Hikers and Bikers

[turkeyfool]

Ran up to Mass this weekend. I work remote so I've spent the majority of this year out west or down south. It was nice to keep this trip to only a few hours from home. Anyway, the first morning I come back to my truck at about 9 and notice there's 4,5 cars parked right on top of me. Surely they couldn't be other hunters. Small area and I didn't hear a peep from anyone else. I was a little bit confused. I continued to hunt this weekend and realized that I didn't see a single other hunter, but there must have been 30 different cars parked at gates throughout the weekend. By Saturday afternoon I realized these were all hikers and bikers. All of these people hitting the trails by 730-8am. Unfortunately, I even had one walk right down the trail that I was trying to call a hot bird down.

Is this a super common thing in Mass or all over New England? What about your area? I'm not going to lie, this drove me crazy. Not to mention some of these folks were wearing masks while on the trail alone

[Sanders153]

I haven't had it so much happen in Oklahoma, but in Colorado in the fall while elk/muley hunting it is quite common, even during the rifle seasons

[RutnNStrutn]

I've had it happen in FLA on WMA's. Frankly I find it very irresponsible of the state to allow hikers, bikers and equestrians on WMA's, usually for free, when hunters have to pay to access the woods in limited times, but have to share the woods with the freeloaders. Grrrrrrr!!!

Sent from deep in the woods where the critters roam.

[fallhnt]

IL public is out until 1:00.

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[johnski]

I have had it happen in Connecticut and Rhode Island.  Along with the hikers and bikers I have had dirt bikes and horse back riders come through.  The dirt bikers and 4 wheeler riders really drive me crazy because they are not supposed to be out there on the public land.  After the first couple of years I have learned to avoid those places those groups frequent especially on the weekends.

[Sir-diealot]

They changed the trail down here so now there is an extension off the trail that runs right in front of me and along the crick so now I constantly have people in front of me walking it.

The new people running the trail have ruined it, trying to make it more like the city parks/walkways and are working against nature as opposed to the old crew that I was a part of that tried to work with nature and the wildlife flourished. I did not even see any deer tracks there. pity is it is where I got my first deer.

[hoythunter]

Same thing happens here in Pa.

[Mallard1897]

Welcome to New England.

Certain WMAs can be more popular than others, especially those with well established blazed hiking trail. Until last year you could find plenty of spots where you would not see another person in the woods that day. Once COVID hit and the outdoors became cool again there's cars at pretty much every barway and pull off. Still waiting for them to lift all these restrictions so all the yuppies can go back to their normal lives and the woods will be quiet again.

Dirt bikes, quads and horses on WMAs... Don't even get me started. It's frustrating especially when those individuals advocate to keep hunting closed on Sundays so they can have more time to use the trails that money from hunting goes to maintaining.

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[Dtrkyman]

Public land, these things put a damper on a hunt but it's for everyone to use!

I've hunted exclusively public this year and while some of it was busy I've been able to work around pressure and any contact with others has been positive and cordial.


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[sasquatch1]

They changed the trail down here so now there is an extension off the trail that runs right in front of me and along the crick so now I constantly have people in front of me walking it.

The new people running the trail have ruined it, trying to make it more like the city parks/walkways and are working against nature as opposed to the old crew that I was a part of that tried to work with nature and the wildlife flourished. I did not even see any deer tracks there. pity is it is where I got my first deer.

Concrete and shopping mall generations now

Oh this place is nice, let's plow it down and build something here


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[quavers59]

Very common in New York + New Jersey. Hikers and Bikers often get out at Sunrise to see the Wildlife.

[Greg Massey]

Let's not forget the bird watchers also..

[Sir-diealot]

They changed the trail down here so now there is an extension off the trail that runs right in front of me and along the crick so now I constantly have people in front of me walking it.

The new people running the trail have ruined it, trying to make it more like the city parks/walkways and are working against nature as opposed to the old crew that I was a part of that tried to work with nature and the wildlife flourished. I did not even see any deer tracks there. pity is it is where I got my first deer.

Concrete and shopping mall generations now

Oh this place is nice, let's plow it down and build something here


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That's about it too. That and move to the country and then trying to make it like what they moved away from. I grew up in both city and country, when I was very young I could not wait to get away from the country, now I want nothing to do with the city for the most part and if I do miss things like the museums or theatre I will just go to the city instead of breaking down the country.

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[Crghss]

This won't be good for hunting in general.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/missouri-hiker-shot-after-hunter-mistakes-him-for-turkey-police-say

[turkeyfool]

So actually, I went over to NY on Sunday because you can't hunt in Mass on Sundays. And the hikers were actually even worse in NY than they were in Mass. To most people reading this who aren't from the Northeast, you're probably thinking "oh, well it's New York so of course". But the funny thing is, the majority of upstate NY is more rural and sparsely populated than most areas the in the south! So it just kind of blows my mind that there were that many people out and about on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings. I'm guessing a lot of these people were travelling from some of the major areas and doing a weekend hiking trip, but it really pissed me off. There are quite a few yuppies in Mass though