now I'm not knocking the sport of squirrel hunting and enjoy it myself from time to time ( when it's not legal to hunt bigger game ) especially if they are raiding my garden or feeder, but had a "situation" the other morning on a wma while hog hunting wearing an orange vest and hat, a squirrel hunter comes close and 2-shots with pellets raining down on me, no biggie, let it slide. a couple minutes later 2 more shots and pellets are raining closer and a little harder so now I'm waiving my orange hat around totally giving away the perfect comfortable spot I found, then bang more rain. now I know this dickhead has gotta be app 50 yds or less so I cut loose with my railroad whistle , which I know carries well and 2 more shots and lead rain. now I am really pissed and start yelling ,are you color blind, deaf and stupid, fire 1 more shot and I'm returning fire with slugs, well that worked and he faded away never saw him as he was in total camo. maybe a pink tarp wrapped around me would work better if I could get one made of Kevlar. then I left for another area but was too disgusted and pissed off to hunt anymore and left for the day. freaking public land.
I hear your frustration Nacho. However, as someone who can afford a lease (actually almost any lease) but prefer to hunt public land, I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong and because of that I'm not facing the same "incidents" most people hunting public land complaint about. I've been hunting in Florida for 4 years now and I do have to say that I haven't killed a dear yet (close to kill a couple) but had taken several hogs, and this year is going very good with 4 bagged in the first 8 days of general gun and one lost during archery.
Now, I hunt Green swamp almost exclusively and I've heard all sort of negative things about the place, how crowded it is, how many crazy hunters out there, no game there, and so on. I have to say that in 4 years, I've never seen anyone close to any of my stands, or had anyone aggravate me due to the way they hunt. In fact, no one hunting close to my area during the first 9 days of GG this year, and is suppose to be crazy by many people's opinion. Again, probably luck. I had seen people on my way to my stands, but again, is public land.
One of the reasons I decided not to go with a lease was the freaking rules they have, the poaching going on (trust me, one lease manager told me it was bad when I asked him), people stealing stuff, to name a few. Why pay thousands of dollars for that crap when you can get it for free on public land.
I do share the opinion that hunters need to pay attention to what is going on in the area they are hunting and respect others by leaving the area as soon as they know someone else is hunting the spot. Is just plain courtesy.
In my opinion, don't get this type of incident get in your nerves and spoil a good day outdoors. I'm guessing you are an experienced hunter and will figure something to make the day work out even when some jerk do something like you describe. Hey, a few hours outdoors is better that any day at home, so don't let them jerks spoil your day.
I would guess you are walking in deep enough to get away from the crowds. and your right a bad day hunting ( if there is such a thing ) still beats work or sitting home.
HEy nacho,
where is the squirrel hunting????
pm sent.my bro and I hunted together last winter for the first time since the early 80's, he got old lol. good post, sounds like the baggage handlers need a slap upside the head.
