Sometimes you just have to shake your head in disgust...

[RLLigman]

Some ?hunters? give other hunters a bad name. It never amazes me what some people think is acceptable. Today I noticed a pickup truck go by my house about 5 times in 10 minutes so when I heard it stop just down the road I decided to step out on the porch to see what was going on. I watch him get out of his truck and grab his bow and start walking out on to my property. He started to stalk a herd of elk that were in my hay field about 100 yards from my house. He hadn?t bothered to stop at the house despite driving by and turning around in my driveway. Landowner permission is required in my state to enter private property. I can?t comprehend what he was thinking. If he had successfully killed an elk he would have to either drag or carry the animal thru a 5 foot deep drainage ditch that is full of water or drive thru my front yard. I told him he was trespassing but just can?t believe someone would so blatantly trespass and be so clueless.

No plan, Brad, just the desire to "tak.e a shot" and maybe hit the animal. Stupidity is an acquired skill made more accepted by our social media dominated "interactive skills"

When I lived in the eastern UP I used to take a handful of days of vacation and trap my way around Neebish Island, sleeping along the shore in a backpacking tent. The money I made paid for my hunting for the fall. I ran traps in the morning and then skinned fur for the remainder of the day, packing hides skin out in a couple of coolers on ice. There was a clan of four brothers who lived in the area, three of them serial poachers, drug dealers and general pond scum. I always kept a loaded MOSSBERG .22 laying in the open on the front seat of the canoe when I ran into t"heir" sets (Most of their traps were stolen from other guy's lines.) along the mainland streams. We only had one direct confrontation and the conversation quickly got pretty "intense" right up to the point where they got close enough to be able to see the gun. I marked my sets on the bank opposite, with a corresponding U or D and the number of yards up or downstream where they were located. Randy, the oldest eventually became a very good taxidermist after he found Jesus. Rod and his younger brother eventually ended-up in prison at Kinross after repeated trips to jail for breaking and entering and poaching cases... every deer gun season he would be out cruising the roads at first light and again in the evening, glassing for a shot. The eastern UP is mostly flat hay fields until you get west a couple of dozen miles from the river; flat clay dominate soils that grow hay that is shipped as far as Kentucky to the thoroughbred farms. He shot a .223, a worthless deer round. i often wondered how many deer died versus the number he recovered.

 

[greg setter]

We've all dealt with inconsiderate people in our hunting and fishing activities at some point. They are nothing new, unfortunately. But in the context of what's going on in some parts of the country in terms of criminal activity and the laws that deal with it, I think, contribute to the problems we see and deal with on things like this. I doubt the people involved with the situations described here are first timers. I am sure that many of them don't see any negative consequences of what they are doing, or have any fear of getting caught and facing any retribution. That varies by the area that you live in, but everyone is seeing criminals not even being confronted when caught in the act, if not locally, then on tv or news sources. When lawlessness is tolerated, expect to see more of it.

I think the tide has turned, but there has been a lot of damage done and it won't be undone overnight.

 

[Richard Lathrop]

Just my 2 cents but since social media is the equivalent of the public stocks posting a picture of the offending party may get the needed attention. I am sure there are social media sites for posting photos of offenders.

The pendulum will swing back to law and order. The pendulum swings to far left and right and the pendulum swings back in response. Expect more law and order candidates to get elected.

Rick

 

[Vince Pagliaroli]

Eric,I did stop him and let him know he did not have permission. The county passed a no rifle shooting ordinance for the valley floor because of road hunters shooting at deer and elk without regard to farms, houses and people. If he had kept going or had given me grief then I would have called the sheriff. I?m confident he knew he was trespassing but don?t think a sign would have stopped him. The clueless was how he expected to retrieve an animal if he got one. His choices were limited to wade the ditch or drive up my driveway past my house and barn. Guess I should have let him shoot one and then prohibited him from retrieving it without going thru the ditch.

My 2 cents

He could not give a rats A$$ about retrieving the Elk.

Killing it no matter what, was his goal. A Poacher, and a Slob Poacher at that. What the media in such situations, when they are apprehended, deems "hunters".

Road hunting/shooting = No Scruples, not clueless. The new kinda "clever".

As for No Trespassing signs. The same folks use them as a invite, cuz it is so damn hard to prosecute in many places. In many places ya better have deep pockets, to have yer land surveyed again. That will cost ya more $$$ than the fine levied, if they loose. My neighbor went through that on his property.


PA sets up taxidermy robo deer, and the road hunters come to it like bees to honey. Then the hammer falls, in the first state to ever issue hunting licenses in the USA.

You pass laws, ya better sure as hell be able to enforce them, or else just a waste of time.

 

[Ed L.]

Here is the other side of the coin. It was unbelievably refreshing that there are young folks that grew up right. I showed up at the ramp last Thursday for a second half of deer firearm season. There was one other truck there. The young guy....I have to laugh. The guy was probably late twenties, early thirties. Anyway, he comes around his truck and introduces himself. We talked for awhie about being the only ones on the river while we load oour boats. Then told one another what area we were hunting in so not to screw up anyone's hunt. Then he says we should exchange numbers in case of needing help. Then we said good luck and parted ways. Now about 10:00am I hear a shot. About 20 minutes later I get a text that he has a doe down and wanted to know if I wanted him to see if he could push something my way. I told him it was kind of him to offer but not necessary, Then I told him congrats on the deer and asked if he needed help dragging the deer to his boat. He said it was already done and as soon as he loaded up his deer stand, he'd take a walk my way. Well, I figured he'd walk about a bit and I'd hear his boat. About an hour later I get a text "deer headed your way" and he tells me where he's at. Damn, the kid has walked almost a mile from where he was hunting. Of course, I never see the deer but texted him there was a ditch coming up where he won't get across and I'd come get him. So I find him on shore on the island we were hunting, and I take him back to his boat. I didn't get a deer, but I gained a new friend and there are young folks out there that were taught how to be a good hunter and a good person.

 

[Rick Pierce]

That is a great story, and the kind that make you take a breath and hope.

Good stuff.

 

[Rick Pierce]

Eric,

You know it happens here...the difference is, people usually address it themselves. Trailers get unhooked and rolled into the water, trucks get pulled out of the way, etc. So I don't think it happens quite as much as it used to.

We usually get more of the people who want to get halfway down the ramp and then load gear, put on waders, etc., while everyone else in line has already done that, because they know the routine. Or, some guy doesn't know how to back his boat and angles it across, taking up two spaces or more on a three-wide launch ramp.

He knows, but like you said, he's hiding behind the, "well, I'm not actually using the ramp...so..." b.s. excuse, and nobody has pulled his valve cores or dragged his truck out of the way. He thinks it will keep people from "His" spot, which is laughable on public ground, but it happens a lot.

And I will tell you from my personal experience, the locals are usually worse than the out of state hunters.

 

[Mark W]

Call a tow truck. Public right away being blocked and anyone can call the towing company.

Mark

 

[Jeff Reardon]

Maybe I am just lucky, or maybe I just live in a big state with sparse population and good water access, but while I've seen plenty of ineptness that causes delay at crowded boat launches, I have not seen this kind of rude behavior.

I do see a lot of pure stupidity. Like the 4 guys plus dog and decoys IN A 17' CANOE breaking ice to get to an island on a local lake not long ago.

 

[Huntindave McCann]

Call a tow truck. Public right away being blocked and anyone can call the towing company.

Mark

Anyone calling a tow truck better be willing to pay the bill.

Unless of course you are authorized by the governing entity, to enforce the regulations for that specific public area and you are doing so within the scope of your job.

 

[Todd Duncan Tennyson]

I can't imagine doing that in the places we used to hunt on the Columbia river. It would be instant Karma.

Pretty thoughtless to do something like that unless your vehicle flat out dies right there at the ramp and there is nobody to help you get unstuck.

 

[Mark W]

Call a tow truck. Public right away being blocked and anyone can call the towing company.

Mark

Anyone calling a tow truck better be willing to pay the bill.

Unless of course you are authorized by the governing entity, to enforce the regulations for that specific public area and you are doing so within the scope of your job.

My wording was incorrect. CAll the cops to get it towed. They will and they will bill the guy blocking the ramp