Looking at some out of state hunts alone, this year and was thinking about what rig to take.
Considering some of the places we as turkey hunters go, I was wondering if any of y'all had issues with the local "good ole boys" messing with your vehicles, your camps, or you? Do you think they'd be more likely to mess with an older truck vs a newer one?
Looking at camping out of one of my trucks using just a topper, so I might just sleep where I hunt. Places like national forest, state lands , ect. And I'd certainly be open to any advice.
Thanks!
I've stayed in the truck on several occasions. Never had anyone mess with anything. Use common sense and don't leave valuables in plain sight and lock the door.
Never had an issue.
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Same here I've never had any issues
Never had an issue.
No issues, find the local residents very kind and helpful. One helped me pull and straighten a bumper with a sledge after I dinged it up trying to turn around on a tight forest road.
If you are a "pro staffer" and your truck looks like a billboard, you might find other transportation.
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Like anything else it depends. Some states welcome OOS hunters and the locals are friendly. I can tell you there are places in Mississippi were you aren't welcome with out of state tags. I've known several people that have had problems in Florida Miss Alabama etc. In almost every instance before anything happened they had encountered locals that didn't want anybody hunting "their spot". Everything from slashed tires, stolen tents, guns pulled you name it. I've only had a few negative encounters with no vandalism but it does happen. I usually pay to stay in a campground which is not guaranteed to be safe but stealing or vandalism in a campground with other people around is less likely than your truck parked at the end of some forest service road with no one around and little traffic.
I've never had trouble from other hunters but have had negative encounters with ranchers who lease grazing rights on Forest Service land and think they own it. In both South Dakota and North Dakota.
Thanks guys.
Trust me I'm no "prostaff".... lol.
Just don't want to get into a hassle over turkey hunting. Like most I just out there to hunt hard and enjoy myself.
Never had a problem, hide valuables. Everybody has been pleasant everywhere I've went.
Most people treat you how you treat them, from what I've seen.
Never had any issues, but have heard a few random stories from folks that have. One group of guys I know had their entire camp picked up and stolen while they were deer hunting. Went back to their campsite after a morning's hunt and the entire camp was gone!
I am from MS. and never had any problem with locals on public land but have had a few times folks from AR. parked right beside me after I had been there a hour before daylight, a gated road maybe a mile long and he asked were I was going, he had a kid with him and I said I would find another spot, not what I wanted to say! the next day he blocked the gate and some timber people needed in, so they went to look for them, messed that hunt up. My thought is be nice and you will be treated nice!
I hunted MS a time or two and never had any issues. I have hunted in several states with no issues. Fact is out of state hunters with out of state tags do draw attention. I mark every one I see when hunting public land. Just like to know who is around.
As for driving a brand new vehicle to hunt. You are better off driving a clunker. I maintain the my vehicles well but the body not so much. Not much value in my rims or tires. I do this especially when dropping off a vehicle when float fishing. I never leave valuables in a vehicle even when hunting private land. Things do disappear. I have left milk crates on public land and they always disappear. Cleaned a deer one time and left some tree steps in a bag behind and they disappeared. Seems that anything left on public land will disappear. Sometimes even people.
I helped some guys from Missouri get their 4 slashed tires off their truck and transported them to town as a supercell with baseball sized hail approached years ago. I had a pretty good idea who might have slashed their tires but zero proof.
I have hunted 8 different states on probably 100+ hunts and have never had the first issue. Most of it on public land too. Whoever said, "people will treat you as you treat them" was right. I make it a point to talk to locals whenever I can. I think for the most part they just want to know reasonable and honest people are in their neighborhood. There was a place in the mountains where a forest service gate was also access to a home. It looked like a rough place and I was warned the guy would mess with your stuff. I saw him pulling out of the gate one day and stopped. I walked over and pulled the gate shut behind him and waited for him to come around and lock it. Now he looked like trouble and I wasn't sure if I would get a knot on my head or what. I spoke first and he just grunted. I asked if it was a problem parking at the gate and he snorted, "it's public ground". I made a simple statement that I didn't want to be a bother to anyone, and he just stared at me and said, "your the first SOB that ever asked!". Then he snorted, "you know them Damn turkeys roost right behind my house, and most of those dumb F##kers just shoot right towads my house". I said, "I ain't one of those dumb F&&kers". If you want me to move on down the road I will. I noticed he had a old military coat on from Vietnam and I ask if he was a veteran and he grunted yup. I thanked him for serving. Well an hour later we ended that conversation and his , last words was, "you know it's better to go in on those turkeys from up by my house, help yourself to em". I thanked him and said I'd never go in through him without letting him know the day before and he grunted, That'd be good". That was several years ago and I hit that spot almost annually and still stop to talk. I have had others tell me he has had their vehicle towed or let threatening notes and they wouldn't hunt there because the old bastard was nuts. All he wanted was respect.
I know a couple guys who hunted a public spot in NE when a guy from TX put a gun to a guy from IL and said, " If this was TX you'd be dead and buried ". Claimed the guy from IL was trespassing. Took his gun and wallet. A retired CPO was talking to his buddy when the guy came out. They called the sheriff and TX got arrested when he came out.
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Hunted all over and never had an issue. Toted a butt-chewing a couple times from locals, but no harm done. I remained calm during the interactions and eventually they realized how dumb they sounded and calmed down.
Between deer and turkeys, I've hunted quite a few states. I always either sleep in my truck, or take a tent. I've never had an issue with a local, and often times have found them quite helpful. Most of the people I've ran into couldn't believe I drove all that way to hunt.
Some of the vandalism if not most, is not done by hunters. One guy I know in particular had his tires cut and they pried his gas tank door open. He had a locking gas cap as well which saved them stealing gas or putting something in the tank or whatever they were attempting. This was in the DBNF, when he called the law they came out basically told him there was a lot of meth heads in the area not much could be done. I was told the same thing when I hunted there had no problems didn't even see anyone were I hunted, you just never know.
Only ever deer hunted out of state but never had a problem. In fact, the locals there were nicer than the ones at home. Talked to a landowner that backed up to the public and gave us permission to hunt. A little small talk goes a long way and being courteous is king. The guy told me and my buddy how many people trespass every year. He said all they had to do was ask to hunt. Guy even helped us get my buddy's buck out with his four wheeler.
I've never personally seen any issues at our local wma's. My take is if you buy a license you have just as much a right to there as I do. I've even been known to point a few oos folks to good areas. Not ones I'm hunting but places I know hold birds.
I've not had problems, but I also have not parked my rig full of stuff out in the middle of nowhere very much.
1) When I've been out of state, I'm usually camping at a state or federally run campground. There's usually very little theft in those.
2) I've generally been with somebody else, rendezvousing at the destination. We take one vehicle camping and leave one behind with all the valuables in it.
3) When I wasn't in a public campground I was usually either hunting private property or using someone's farm as a base camp.
4) When hunting with a guide, he provided the transportation.
Again, thanks all!
I'm leaning toward taking my 03 truck with 200k miles. Think its in good enough shape.
A lot of states have rear license plates only. We have front and rear plates here in Virginia. Where legal, I take my front plate off as soon as I get into a new state.
I also back in everywhere. No reason to draw unnecessary attention to yourself.
Seems incomprehensible to people that have morals and ethical compasses, my first thought when I see OOS plates in my local WMA is respect for their earnestness and hope they find success to make the adventure even better. Saw MISS plates last year in South GA WMA and thought the same thing, bet they're having fun and maybe they strike to cap it all off. Possessiveness of game animals is a problem on public and private land
In all of my travels, I've only been messed with once and that was in Kansas and all they did was drop a deuce near my truck and left a nasty note under my wiper. Otherwise, it's been smooth sailing (knock on wood). I will get a cheap room to keep all of my expensive gear, if in an area that I believe is sketchy, such as TN this past spring. I was told by a local warden that there were a lot of break-ins in the area I was parking so that was my reasoning for that particular area. One thing I do, and I don't know if it makes a difference, but I never let traffic see me leaving my truck to go into the woods. If I hear a car approaching, I either quickly get back into my truck and wait for them to pass or I run into the woods to hide until they pass. This way they don't know how long I've been gone and hopefully they think, "he may come back at any moment!" At least I hope that's what they think. ;D
Last year a new pattern emerged where it no longer mattered who got there first. In several instances I was lucky enough to get to my spot first and was rewarded with a single gobbler to work. Eventually some yahoo bumbles in and gets between me and the gobbler of course spooking off the gobbler, well its public land so these things are gonna happen-no big deal and I walk to my truck to leave only to find out the other hunter parked right beside me-so he knew I was there and IMO didn't care if he ruined my hunt or not. These are little parking spots on a long road-plenty of other places to go and in almost every case it was an out of state tag.
Did there vehicles get messed with? Yeah a little.
Quote from: Southerngobbler on January 19, 2020, 01:32:44 PM
Last year a new pattern emerged where it no longer mattered who got there first. In several instances I was lucky enough to get to my spot first and was rewarded with a single gobbler to work. Eventually some yahoo bumbles in and gets between me and the gobbler of course spooking off the gobbler, well its public land so these things are gonna happen-no big deal and I walk to my truck to leave only to find out the other hunter parked right beside me-so he knew I was there and IMO didn't care if he ruined my hunt or not. These are little parking spots on a long road-plenty of other places to go and in almost every case it was an out of state tag.
Did there vehicles get messed with? Yeah a little.
Dang. Thought you said it was no big deal. Driver might have been 3 miles away and you ran into someone else possibly. You parked first at that spot, what if the guy in the woods was dropped off and there before you....not even the driver of the vehicles that got 'messed with'. Never know. Either way you look extreme with that 5ft gator on your back
It's not too difficult to follow someones boot track on a dirt road
I have traveled all over the states for years, turkey deer, elk pronghorn waterfowl. Had never had an issue until last year.
Got to Arizona to deer hunt, arrived in the afternoon and jumped out for a quick hunt, left a cooler full of food and my water for the week, gone three hours max, some dirt bags stole it all, I had pre made a ton of food for a week long hunt, all wild game too, for fu-- sake leave a man his water in the desert!
Always had been worried, but just use common sense and go hunt.
Of course a couple days later about the time I needed to go to the river and filter some water, a local stopped and after hearing my story left me all his water as he was headed home.
I have never had a incident with vandals or theft. I have had people park next to me and come in on top of me. Just the world we live in now I guess.
Thanks for the replies and suggestions!
I would bet that a few hundred hunting trips are represented by the people responding here and there are only a small number of incidents sighted, so I'd say over all it's not a serious concern. Actually, it's probably statistically insignificant, but if it happens to you then it's significant. I wouldn't let it affect my plans. It's good to see the over all the hunting community is pretty safe and responsible.
while spending time as a caregiver to my wife, I dreamed and searched on the internet about trout fishing and camping in different eastern states....to my suprize much advice came back negitive..an old man camping alone in the wild is just asking to find trouble.....most bad reports came from KY. , W VA., and VA....I gave up on the idea..
I've hunted a few states as a NR, but nothing too crazy. The list includes KY, AL, MO, KS, NE, SD, CO, WA. I eventually moved to CO then MT and hunted my home state of IL as a NR, but that probably doesn't count because the locals know me. I don't recall ever having anything stolen. I've not camped very often except elk hunting in CO. On most occasions I'm staying in a hotel, but my truck has been left at multiple trailheads and on the side of the road. It's usually clear that I'm hunting, but I try not to leave valuable gear/backup guns in plain sight. I lock everything up. If someone really wants to break in then I can't stop them, so it's really the opportunist that I'm trying to stop. So far I've not had a problem.
The instance above where someone admitted to "messing" with someone's truck because they bumped a bird is a childish move. I don't appreciate folks not having the same principles as I do when hunting public ground and it rubs me wrong when someone knowingly moves in on a bird I'm working. However, some folks are just dumb, some folks are on their own trying to learn this without any guidance, some folks really don't have a clue. I'll admit that some are just jerks (I've met my share), but I don't "mess" with their vehicles. Its a childish move at best.
One thing I don't do is stay home and skip the things I want to do out of fear that someone may bother me or my stuff.
Quote from: saltysenior on January 23, 2020, 09:42:28 PM
while spending time as a caregiver to my wife, I dreamed and searched on the internet about trout fishing and camping in different eastern states....to my suprize much advice came back negitive..an old man camping alone in the wild is just asking to find trouble.....most bad reports came from KY. , W VA., and VA....I gave up on the idea..
It is unfortunate that you did not try to live out your dream. I seriously doubt you would have had any issues. I never have and I have hunted and fished all three of those states by my self many times. Maybe its not to late to live out your dream.
I traveled down to Virginia last year to hunt with my son. On the walk back to my truck after an afternoon scout at one of the WMAs I was surprised to see a Virginia wildlife officer next to it. He knew my name and that I was licensed. It was good to know another set of eyes were on my truck when I was in the field.
PS- We talked to several hunters that trip and all were good exchanges.
good thread
Quote from: mtns2hunt on January 24, 2020, 12:31:16 PM
Quote from: saltysenior on January 23, 2020, 09:42:28 PM
while spending time as a caregiver to my wife, I dreamed and searched on the internet about trout fishing and camping in different eastern states....to my suprize much advice came back negitive..an old man camping alone in the wild is just asking to find trouble.....most bad reports came from KY. , W VA., and VA....I gave up on the idea..
It is unfortunate that you did not try to live out your dream. I seriously doubt you would have had any issues. I never have and I have hunted and fished all three of those states by my self many times. Maybe its not to late to live out your dream.
BUT, my fear of being robbed or worst probably saved me from falling and drowning in a stream..when the time came to go, I didn't realized that the trout fishing would have to be done from a chair...now going to the wellness center to try and get ready for a turkey that has to come within 75 yrds of a road..
Have Turkey hunted many different states and have never had any issues or had any problems with the locals,except my home state of Florida. Not all of them but a lot of Florida locals are Territorial of hunting areas.
I only have hunted Wv and Md but I have had very few issues around my neck of the woods. Now hunting public lands further East is a different story. That can turn into a regular goat ropin. Anyways I would hope that all true hunters be respectful of each other and treat others how they would like to be treated. There is enough selfishness and greed in this world as it is. No need to add to it. If I encounter idiots i just walk away smiling anymore, I might make darned sure that the gobbler they tried to cut in on isn't in a gobbling mood either. It isn't worth my time and aggravation dealing with them. If I encounter decent human beings that are polite and are interested in more than an "easy" bird then I will more than likely try and help them out if i can. I honestly do enjoy seeing other people succeed. I just want to make sure that they are willing to do the work first.
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Good discussion. Thanks for the response to the thread.
Now I just have to decide where and when to go.
Hope all have a great upcoming season!
what do you mean by ''come in on me '' ??
Quote from: warrent423 on January 25, 2020, 08:32:45 PM
I'm Old School. If I pull up to a gate and see a truck parked there, I move on, no matter how much ground is behind the gate. If I know a Gobbler is set up in a particular area, not necessarily a gated road, and see a truck parked in the general vicinity of said Gobbler, I move on. Common sense, as well as, common curtesy. I have no tolerance for rudeness, as well as, ignorance. Just the way I am wired
I agree and do the same. Its a shame but the new age hunters just have no respect
Been traveling spring hunting since 91, never had an issue. Camped first 27 or so years and now tend to use RB@B in most states,