My neighbour and I share a pond at the back of our properties. Both of us have our land posted but he found a duck blind set up last year. It was a couple of thousand feet from my barn and paddocks but only 150' from his house and aimed right at it. Police and MNR were called. I suspect they knew who owned the blind and we never heard anything back. Small towns are like that sometimes.
We found a deer stand on a buddy's family property one day. We yanked it down and drug it out of the woods, then found out his brother in law put it up. oops.
I'm amazed at deer hunters who still shoot at noises in the brush.
I used to hunt. I've grown to despise a large portion of the people that call themselves hunters. Dropping food on the ground, climbing into a tree, and then shooting whatever walks up to you is not hunting. Take down a deer with a bowie knife - now that's hunting.
When I was 16 I spent 5 months in a spinal cord injury recovery unit. My first roommate was a C2 complete quad who's father accidentally shot him through the front of his neck while sitting across from him and cleaning his gun at the kitchen table. Pretty much completely severed his spinal column. It is amazing that he lived. I can't even imagine the grief that father deals with every day of his life. Please, please, please be safe with your guns.
ncjay wrote: I used to hunt. I've grown to despise a large portion of the people that call themselves hunters. Dropping food on the ground, climbing into a tree, and then shooting whatever walks up to you is not hunting.
That was my first hunting trip in Texas (with people I just met). Everything you said happened in about 1-hour. I left sick and mad. It was one of those "these guys are so stupid they'll never even know what they did was wrong and dangerous" moments.
(Thankfully, no more of my Texas hunting was with people like this)
If it's below 50* I don't go outside without my thinsulate orange stocking cap. I also do not recommend entering any area where hunting might be happening during opening week. Way too many overly excited guys out there to risk it.
ncjay wrote: I used to hunt. I've grown to despise a large portion of the people that call themselves hunters. Dropping food on the ground, climbing into a tree, and then shooting whatever walks up to you is not hunting. Take down a deer with a bowie knife - now that's hunting.
Yep. To me carrying a 30.06 that can knock down a deer from 1/4 mile away means the playing field is not level. I can understand bow or crossbow hunting better than using a rifle. A Bowie knife would definitely put the hunter on a par with the deer. I find that most hunters do not like this philosophy, though.
Down here the dog drive hunters are even less sporting; they will go out to the Francis Marion National Forest and get on one side of a 'compartment' (area delineated by roads around it) then two guys will stay with the dogs on one side while the rest will go to the other side. Now the first two will release and guide the dogs, this drives the deer toward the guys on the other side. It becomes a shooting gallery, not much if any sport involved. I don't know how they do it but I've never heard of a dog hunter getting shot this way.
The forest management has tried again and again to make this type of hunting illegal, but it seems the dog hunters have a congressman in their pocket so every time it comes up for debate it gets tabled yet again.
Regardless, yes y'all be careful out there; I've had too many ambulance drivers flag me or one of my buddies down (riding dirt bikes) and ask how to get to a given spot because someone got shot accidentally. 
I'm not into hunting because of the reasons in this thread. I don't want to be in the woods with an unknown number of morons with guns/bows. I hear of these hunting accidents way too often.
Archery season had been in for two weeks, small game season had just came in that day. Was in a tree stand w/ more than required blaze orange on me and the stand, still kinda leafy in mid October tho. Pow... and shot ripped through my tree. After my what the berkeley moment the kid realized I wasn't a squirrel, he and his dad turned and ran. Do I look like a berkeleying squirrel, shiny happy person? ... and who the berkeley would teach their kid to shoot at movement?
Same farmland years later. After the old farmer took ill the eldest son took over and posted the almost 200 acres. Slob hunters broke fences, poached, left carcasses less quarters, damaged equipment. I learned to hunt there as my grandfathers place was adjacent, neighbors since the 30's and good friends. Posted, no questions asked, their family only. More and more private property began to be posted over similar issues. I get it though, I wouldn't put up w/ that E36 M3 either. Went back to the state lands.
First day of buck season always had it's fair share of shooting, 1-2 shots kinda normal, maybe 3 but spaced out pretty well through the morning and afternoon. When Pa. combined buck and doe season shooting became berkeleying nuts. Started counting shots, 2-3-4-5, seemed like every 10 minutes. WTF y'all shooting at? If it's brown, it's down. Last I remember I counted 5 shots in a row... good ya motherberkeleyer, ya emptied your berkeleying magazine. BWTM, shiny happy person racked another round in for six shots. Enough, walked out at 10:30 a.m., I just don't wanna hunt w/ shiny happy people like these any more, I was taught better. Don't even attempt the shot unless you got the vitals. One shot, one kill.
Walking back to my truck for a much needed cool down I ran across a father w/ his young son, thought they just took lunch. How's the huntin' I asked? Both laughing, they said they ran outta shells and had to come back for more, bwha, ha, ha. What a berkeleyed up bonding moment I thought. Made my mind up I just don't wanna hunt like this any more.
Never missed a hunting season in 35 years before that, I absolutely lived for hunting season but between slob hunters, the brown is downers, loss of hunting land etc. it became ruined for me. Not being too uppity or anything but the old time hunting ethics I was raised on were goners, just ain't no fun anymore.
Haven't been back since and don't really miss it.
Rant over.
... and be careful out there y'all.
Curmudgeon wrote: Down here the dog drive hunters are even less sporting; they will go out to the Francis Marion National Forest and get on one side of a 'compartment' (area delineated by roads around it) then two guys will stay with the dogs on one side while the rest will go to the other side. Now the first two will release and guide the dogs, this drives the deer toward the guys on the other side. It becomes a shooting gallery, not much if any sport involved. I don't know how they do it but I've never heard of a dog hunter getting shot this way.
That transcends "sport" right into laziness, holy crap.
I think a lot of deer hunters forget that you can't eat those antlers.
The dog hunters scare the crap out of me. Release dogs. Sit on truck drinking beer on a boat seat you have bolted to the top of your dog box. When dogs have something cornered. Go blast away.
Fueled by Caffeine wrote: The dog hunters scare the crap out of me. Release dogs. Sit on truck drinking beer on a boat seat you have bolted to the top of your dog box. When dogs have something cornered. Go blast away.
disgusting...
The Forest Service rank and file down here rated them as the single biggest problem they have. But they can't do anything about it. The LEO tried busting them for shooting from a vehicle, turns out if the truck is on the shoulder of the road yes you can shoot from the bed, just not the cab. You also cannot shoot across a road, they of course know how to position the vehicle to not run afoul of that.
It didn't happen to me, but there were people on dirt bikes and ATVs who said they were threatened by dog hunters; if they screwed up a dog drive they might get shot.
Curmudgeon wrote: The LEO tried busting them for shooting from a vehicle, turns out if the truck is on the shoulder of the road yes you can shoot from the bed, just not the cab.
I do need to clarify: the vehicle cannot be moving. It's also illegal to shoot from a moving ATV or motorcycle, if you are sitting in the normal operating position on either you can most definitely get a ticket. Cannot shoot from inside the passenger compartment of a vehicle but the bed of a pickup is OK. In fact, you'll see platforms for just that purpose.
This is the 'store bought' version, there's a lot of homemade types that are a plywood platform that will hold 2 chairs. They also have a hole cut in them that a cooler will sit in, that's where the Budweiser is kept. Those guys will start drinking before dawn. The dog cage is below the platform.
My older brother just got his first deer yesterday, somewhere in NC.
I'm still considering hunting. Bow hunting. Mostly because the idea of sitting in a tree by myself in the woods keeping silent for a long time seems extremely relaxing to me.
Adrian_Thompson wrote: I'm very sorry for everyone who has a story in this thread. I hope you don't mind but I have a question. What happens to the person who pulled the trigger inadvertently? I assume when someone is killed it's man slaughter, but I don't know. I realize that no harm was intended, but it seems to happen a lot. Do people go to jail, or do they just have to live with their actions for the rest of their lives?
Just got an update from the wife today. The guy who shot the kid will not be charged. In this case it was up to the family to press charges. They did not. I don't really have any other details other than the guy said he had his sights on a deer and didn't see the kid entering into his field of view until after he pulled the trigger.
If the areas I hunt in in Montana saw someone hunting like that with stands and dogs and mass quantities of beer, they'd be laughed out of the state.
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