Hunting Season Encounter





Piles of gear ready for the morning hunt

The time of year has come, when you start to see blaze orange everywhere! You may see them on clothes lines or hear of people washing them in “Scent Locker” detergent. The night before, there are piles of gear scattered around the house. Dad has the pile by the door, you get the pile by the stairs, and your brother has the pile down stairs.

 Hopefully, prior to this week you were out in the woods checking your stands making sure they were safe enough for the upcoming excitement.

While out in the woods, did you may have run into other hunters doing the same? Maybe find they were putting a stand within spitball distance of your own, and wonder what they are thinking “Is that your stand” . . .  “Yes” . . .  “Do you use it?” . . . “Yes”.  It is kind of obvious. What do you say to something like that?! 

While out helping fix deer stands and enjoying the warm fall day, Casey Nelson, a frustrated hunter states, “There is nothing we can do about it, because it’s county land.”

 Shane Rasely, also a hunter explains what he would do in a situation similar to that, “you don’t do something like that. I’m hunting public land to and I made sure there isn’t a stand anywhere around me”. It is common courtesy to respect a former hunter’s property.

For the first time in your family’s history, on opening morning, struggling to see in the dark, have you stumbled upon a few other hunters on your way to your stand or find they are sitting in your stand? What is your reaction? What do you do in that situation?

Casey Nelson building a deer stand

In general, a respectful person would do or say the following. If you built the stand, ask them to get down and move, but because it is public land, there is no law that requires them to leave, it would just be the respectful thing to do. Also, avoid getting defensive. They have a gun, and you never know what they are capable of doing in a situation like that. While walking by someone in another stand, try to be quiet, hurry through, and maybe give them a courtesy wave signaling you are sorry to disrupt them. Make sure you have plenty of orange on so they see you and know you are not a target. Whatever you do, do NOT let them know you are making noise and purposely trying to corrupt their hunting because you are mad, even though you really are.

Kim Hanson, an active hunter in Minnesota, sat in her stand in which others had put one next to but didn’t get there till mid-morning, ultimately ruining the hunting for the other people. She walked directly under their stand, waved and climbed into hers. “Within 20 minutes they got down and left” she giggles. “I didn’t mind that I wouldn’t see anything. It was the fact that they realized it was my stand and rude to put theirs so close that made me feel better”.

Trimming a few trees for better visibility

 You may think different, but throughout the last few years, many hunters have noticed hunting ethics is not the same as it used to be. It was not only these few people that had their hunting grounds interrupted by other, less respectful hunters this season, there were many others. If you have a story or comments, please don’t hesitate to add them below.

Pictures taken by Emma Nelson