A Prank in the woods

[tradslinger]

One year right before the bow season opened in Arkansas, my son and I were driving around near some grown up clear cuts. These places were a heck of a mess, super thick with tons of saw briars and blackberries. But there were areas that were pretty mature pine with a few hardwoods thrown in here and there.                                                                           
            This one area was terrible for walking or anything on both sides of the road as the clear cuts were about ten years old. My son and I had been talking about how we had tried to walk around this area but it was just a bad mess. I knew that some people were setting up a camp not far from here, people from another state. Anyways, I stopped the truck as I stared at the mess before telling my son, "Do you remember this bunch trying to hunt where we were parked last year?" He nodded yes as we got out of the truck. "So, lets just help them out a little bit," I said as I walked up a big sapling just off the road.               
        So, taking my knife, I began scraping the front of the tree like a rub. Then I took a big screwdriver and used the shank to polish the wood up some. Then we proceeded to make a rub line into the mess. We were careful not to leave any human sign at each tree before we headed to the next spot. Heck, we did this at several places, making false rub lines into terrible areas to hunt.  We even threw in a few false scrapes in a couple spots. I guess that you could say that they worked because we saw trucks parked close to them the first week.  I was one to stop and cut down visible real rubs from the road so that no one else would find them.                                                                                       
         Years later when I had cameras to record trails etc, I would set up a camera (dead one with an old card in it with pics of a bruiser) along the road where it was pointed to watch a rub line that we had just put in. I knew that the camera would be taken, there is always a thief coming by everywhere. The honest people would just shake their heads at what some stupid person would do, leaving a game camera where it could be stolen. At any rate, the camera would be gone and sure enough, someone would be hunting the spot. 
            While some would say that I was being a jerk, all I can say is that they just never had things stolen in the woods before.  Heck, I knew of a hunter that had set up a camp site with everything around it. He went hunting one morning early and came back for lunch and the place was clean, everything taken. Me, I learned to hide my trail entrances, hide my stands as well as my stick ladders. Had to or else the stand would be gone (they cut the chains) or someone sitting in them hunting. One guy left a lot of his garbage in my stand and down on the ground below it. There are a lot of really good honest people out there but there are also a lot of jerks that ruin it for the rest of us.                                   
         A friend got back to his truck to head home and found the driver's side window broken and the radio gone plus other stuff. As mad as he was about the stuff, he was more mad about the window, the door wasn't even locked.

[Captain*Kirk]

They do indeed exist, Jerry. Unfortunately.

[M60gunner]

One of my buddies came back to find someone had slashed all 4 tires of his truck. He did have permission to hunt that area. He figured it was anti-hunters.

[MnFn]

A friend of mine found a perfect setup, he immediately told his brother and they put up a stand on the spot , and waited patiently for opening day.

He walked in to the stand opening morning while it was pitch dark.  When dawn came what did he see down the trail a ways?
A life-sized advertisement cut out of Ernest holding a Mountain Dew.

I should have added that cut out display was placed there by his brother and a few friends.  Just good clean fun.
Some of the other stories don’t sound like pranks, at least what I think of when I hear the word “prank”.

[Mark R]

tradslinger sounds like your making a bad situation worse.

[Sam McMichael]

A friend of mine had somebody hunting his place without permission. He left two notes on the guy's winshield telling him the land was posted and not to continue hunting there. It didn't help - the interloper came right back. So, my friend flattened all 4 tires and pulled the distributor wires off and threw them into the woods. Later, he learned that the guy was an attorney who certainly knew better. That lst intervention did work, though.

[mgf]

I had tree steps stolen off a tree in my yard. (4 acre yard). Somebody smashed out my windshield while I was fishing a Forest Preserve (county) lake. I'll probably never catch anybody but I don't play pranks.

[PrimitivePete]

Something about playing pranks with weapons makes this a bit uneasy to take. There is enough to be concerned and aware of while in the field, just don't add to it. I've had anti hunters try to block the road on me, confront me aggressively while on the way or leaving a site. I just move along without action. But if they pursued me into the woods, all bets are off.

[GCook]

If I read the original post right it wasn't about trespassing or anti hunter harassment.  If was about being upset that out of state hunters were hunting a spot, or ruining a spot, on public land he and his son wanted for themselves.
A state WMA borders my property in Missouri.  Out of state and city hunters abound there.  Sometimes setting up right on my property edge. 
I understand what frustrated him in the situation.  Locals often look at such spots as "theirs" and those who find a good spot after driving out to public hunting areas often feel the same way. 
It's great we have public land around to hunt but as the pressure on them builds so does tensions between hunters.
Yes there are bad ones who steal and vandalize.  Most of em are just decent enough folks looking for a place to enjoy in the woods hunting.
Never been one for pranks.  And that one took a lot of energy to do out of spite.  So I'd say the OPs feelings were pretty strong on it at the time.