Doc Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 The other night I was getting pretty close to my stand when I heard a bunch of kids screaming and hollering at each other. Pretty soon I saw a family of 5, apparently out hiking. If there were any deer in the area, I'm sure they either moved out or were convinced to stay hunkered down until dark. I was pretty surprised to see anybody up there, because it is about a mile from the state parking lot and a pretty steep climb to get up there. This is state land, and open for use by anyone, and it was one of few nice days that we have had in a long time. While it didn't make me real happy, it was nice to see a family out doing something in nature together. We used to do this sort of thing all the time back when the kids were small. But that really screwed things up pretty bad and it was too late to re-locate. However, that was only the beginning. About 5:00 I started hearing guitars and drums from way back on an old dirt road that runs behind the state land. All that racket was at least 1/2 mile away and I was really amazed that the noise carried so far. Isn't the electronic age wonderful! Now that probably didn't affect the deer any, but it sure does wreck the atmosphere of the hunt. It felt more like I was standing in the parking lot of a beer joint, rather the middle of huge forested hill. And then the guy that owns a camp across the big ravine started working on his cabin. He does that every archery season. The banging of the hammers and the screaming of the circular saws really adds a lot to an evening's hunt. Then just to top everything off, the fireworks started back by where the music was coming from. Bang! Pow! They must have been having quite a party. It used to be that bowhunting was a nice peaceful activity where you got the impression (rightly or wrongly) that you were the only human on the hill, hunting in a relatively pristine and unspoiled semi-wilderness. Boy have times changed and so has the atmosphere of hunting. Yeah, I know, I'm just getting old and grumpy. I guess I have been hunting the same ground way too long. I still have memories of better times. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckee Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 Re: I guess these things do happen Man, I know what you mean. I was sitting in my tree-stand one day (private property) when I heard children's voices getting closer and closer. Down the trail I come in on, is a young man and about 10 young kids. It looked like maybe a grade one class or something like that. Anyway, the trail they were on comes by my stand at 10 yrds, goes into a swampy dip and makes a sharp left turn. When you look at the trail from in front of my stand, it looks like it ends, right there at the wet, boggy turn. This little group came down the trail, stopped right below me and the young man started pointing out things of interest to the children....LOL. There were a couple kids that looked right at me and never said a thing ...LOL The teacher (young man) never looked my way. They stood there, with him talking to them and looking around for about 4 minutes. He then said "It looks like the trail ends here" and they turned and left. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself, wondering how everyone would have reacted if he, the teacher or children, would have spotted me, perched right over top of them, in full camo, with a bow in my hand ...LMBO I was tempted to say "Hey, what the heck are you doing in here"....but I decided, it might have put a real scare into the kids. Man...I'm glad they never saw me there. Also, about 15 minutes after they left, I had a spike and a couple of does come down the same trail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EIGHTPOINT Posted October 25, 2004 Report Share Posted October 25, 2004 Re: I guess these things do happen I was reday to reply that you should look into hunting on private property but Buckee put a damper on that suggestion. I also have had my share of pedestrians interfering in early bow season. My most memorable was about ( 8 ) eight years ago, I had a beautiful 8 point coming in and people decided to venture onto the private property I was on which was bordering a local nature park. I had the buck at about 50 yards and the women who had her new born in one of those back sack indian things. The buck never made a sound, saw the women and sneaked out the area the opposite way I was. The women walked 5 yards from my tree stand never knowing I was there. Just one more thing you have to calculate into stand selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted October 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2004 Re: I guess these things do happen [ QUOTE ] They stood there, with him talking to them and looking around for about 4 minutes. He then said "It looks like the trail ends here" and they turned and left. [/ QUOTE ] It must be the devil in me, but I would have had a hard time keeping from scaring the heck out of them with a big loud GR-R-R-R, but you are right by not doing it. You may have had to spend the rest of your day policing up all the scattered kids running all over the woods. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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