crown land etiquette
- Thread starter koesdibyo
- Start date
Alot of landowners get very optimistic as to how far their private land extends - especially when the deer hunt's on - often doesn't matter at other times. It's very important to KNOW where you are and if it REALLY is crown. Then you can gently educate (not in a combative manner) the adjacent landowner and stand your ground. This has worked well for me many times. The a**hats are there of course and need to be avoided. However most will rspect you IF YOU KNOW your rights and your exact location and can clearly demonstrate that to them.
I could give many examples from my experience but I once had a cottage owner follow me in their vehicle to where I was setting up for a bear hunt. It was a 100 acre block of crown bush amid private. They said they liked the bears and preferred I didn't hunt there. I commented it was crown land and I was legally hunting and that in Ontario it was illegal to interfere with that. They IMMEDIATELY agreed and took off - no further issues. Bluffing is standard MO. If I didn't KNOW it was crown I would have been pushed off - once again. That's what most locals rely on - your ignorance - "yep I own from here to the horizon so get out". Even know of a local deer hunting crew trespassing and tried to kick off the deeded "landowner" from his rightful land when he showed up from Toronto to hunt it. He called their bluff - something about the OPP's opinion came up in the conversation - and the local boys quickly listened to reason and headed off to other areas.
But even on crown don't hunt "on top" of other hunters - that stands to reason - good form. Often the big established local gangs will push a bush and be gone for a week or more. Lotsa elbow room if you have a few other options. If I'm set up already on a watch on crown and they show up with dogs etc I stay put. But if they are there first I go elsewhere. The gangs where I go have lots of options and push dozens of various bushes in a week. However they WILL hunt on top of you usually. If you shoot a deer that they push out to you that's a bonus. Some have tried to MAKE me give them half but no way. Again the law prevails - you tag it it's yours.
Where I live now in N. Ontario there are a lot of mining leases and some but not all own both mineral and surface rights. You need to know the terms of their lease with the crown on that specific block. I've even had COs tell me me I'm tresspassing on INCO land but backed off when I told them that where I was Inco held "mineral rights only" - "surface rights" were still held by the crown. That means any one can legally access the area for lawful recreational pursuits - unless there is a gated facility or a flagged area for worker safety. Again it pays to KNOW when push comes to shove.
Good hunting.
I could give many examples from my experience but I once had a cottage owner follow me in their vehicle to where I was setting up for a bear hunt. It was a 100 acre block of crown bush amid private. They said they liked the bears and preferred I didn't hunt there. I commented it was crown land and I was legally hunting and that in Ontario it was illegal to interfere with that. They IMMEDIATELY agreed and took off - no further issues. Bluffing is standard MO. If I didn't KNOW it was crown I would have been pushed off - once again. That's what most locals rely on - your ignorance - "yep I own from here to the horizon so get out". Even know of a local deer hunting crew trespassing and tried to kick off the deeded "landowner" from his rightful land when he showed up from Toronto to hunt it. He called their bluff - something about the OPP's opinion came up in the conversation - and the local boys quickly listened to reason and headed off to other areas.
But even on crown don't hunt "on top" of other hunters - that stands to reason - good form. Often the big established local gangs will push a bush and be gone for a week or more. Lotsa elbow room if you have a few other options. If I'm set up already on a watch on crown and they show up with dogs etc I stay put. But if they are there first I go elsewhere. The gangs where I go have lots of options and push dozens of various bushes in a week. However they WILL hunt on top of you usually. If you shoot a deer that they push out to you that's a bonus. Some have tried to MAKE me give them half but no way. Again the law prevails - you tag it it's yours.
Where I live now in N. Ontario there are a lot of mining leases and some but not all own both mineral and surface rights. You need to know the terms of their lease with the crown on that specific block. I've even had COs tell me me I'm tresspassing on INCO land but backed off when I told them that where I was Inco held "mineral rights only" - "surface rights" were still held by the crown. That means any one can legally access the area for lawful recreational pursuits - unless there is a gated facility or a flagged area for worker safety. Again it pays to KNOW when push comes to shove.
Good hunting.
Good information, thanks again to everyone.
Another follow up question in regards to the those experienced in this neck of the woods on hunting. Being the 4 WMUs I am looking at are dated Nov 5-18th, that gives me 2 weekends to do my plan of going out after school, setting a hooch and getting in my stand for a couple days.
Being that its a weekend, I suppose this going to be the busiest/most crowded time for me to be out there. Obviously the weekdays will have locals, and those that have taken a week or 2 off for the season to compete with... but my logic is thinking that a vast majority of the crowding comes from the southern ontario group coming up on their weekends off (Again, remember I am a first year hunter and have no idea if my assumption is right... please correct me if I am wrong).
Schooling for me doesnt start until 11am and with an hour drive from Orillia to Barrie I must leave by 10am. With the information about hunting on Simcoe Forests with being an OFAH member, that proximity is close enough for me to potentially be out there early morning on the weekdays, and get 2-3 hrs of hunting in(not much time, but better than nothing), before packing up and heading on my venture down to Barrie/school.
Would this be a good idea on my part to look into or just a complete waste of time?
Another follow up question in regards to the those experienced in this neck of the woods on hunting. Being the 4 WMUs I am looking at are dated Nov 5-18th, that gives me 2 weekends to do my plan of going out after school, setting a hooch and getting in my stand for a couple days.
Being that its a weekend, I suppose this going to be the busiest/most crowded time for me to be out there. Obviously the weekdays will have locals, and those that have taken a week or 2 off for the season to compete with... but my logic is thinking that a vast majority of the crowding comes from the southern ontario group coming up on their weekends off (Again, remember I am a first year hunter and have no idea if my assumption is right... please correct me if I am wrong).
Schooling for me doesnt start until 11am and with an hour drive from Orillia to Barrie I must leave by 10am. With the information about hunting on Simcoe Forests with being an OFAH member, that proximity is close enough for me to potentially be out there early morning on the weekdays, and get 2-3 hrs of hunting in(not much time, but better than nothing), before packing up and heading on my venture down to Barrie/school.
Would this be a good idea on my part to look into or just a complete waste of time?
Thats you best hunting times IMO...Do a bit of scouting if you can, and find bedding areas...Set up close buy and you should catch them comming from the food source to bed for the day..I much prefer this to hunting the food source..
blasted_saber
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- A blue part of Ontario
53A will be difficult to find large tracts of crown.
If i were you I'd head to 49 and hunt bucks only.
If i were you I'd head to 49 and hunt bucks only.
Canadian_Zuk
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Pickering, Ontario
Nothing, carry on as usual.
Edit: I'm not going to sit in the other guys stand or moon his camera, but I'm not going to leave because someone may show up. If I choose to leave, it will be for other reasons.
I was traveling a creek bottom and came on a wicked natural lick. It was a perfect hunting spot, with game trails funneling in and out of the lick. But there was a treestand on it already.
So I tied the guys pull rope off on a funny angle so he'd know someone had been there, but I've never returned to that spot.
Comox Valley, next door to Gods country (sure feels like it anyway)
Indeed it is, just steps away from Mount Washington! Oh how I miss real mountains
I would say the majority of all the deer I have shot, have been within the first hour of light or the last hour of light of the day. I would say it is not a waste of time at all hunting the best hours of the day for hunting.
Leaving the issue of dealing with a**holes aside for a moment, the truth is that knowing there are other hunters around can work to your advantage. In my experience, the guys most likely to cop attituded about "their" hunting spots tend to be lazy hunters. They'll walk a trail, or sit on a cutline, or run around on their ATVs. Seldom will they be the guys who will hike in to ambush spots between bedding and feeding areas, still hunt the edge of bedding areas, or frankly even know where the bedding areas actually are. If you can figure out the lay of the land as it actually exists back in the trees, knowing that there are guys running around in the open areas can be turned to your advantage at times. Hint: the deer aren't leaving just because those guys are there -- so where will the animals be? Put some thought and time into it, and you'll come out not only with venison, but a better understanding of game behaviour as well.
Ontario is a great place to live, it's just that the Liberals have made living here ####ty.
The area we hunt has 4 established camps that utilize the same road and gate. 3 of those camps own land, ours is the only one that hunts Crown. Additionally, there is a couple of other established camps along the highway and a forest access road that has both established camps and temporary seasonal camps. Within a 3 kilometer radius of our camp I would guess that there are maybe 10 camps total, established and seasonal, with 4 to 8 hunters per camp. In the last 18 years (since I started deer hunting) I can count all the times we have had someone from another camp come into 'our' area of hunt on one hand. We have never had an issue with other camps in regards to who can hunt where, there is plenty of land and everyone is respectful of each others territory, regardless if it's Crown land or not.
Of the 4 camps on our road (the main access point and most of the road is private property) get along pretty well and often visit each other at night and as only one of the camps uses dogs, will sometimes coordinate chases together.
The area we hunt has 4 established camps that utilize the same road and gate. 3 of those camps own land, ours is the only one that hunts Crown. Additionally, there is a couple of other established camps along the highway and a forest access road that has both established camps and temporary seasonal camps. Within a 3 kilometer radius of our camp I would guess that there are maybe 10 camps total, established and seasonal, with 4 to 8 hunters per camp. In the last 18 years (since I started deer hunting) I can count all the times we have had someone from another camp come into 'our' area of hunt on one hand. We have never had an issue with other camps in regards to who can hunt where, there is plenty of land and everyone is respectful of each others territory, regardless if it's Crown land or not.
Of the 4 camps on our road (the main access point and most of the road is private property) get along pretty well and often visit each other at night and as only one of the camps uses dogs, will sometimes coordinate chases together.
Last edited:
My main areas in 46 are very much like what you'll probably experience (or at least were, won't make it home this year). Here is advice based on my experience. My first year was really tough because despite great indications from my scouting, I did not count on the effect of the locals.
I would say to scout hard with two strategies. But, and it is a big but: don't put any faith in deer movements that you note within half a mile of road on crown land that you think will be used by locals. It'll all change by 10am opening day.
So the two scouting strategies are : (1) scout areas the deer might move into due to pressure, or that they might remain in due to lack of pressure, i.e., well off roads, and (2) try to figure out where deer will move through when moving out of the pressured areas in the first days of the season.
Strings of old beaver meadows along tiny streams can be particularly useful for both of these strategies. Any places where there is cover converging from both sides of such a system is a likely place for pressured deer to sneak through (but crossing in the open happens too). Movement along the edges of such areas first thing in the morning is really important. Thick stuff along the edges of these types of features are areas deer will skulk in nervous. Very hard spots to hunt, but you've got to hunt where the deer are!
RG
<><
I would say to scout hard with two strategies. But, and it is a big but: don't put any faith in deer movements that you note within half a mile of road on crown land that you think will be used by locals. It'll all change by 10am opening day.
So the two scouting strategies are : (1) scout areas the deer might move into due to pressure, or that they might remain in due to lack of pressure, i.e., well off roads, and (2) try to figure out where deer will move through when moving out of the pressured areas in the first days of the season.
Strings of old beaver meadows along tiny streams can be particularly useful for both of these strategies. Any places where there is cover converging from both sides of such a system is a likely place for pressured deer to sneak through (but crossing in the open happens too). Movement along the edges of such areas first thing in the morning is really important. Thick stuff along the edges of these types of features are areas deer will skulk in nervous. Very hard spots to hunt, but you've got to hunt where the deer are!
RG
<><
When I first started hunting I hunted crown land. I got the gears from the "regulars" that had "hunted this area for 60 years". One time an old lad even winked and patted his rifle while warning me that I could get shot if they didn't know where I was going to be.
I had a map and knew 100% that I was on crown land. I stood my ground and they mostly left me alone.
This area had about 2000 acres of crown and about 10 camps in the area (camps were on private land). They never set foot off of the logging roads and ran hounds through the middle of it. I learned quickly that they would let the hounds go on one side and line the roads several miles away waiting for the deer to get pushed out to them. I just setup where none of them would venture and did see several nice deer that their dogs chased out to me (never got one - different story). I also learned that these guys would all go back to camp from 10:00-14:00 everyday. The deer knew this too and I saw several sweat bucks during this time. Seems the deer would move when they hunters had left for camp as the deer had patterned them.
Anyways good luck on your quest.
I had a map and knew 100% that I was on crown land. I stood my ground and they mostly left me alone.
This area had about 2000 acres of crown and about 10 camps in the area (camps were on private land). They never set foot off of the logging roads and ran hounds through the middle of it. I learned quickly that they would let the hounds go on one side and line the roads several miles away waiting for the deer to get pushed out to them. I just setup where none of them would venture and did see several nice deer that their dogs chased out to me (never got one - different story). I also learned that these guys would all go back to camp from 10:00-14:00 everyday. The deer knew this too and I saw several sweat bucks during this time. Seems the deer would move when they hunters had left for camp as the deer had patterned them.
Anyways good luck on your quest.
Hunting Deer in Ontario
Hi,
I'm new to hunting and not very knowledgeable about acquiring deer tags. I haven't applied to any draws for deer this year, is there any region for which I could just go and purchase a tag without a draw?
Cheers.
Hi,
I'm new to hunting and not very knowledgeable about acquiring deer tags. I haven't applied to any draws for deer this year, is there any region for which I could just go and purchase a tag without a draw?
Cheers.
You can purchase an antlered tag and hunt in whatever WMU you choose(local hardware store will likely sell tags and be sure to check the season dates in your WMU they can be different). You must apply in the spring for an anterless tag, which will be WMU specific.
Thats great news. Thanks. Whats the reasoning behind allowing everyone a buck tag as opposed to a doe. Are they harder to find?
