I vent on some pet peeves of mine:
I enjoy a cold beer or 2 after a hunt, especially around a camp fire, but I’ve got a problem with guys who drink long and hard into the night in deer camp. I know you’re on your fall vacation and doing some male bonding, but be cool. Drunks, even buddies, argue and fight. A couple of years ago I watched a soused little guy cold cock a 250-pound dude that had moved in on a spot where the skinny fellow was trying to kill a big buck. If you’re hung over you can’t hunt well, or safely. Stay out of the woods until you sober up.
Why do people throw paper cups, cake wrappers and other trash out their truck windows? If you can’t respect the outdoors and especially the place you’re hunting any more than that, stay home and trash your own property.
A couple of hours after sunrise, why do some guys have to hop on their ATVs and roar up and down logging roads and across fields, ruining it for the rest of us who are still out there (hang tough on stand till 11 a.m. or so day; you’ll see and shoot some good bucks sneaking around in the midmorning hours). There ought to be a rule—no quad riding from sunup till sundown, except for short jaunts to get dead deer back to the truck. Otherwise, walk.
If you’re a whiner—“It’s too cold” or “too hot” or “ain’t no big bucks around here anymore” or whatever, don’t hunt with me. I like to hunt with positive people.
It’s Friday and a good time to vent. Tell us your pet peeve in the deer woods.
Howdy! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after reading through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyhow, I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back often!
Good post, good comments.
Shoot only what you will eat!
Doe fawns & button bucks, while we try to avoid shooting them, they are the best table fare and for those of us who manage our property and manage deer, they are the best to kill, a button buck will not become a shooter for 4 years, so don’t worry if you accidentally shoot one, just don’t target them…
Tresspassers and Dog hunters, they ALL need to be prosecuted!! Dog hunting is for rabbits, NOT deer! Dogs are the hunters, the “hunters” aren’t hunting at all, they are just killers.. Here in VA dog hunting is legal, but 90% of dog clubs and dog hunters couldn’t kill a deer let alone a mature buck without a dog, that doesn’t make them hunters in my book..
Complete agreement with Jim except situations of high populations where I think it is just fine and a good idea to remove doe fawns. I use trail cameras during season and don’t believe they give me an advantage (I don’t have enough land), but they do let me know who is still alive.
Yep who knows what drones will do to hunting. With on-board computing and high tech accessories, the possibilities will be endless. Can you imagine when they marry a drone to body thermal imaging, high-power cameras, cell/satellite connectivity, and GPS capability? Sure hope state DNRs will get on top of this tool right away, but I doubt they will.
Again- The expression “It’s just not what I want”. Certainly there is a better way to say it or I wouldn’t say anything at all. State at the beginning of the show what you expect or would shoot and your standard is set.
Pet peeves….
1. Trespassers….Don’t cross (or shoot over) a property line or fence.
2. People who don’t practice with their bow or gun. (Quit taking shots that you know you can’t make or haven’t practiced).
3. Hunters deliberately killing buttons and doe fawns. (What skill does it take to kill the two dumbest deer in the woods? And besides, they are small, have little meat and are 4 months old.)
4. Hunters complaining about the DNR “allowing” the herd to be slaughtered, yet continuing to kill numerous deer.
5. ATVs/UTVs (See Mike’s post)
6. Cameras, real time cameras, (and soon enough) drones being used during the season. (I have zero problem with cameras before and after the season, but during the season, how about hunting instead of waiting for the phone to ring to tell you where to hunt? And while drones aren’t a huge problem yet, it’s coming).
I thank the lord that I have private land to hunt on and don’t have to put up with the stuff your talking about. A trespasser is what gripes my butt and many trespassers know they are trespassing when they are doing it. I own and ATV and a UTV that I use for hunting, checking camera’s, food plots and game retrieval. They make noise but in some cases the deer are less worried about a motorized vehicle than they are about someone out walking around. I have just become a Quietkat dealer and will try one out in the woods this year, they are electric, thus cutting down on the noise.
Where I live, every year, the orange army of trail camera thieves trash the area with mostly Bud Light beer cans. People are people. You cannot expect anything more out of them than that.
You do run into some situations like that, especially on public ground where I hunt a lot. A couple of things that help me through those times……1) I could be at work instead of enjoying the outdoors looking for my buck for the year. 2) I have been the one who walked by somebody’s treestand while they were in it, because I didn’t see them. Not on purpose, but I politely tip my hat and slide off away from there. 3) A hunt is what you make it….don’t let someone elses bad attitude affect yours…you control your own hunt and attitues. Remember…it only takes 5 seconds to shoot the buck of a lifetime….it could be right after that guy walking under your stand gets out of sight! Nuff said.
It drives me to unimaginables when people take hero shots after their kill and SIT on the deer. It drives me crazy. Have some respect for the animal that you just killed.
Yep, Yep, & Yep. Hate litterbugs. I also know folks who drive a big 4 x 4 extended cab truck pulling a 4 wheeler, and drive the 4 wheeler 120-150 yd. to their stand after daylight………give me a break. Then wonder why they see nothing. Nothing but total lazy.
Everything you said and more. We usually drive to our stands down here in Texas. It’s really annoying for someone to come driving by your stand at 5 in the afternoon because they decided to quit early for whatever reason.
BTW, that was a nice, clean 8 you shot up in Sask last year.
Right on Mike. As a guy who hunts state/public property 99% of the time I’d add two: First would be hunters who do not back-out quietly in the direction they came from when they come across a guy hunting a particular area. More than once, I’ve been in a tree and had another hunter come strolling through the woods, see me, wave and continue to walk right through the area I’m hunting.
Second: I tend to leave hang-on stands at my favorite sights far back in the woods. Doing so, I realize, makes those stands “public property” in a sense. I get this and can’t control another hunter deciding to use one of my stands when I’m not in it, but more than once have found piles of cigarette butts beneath one of my stands. Have a little more respect for someone else’s spot on public ground than that.
Everything you mentioned, I have dealt with and agree with 100%. My other pet peeve would be people running dogs on adjacent property that continues onto your property. I know dogs are unaware of property lines, but it can really mess up a hunt. I have no issue with those running dogs, just don’t want it ruining my day in the deer woods.