Public land insanity

[BowBendr]

I think you did exactly the right thing and karma will catch up to them while good things come your way....

I'm pretty sure that the guy dropping his slate call was the karma though...

Yesssir ! The gods were delivering you a new custom slate. 

[MouthCaller]

What a jerk... low life lazy jerk...

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[yelpaholic]

Tell me you at least yelped on the slate call and it didn't sound worth a flip.....
Before you placed it under their tire.......  just kidding .....

[tomstopper]

Gotta love public land idiots.............

Yep, they are everywhere.....

[BigGobbler]

It's public land everyone has the same rights to hunt wherever they want no one has dibs on any one spot it's public land better get used to it cause it will happen again you can bet on that. This is the attitude that a lot of public land hunters have. In a way they are right but hey you want a spot get there first or go on down the road.

[budtripp]

Stories like these make me glad I have several friendly and generous neighbors who allow me to hunt their ground.

[Spitten and drummen]

I know guys but thats just my nature. Had i found it and not known who it belonged to it would have came home with me. I knew they dropped it and regardless of their behavior it wouldnt have been right for me to keep it. I have been chasing turkeys for 30 years and it seems like more and more people with no respect take up turkey hunting. In general i think that as a whole morals and respect is dying thing in this country.  Hopefully they will go back to their home state and not louse my area up. Oh well , it is public so not really much i can do about it but vent on here. Lol. Good luck this season everyone and thanks for listening to my rant.

[Old Gobbler]

In Florida that won't fly -
Spots are so hush hush , it's considered rude to even ask those common questions like " hear anything"

Any communication with other hunters face to face will never work to your benefit -- they want to milk you for information , and will discard you as soon as they get what they want - next time someone walks up to you run em a good bs story - the heck with them if they want to know something they'd should have scouted before the season

First rule of turkey hunting for me when I'm near a truck is to avoid contact with other hunters , I can't tell you how many times I'm coming up to my truck or actually at my truck , I hear someone coming up the road , and I duck into the bushes just to avoid talking to them - don't tell people. NOTHING

I would stopped them right in their tracks as they were walking past me , no kidding I've done this , and I can be utterly vulgar and to the point - some common lines are.... I'm here,  go away.......where the bleep bleep do you think your going.....it's important to say it firmly and stand right in the way the trail , if they gesture to get by, tell them your buddies are 100 years ahead of you , and they are making the place dangerously crowded .....


if that's don't turn them away , tell them point blank your going to ruin their hunt

Btw , what state were they from ?

[d.winsor]

Sorry to hear of your ordeal, I use to hunt harrison crawford forestry in Indiana.  On opening day if you passed up an area that the parking lot had a couple of cars in and moved to your next spot only to find cars there too, and so forth, you would not get much time hunting in.  In one of these parking areas there were a thousand acres to hunt, 2 cars with hunters could not hunt it all.  After opening weekend and maybe the next things calm down and there is not as many hunters out.  On public land everyone scouts, birds are leery and not from pre season calling.  Generally there are quite a few people that know in an area where the birds roost.  You just have to get in there and not crowd the bird, give your calls and let the bird decide who it goes to, busting a bird you are calling just because someone else is moving in is not very ethical on private or public land.  I have had that happen to me and I always thought that the hunter busting the bird just knew by the sound of my calls that I could call better.  There will always be a slob out there hunting with you, just hope you don't meet them.  These type of people hopefully will not be hunting turkeys or anything else for very long, of course there is always a few who learn enough to kill turkeys.  One can't think that the majority of hunters on public land are slobs, they just have no where else to go.  They buy the tags, gear, guns, etc. and we benefit from the taxes that fish and wildlife agencies get from their purchases.  Public land is tough to hunt, no one said it isn't, one needs to learn how to hunt it, Since 1992 I have never had a bad experience, I have had guys do as the op says, what kills me is someone setting up near a trail in and trying to flag you off.  When that is the only way in to the rest of the land in that area.  That is a slob and I will ignore their flash light, to get to my hunting area.  Does that make me a slob, maybe in his eyes, not mine.

[Fullfan]

Sound like PA, not that I would ever do a thing like it. But I know guys who would say " They are not going to have enough spare tires"

[Vabirddog]

You are a good man. That's the thing about the Golden Rule, it doesn't hinge on anything the other guy does.  Hopefully your action taught them more than all the flat tires and broken windshields would have ever done.

[paboxcall]

You are a good man. That's the thing about the Golden Rule, it doesn't hinge on anything the other guy does.  Hopefully your action taught them more than all the flat tires and broken windshields would have ever done.

The idea someone could damage or vandalize another person's PRIVATE property because that person exercised their right to be on PUBLIC property is disturbing.

You did the right thing returning that call. 

Geez, they're just turkeys. You were there first, and ask them to be courteous.  If not, as mentioned "go on down the road." 

[beagler]

sounds like pa

X2

[ncturkey]

 

You are a good man. That's the thing about the Golden Rule, it doesn't hinge on anything the other guy does.  Hopefully your action taught them more than all the flat tires and broken windshields would have ever done.

[ncturkey]

Being mean back to them would have proabbly made things worse. I have heard of folks letting out air from slobs tires. Only to come back to their truck later to have all four of there tires cut. I have hunted a lot of game lands in the state of NC. I have had my share of rude out of states and locals as well. Plus when you kill a bird do not tell no one where you killed. Not even your Moma. Cause when you do the place will be run over with hunters. After a successful hunt on one of my favorite mountain game  lands when I got back to my truck there where some guys there. They were from PA. For the next week those PA guys hammered that gameland. Word got out that I killed a monster gobbler on that gameland. It was a packed parking lot ever weekend after that for a few years. I had other run in with hunters on other game lands to. The cool thing about it was that most of the time they out state hunters were too lazy to go were I hunted. I had two guys that were at the top of the mountain when I got there. To make a long story short they were rude and told me that it did not matter where I went if they heard a turkey they were going to it. No matter if it was near where I was. They went one way and I went the other way. I hike a good 2 mile away from the crazy guys. I ended up shooting a nice 2 year old that ranning into my yelping. I was a good two mile from those guys and three miles from my truck. One thing that was funny was I was on the way back to the truck. I saw one of the rude hunter up the hill. I gave him a thumbs up. He could see my dead turkey in my game bag. he just shock his head. I began whisling as I walk back to the truck. I also try to avid talking with folks I see in the gamelands. They most of the time are just fishing for info. When I do get cornered I give them some good place to go hunting. But they are no where near my spots. I have also found out the hard way is not give your friend info either. That will go and hunt those places later. I confronted a friend about him doing that. He did not think anything about it. I told him that what he had do was legal but unelthical to me. We no longer hunt together. If you do run into guys and have to talk to the do not give them any idae where you plan on hunting. They will be there in a hear beat. I always send them the other way. On gameland you have to pattern the people as much as the birds. Good Luck with your gamelands birds.