Public land etiquette

squidxm

squidxm

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TL;DR... you walk in to public land and there's an empty hub blind in your spot, what do you do?

Ran into a situation the other day and curious to hear how others would have handled it. Buddy and I headed out for turkey to a spot I've scouted and hunted as recently as 5 days ago. I always pack my pop-up hub blind in and set up the morning of the hunt, however someone left one set up overnight in almost the exact spot. We ran through various scenarios before making our decision...

1) Move to another location. I unfortunately wasn't too familiar with the area, which is my fault for not having a backup. If we relocated, we'd be going in blind. Not my favourite thing to be doing before 5am. Plus if we didn't relocate far enough, could pose a safety risk if buddy shows up at his blind. We figured there's the possibility he doesn't actually show up, then we will have moved from my ideal spot for nothing. Public land is public land, you can't go around marking your ground and expecting it to be yours.

2) Stay and set up anyway. I dont like the idea of leaving hub blind set up on public land, that's asking to have your gear stolen. However, if you set up after dark the night before and walk in before sun up, I'd say your blind is pretty safe. For this reason, I thought for sure buddy was going to show up. But then again, there's still the chance he doesn't. We tried running through possibilities like he's sleeping in, he has to work and will show up later, maybe he got pissed up and is hungover. We didn't plan to stay long anyway, so if the guy was to show up around 9-10 and we would just leave anyway. At least if we stayed nearby, we'd witness him coming to the blind and we'd be aware we aren't alone, so that's good for safety.

2b) Suppose you set up anyway and the guy shows up, how does that go down? Is leaving your blind in the publib woods good enough for saving your spot? Or is it an early bird gets the worm type situation? We tried not to think about what if he showed up, because we'd just leave anyway to avoid dealing with some hot head. But suppose he came in and sat in his blind anyway.. awkward, but he could do it to piss us off. That would ruin both parties' hunts.

Our general consensus was that it would have been a good idea for the guy to leave his phone number or a note indicating his intentions on the blind.

Thoughts?
 
He left the blind to claim the spot, which he has no right to do. It works too; some people will keep going because he "was there first", others because they don't want to be close to other people. Others can be convinced to leave by whining, which only leaves the odd one to drive off with bluster and veiled threats.

Do what is best for you; but if you leave to be nice bear in mind that he's already thought of that and its all part of the plan.
 
I'd consider just using his blind. If he showed up after me I would offer him my blind to use that morning at another spot of his choosing with the understanding that he bring it back by the time I was planning on leaving. Public land is public, he knows that, and I think it would be a fair compromise, especially since you've scouted and hunted that same spot a few days earlier.
 
Use his blind.

He shows up, you hunt together.

Too many people forget we are all of a same mind set...but then again, no surprise in a world where people don't even know their neighbors anymore.

No harm in making a friend, who might be local. One calls, the other shoots....

This happens when duck hunting as well. I have had zero problems inviting another hunter to join me in the blind, or hunt together in a field.
 
Depends... is it a baited location? Does the owner have guide rights to that land? if it is a guide.. they should have their information on the items.

He could have left the blind up to acclimatize wildlife to its presence for a day or 2

But as others have said..sometimes it's just a guy claiming his favoutire spot that he thinks he owns it.
 
I leave my blind out the whole season on private land. Never an issue until last year. There was another hunter who used it while I wasnt there. I didnt much mind as it didnt impact me on my hunts.....except on opening day. I had no idea that buddy was set up facing me about 75 yards away. He must have slipped in when I was setting up my decoys and posted himself right in my line of fire in an attempt to cut off birds that I was calling in. This prick knew I hunted the area and knew exactly where everything was set up as I later discovered his photos on my game cam. He spent at least an hour scouting my set up a couple days earlier.

Anyway, long story short, I showed the landowner the photos of the guy to make sure he knew who he was and he was politely told the guy that if he shows up to the property and my truck is there, he needs to bugger off. Just to be sure, when I set up my gear this spring, I left a cardboard out with the two dates that I knew I’d be there. He hasn't yet showed up and I have not yet picked him up on my game cam.

Public land is a whole different story. If one wants to mark a spot, build a blind or set up a blind for opening day, I think that should be respected. This is usually the unwritten rule followed by the veterans who duck hunt on the lake I hunt. But thats were it ends. You cant mark a spot for a whole season on public land. First come first serve. I have no issues using a makeshift blind, or permanent blind. But I personally wouldn’t use someone else's ground/pop-up blind. If it was the spot I needed to be, I’d just set up next to it in the event the person doesn't show up. And if he does, a respectful conversation would be had. It would likely be hard to have that respectful conversation if the guy shows up and you’re in his blind.
 
Runningfool said:
1) baiting is not allowed for turkey hunting in Ontario.
Click to expand...

Yes and no

It is illegal to hunt wild turkeys within 400 metres (437 yards) of any place where bait has been deposited unless the place has been free of bait for at least seven days. Bait means corn, wheat, oats, other grain, pulse, any other feed that may attract wild turkey or any imitation of such feed.
 
53Izzy744 said:
Yes and no

It is illegal to hunt wild turkeys within 400 metres (437 yards) of any place where bait has been deposited unless the place has been free of bait for at least seven days. Bait means corn, wheat, oats, other grain, pulse, any other feed that may attract wild turkey or any imitation of such feed.
Click to expand...

Well technically yes, you can put bait out for turkeys and hunt them - you just have to be 400m away from the bait or wait until all of the bait is gone and then wait another week. Neither of those scenarios are what I think hunters would refer to as hunting a bait, and not what was implied by the post I quoted.
 
Runningfool said:
I'd consider just using his blind. If he showed up after me I would offer him my blind to use that morning at another spot of his choosing with the understanding that he bring it back by the time I was planning on leaving. Public land is public, he knows that, and I think it would be a fair compromise, especially since you've scouted and hunted that same spot a few days earlier.
Click to expand...

I don’t see that ending well…
 
Bluebulldog said:
Use his blind.

He shows up, you hunt together.

Too many people forget we are all of a same mind set...but then again, no surprise in a world where people don't even know their neighbors anymore.

No harm in making a friend, who might be local. One calls, the other shoots....

This happens when duck hunting as well. I have had zero problems inviting another hunter to join me in the blind, or hunt together in a field.
Click to expand...

I did this once a field i had permission on. Hunter blew a giant hole in the bottom of his layout blind. I refuse to hunt with anyone I don’t know for a variety of reasons.
 
Public is public.. Are you a jerk in public or are you respectful? The same guys that don’t return shopping carts are the type to poach a spot. It does suck that he chose the same location. I’ve had that happen to me as well, as if the guy followed my footprints exactly to where I stood. Anyways, move along or stick around. The choice is yours to make since it is public. If you do go back and you jump into him, have a conversation. You might just make a hunting buddy in the end. If he’s a ####, be a ######
 
Its public ground - go find another spot to be for the day
If you want to confront the owner - so be it. What he did appears to be illegal in your neck of the woods. But to hunt out of his blind, set up beside him, etc would only invite conflict.
 
I think the biggest thing we should all take away from this is that if you are hunting public land have a plan B, C and D

There are 100 reasons why your first choice spot might not work on opening day, this guy was just one of them. Have a back up, and back up for your back up.
 
My and a hunting buddy built a ground blind from local material last year for the fall mule deer hunt. Left a couple of fold-up chairs in it all season.

On the last day of the season we saw a truck parked at the bottom of the cut and a kid glassing the valley from the hill we had the blind on.

We walked up to find Dad and a teenaged son there just outside the blind, our stuff intact.

We grabbed our chairs, wished them well and went somewhere else.
 
OP - is perhaps a mistake on your part to think that is somehow "your" spot - you have no more rights to be there than anyone else - is what the "public" part of "public lands" might mean.
So as per your dilemma - neither does that other person have any "rights" to that spot - barring guiding or trapline rights, etc., which have been discounted in posts above. Is between you and them in the bush. Has been so for 10's of thousands of years. I think lots of Europe was about sneaking into the King's land to hunt - can read about how that went for them.
Is why I mostly hunt on my own land, or on land that I have permission from the lawful land owner - it works better, usually, unless some parties have traded money - which is illegal, but happens, in Saskatchewan.
 
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