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To each his own I just don't believe it is ethical to move into where someone else is actively hunting. If you think it is fine to move in to where someone is actively hunting then all the power to you.

I guess I have different ethics and I guess this is why so many hunters get into fights.

Some people I guess would rather grab an active place so they don't need to work hard, personally I am against that and have taught my son the same. If someone moves into where I am then I will move on. Which is why I am scouting a lot of new territory this year.

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Originally Posted by dean.f

I should reflect on my life, maybe one day I can measure up.

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You seem like a pillar of the community. I wish all ontario could have your ethics, none of us would ever hunt a public bush south of the French. Only the good old boys that have established a spot so secretive you have to pass the GW threshold to ever discover.

To each his own and I wish you the best in hunting.
Many people do have my ethics.

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Originally Posted by dean.f

You seem like a pillar of the community. I wish all ontario could have your ethics, none of us would ever hunt a public bush south of the French. Only the good old boys that have established a spot so secretive you have to pass the GW threshold to ever discover.

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Originally Posted by Sam Menard

As a guy living in Northern Ontario, I’m finding this situation bizarre. I can understand people posting private land, but the notion of erecting signs on Crow land indicating an intent to hunt it at some point in the future is weird. As much as I would like to hunt areas of Crown land exclusively, it’s first come - first served. There’s a silent understanding up north that a hunter will give another hunter a wide berth, but don’t hoard an area and take obvious measures to keep people out. If you act like a dink, someone will call you on it.

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Not to mention its also littering to post signs up everywhere on Crown land.

Anyways, a gentlemen's agreement on hunting Crown land is a wonderful idea. A blanket "We hunt here never come in or your tires are getting slashed" is not. They cant be there all the time. If If theirs no indication they are actively hunting, then use it. Perhaps leave a note on one of their signs with your number to talk to them? Hell, write it on their sign.

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Originally Posted by greatwhite

I realize it is first come first serve, but if a group of people are hunting an area would you not stay away? How would you feel If I happened upon your spot and you came there Monday morning only to find me sitting in you stand and my buddy sitting in one of your friends stand.?

In NB it was common to post where you were hunting on crown and I think some do that for Moose in Quebec as well. I would treat it as moving along to find myself another area where there are no hunters. There is a lot of crown land. Some people just see moving into where other people are as a free ride.

Ahh nice somebody baited everything for me.

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There are likely details to this that I’m not aware of but I’ll add a few more comments anyway. When I was younger I loved to hunt ducks and the accepted practice was that if you built a duck blind, you would mark it with your name and that gave you first dibs on it on opening day. After that, it was first come-first served.

While attending High School in Ottawa in the 1970’s, we used to hunt deer at the Mountain Wildlife Management Area near Winchester (I don’t know if the place exists anymore). Anyway I recall having to get there in the wee hours of the morning in order to claim a watch as it was first come-first served. If I tried to claim a spot ahead of time, I would have been put in my place very quickly.

As far as leaving a stand on Crown land and finding someone else using it goes my thoughts are as follows: the other hunter is entitled to hunt that spot since he got to it first, However, I “could” ask him to vacate the stand as it doesn’t belong to him, then remove the stand from the tree as the site has been burned. (I would have marked the stand first with an identifier). My course of action would depend on the situation as it unfolded.

i have a favourite moose hunting spot that some friends and I have hunted for a number of years. Although we set up camp at the trailhead a few days before the season, we realize that another group could set up ahead of us, or just go by our camp and hunt the area regardless. We don’t have any false notions that we have exclusive dibs to the area. If someone else showed up, we would try to come to an agreement to share the area safely.

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Originally Posted by greatwhite

To each his own I just don't believe it is ethical to move into where someone else is actively hunting. If you think it is fine to move in to where someone is actively hunting then all the power to you.

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Putting up signs to claim an area is not the same thing as actively hunting. it just shows interest in an area without physical occupation. How would I know how many guys are in the club and how would I know if the area that they staked out is reasonable?

The best way to demonstrate interest in an area is to show a physical presence e.g, set up a camp. IMO, erecting signs is a bit thin in that regard.

Have you given any consideration to the potential that the OP was the one "actively" hunting the area since he spent so much time scouting and the group that posted the signs were moving in on him? Or maybe both groups were but kept missing each other, and the only way he knows someone was looking at the same parcel of land as him was the fact he saw a sign put up.

The OP was asking if anyone knew who they were so he could speak with them, I think that is a wonderful idea. In post #14 he tried to explain that once again and in post #16 you replied that was not how you saw it and suggested, once again he move on. Maybe it is the others who should move on. It may be common practice in Que & NB and anywhere else to "post" your spots, but in my experience and by judging by the comments here, not so much in Ont. Here in Ont we like to let each other know where groups are hunting by talking to each other face to face.

I believe that part of scouting an area is not only looking for sign but also talking to the other users and hunters in the area. That is how you learn where camps have been set up for years, where the members may be at any given time, what are they hunting for? if deer are they there 1st week? 2nd? both? Bow? Rifle? weekdays or weekends etc.. that is how you learn how you can work/hunt together or avoid each other if necessary. Should I really avoid an area all together for an entire season just because someone nailed a sign to a tree?

I just like so many here hunt crown land as well, in fact I'm so confident in my spot that I leave a portable stand and two trail cameras out all year round. I'm confident in the fact that even if someone found the spot, they most likely would never find the cameras, and if someone found my stand and really wanted it, all the power to them since it is inaccessible by anything with wheels, at minimum a 20 minute walk and bermed in two spots, so if they want to go through the effort to take it, they can have it. As secret as my spot may be, I know I share it with early and late season bow hunters and the occasional moose hunter. I didn't post no sign, now that I think of it my spot might not be that much of a secret after all, but we all seem to get along and rarely if ever run into each other. That's the thing with the bush, no matter how remote, inaccessible or secret you think your spot it, you never really know who or what was there when you weren't ;)

Every year we have at least 1 or 2 trucks/bikes drive past where we have camp set up and single every one of them do the exact same thing, go up the road and turn right around as soon as they see it's a dead end and they cannot go any further, we can almost set a stop watch to it, on the way back some stop to chat, some politely wave and some completely ignore us as though we aren't even standing ten feet from where they are driving, but we never ever see the same people more than once.

My suggesting to the OP is this, if this is your first year in the Marlborough forest and that is where your heart is set on hunting, absolutely go for it, but if this is in fact your first year do lots of talking, stop and chat with everyone you come across that is willing to share a story or info over a quick smoke/cup of coffee etc. You might not get a deer this year, but you will get something maybe even better, the knowledge of where you can go to get one next year and hopefully for years to come.

I live in the area but unfortunately don't hunt here, otherwise I would help you out as much as I could.

Happy Harvesting!

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Originally Posted by greatwhite

To each his own I just don't believe it is ethical to move into where someone else is actively hunting. If you think it is fine to move in to where someone is actively hunting then all the power to you.

I guess I have different ethics and I guess this is why so many hunters get into fights.

Some people I guess would rather grab an active place so they don't need to work hard, personally I am against that and have taught my son the same. If someone moves into where I am then I will move on. Which is why I am scouting a lot of new territory this year.

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Originally Posted by dean.f

I should reflect on my life, maybe one day I can measure up.

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Don't worry dean, it's not you. I have not seen someone toot their own horn as much as GW ,since Louis Armstrong passed.

Hey Justinanika
Thanks for the words I appreciate it.
This is in fact my 3rd year in there and the first year I saw their signs.
I try to talk to any hunter I see. Not just for info but to also bolster the hunting community/spirit.
Although I may not have been hunting as long as some I know the unwritten rules just as well as anybody.
For me the woods are my happy place. If I shoot something that’s fantastic if not I just look forward to another day in the woods.