 2011)

jamesqf said:


> Yeah. I've got no quarrel with sensible hunters - heck, I've been one from time to time, and might be still if I didn't hate loud noises. If it was up to me, though, having beer and guns in the same place would be treated the same as driving with an open container.
> 
> And then we get the "target" shooters who set up right next to the (dirt) roads, spend hours blasting away, and then leave a pile of empty shells and beer bottles. Don't know how they can afford it, as last I looked ammo wasn't exactly cheap.


This is my problem as well! Here you're not supposed to hunt after dusk or on Sundays but with no one to really enforce these rules on private property most folks end up doing what they want. Throw alcohol into the mix and it gets real dangerous real fast. I try to stick to riding along our backroads during hunting season and don't stray into the fields/woods. I also do a lot of riding after dark, armed with "emergency" glowsticks that you can find in the sporting goods section of any Walmart.


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## goneriding (Jun 6, 2011)

What is it with some hunters? Do they feel they have special rights to hunt on private property? I have had hunters on my property right by my pastures. They did not ask my permission and were graciously told to leave or authorities would be called. I do ride during bow season during the day but not during gun season. I make a point of wearing orange, hoping it will help some idiot hunter to realize that my horse is not a deer with a growth on his back! Hubby hunts, respects what he hunts. True hunters do not act like idiots, they respect what they hunt and have respect for others hunting as well along with non hunters taking a trail walk. They also leave the drinking back at base camp.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

goneriding said:


> What is it with some hunters? Do they feel they have special rights to hunt on private property? I have had hunters on my property right by my pastures. They did not ask my permission and were graciously told to leave or authorities would be called. I do ride during bow season during the day but not during gun season. I make a point of wearing orange, hoping it will help some idiot hunter to realize that my horse is not a deer with a growth on his back! Hubby hunts, respects what he hunts. True hunters do not act like idiots, they respect what they hunt and have respect for others hunting as well along with non hunters taking a trail walk. They also leave the drinking back at base camp.


I believe it mainly boils down to two points.

-First is ignorant people from the city. They really don't understand the concept of private property that extends more than 20ft from the home. It's not something they see in their day to day life.

-Second is the "me" people. They care about themselves and their entertainment. To hell with what others think or believe. IE they don't care that you own the property and don't want them there.


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

I guess we are lucky here. There is rarely a problem with hunters. DH hunts (I do as well but not deer - I can't sit still that long or I freeze, I only hunt upland birds when I can keep walking to stay warm) and I can't recall him ever having anyone walk in that didn't have permission. Around here you hunt your own property or lease woods to deer hunt in, then put up lots of signs that say "Leased hunting grounds. Hunting by permit only." and lots of no trespass signs. There is some hunting allowed in state parks but it is done with a draw and very monitored. 

I've never had anyone come on our property either and if they did they would regret it very much. It would be open season on idiots, jk!


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

I do not hunt. Hubby used to hunt - he prefers to hunt ducks not deer - but he hasn't gone duck hunting in years. LOL He no longer has a duck dog and he said hunting without one is too hard! 

I wish Texas had a no hunting on Sunday - that would be nice. Fall and Winter is some of the nicest time to go riding and their hunting is messing up my riding. I think sharing the weekend would be nice but it is what it is.

A few years ago some guys from south of Houston (about 100 miles away) were up 40 miles from here and got drunk and shot each other over some kind of baloney. Ugh... How needs that?


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

I am lucky in that the places I ride that allow hunting are not the easiest to access on foot.. so only serious hunters are out there. And they know that my riding there actually flushes the deer out of hiding! I had 2 gentlemen last year who made a point to ask me what time I normally saddled up, who then met me in the parking lot to ask my planned route, so they could get in a place to take advantage of my moving the game.

Citidiots with guns scare me in any circumstance. I don't know that I would ride in places where they went..


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## trailblazr (Oct 15, 2012)

I have never had a problem with hunters while riding. I have made some mad because we do ride during hunting season but we make sure we make enough noise that they know we are not deer and we wear orange. I mainly ride on my moms private land during gun season and the only ones hunting there are my dad and husband....they know not to shoot at the horses.  

We did have someone once on the land that informed my mom they had permission from the owner to hunt there. Too bad they didn't know they were talking to the owner!


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

We don't usually have trespassers on private property because the penalty is so high in our county. A local land owner was shot by a trespasser several years ago. Out county responded by raising the fines for trespass to $1,000 per offense and for illegal hunting to $1,000. So you you are trespassing and hunting at the same time, the fine is $2,000. If you talk back to the sheriff about it, they add
some jail time in for fun.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

For unwanted trespassers, call the police or sheriff's office and have them charge those people with trespass. It may be basically a slap on the wrist but it puts them in the system. That's what I did. The police couldn't find him but issued a warrant. He was caught at the border heading back into the US. There is something about deer hunting and male testosterone that shuts down the thought processes. And they walk around with a loaded gun. Scarey.


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

Calling the police is great in theory....

Reality? Any trespassers will be long, long gone before a police officer makes it all the way out here. Now the town that I live outside of has a group of Volunteer Police Officers (not quite sure how one can VOLUNTEER to be a cop!!! but apparently one can and when the cafe in town was open, there was always a cop inside. It closed and I guess all our volunteers quit? Or gave up? I dunno... but they're nowhere to be found).

My perimeter fencing is all barbed wire (for my cows) so I haven't had to deal with trespassers. Much easier to go invade my neighbor's unfenced property... but he has a habit of greeting trespassers with his shotgun. Oops!


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

My pet peeve has been the ATV riders who venture into areas that are closed to wheeled vehicles. The local Forest Service Ranger gave me her cell phone number told me to call her if I saw voliations. 

I don't mind folks on ATVs. In fact I own one, But if I have to hike or ride a horse 7 miles into a remote area, others should follow the same laws.

What I have found is that most smart phone cameras will insert the GPS position into a photo. And many newer cameras also offer this feature. So if you take a photo of the trespasser with your iphone, Get clear photo of things that will identify the car, truck, atv etc and present those to law enforcement, You have a better chance of getting a conviction, Since the GPS places the photo at the location of the infraction. It's still not a guarantee. But it helps.


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