Public land hunting etiquette

[semperfi211]

I was in my treestand at Jasper Pulaski today. Being in the middle of the week my truck was the only vehicle in the parking area nearest my stand before sunrise. I am nice and quiet in my stand all day and it is getting into late afternoon and the sun will be setting in about two hours. Then I hear a dog barking in the distance. Then it is getting closer. Then I see it running around near me then and guy with a shotgun following it. He looks over towards me, I am in blaze orange. I guess he was rabbit hunting. Then they are out of site but still close and I hear a shot. A few minutes later I see them again. Well I dont think there is much chance of seeing a deer from my stand for a while. So I call it quits and get out of my stand. I get back to my truck and there is another vehicle with a dog cage in the back. The cage is all covered, I am glad to see he is protecting the dog from the weather but I am a little irritated. I know it is public land and deer hunters don't have presidence over other hunters but wtf. Seeing my truck parked there shouldn't he have gone to another area if he is going to be moving around the woods with a barking dog and with it being Tuesday there were pleanty of areas with no vehicles. I didn't say anything, it probably isn't a good idea for two armed men to get into a pissing match. Do you think I should have said something? Was I in my right to be pissed?

 

[pokey308]

semper i fell your pain. i like to frequent wilbur. now given wilbur isnt a huge public area but still. when i go to check in i always check the sign in sheets to see whos doin what in what areas then i tend to stay out of those areas out of curtesy. i wont be in my stand 10min before i hear a pack of beagels heading right towards me. ive even had some jump me while i was sittin in my stand. so that ends my trip fast. the worst part is when i go to check out the person running the dogs didnt even check in, cause the only check in for the day was me.

 

[joshennis84]

In defense of the rabbit hunters. I rabbit hunt, and yes I do check the sheets when checking into public land(s). The main difference I have seen in deer hunting and rabbit hunting is there isn't much property to hunt rabbits privately. I have tons of ground I deer hunt privately. I know not everybody has this chance, but I have absolutely nowhere to rabbit hunt unless it is on public ground. For some reason, land owners don't care about the deer hunting, but they don't neccessarily care for the dog running and so forth. Also, good ground that will actually hold rabbits is hard to find unless it is state owned. Crop fields and small patches of woods don't hold rabbits so rabbit hunters have no choice but to go to public land. In your defense it is pretty crappy that they didn't check to see where deer hunters are. We always do, but sometimes our dogs will have a mind of their own as well. We've got one female that if she can't find a bunny where she is around you she will absolutely leave the country to find one. You have to admire her heart, but her stubbornness is frustrating. I'm sure she has probably ran by some deer hunters from time to time. I've only known once, and apologized, but sometimes dogs will have a mind of their own. Best of luck to you both with the rest of season.

 

[semperfi211]

Thanks Joshennis, I don't know alot about rabbit huntin and thats why i am askin fore folks thoughts.

 

[haldir]

One, how does he know what you are doing because your vehicle is parked in the lot. You could be bird hunting, rabbit, etc. Second, I guess you have as much of a chance of him moving deer toward you as away.

 

[gunrunner0]

I think there is something about Public land etiquette in the state Hunting/Trapping guide. I think it was called "The 10 Unwritten Hunting Rules" or something like that, it specifically addressed this issue. I think most people realize that its just plain bad manners not to mention unsafe to go into an area thats already being hunted. The problem is they just dont care.

 

[haldir]

I used to mostly hunt the areas during the pheasant put and take. During that, the DNR assigns 10-15 different people to each area so I had never heard only 1 person or group was supposed to be in an area at a time.

 

[00BlasterResto]

Sounds rude to me!
Now about this public hunting land.... I live in the city/kinda, Sure would like to get me a deer someday, but don't know anyone with hunting type land.
how do you go about getting info on something like that?
My buddy gave me all kinds of really good meat this year and it reminded me how badly I want to hunt.
I purchased a Hoyt bow a couple of years back and got pretty good with it, but when I never found any place to hunt I sold it.

 

[kingnereli]

This kind of thing is unavoidable on public land and is not worth whining about. There is no recourse unless you can prove they are intentionally trying to disturb your hunt. I've been on both sides of this. I've been dear hunting and had rabbit hunters walk by. I was squirrel hunting earlier this year during bow dear season and happened upon a bow hunter. He waved at me so I changed course a bit but then got shot so I took it. I came over and said I shouldn't have taken the shot because he was there. I told him "I hunt here often and know the squirrel are active this time of morning. I'll take a shot if I get it same as you would."

 

[Jack Ryan]

Sounds rude to me!
Now about this public hunting land.... I live in the city/kinda, Sure would like to get me a deer someday, but don't know anyone with hunting type land.
how do you go about getting info on something like that?
My buddy gave me all kinds of really good meat this year and it reminded me how badly I want to hunt.
I purchased a Hoyt bow a couple of years back and got pretty good with it, but when I never found any place to hunt I sold it.

http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fw-hg_wheretohunt.pdf

 

[jnicol6600]

I rabbit hunt on public land some also. Have seen a deer hunter from time to time. If I come up on a guy deer hunting I try to move to a different area altogether. Doesnt happen to me very often as I Dont go to areas with a vehicle already parked there and I do check the sign in sheets.
Those rabbits have a mind of their own when the dogs are pushin em sometimes to

 

[gunrunner0]

Sounds rude to me!
Now about this public hunting land.... I live in the city/kinda, Sure would like to get me a deer someday, but don't know anyone with hunting type land.
how do you go about getting info on something like that?
My buddy gave me all kinds of really good meat this year and it reminded me how badly I want to hunt.
I purchased a Hoyt bow a couple of years back and got pretty good with it, but when I never found any place to hunt I sold it.

Pick up Indiana Hunting and Trapping guide, they're free and available at most stores with a hunting section like Walmart or Meijer. The DNR puts them out every year, they list all hunting regulations as well as listings of all public ground available for hunting.

 

[finity]

Here's another good example of bad etiquette:

My wife has been frustrated in that she hasn't been able to get anything in the last two years she has been hunting.

This year towards the end of bow season she/we found a nice scrape line & put up a stand there. She went out over the last week of bow season & freshened the scrapes with scents. You could really tell that the buck was working the area hard. She wasn't able to catch him in the last week of bow season.

On opening day of firearm season she got to her stand early. She pretty much sat there all day & about 5:00 two guys walked in, saw her in the stand (nodded to her) walked about 50 - 75 yards from where she was, sat on the ground & 10 minutes later shot a deer. I guess she doesn't know if it was the same one or not but needless to say she was really disappointed.

I was proud of her for working so hard to get that deer just to have her crowded out by a couple of jer...guys on opening day.

I know its public land but 60 yards or so & no tree stand. That's just rude.

 

[singlesix]

I know its public land but 60 yards or so & no tree stand. That's just rude.

I agree being within 60 yards was not good sportsmanship; but, I don't get the comment about no deer stand?

 

[finity]

I agree being within 60 yards was not good sportsmanship; but, I don't get the comment about no deer stand?

I meant I could've understood if for some reason they were in a fixed tree stand. It could have been that either we didn't see them first or they didn't see us. But in this case they had no reason to sit so close. They could have sat on the ground anywhere else. They were completely mobile. My wife was already there in her stand.