why cant we be friends?

[geauxtrappin]

Ive been trapping a chunk of public land the last couple weeks.. I usually never do that but i couldnt help myself because this place is loaded!! with predators.. anyways,i have had a couple traps disappear with the catch.. and the other morning i was checking a few sets i made for otter and a few for coon.. i had a live coon in one of my sets, about the time i got to him some duck hunters started shooting maybe 300yds away from me.. scared the crap out of me. i hit the deck...not going to lie lol.. i stood back up and dispatched the coon with a .22 short round and those guys started hollering and raising cane.."dont shoot again you SOB".. i didnt say a word, i pulled the coon out of the trap and went ahead and pulled that trap too since i had been spotted.. i walked back to my truck and put the coon and trap in the back and started away from those kids to finish running my line. being public property i duck or hide whenever a car or boat passes by.. i heard their boat coming up the way so i hid behind a big root ball and watched as they pulled their boat up and jumped out.. they were cursing and making all kinds of racket.. they walked up to my truck as it was the only vehicle there other than theirs, started nosing around thru my catch from that morning.. i thought they were grabbing some of my traps and gear out so i started easing my way towards them sneaky like, one of them started busting beer bottles on the rocks around my tires.. Long Story short, these fools were quarellsome.. the authorities were called and these dumbies were busted in the same spot poaching ducks last year before duck season was even open.. how stupid can you be? your hunting in the same spot you were busted for poaching, have revoked hunting licenses, vandalizing property, littering with broken glass and starting fights.. if those idiots had any kind of brain.. they would know the bobcat, coyote and fox im taking out of there will improve the waterfowl population.. i took 11fox(mostly greys but some reds),1 bobcat and 4 coyotes off some private land i trapped last year.. i now have a key to that property to come and go as i please, have made a friend with the property owner and he called me a few months after i trapped it to tell me his property has more turkeys, quail and rabbits than there ever has been.. hes told half the town about me and now i got more property to trap than i can handle working a full time job.

[clintjohnson]

I've found that with duck hunters , it's best to be as quite as you can. I put everything on drowners. Usually you can make friends with them by explaining how you are helping their duck hunting.

[geauxtrappin]

ive made friends with lots of the duck hunters.. these were just punk kids. aint no telling how many people passed by them to get to the big water. i do try to be incognito when trapping as to not disturb the area or in this case, hunters.. i ducked down behind a big tree a couple weeks ago as some duck hunters passed by me. the old man in the boat told me he thought i was taking a dump lol until he seen my pack. he gave me some info on otter, mink and bobcat he has seen out there year after year and where to go to catch them. he was glad to see me out there going after the otter and predators. hes an avid hunter and fisherman.

[Tony Howard]

Been there done that and got a tee shirt for it. LOL. Too many times I have seen the loud mouths from every sport or trade as it may be, ruin it for everyone involved. Up here dog deer hunting is very hard for the guys doing it because to many times they would spout off that a dog can't read a posted sign. The land they had permission on bordered other larger properties and soon they found themselves losing permission on the smaller properties because the smaller land owners were tired of fighting and the bullying mentality. They have ruined it for fox, rabbit and coon hunters in many cases.

Once I remember a well known group dropping dogs out on a five acre property that bordered my deer lease (1200) acres on the east side. They had permission on a 40 acre hay field and 10 acre empty cow pasture on the west side. One of the men we knew well dropped a 8 pt which had just jumped the fence and was trying to crossing the hay field with dogs on it's tail and another killed two does in the cow pasture. All while we were sitting there watching them line up down our property line. Blew my mind. They just laughed about it and said it was their right. Three years of this and the smaller land owners got tired of hear the complaints and asked them to not hunt their property any more. The next year three people were charged with tress pass because they didn't think the smaller land owners meant it. Boy did we have grief for a while after that.

I have seen all kinds out there and everyone feel that they have more rights than the next guy. I personally have found it to better to stay out of sight and out of mind and try to get along with everyone. Thieves are thieves and doesn't matter weather it is the woods or someone's house they will steal it just to steal it some time.

I try to respect everyone and their equipment. I will not touch a deer stand, a trap, a fishing line or anything else I didn't put there. If I didn't put it there I don't mess with it. Just a good rule of thumb.

[geauxtrappin]

me too tony. like i said i rarely trap public land so i dont happen across other trappers unless their poaching/trespassing. update to this story! this morning while running i traps i had set out down there and had a snapped trap, i figured it was a miss so i reset and moved on. next trap had a sstick in it.. and the next one.. and the next one.. the last one was a remade catch circle and i could see the boot prints.. like a freaking size 17 lol.. i just said to heck with it, i have plenty of private land with gates under lock and key that i can come and go as i please with no disturbance. started pulling traps and out of nowhere a duck hunter comes out of the woods and asks me if i wanted some duck carcasses for bait, i got to talking with him for a minute and told him why i was pulling out and he told me an old man was squirrel hunting down there yesterday and his dog found one of my traps.. he got him out and kept on hunting and his dog almost found the other sets. that boy said the old man wasnt mad at all. i sure wasnt happy about it though. wiping my butt with my watch. wasted time. i too try to stay out of sight. if i hear a car or boat i always duck down behind something.. i had a guy stop furious one time because he seen me squatted down, there really wasnt much cover.. he thought i was taking a dump squatted down in some tall grass. basically wide open lol.. i felt invisible.. seems every time im busted trying to hide peoples first thought is nature called lol. i hate to back down and basically be forced out, i just dont feel its worth the hassle. i believe half the people killed in the woods were on purpose. im only 27, but ive been in the woods all my life.. and never, ever have i mistaken a human being for a quadreped. if i remember right that fellow who got killed around winnsboro a few years back had green LEDs on his head. the way some people act when you "interrupt" their hunting is crazy! i accidentally crossed a property line years ago that wasn't marked with a fence, had the same no trespassing signs as the property i had permission to be on.. i thought i was about to fist fight that guy, ive never seen someone come out of a climbing stand that fast! i bet it was 2 big slides and he was coming at me. sheesh.