It was still somewhat dark and I was three sticks high setting up my stand when I heard a distinct cough off to my left. Looking over, I see a guy in a stand, but he is not shining a light at me and didn't say anything else. So I pull up my bow and sit, thinking I will probably sit until it gets light and quietly move somewhere else.
Five minutes goes by and then I start hearing words. He started muttering then getting louder. I hear him say "unethical piece of ----" It's becoming light now, so now I can see he's 50 yards away. Maybe 60. He starts smoking, the gets on his phone and complaining to someone.
I'm not happy, so I decide that I should give myself a 10 count and then get down to talk to him before he boils over or his friends arrive. I decided to untuck my shirt so he knows I'm carrying a pistol. It's legal for me to carry open or concealed, and I want him to see it for deterrence.
As I quietly walk over, he starts to quickly climb down, his cigarette hanging out. About 20 feet away, I say, "Man, I am not trying to ruin your hunt. I didn't know you were there until you coughed."
He is still on the ladder and leans over, "Oh, it's you! I was getting really ticked off, but I didn't know it was you." He walks over and starts telling me about how someone set up a ladder stand 20 yards from him last year, but since it's me he doesn't care.
Rewind to last October:
Last year in this same area, I had a stare-down with a doe. I was on the ground and didn't know that he was in a stand nearby. As the doe and I were staring at each other, I saw an arrow pass right through her. He got down and nearly jumped out of his skin when I said "Nice shot!" He was apologizing profusely at that time and I gave him lots of grace. At that time I told him "You're fine--it's public land and anyone can be anywhere." I helped him find the doe, went to get my cart and loaded him into the truck. He was telling me that everyone he met up here (except for me) was a jerk and very territorial.
Fast forward back to this year:
So we are talking now and everything seems fine. He is now calm. Turns out that he bought a new truck so I didn't recognize his vehicle. I told him if I had known I would have avoided this hill. He said he shined his light on me before I started climbing, but I didn't see it. He said that was fine because it's so thick in here. I'm not sure why he didn't think to cough or say something earlier.
He told me to please feel free to hunt there.
He noticed that I didn't put up my two man stand this year at the creek crossing below. (Indiana is legal to leave stands on public land between September 15th and January.) I told him that I'm tired of educating other people where to hunt. When I move my stand then someone else hangs a stand there and never removes it. Then they claim the spot.
He said, "Yep, I left mine up all year..."
He really never realized that in one year he became the guy that he had previously been complaining about. I never really saw the irony in calling me unethical after what he did in claiming that spot.
It was a wasted morning, because this person felt that he owned this spot of public and didn't keep his cool.
Folks, anyone has a right to be anywhere on public land. And if you think someone is too close, get their attention before you get mad. If you can't get their attention, then they really are not that close anyway.
Sorry for the long post.
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