I picked up my trail cams from the only piece of private land that I have access to on Tuesday. It's a small piece of about 40 acres that only has hunting pressure during the rifle season by a buddy his brother, his brothers son and as of last year, the son's girlfriend.
I wondered how things were going to go for my boy and I after my buddy and his brother put in a food plot this spring.. (There had never been a food plot on the land during previous years) and because my buddy's brother is kind of "different".
I had one cam set up monitoring a mock scrape and licking branch to inventory the deer and another cam watching an opening and overlapping the mock scrape so I had the scrape on both cams.
Well I got the cams home because they had been on the edge of the plot for over a month and I wanted to move them to a ridge line near some bedding. Upon looking through the pics I see the brother and his son on the cam that is watching the opening and the other cam which is the inventory cam. I see them tearing down my licking branch, and messing with my other cam. Funny thing is there are no pictures of them doing any of this on the other camera. There are also entire days with not so much as a squirrel on the inventory cam. Yet plenty of deer including a pair of decent bucks on the other camera.
At first I was pretty ticked off about the whole situation but after a couple of days of thought I've decided that it's really a blessing in disguise. I'm going to have my son hunt the area during the upcoming youth rifle hunt hoping to kill his dirst deer and after that I'm going to walk away from the property, avoid hard feelings and learn how to hunt like a beast. I think the food plot would have only been an anchor for me anyway. I'll end up becoming a better hunter in the end and my son will learn to think outside the food plot box from the start.
Loosing anchor
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Re: Loosing anchor
Oldman, I think that is the best way to think about the whole situation. Totally a blessing in disguise. If they are disrespectful to your belongings then they are disrespectful to you as well.
I would not even go back for the youth hunt, just to stay away from the risk of trouble with the son present.
I would not even go back for the youth hunt, just to stay away from the risk of trouble with the son present.
Work hard, stay humble, be kind.
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Re: Loosing anchor
Sorry to hear of your troubles. Posts like this reinforce my determination to mount cams up high enough to make seeing them less likely, and messing with them more difficult. Not a guarantee of course, but certainly a reduction in risk.
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Re: Loosing anchor
That sucks man. Sorry to hear it. It's not worth dealing with people like that in my opinion. I'd much rather hunt Public than deal with Jerks.
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Re: Loosing anchor
I would let the landowner know. I would want to know if I had someone doing something dirty on my land. I’d make my decision after that conservation. I’d most likely look for another spot, but if the landowner insists on you taking your kid then I would try it.
Again, I think the landowner needs to know. Especially, if you have pictures of the event.
Again, I think the landowner needs to know. Especially, if you have pictures of the event.
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Re: Loosing anchor
Personally, I would say something to the dad, son and your friend but I wold NOT say anything to the landowner. I think you have a right to say something to him but I would give them the benefit of the doubt, just in case you are wrong. I would have ALL (Friend, dad and son) of them come around and I would show them the photos and then ask them what is happening in these photos. Then I would let him talk in front of his kid and his brother. I would then give him the benefit of the doubt and say "yea that's probably it, it just looks like you are doing something with that licking branch and cameras?" I bet you retain your spot and he moves on out of embarrassment. That or his brother has a talk with him.
I wouldn't say anything to the landowner as its not his problem. Not to mention you end up ruining it for others that may want to hunt the property long after you guys are gone. Most landowners don't want to deal with the headaches of hunters so I wouldn't give them one to deal with.
I wouldn't say anything to the landowner as its not his problem. Not to mention you end up ruining it for others that may want to hunt the property long after you guys are gone. Most landowners don't want to deal with the headaches of hunters so I wouldn't give them one to deal with.
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