More public land fun

[g8rvet]

Had a couple of knuckleheads stop their truck 75 yards from where I had been parked for an hour.  Walked down and told them I was going to any bird I heard gobbling. Another truck came in right before gobbling time, backed up and left. (I saw him the next day and gave him his space as he beat me to the spot I wanted). Heard a bird and went to him, but he was pretty tight lipped.

Fast forward to the weekend. My bro and nephew were on a gobbler on Saturday, got him to 50 yards.  Two jakes came in that they passed on, but did not get the gobbler to finish.  My nephew invited me Sunday and we got there a little earlier and the dude that had been parked near them probably heard the bird too and was parked where they had been.  So we just said "Good job dude" and went to plan B.  Truck parked there as well. So we went to C. C worked out and nephew killed one.  We had 4 gobbling birds responding to us and the close bird circled us when he flew down but another bird raced him to our setup!  It is a special opp hunt and I have it next weekend, so I have some hot intel anyway. 

Thought public hunters would like to check out the first 6 minutes of this video. Dudes tried to claim their spot with a ground blind.  LOL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaGlp6odyMY

[TravisB]

I'm not surprised at anything I see from other hunters. All that drivel about hunters being a brotherhood is just that, drivel. It's not a brotherhood, it's just a bunch of people that like to hunt, and sooner or later, the human side of people will come out. Congrats on sticking with it and getting the job done.


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[Brian Fahs]

Good on you.
Congrats on your success

[ManfromGreenSwamp]

Wonderful video! Congratulations!


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[LaLongbeard]

I'm not surprised at anything I see from other hunters. All that drivel about hunters being a brotherhood is just that, drivel. It's not a brotherhood, it's just a bunch of people that like to hunt, and sooner or later, the human side of people will come out.


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Agreed. I think the people that act like public land is all roses either don't hunt public very often or have a beta personality and are used to being run over by others and so they feel it's normal.

[g8rvet]

Wonderful video! Congratulations!


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Not my video, someone linked it to me and asked me if this is what Florida hunting is like.  I said, "Pretty much the same everywhere".  Most folks are reasonable. Some ain't.

PS  I grew up not to far from Green Swamp (NPR).  I did not spring turkey hunt when I lived there, but we hunted it for hogs a few times in the 70s.   

[Mossberg90MN]

I'm very much a who gets there first kinda guy. If I show up at the parking spot to a huge area I'll ask where the guy is gonna go. If he is in fact going to where I was gonna, then oh well...

I've never had too many problems with that though... I will say this. I only run into goofballs on weekends. Fri, sat, and Sunday.

Which is why I try to do everything I can to hunt during the week. But I find myself out there on a Friday or Saturday morning every now and then.

Yea I saw that video. Dudes something else...

[Kylongspur88]

I bow hunt and turkey hunt a lot on public land. I've got private I can hunt too but I like having room to roam and I've been hunting some of these places for over 20 years now and know them well.

With turkey hunting I've run into some good and some bad. Had one guy shoot a bird out from under a youth Hunter I was calling for. That was about the maddest I've ever been in my life. Called the co but they never caught him. Once while bow hunting had a guy climb a tree not 40 yards from me. He knew I was there first and set up anyway. I spent the morning making small talk clanging my bow around and pissing out of the stand. I hope he liked the show. Never saw him again. Had a guy this year walk in and sit down within 50 feet of me on a rifle quota hunt. We had a little talk about Hunter safety and manners and he left for another spot. 

Long and short of it is public land can be a crap show, but there's also times when it's just as good as any private ground and during the week or in bad weather I've usually got thousands of acres to myself.

[mtns2hunt]

Sounds to me like everyone is cramed in on top each other. Sitting in truck waiting to hear a Gobbler? Is that right? Fighting over parking space? Not my kind of hunting. At first light I would be miles from any parking area walking or standing on a ridge. Guarantee there would not be anyone with in two miles. In Virginia where I hunt there is over a million acres of National Forest: plenty of space. Plus if I don't kill a bird I do it all over agian the next day except Sunday as there is no Sunday hunting. On Sunday I go to private land.

You are always going to find rude and inconsuderate people on public land. The mentality is like a gold rush you have to be there first and in their haste they don't care if they run over someone. Hit the back country and if your serious back pack in or if a navagable river is running through the forest drift through in a canoe. Options are endless and all the complaining kills me.

[TravisB]

Sounds to me like everyone is cramed in on top each other. Sitting in truck waiting to hear a Gobbler? Is that right? Fighting over parking space? Not my kind of hunting. At first light I would be miles from any parking area walking or standing on a ridge. Guarantee there would not be anyone with in two miles. In Virginia where I hunt there is over a million acres of National Forest: plenty of space. Plus if I don't kill a bird I do it all over agian the next day except Sunday as there is no Sunday hunting. On Sunday I go to private land.

You are always going to find rude and inconsuderate people on public land. The mentality is like a gold rush you have to be there first and in their haste they don't care if they run over someone. Hit the back country and if your serious back pack in or if a navagable river is running through the forest drift through in a canoe. Options are endless and all the complaining kills me.

Good for you. Everybody doesn't have public land like that close enough to hunt. There isn't any public land around here that you can get more than a half mile in without being less than a half mile from a road from the other side.


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[Turkeyman]

... I will say this. I only run into goofballs on weekends. Fri, sat, and Sunday.

With everyone out of work this year, every hunter will be out. Thus on public ground every day will be a Fri, Sat or Sun.

[Mossberg90MN]

... I will say this. I only run into goofballs on weekends. Fri, sat, and Sunday.

With everyone out of work this year, every hunter will be out. Thus on public ground every day will be a Fri, Sat or Sun.

Yes! I have definitely realized that. This may be some of the most busiest turkey seasons.


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[CALLM2U]

Sounds to me like everyone is cramed in on top each other. Sitting in truck waiting to hear a Gobbler? Is that right? Fighting over parking space? Not my kind of hunting. At first light I would be miles from any parking area walking or standing on a ridge. Guarantee there would not be anyone with in two miles. In Virginia where I hunt there is over a million acres of National Forest: plenty of space. Plus if I don't kill a bird I do it all over agian the next day except Sunday as there is no Sunday hunting. On Sunday I go to private land...

I grew up in VA hunting Jefferson National Forest. That place isn't like typical public land.  I can, and do hunt weekends there and never see another person.  TN for example is polar opposite.  You have to drive 1+ hours to get to a 300 acre plot and there are 15 other guys on it-whether you are there first or not. 

Public land isn't the same everywhere. 

[RutnNStrutn]

Sounds to me like everyone is cramed in on top each other. Sitting in truck waiting to hear a Gobbler? Is that right? Fighting over parking space? Not my kind of hunting. At first light I would be miles from any parking area walking or standing on a ridge. Guarantee there would not be anyone with in two miles. In Virginia where I hunt there is over a million acres of National Forest: plenty of space. Plus if I don't kill a bird I do it all over agian the next day except Sunday as there is no Sunday hunting. On Sunday I go to private land.

You are always going to find rude and inconsuderate people on public land. The mentality is like a gold rush you have to be there first and in their haste they don't care if they run over someone. Hit the back country and if your serious back pack in or if a navagable river is running through the forest drift through in a canoe. Options are endless and all the complaining kills me.

Must be nice!! In FLA, where I hunt on public land, the WMA's are small parcels, usually 5,000 to 50,000 acres. Most have quota permits to get in, and FWC lets in way too many hunters who can each bring a guest, and most do. I could only dream of having a million acre forest to roam, and being the only guy within a mile or 2 of a gobbler. That's part of the reason I'm getting the heck out of Florida.

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[g8rvet]

Sounds to me like everyone is cramed in on top each other. Sitting in truck waiting to hear a Gobbler? Is that right? Fighting over parking space? Not my kind of hunting. At first light I would be miles from any parking area walking or standing on a ridge. Guarantee there would not be anyone with in two miles. In Virginia where I hunt there is over a million acres of National Forest: plenty of space. Plus if I don't kill a bird I do it all over agian the next day except Sunday as there is no Sunday hunting. On Sunday I go to private land.

You are always going to find rude and inconsuderate people on public land. The mentality is like a gold rush you have to be there first and in their haste they don't care if they run over someone. Hit the back country and if your serious back pack in or if a navagable river is running through the forest drift through in a canoe. Options are endless and all the complaining kills me.

Most of that does not apply to the huge tract I hunt.  No mountains, no 2 miles in on a road that would not mean you have passed another road.  But there are ways.  The river is one of my favorites, but other folks know it too, so there can be some competition that way.  There are also deep swamps where you must walk into really thick areas to get in to them.  Most folks are still sitting at their trucks.