parking behind someone at a gate

[mountainhunter1]

5 gates within 1/4 to 1/3 mile?! wow. thats a tough spot to hunt without interference!

Sounds crazy, but one of my favorite WMA's has a gate every three to four hundred yards apart on CERTAIN parts of the WMA, but not on other parts of the same WMA. I have wondered why many times. But another completely different WMA that I also hunt very near by has very few gates.

[turkeyfool]

Makes you appreciate other states where you don't have to deal with this at all! That's why I feel very strongly about not saying the name of states because for every state I've encountered that has an issue with this, I've been to just as many that have none of these issues whatsoever

[WV Flopper]

 I sure would hate to be the guy I catch letting the air out of my tires when I walk out of the woods with my 10g slung over my shoulder with 5 - 2 5/8oz # 8/9 TSS in it.

The woods have eyes! It takes a pretty stupid person to mess with someones vehicle. You may just be gambling with your life.

[WV Flopper]

Buy your own ground and stay on it.

[bigriverbum]

i didn't realize sleeping in your vehicle at an entrance gave you dibs to the place

Over someone that woke up 30 mins before daylight and hit Waffle House before? 100%. And OP is a lot kinder attempting to exchange words with people than most people from the south would be. There will be 0 air in tires as soon as it happens to me

ahh that good ol' southern 'hospitality'

[Archivist13]

i didn't realize sleeping in your vehicle at an entrance gave you dibs to the place

Couldn't agree more! There is a 1500 acre piece of public where I hunt. It is over an hour to the next piece of public. There is one gate. Under this scenario, sleeping in your truck gives you automatic dibs to the only place in 60 miles!? Sure, I would love to live somewhere that has endless lands to hunt that you can simply drive to the next spot and have acres and acres to hunt, but where I live this is not possible. Yep, it sucks hunting the same ground that 6 or 7 other guys are hunting nearly every day, but it is what it is.

[bwhana]

This is a sample on a very light pressure day here, after noon, mid-season when the crowds normally start to thin (I have seen over 12 trucks at one time in this one).  This pic does not even show our trucks and a couple of others.  We also saw other hunters in the woods that had parked on the side of the paved road and came in.  The layout of this particular property funnels everyone from this parking through a pass and then makes a huge bowl valley surrounded by steep mountains.  You can't park at the gate and claim a whole property of this size to yourself, so dealing with others is just part of the game.  This is the typical scene on our gamelands just about anywhere you go and if you will only hunt a gate without a vehicle, you will never hunt public.

As to arriving earliest, it only becomes an escalating of war of trying to arrive first, to the point you give up and just get there in time to setup right before light.  Camping or sleeping in the truck is not legal here either.

[Archivist13]

This is a sample on a very light pressure day here, after noon, mid-season when the crowds normally start to thin (I have seen over 12 trucks at one time in this one).  This pic does not even show our trucks and a couple of others.  We also saw other hunters in the woods that had parked on the side of the paved road and came in.  The layout of this particular property funnels everyone from this parking through a pass and then makes a huge bowl valley surrounded by steep mountains.  You can't park at the gate and claim a whole property of this size to yourself, so dealing with others is just part of the game.  This is the typical scene on our gamelands just about anywhere you go and if you will only hunt a gate without a vehicle, you will never hunt public.

As to arriving earliest, it only becomes an escalating of war of trying to arrive first, to the point you give up and just get there in time to setup right before light.  Camping or sleeping in the truck is not legal here either.

Thank you for this! This is exactly what it is like where I hunt. You aren't actually allowed to be in the parking area until a half hour before sunrise and have to be gone by a half hour after dark. Luckily they don't cause much of a fuss about this, but you have to get permission from the warden to recover a deer after dark being your not allowed to technically be there.

[silvestris]

And all of the people who arrived in those vehicles were introduced to the sport by another turkey hunter in some way or another.   Back in the days, an intelligent man would never go around telling the boys how special his new girl was.  If he was so slow to not recognize the potential harm he was creating, he could find himself with a ex-girlfriend.

So it is with Turkeys.  Loose lips sink ships and are the primary reason for the hordes.

[g8rvet]

As predicted, many people take their own hunting scenarios and ascribe them to what the OP was talking about.  One place I hunt, if 11 vehicles were parked somewhere and you pulled in to the hunt there too, you would have to be daft.  It is a very large area, with no designated parking and tons of acres to spread out with other very large WMAs within a 30 minute drive.  At another place I hunt, vehicles will be parked close to each other, but not on top of each other.  Sometimes ending up at the same place.  Two very different situations and everyone knows the difference in how and where you should set up.  Not all show courtesy, but they all dang sure know what they are doing when they don't. 

I don't see why this concept is so hard to grasp.  Show some courtesy, to the best of your abilities, to fellow hunters.  But I am sure someone is going to tell me I am wrong because it is all public land. SMH

Bad analogy silvestris.  Showing someone your spots is telling them about your new girl.  Telling them you like girls is not such a secret.  (I turkey hunt at this spot vs I turkey hunt).

[quavers59]

    You have to flow with the times. Back in the 90s + 2000s- Hunters would move on if you parked first near a Gate on Public.
   Now-- there are far more Turkey Hunters.
  Listen- 1 Man can't control or stop others from walking past that Gate when there are Thousands of Acres beyond.
    Not Happening...
Times have changed- go with the Flow.  Either walk in at 3.30am or park later and walk in at 9.30am.
  It is what it is-- just enjoy yourself. Don't  get sore over others

[aaron]

Yes it is certainly nice if people show courtesy.  If you expect courtesy though, you're gonna be disappointed more times than not.  Either way, if there is a gobbler to be brought out of a section, I'm gonna be the one carrying it out.  Not meant in an arrogant manner, I just learned long ago a positive attitude is way better than dwelling on what some other idiot is doing.

[ncturkey]

This is a sample on a very light pressure day here, after noon, mid-season when the crowds normally start to thin (I have seen over 12 trucks at one time in this one).  This pic does not even show our trucks and a couple of others.  We also saw other hunters in the woods that had parked on the side of the paved road and came in.  The layout of this particular property funnels everyone from this parking through a pass and then makes a huge bowl valley surrounded by steep mountains.  You can't park at the gate and claim a whole property of this size to yourself, so dealing with others is just part of the game.  This is the typical scene on our gamelands just about anywhere you go and if you will only hunt a gate without a vehicle, you will never hunt public.

As to arriving earliest, it only becomes an escalating of war of trying to arrive first, to the point you give up and just get there in time to setup right before light.  Camping or sleeping in the truck is not legal here either.

What state is this.
Looks like the same game land I hunt.
I have parked at that spot that looks just like that.

[bwhana]

This is a sample on a very light pressure day here, after noon, mid-season when the crowds normally start to thin (I have seen over 12 trucks at one time in this one).  This pic does not even show our trucks and a couple of others.  We also saw other hunters in the woods that had parked on the side of the paved road and came in.  The layout of this particular property funnels everyone from this parking through a pass and then makes a huge bowl valley surrounded by steep mountains.  You can't park at the gate and claim a whole property of this size to yourself, so dealing with others is just part of the game.  This is the typical scene on our gamelands just about anywhere you go and if you will only hunt a gate without a vehicle, you will never hunt public.

As to arriving earliest, it only becomes an escalating of war of trying to arrive first, to the point you give up and just get there in time to setup right before light.  Camping or sleeping in the truck is not legal here either.

What state is this.
Looks like the same game land I hunt.
I have parked at that spot that looks just like that.

NC

[redleg06]

And all of the people who arrived in those vehicles were introduced to the sport by another turkey hunter in some way or another.   Back in the days, an intelligent man would never go around telling the boys how special his new girl was.  If he was so slow to not recognize the potential harm he was creating, he could find himself with a ex-girlfriend.

So it is with Turkeys.  Loose lips sink ships and are the primary reason for the hordes.

Turkey hunting on public land has finally become what duck hunting on public has been for 25+ years...  I remember pulling up to different lakes and refuges and it looking like a mud-motor convention at 4a.m and the ensuing race to get to a spot...even then, just because you were there first didn't mean someone wasn't going to come in and set up on you. 

It's great hearing all the youtuber's talking about how we need more hunters to "help the resource"...by putting more guns in the woods?   It's supply and demand- if demand skyrockets (It has and is) without the supply increasing to match it (in this case- turkey reproduction as well as additional huntable land to absorb new hunter numbers), before long, the imbalance becomes unsustainable... For those of us who have been around long enough to know what numbers looked like 10-20 years ago,  it's pretty clear that we're heading that direction in a lot of places. Particularly on public land. Once people get tired of fighting the crowds on public and not hearing birds, the private land will start to feel the effects...If you lease private land right now, or get permission for private land, and think you're immune to it- you aren't. You'll start to see more guys on your club hunting turkey, landowners will start to take notice of what they have and what they can charge and hike prices on leases, more and more outfitters will start leasing up ground etc.  If you don't believe that, look at the prices of duck leases or decent deer leases...it's unreal.