Ruffling Feathers

[thomas89]

Saturday morning turkey hunt.

Pretty low pressured chunk of public.

Spot A, pull up, guy sitting there waiting for a friend. Figure out he’s going exactly where I wanted to go. Beat me to it fair and square. I head off to see if I can get some other birds to sound off.

Walking down the road, other side of the property, hear a weird almost doe bleat. Stop and listen. Zero reaction with the gun. Didn’t jump. Nothing just stop and listen. Some dude jumps out of the bushes at 50 yards and storms over my way, bow in hand, arrow nocked.

SUPER confrontational. “You just blew a mess of birds I had coming my way” “what are you doing out here?” “some of us have been waiting for 3 hours” (sure bud, it’s 25 degrees out, I'm sure you’ve been sitting in the bushes for 3 hours waiting for a turkey to stroll past) “are you new to turkey hunting?”

I apologized and said I was trying to listen for birds and set up on some, a bit of spot and stalk if you will. “Well if you do that you’re just going to be blowing birds out!”

Knowing this guy was already looking for a fight, I asked what he wanted me to do. “Turn around and go the way you came.” Uhh that’s not happening, I’m going to keep walking and set up when I see some sign. “Well you’re going to ruin it for the rest of us!” Yeah, maybe.

Now as I sit and stew, I’m curious if I was in the wrong.

Also if I end up looking like Timmons from Dances With Wolves you’ll know what happened.

 

[howl]

Was there a pile of white papers by the gate?

You saw two people plus yourself. That area is not lightly pressured unless it's a couple thousand acres.

When I see or hear another hunter in the turkey woulds I loudly exclaim, "Im an not a turkey. Don't shoot!" And then I go somewhere else. I've done this several times with a gobbler coming in, within 100 yards. Safety first. Too many 6' crows who think they know all about everything. It gets worse every year.

 

[kansasdad]

I hope you congratulated him on his excellent camo skeeelz. And I’ll congratulate you for letting the early bird have honors on your intended first spot.

Public land turkey chasing comes with unintended bumps and conflicts. Dealing with an enraged armed person certainly brings added danger to an interaction with other hunters.

I think that if you ask the question, “what do you want me to do”, and then you do something other than suggested, you will be perceived even more as an antagonizer in the situation. (My mom said don’t ask the question if you don’t want to hear the answer).

I hope both of you get to enjoy the woods and maybe still walk out heavy n

 

[thomas89]

Was there a pile of white papers by the gate?

You saw two people plus yourself. That area is not lightly pressured unless it's a couple thousand acres.

It is plenty big IMO. Access points abound, so even with a little walking you’ll end up closer to where someone could have also come in.

I hope you congratulated him on his excellent camo skeeelz. And I’ll congratulate you for letting the early bird have honors on your intended first spot.

I think that if you ask the question, “what do you want me to do”, and then you do something other than suggested, you will be perceived even more as an antagonizer in the situation. (My mom said don’t ask the question if you don’t want to hear the answer).

I hope both of you get to enjoy the woods and maybe still walk out heavy n

I agree on the unintended interpretation of that question. Can’t figure everyone’s going to be reasonable. Need to learn that like my 8 year old, maybe options are too much to handle. “I’m going to do this.” It was my attempt to smooth over an obviously aggravated person, but I understand how my response would not entirely resolve the situation.

Can’t we all just get along?

 

[Lov2hunt]

Saturday morning turkey hunt.

Pretty low pressured chunk of public.

Spot A, pull up, guy sitting there waiting for a friend. Figure out he’s going exactly where I wanted to go. Beat me to it fair and square. I head off to see if I can get some other birds to sound off.

Walking down the road, other side of the property, hear a weird almost doe bleat. Stop and listen. Zero reaction with the gun. Didn’t jump. Nothing just stop and listen. Some dude jumps out of the bushes at 50 yards and storms over my way, bow in hand, arrow nocked.

SUPER confrontational. “You just blew a mess of birds I had coming my way” “what are you doing out here?” “some of us have been waiting for 3 hours” (sure bud, it’s 25 degrees out, I'm sure you’ve been sitting in the bushes for 3 hours waiting for a turkey to stroll past) “are you new to turkey hunting?”

I apologized and said I was trying to listen for birds and set up on some, a bit of spot and stalk if you will. “Well if you do that you’re just going to be blowing birds out!”

Knowing this guy was already looking for a fight, I asked what he wanted me to do. “Turn around and go the way you came.” Uhh that’s not happening, I’m going to keep walking and set up when I see some sign. “Well you’re going to ruin it for the rest of us!” Yeah, maybe.

Now as I sit and stew, I’m curious if I was in the wrong.

Also if I end up looking like Timmons from Dances With Wolves you’ll know what happened.

Good writing. Funny and not funny. That's my biggest fear, a jack ass with a gun, or in your case the bow. Out in nowhere, minding your business, and you get the equivalent of back country road rage. I'm glad you just walked away, wrong or right you saw another day.

 

[Birddog916]

Public lands turkey hunting is difficult especially in areas of good turkey habitat...typically treed. Additionally, everyone is dressed in camo head to toe. I'm from Northern California and there are people all over the woods so having someone mess up my hunt here is common. I don't know how many times this happened but a lot. One of the most memorable was a kid on a big wheel running right into my decoys with his dad lagging behind who was "hunting". Mostly they were outside enjoying public lands. I can't fault anyone for that, it happens. I just move on to the next spot. Luckily, there are a lot of public lands around me.

 

[N2TRKYS]

You came across two different hunters that morning. Both of them beat you to an area. You should have left the second area, as well.