Have You Ever Had One Of Those Days???

[El Destructo]

Sure Glad that some of you are having good Luck Hunting....especially Pappy....and the rest of the Tennessee Boys.....I lost me Hunting Lease this Year....so now I am on Federal Parks Land now....and I get up this Morning....and went to the Recreation Area.....Second Week of Bow Season.....drove in at 5:00 am...got all situated....waiting for Sunrise.....the Wind picks up a bit from the Wrong direction.....so I chance a Move....get relocated...now it is about Daybreak....so I am getting ready....next thing I hear ....it sounds like Indy......Engines Screaming....and racing towards me.....here they come....about 14 River Buggies and Sand Rails.....screaming down the Riverbed....all over in front of where I am set up.....this goes on for about 30 minutes....and there are more Buggies coming....I think don't these Idiots know that it is Hunting Season??? Well I have enough of it....If I don't leave now....something Bad is going to Happen....I just feel it!!! So I hike back to the Truck....drive up the Riverbed to the Campgrounds to see what the Heck is going on.....well there is a Big Sign at the Entrance.....say.....Sand Drags Saturday and Sunday October 4th and 5th.....Test and Tune at 8 am....Races start at 12 pm......Well I get hot....how stupid can the Parks Department be.....what brings in more Money and 2 day Sand Drag....or thousands of Hunters???.... So I leave....and drive to the other end of the Federal Park Land.....Plum Creek....nothing but Big Canyons and Cottonwood Forests....home to hundreds of Whitetails and Mulies too.....well it is now 9 am....so I figure I will just settle in and wit for the evening Hunt now....since it is so late....I find me a nice place about 14 foot off the Ground in a Cottonwood tree....looking down a small Creekbed....lots of sign....I had gotten Deer here before....and Turkey too....so I sit there and am about to start nodding off....it has warmed up to the low 80's now....and I am drifting off......and all of a Sudden I here a Truck and Trailer come clattering down this dirt road towards Me.....then not just one Truck....it's now three....with big Box Trailers behind them..........and they are pulling right into the big Clearing that I am watching over by the Creek......they pull in....Start banging around and talking loud.....One Guy opens up a Trailer door....and they start unloading Cheairs and Tables.....Hundreds of them!!  I cant believe what I am seeing....so I get out of the Tree and head towards these Men.....and When I get there they all look at Me like I am some Alien ....in my Guille Suit with my Bow and Arrows.....I ask them... just what the Hell is going on??? They tell me ...We are setting up for a Wedding in the Morning.....going to have about 300 People and Ministry afterwards.....in th Middle of this Canyon ....in the Middle of Nowhere.....in the Middle of My Hunting Spot......Ahhhhh....I am about to really lose it now......but I bite my Lip till I cant take the pain ....and walk away....and as I am getting out of my Guille Suit and putting My Bow up.....another Truck pulls in hauling a Trailer with about 20 Porta Johns on it...........So I say out loud for all to Hear.....well I hope you Guys have a good Time.....Now that the Icecream Man has showed Up!!!! And I went Home..... What a Day.....I think I will cut the Grass tomorrow.....and watch the Trees Turn!!!

[Little John]

I Feel for you Bro, that is definatly a sorry day of hunting. You need to come to Colorado next season, we have tons and tons of public land. I back pack in and hunt three to four miles from the road but never saw another hunter this year, but normally do see a couple. Hope it improves for you.    Kenneth

[DanaM]

Mike, I hate to say it but I had to chuckle when I read this, someday when were all telling tales of bad hunting trips your gonna
have the grand daddy of stories to tell You should have stayed for the reception and the food

Think you better start taking your vacation home in October, miles and miles of open woods here, as you well know. Say Ya to Da UP Eh

[El Destructo]

You got a good point....may just have to change my Plans....but then there is always the packing and shipping of all that meat too!!

[cowboy]

Mike: Man that sucks - I too like Dana got a good chuckle out of your story but feel bad for ya at the same time . I don't really know anything about the panhandle, hopefully you'll find another lease by next season. I'd invite ya to Del Rio but too many darn rules .

[JackCrafty]

Ah yes, the glorious hunting in Texas...where there's more land than anywhere else.....for a price (an arm, a leg, and your first born).

Dove hunting is the only good hunting on public land, sometimes.

[Keenan]

Understand the frustration . It's getting that way more and more.Though we all have a right to use the public lands sometimes things really blow it for hunters.
  I've learned over the years that if I don't want the hunt ruined by quads, dirtbikes, or roadhunters that I need to go in to the road less areas about three miles. Most people will go in 1-11/2 miles but if you go three you will cut out 70% of the people. With the onslaught of guads it has to be wilderness or at least foot traffic resticted. I had hiked into a roadless area once about 2 miles and set up on a ridge looking down into the canyon at daybreak.Thinking that I had a nice chance to pull a bull up out of the drainage. after a little calling I start hearing the distant noise of the quad........All the way from the bottom,,,,,picking his way right up to the top toward us. We watched as everything in the canyon started busting out over the ridges on both sides.  He finally got up by us dressed in camo and bow mounted on the quad.  Asked if we had any luck or seen anything.Made a comment about having a forked horn buck stand and look at him in the bottom,said he got off and took a shot but missed.
  

[sailordad]

i feel for ya mike,
unfortunately i have never experienced anything to that extreme on public land. minnesota doesnt allow vehicles on public land except on the roads into them.
most of them have a parking area right at the beginning of the land,very few actually have roads that go into them. if your willing to walk aways in,especially on the larger
tracts of land,you wont see or hear another person all day long. doesnt meen that the hunting is great casue you have to be willing to do this for weeks on end before season to do good scouting,and then you have to hope no one sees ya or theyll figure out what your doing and start scouting there as well.

hope thing look up for ya yet this season.

                                                                            peace,
                                                                                    tim

[hawkbow]

brother you must have the worst luck .... that is one of those days where you have to wonder what the creator was thinking....and what did i do to deserve this....stay cool bro and get back on the horse....you will make meat on your next outing, i am sure..... besides with all the rice left over in the clearing after the wedding you are sure to get something coming in   i will forever wonder what those poor dudes thought of the  guille suit wearing, bow toting guy who approached them  HAWK

[El Destructo]

       I should have just parked it in one of the Chairs....and waited for the Reception....since they ruined the rest of the Day!!!

This was 8 miles off of the County Road....and 4 miles further back on a dirt road....it wasn't like I was Hunting in a Camp Grounds!!!

                                   Go Figure.....I was almost Speechless.............like I said......almost.............

[mullet]

  I know the feeling ,Mike. I own a share of 3 acres of land in 2300 acres of property. It was going to be a retirement community salesmen in Miami and PuertoRico were selling to the Latin community in Venezuela and Puerto Rico back when Disney was being built.

  Well, they didn't tell them it was a wetland , no build ever area. It is Prime Whitetail and hog hunting habitat. With a  200#+ deer coming out of there 3 years ago. Huge for Florida. About 30 of us fenced it off, posted it, and scared people away for about 4 years. The only problem was it was unsurveyed land . So you couldn't prove who owned what , which is the reason we had access to all of it. You can Bluff, but not charge anybody with tresspass.

  Somebody finally called our bluff and now it is totally trashed because of the 4-wheelers and dirt bikes on the weekends. They have completely destroyed the wetlands, and the place is full of beer bottles. I'm hunting public land ,too. And they are trapping all the hogs on the MNGT area's here and selling them to game ranches in Texas.

[El Destructo]

Thats about right....the only thing I have heard worse....is the way the DNR in Michigan run things....they are Pathetic too

[hawkbow]

I feel for you bro... almost feel guilty having all this wilderness to hunt, might not see another person for weeks at a time... and then it is usually only wolf watcher or someone i know look forward to seeing some pics of your harvest soon.... HAWK

[ThunderStick]

I hunt some Archery only public land but always have 4 weelers bird watchers and dog trainers to deal with so i understand what your dealing with!

[DanaM]

Thats about right....the only thing I have heard worse....is the way the DNR in Michigan run things....they are Pathetic too

Michigan DNR Pathetic Thats too kind of a word Mike At least I have access to miles of public land open to hunting
might not be any game on it but its open Federal goverment decided to overturn the delisting of wolves and now their
back on the endangered list, unbelievable eh. Oh well think I will go deer hunting who knows might even see one this morning