I have a place (pasture) that borders on two sides a neighbors 40 acre wheat patch. The other sides are a county road and the last side is another neighbor who doesn't allow hunting. The wheat patch owner only allows hunting when he doesn't have cattle on the wheat, which he does now.

Yesterday I was setting in a blind near-by, and noticed something white laying off between two cedar trees. The more I looked at it the less it made any sense, so after it got too dark to shoot, I went over to check it out.

There was a buck, probably 2 1/2 years old, a little 8 point with decent mass. Looking at the body, it looked like someone had shot him, getting just one lung. The blood trail led back towards the wheat field.

Last year I watched some road "hunters" shoot three times at a little spike on that wheat. When I made myself visable to them they suddenly remembered other business and left. Luckily they didn't seem to hit him, the spike kept bothering the doe he was with. I gave a description of their truck to the warden, FWTW

Needless to say, I am just a bit pissed off.

hey look at the bright side, free antlers

I got plenty of antlers.

One of the things about this that pisses me off the most is that the deer was just wasted. I don't think he would have ever been very wide, but with his mass, in a year or two he would of been worth shooting.

My bright side is that there is still another small eight point using that field. Real spindly, but high and wide.

If he can survive a couple more years....

I live several miles out in the country (on a farm) and deal with road hunters all year. Fortunately, a warden lives 4 miles from me. Whenever I see someone using a light at night, or hear a shot, that same warden usually responds in less than 10 minutes. He has caught several night hunters on or near my fields and some couples "parking". Some good laughs always follow during our discussions after he has checked things out. I have a great warden in my area.

There is always going to be jerks and slobs out there unfortunately they are also in hunting. The important thing is to use this as a lesson in poor ethics to teach young and upcoming hunters what is not appropriate and ethical behavior. Sad but hunting is one of the hardest sports to regulate ethically and we are the only ones who can police our ranks.

My SCI chapter has donated 2 "Robo-deer" to the DEC police in our area, they provide us with a steady stream of entertaining stories. Word also gets out, which hopefully cuts down on the jacking and road hunting but these fools still shoot at the thing. Incidently, the first one we donated was to replace a bullet riddled copy.

McRay, I used to hunt in NW Oklahoma and ran into the same thing. I've had road hunters shoot at deer while I was in bright orange in a stand at the edge of the same field. I felt like shooting back. In most cases their marksmanship is as poor as their hunting ethics and I didn't get to catch them with poached game.
If I were still hunting there I think that a Robo-deer would have been a good investment.........DJ

I have an eight mile long dirt road that goes through the middle of two big Ranches. Both Ranches allow limited access for deer and elk maybe 80 hunters. Each year as many animals are taken illegally OFF that road as are taken legally on the Ranches. Some years even MORE.
It's very common to see Fathers with sons and daughters road hunting the area. If they see something close to the road they shoot it, gut it quickly, and off they go. Teaching the next generration of slobs how to do it.

The sheer numbers who will ride this road at dawn and dusk is just staggering.

Then throw in the "hunters" who use a section of Public Land as the excuse to hunt any and all properties bordering that access. A very big problem out here. One will see forty hunters entering a 300 or 400 acre partial section of Public land. Very few hunt that land. The majority hunts the bordering properties. With a Warden handling several hundred or a thousand sq miles and poor cellular reception it's tough to EVER catch these slobs.

I used to think that the slobs and unethical hunters were in the minority. But lately I don't think so. So many Ranches are closing access as it's just easier to deal with the illegals this way.
Many just lease to an Outfitter. Pretty soon hunting in the West will be a rich mans sport.

This past season was such a dissapointment between access I enjoyed in the past closing, to several situations of slobs ruining a stalk. This used to be fun. Anymore it's aggravating and stressful. I'm so disgusted I'm thinking of just taking next year off and try again the next season.

Disgusted in MT

frank -



i hope that it doesn't come to that. this is my first year here in the great falls area, and i was lucky enough to find some very good (and very large) BMA land near stockett, as well as an excellent BLM section near hardy. saw many deer in both places, and ran into no other hunters at both places. i am sure that there are other areas, but i have not found them yet. being a "new guy," i was reluctant to knock on the doors of any landowners in and around the gulch, even though my wife grew up there and i work at a fairly respectable place in town. i was content hunting these "free" lands, and did pretty well for myself. hopefully, this will be the case as well next year, and i will also have had the chance to talk to some landowners as well. if all else fails, i can re-visit a few old haunts in the lewistown and chinook areas. lewistown is starting to get "famous" as a hunting destination, but there are still some places that the guys from illinois and kalispell haven't found yet. as for chinook, well, you know as well as i that it will probably be a while before that place is "discovered...."



i don't need a trophy every year, or even one every 10 years. what i do like, however, is hunting with my dad or my boys or a good friend and not having to see a bunch of other hunters, whether of the slob variety or not. kinda ruins the experience.



as to the original topic, i agree that there are simply too many people who shoot and then ride off to a new victim if they don't see an animal fall where it is standing. too often, this also happens with antelope as well. in fact, i would contend that due to the supposed "long-range" aspect of antelope hunting, that it happens even more often with these beautiful animals than it does with deer. now, there have been a few isolated times when i have been driving along a back (way back) road somehwere, and have seen an animal in a field or on a hill and have pulled into a turnout and made a stalk. this is simply how it happens sometimes in this big country. however, i had better damn well know whose land it is, and whether or not i have permission to hunt it. anyone who does less is asking for trouble, even if it is an honest mistake.

I guess everyone has their own story to tell. I sometimes use my 4X4 to cover territory while on the hunt, if that makes me a low life road hunter than I guess so be it.

I dont have private property or any of the apparent headaches/fringe benefits that come with it. So Im largley a public grounds hunter and I am proud to say that I have NEVER violated anyones private property. But I will tell you this, it is certianly a pet peave of mine when I see low life landowners deliberatly using their posting privlidges to cut off access to public land. Now I dont want to steryotype all landowners and lump them into this group, but they are certianly out there and leave me disgusted as Im sure they do some other low life road hunters.

But I will continue to respect other peoples property nonetheless.