Public Land Etiquette

645 pm last night, I've been in a tree for 2hrs at this point and hoping things come to life during the last 1/2hr of hunt time. I am set-up on a nice transition area of bedding and hardwoods, where I've observed deer coming and going. Crack... crack... snap... catches my attention. Here we go... Wrong! Along comes another hunter, which is fine and understandable, everyone has the right to be there. He/she appeared to be still hunting at a good clip, I give him/her a "pst..." and wave so we are both aware of each others presence. We acknowledge one another, and what happened after that was kind of bothersome. He/she walks a circle around my tree keeping a distance of about 25 yards, as if to check why I've selected that location? Then, goes bushing whacking through the bedding area.

There's no real solution or lesson learned from this, but let's all try to be somewhat courteous to one another out there. I won't sit here and say it ruined my hunt, but it certainly didn't help it. I will say walking right into a thick bedding area at twilight is a "bold move cotton" and a generally poor hunting tactic.

Rant over. What will you typically do when encountering another hunter in the field? My first instinct would be to head back the way I came and try a different area.

It's all part of the experience, I just hope nothing got spooked out too badly and they continue to use that bedding.

I think that if you believe there is any "etiquette" out there for ANYTHING these days you will be sadly disappointed.Manners and being taught how to behave are a thing of the past,take a look at the present President of the U.S. for an example.
In relation to public land hunting you get what you pay for and that basically sums it up for me.

I could make plenty of excuses for the behavior, ie Rookie hunter, first time in the area... but at the end of the day, you surely must have seen other hunter traffic in there in the past?
If you want privacy or at least a chance at privacy then you might need to buy your hunting property or rent the right to some place.

Find a way to use the actions of other hunters to your advantage, easier said than done but when you find that out you will be thanking them. John Eberhardt wrote a book about hunting pressured deer, it may be worth a read for you.

Precision Bowhunting, great book so far, I'm in the thick of it right now. He's written a few books with his son Chris. Dan Infalt is another very successful public land hunter who shares a wealth of his knowledge across various platforms.

I'm well aware of other hunters presence in that tract and don't necessarily look at it as a disadvantage, there's plenty of opportunity for all of us. This just kind of struck me as an odd thing to do and border-line inconsiderate.

I'm very fortunate to have access to a very small private parcel as well, but I want to keep pressure there to a minimum until hunting conditions are more favorable.

If I end up unintentionally coming across someone on public land I'll make sure we're aware of each other's presence and give them a wide berth.

One morning last year in deer season I sat in a spot that I don't normally sit in and shortly after first light another guy walked in behind me and sat down. He didn't notice me when he went past. I got up and went over to let him know we were fairly close to each other but I was only going to sit a little longer before pushing over to our other guys.

Upon speaking to this fellow a little I found out that this was a regular spot for his group to watch. His group and our group had hunted this same tract for years and we generally try to stay out of each other's way. I apologized for setting up so close and told him that after that morning I would stay more towards the area that my group regularly hunts. We said good day and parted ways.

I know that in this case I was there first and the other guy should have moved on but I've also found that in these cases showing a little respect goes a long way. I was outside of the area my group usually hunts and was unintentionally in one of "their spots".

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yeah thems the breaks. couple thoughts, 1) was he also hunting deer? and 2) i would guess they were oblivious to the fact that was a bedding area or had the worst hunting strategy. 3) if the deer were in that bedding area and he did bump them i wouldn't expect to see them back in there for a while.

i kinda did that to a guy last year. he was bow hunting deer from the ground but wearing orange so i spotted him right away. I was with my gf for a walk / lazy grouse hunt. i tried to be courteous and walked twice as far before entering the bush. accidentally bumped a deer the opposite direction of him. oops. would he have seen it if i didn't? who knows... did he even have a doe tag ? again no idea.

i also enjoyed the dodgeball reference. "lets see if it pays off for him"

I could make plenty of excuses for the behavior, ie Rookie hunter, first time in the area... but at the end of the day, you surely must have seen other hunter traffic in there in the past?
If you want privacy or at least a chance at privacy then you might need to buy your hunting property or rent the right to some place.[/QUOTE]


Sadly, even private ownership doesn't solve or guarantee privacy.
Kinda funny going to the dump Sat am; and recognizing someone from one of your game camera's.
Remember lookin', thinking; I know that guy from somewhere......

Lucky to have access to the outdoors vs like other countries- so small price to bear I suppose

I assume the person was deer hunting as they were toting a crossbow. Camo'd head to toe with a blacked out face net (hence not knowing if a he or she).

They probably didn't know it was a bedding area. I personally avoid intruding that space, in hopes it keeps them around and they feel it's a safe spot. So I was just kind of bummed.

That's what I was afraid of. I don't think mature bucks are bedding there, there's some topography in that tract, and I feel like the mature bucks are probably bedding in the swamp or on the ridges. But I've seen bachelor bucks and does use the trails leading in and out. Hopefully some of the younger naive ones stick around.

All in all it's not the end of the world. I didn't get mad about it or anything, just wanted to hear some others thoughts or similar stories.

Likely this will not repeat(hopefully too)but letting the person know-you are interfering with my hunt by walking in my shooting lane.....may steer the person away.
He/she may see"authority and decisiveness"in you approach,and let you be.

Worth the try.

What an ahole. I would have been furious and he would have heard it from me as he was circling the stand. For me there is no doubt he ruined your hunt at the prime time of the day. There are no excuses for his behavior at all in my mind. I don't care if he was a newbie or not, it's about commons sense and consideration for others. Even if he was new, they do cover hunting etiquette and safety in the course so he absolutely should have known better.
I hope he didn't ruin your spot, but if he pushed any decent buck out of that bedding area it may be gone for good. Hopefully some does would stick around though, so closer to rut time some bucks will still be around to check out the gals. Good luck with it.

Cheers