public land

[yekrut]

Do any of you hunt on public land during the rifle season, Because here in SD, the rifle guys start right around the time are rut is going on and I dov not know anyone who doese presonally, Is it safe if I were a bit of orange, I would walk in,, in the dark, and use my tree stand. But I feel a little bit unsafe. They could mistake me for a deer, I always quit hunting on public when they start. But this year do to weather problems, I am planning on hunting later into the season! What are your thoughts on this and how many of ya'll do it.   :rolleyes:

[Arwin]

I bow hunt public land during gun season and have had great success. Ours starts Nov 15th and goes for 2 weeks.
 Get high in a tree for safety cause I've had slugs whizz past me before. The first day of firearms can be the best bow hunting around since so many people are pushing the deer into tight areas. Find the thickest, nastiest stuff and wait.
 Stay out as long as possible because once everyone leaves the woods for coffee, the deer start moving. Between 11am and 2pm have been the best producers.
 Definitely wear orange. I use an orange camo hat on stand and wear a vest with it on the walk in and out. Public land here is chuck full of Michigan Fudds!

[straitera]

Bowhunted public land during last gun season. Try to hunt during the week as much as possible to eliminate crowds. A newbe gun hunter scoped a bush noise only to set his crosshairs on another hunter. Hunter orange is mandatory, not foolproof.

[Killdeer]

I hunt with bow, muzzleloader and cartridge weapons in the National Forest. I can count the times I have hunted private land on one hand, and still hold a soda can in it.

Hunting is not without risk, but it is hundreds of times safer than stepping into a bathtub, or my neighborhood.        There is a small WMA that I will not use during the weekend in gun season, but is relatively uncluttered during weekdays. Blaze orange of a specified number of square inches is required during the gun season. My dissatisfaction with gun season is not fear for my well-being, but the numbers of hunters cluttering the woods. I am looking for solitary communion with the real world, not a day spent avoiding the mass of humanity that I am trying to escape.

The question posed here sounds much in the same vein as those I get from spandexed hikers, and reflect the attitudes I learned as a college-age horse owner regarding hunters. Let me say that, putting it mildly, hunters were not credited with much common sense and fewer ethics. I hated them.

Stuff happens, because God made idiots, too. And not just in gun season. I will never forget the pics I saw of an arrow sticking out of the head of a man who stood up at the wrong time (he survived), nor the story of the father/son team, one of which arrowed the other from a tree stand in the predawn gloaming (he didn't survive).

People have been shot with guns in bow-only areas, too, right, Guru? These incidents are the exception, not the rule, and so I act accordingly. I pick my days, avoid the masses, and do not gobble like a turkey. Turkey season, by the way, is the most likely season in which to be injured.

I hated hunters, it is true. And I reinvented a hunter in the best image I could, and try to live up to that ideal every time I pick up a bow, or don my hunting clothes. There is a difference between a callous slob and a hunter, so never confuse the two and never honor a slob with the title of hunter. Have a blessed season.

Killdeer    

[ethan]

Very well said Killdeer.

[Davo]

I hunt public for everything. Blaze orange is required in WI on 50% of upper garments including hats for gun season.  We have areas that are slug or rifle. Myu group does not do deer drives, tree stands primarily.  I have not hunted a day on public where I did not have hunters around me. flashlight in and out when dark. Pretty good success some years, lots of smaller bucks but some years deer are running around all day. In WI most accidents are result of carelessness, pulling loaded guns up into stand, unsafe deer drives, shooting after hours.  Use good judgement
and its safer than the freeway by far.

[yekrut]

Here in good old, SD, they do not close the bow seasonm during the gun season, they run at the same time but gun season starts in nov, so I do have a little time to hunt before that.

[mscampbell75]

If you are hunting out of a stand, I would see where it would be any more dangerous, no matter what you are hunting with.  Hunter orange needs to be a must, even if not required.  I wouldn't be moving around during the prime times.  Wait until plenty dark to get down and use a flash light.  Never can be too safe on public land.

Good luck and be safe.

Mike

[Doug in MN]

Many years ago I bought an 80 acre parcel next to 13,000 acres of public land in northern Minnesota.  The best part here was I got the best of both good grouse habitat is good deer habitat. I have always bow hunted but I have always been a rifle hunter as well.

After a few years it was easy to figure out if you wanted to be the guy in the right spot at the right time. You got up at 3 AM opening morning of rifle season and went way back in and waited to hear the truck doors slam and the shooting start. Not to long after if you placed your self on an escape rout to the islands in the swamps you had a chance at very nice deer.

I got up early one AM and set out to my spot. Half hour out and walking pretty fast (down a logging road) flash light in hand, a sudden flash to my right followed by a loud boom and found my self on my azz with a sudden who hit me with a ball bat on my hip feeling. I had just been shot with a 30-30 170 grain flat nose. What saved me was the slug hit the butt stock of the rifle I was carrying then off the point of my hip then out. No internal penetration no organs damaged, bleeding like hell but you can stop bleeding if you think about it.

The guy actually said he saw a deer in his statement. It was pitch black dark. He was from the area and had had several encounters with the DNR. My brother asked him how he could have pulled the trigger when it was still dark he just shrugged his shoulders and said nobody died.

I ran into him the following year the Friday before deer opener at the bar damn the luck, if your are wondering YES I DID.

The short of the story is I still hunt the same piece of public land and will as long as I can accidents and stupids happen. Not going to let it ruin my fun.

DD

[Killdeer]

Damn, Doug!!
Sorry you were on the receiving end of a statement by an idiot, but when you got to the bar, you put a big smile on my face! I don't know as I have the thingies to make me able to do what you must have done, but I wish I would've!

Any repercussions?
Killdeer  

[limbcracker]

Wear orange camo, deer see in black and white so orange appears grey to them. I've nearly been run over by deer while wearing orange. It will hopefully keep the idiots from shooting in your direction, and all that commotion will help move the deer around, always lots of deer moving during the rifle season.

[ChuckC]

Doug . . . .   and nothing (legal) happened ?  The guy shot you, thinking you were a deer, shooting before legal time.  He should have been jailed for attempted manslaughter at the least.

I read a lot of the accident reports here in WI.  This includes reports from around the US. I just cannot believe it when someone can see well enough to center shoot his son, with a bow, but not be able to tell it wasn't a deer. Of course, it was after hours (read.. dark)   Accidents happen,  but I am beyond thinking that this was an accident.  

Sorry,  stepping off the stump now.
ChuckC

[mrpenguin]

Hey Doug,

That is a hellva story!  I hope he bled well for you in the bar and was never allowed to own a firearm again.  I personally do NOT go into public land when the guns are out.  In CT, its a war zone. They close bow season in CT during gun season except on private land and in bow only areas.    Last year I had filled a tag, so I was OK with focusing on other things during some of November.  I think I went out a couple of times on private land, without any luck I might add.

That said I would bet statistically it is safer to hunt opening day of gun season than drive on I95 in CT!!

[Doug in MN]

The only thing he got from the law was his hunting privys taken away for another 2 years and  suspended firearms buying privys taken for 3 years and 60 days in the county jail. Sometimes the system works sometime it do not.

The guy was and is a Jack Azz who will sooner or later spend his last token with with the people that watch over idiots.

That Friday the following year in the bar I was going to walk up and tell him what I thought of his sorry self. When he looked up and said F'you that plan went to the way side. There were 2 off duty cops in the bar along with 30 or so other people, when the on duty officers got there no one had seen anything happen. After giving my statement to one of the officers he grabbed my hands looked at them winked at me and said sorry for the trouble.

DD

AS a point of note this happened in 1987 in a small Northern MN town.

[cheech1]

we need a few officers like that over my way.
that's a story and a half to tell the grand kids i hope there was no lasting damage done

[GingivitisKahn]

I'll most likely hunt w/ during gun season ( w/ my bow ).  Set up on escape routes into thick cover and let the gun guys drive for you.  I also like to keep a thick, bullet-resistant tree handy.

[Allegan Archer]

Doug ...   hell of a  story.  Glad your ok.

I hate when people (the public)  categorize this slob criminals with law abiding hunters (bow/gun/whatever).   We all know the difference but to most they are just "hunters."

Anyway.  ALWAYS use a light in and out of your stand in the dark.   I always have an orange vest in my pack and put it on when getting a deer out(no matter the season).  I tend talk a lot when I am dragging also.   Anything to let them know I am not a deer.

Stay safe and Happy Hunting!

[GingivitisKahn]

Originally posted by Doug in MN:

...

 I ran into him the following year the Friday before deer opener at the bar damn the luck, if your are wondering YES I DID.

...

Holy crap man - I hope you wrecked that guy.

   :mad:

[yekrut]

I do not have a problem wearing orange, its just that I wanna be safe when I climb down, I mainley hunt in the morning and on week days. So with that I am a little worried about walking out in the late morning or noon time.