Public land hunters

Lol at some of the stuff people do rifle deer hunting public land. I really think a lot of it is that so many people who deer hunt literally only spend those 2 days per year in the woods, maybe even outside in general.

I came across this setup last year on opening morning. This clearing is less than 100 yards long and 50 yards wide. And it’s on a major ATV trail intersection. There was a guy in the stand on the north end, assume people in the ground blind on the south end, side by side parked on the east side, and a fresh new salt block placed directly in the middle of everything

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brandyman wrote:

Our family quit going to Chippewa National Forest due to too many hunters in the area were in.

I hunted that for 25 years and rarely encountered “too many hunters.” The key was getting as far off the beaten path as possible. Most hunters are lazy and want to access their stands easily, so they hunt near a road or trail. The number of hunters I ran into out there in 25 years could be counted on one hand.

The amount of trash on public land is absolutely disgusting and embarrassing to all hunters

If the corn is standing, can you still see and shoot deer in it? Some corn is so tall I wouldn’t think you could see a deer in it. I know when I pheasant hunt, I see a ton of stands on private fields right on the line, because often the private land is devoid of any kind of wildlife habitat. I do agree with you that when they saw a headlamp, they should have moved a couple hundred yards away or more.

crawdaddy wrote:

If the corn is standing, can you still see and shoot deer in it? Some corn is so tall I wouldn’t think you could see a deer in it.

Yes you can. The corn I walked last week was definitely huntable. An elevated stand along standing corn could provide a decent vantage point of view into the corn as well.

The strategy for hunting deer in corn is to sneak along very slow, one row at a time, and then spot one before it knows your there. I tried this very tactic last week on a windy day. I believe it is a sound tactic, I just didn’t see any deer doing it.

crawdaddy wrote:

If the corn is standing, can you still see and shoot deer in it? Some corn is so tall I wouldn’t think you could see a deer in it. I know when I pheasant hunt, I see a ton of stands on private fields right on the line, because often the private land is devoid of any kind of wildlife habitat. I do agree with you that when they saw a headlamp, they should have moved a couple hundred yards away or more.

Yes you can shoot in to the corn. It worked well for my buddy and the farmer. You can’t see in to certain spots but there are many spots you can shoot 100 plus yards. Depends how you are set up. The corn will be cut right before late season and that will reopen the guys trying to hunt the fresh cut corn with black powder. My complaints were mainly how sad people are and unbothered they just trespass. Farmer said he’s found many headless deer out there over the years. It’s my first year helping watch the land and it’s a headache to keep up with. Show up to a stand and find footprints and trash meaning some one was in it. I still actively hunt many different public areas and couldn’t imagine sneaking in to some ones stand and hunting over there land

tswoboda wrote:

Lol at some of the stuff people do rifle deer hunting public land. I really think a lot of it is that so many people who deer hunt literally only spend those 2 days per year in the woods, maybe even outside in general.

I came across this setup last year on opening morning. This clearing is less than 100 yards long and 50 yards wide. And it’s on a major ATV trail intersection. There was a guy in the stand on the north end, assume people in the ground blind on the south end, side by side parked on the east side, and a fresh new salt block placed directly in the middle of everything

That’s kind of funny.

tswoboda wrote:

The amount of trash on public land is absolutely disgusting and embarrassing to all hunters

Not all trash is from hunters.
I’ve seen TV’s, mattresses, couches, recliners, you name it dumped on a field road. This isn’t hunters. It’s slobs that don’t want to pay to dispose of items the legal way. That costs $$$$

I hunted that for 25 years and rarely encountered “too many hunters.” The key was getting as far off the beaten path as possible. Most hunters are lazy and want to access their stands easily, so they hunt near a road or trail. The number of hunters I ran into out there in 25 years could be counted on one hand.
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Totally agree. “Our camp” was fairly close to a dead end logging road. There just got to be alot of camps in that area with 10 guys an a group. It was nearly constant traffic from sunup to sundown 5 miles off the tar road vehicles, atvs and side by sides.
I loved hunting there, and yes, people are lazy, 1/2 mile from road, there was no one around. We were south of Marcell. Lots of room if you want to walk.

brandyman wrote:

It was nearly constant traffic from sunup to sundown 5 miles off the tar road vehicles, atvs and side by sides.

That’s interesting, because on public land you cannot operate a machine during legal shooting hours other than during 11am – 2pm, or before/after legal shooting time. I could hear the ATVs and side by sides on the Soo Line every day starting shortly after 11am.

My Father got cited by an officer for using his ATV to haul a deer out once around 3pm in the afternoon. I told him not to do it and he still went ahead with it. Busted cold.

gimruis wrote:

My Father got cited by an officer for using his ATV to haul a deer out once around 3pm in the afternoon. I told him not to do it and he still went ahead with it. Busted cold.

I can assure you not everywhere is that followed or patrolled.

John Rasmussen wrote:

I can assure you not everywhere is that followed or patrolled.

Oh I’m sure of that. My own Father is an example. And I warned him too.

Coletrain27 wrote:

by law private land can be entered without permission unless it is posted or ag land. if the land owner asks people to leave then they must leave. im not saying its right for people to be entering but thats the law

Is that Minnesota ? I believe here in Wisconsin some years back the law was changed , we do not have to post our land . Its the persons responsibility to find out if it public or private . So one would be liable for trespass if entering private without permission . Yet it seems to not stop people from doing it .

Don Meier wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Coletrain27 wrote:</div>
by law private land can be entered without permission unless it is posted or ag land. if the land owner asks people to leave then they must leave. im not saying its right for people to be entering but thats the law

Is that Minnesota ? I believe here in Wisconsin some years back the law was changed , we do not have to post our land . Its the persons responsibility to find out if it public or private . So one would be liable for trespass if entering private without permission . Yet it seems to not stop people from doing it .

yes mn

Coletrain27 wrote:

Is that Minnesota ? I believe here in Wisconsin some years back the law was changed , we do not have to post our land . Its the persons responsibility to find out if it public or private . So one would be liable for trespass if entering private without permission . Yet it seems to not stop people from doing it .

yes mn

That really needs to be changed in Minnesota as well. Someone who owns land should not need to post it to have to keep people from using it. To me its no different than someone being able to use someones home or fishhouse just because its not posted. They are all private property.

fishthumper wrote:

That really needs to be changed in Minnesota as well. Someone who owns land should not need to post it to have to keep people from using it. To me its no different than someone being able to use someones home or fishhouse just because its not posted. They are all private property.

I really dont think its that tough to hang signs on your land. Heck in ND if a property is unposted physically and electronically its legal to hunt! We should have that!

Youbetcha wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
That really needs to be changed in Minnesota as well. Someone who owns land should not need to post it to have to keep people from using it. To me its no different than someone being able to use someones home or fishhouse just because its not posted. They are all private property.

I really dont think its that tough to hang signs on your land. Heck in ND if a property is unposted physically and electronically its legal to hunt! We should have that!

Go hang 100 signs. It’s pretty lame. This is the first time I don’t agree with you. People’s land shouldn’t be public because a sign is down or damaged. After you hang 100 signs make sure you keep up on them. Weather is a sob on them. People take them down. Wind destroys them and so on.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Go hang 100 signs. It’s pretty lame. This is the first time I don’t agree with you. People’s land shouldn’t be public because a sign is down or damaged. After you hang 100 signs make sure you keep up on them. Weather is a sob on them. People take them down. Wind destroys them and so on.

Well shoot. Id imagine the reason its like that is to make it easier from a law enforcement stand point. Just saying it would be interesting to have the ND model. Heck you could come out with a sign that will survive the seasons better and make some money in MN.

fishthumper wrote:

That really needs to be changed in Minnesota as well. Someone who owns land should not need to post it to have to keep people from using it.

I agree, just because the land isn’t posted shouldn’t mean its a free for all. That’s a BS law and it needs to be changed. What they’re doing is giving the advantage to the lazy hunters out there that are unwilling to seek permission or have the respect to stay off private land without any type of punishment.

I like Wisconsin’s trespass laws a lot better. Doesn’t need to be posted. Stay out regardless or pay the price if caught.

Well shoot. Id imagine the reason its like that is to make it easier from a law enforcement stand point. Just saying it would be interesting to have the ND model. Heck you could come out with a sign that will survive the seasons better and make some money in MN.
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If I built a plywood backer plate for each sign that would be over a 1000 bucks in just lumber. Metal signs are 15 bucks a piece and up x 100, that’s alot of money. I just nail up a bunch of laminated signs and check them every once and a while. But it’s time consuming and when you figure out it’s a couple d bags who rip them down and bury them so they can trespass, it’s pretty sad. I’m not a land owner, but I help the guy who let’s me hunt. Now both in savage and north branch. The savage land owner deals with it worse even because of scummy people

While I completely agree signs should not be required, I also really appreciate it when property owners maintain some bright yellow posted signs on property lines in the big woods. GPS gets you close but can be 10s of yards off. The last thing I want to do is be on someone’s private land and signs make that a lot easier.

The posting regulations highly empower trespassing. Have discussed it with CO’s at length. The sign has to be dated, signed and a phone number on it, and has to be revisited yearly. I date, sign, phone number all mine and spend way to much time making and hanging them and am still not 100% legally posted. Habitual trespassers know this. Take pics of mine and make the locations easy to identify in images. Like the one CO told me, you’ve done everything you can, but it’d still be hard to get a conviction to stick. It helps keep the honest honest. But posting doesn’t deter the addict trespasser. Cameras help, but not that much.

As far as the litter goes my dad use to always come out of the woods with other people’s garbage. Try to do the same but didn’t have his nose for it. He’s passed now but still try to carry out what I find. Have actually seen and noticed more guys doing the same. There’s a lot of pieces of ch!t that are lazy slobs, but a lot more I think are sick of seeing it and picking it up vs a couple decades ago.

Youbetcha wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
That really needs to be changed in Minnesota as well. Someone who owns land should not need to post it to have to keep people from using it. To me its no different than someone being able to use someones home or fishhouse just because its not posted. They are all private property.

I really dont think its that tough to hang signs on your land. Heck in ND if a property is unposted physically and electronically its legal to hunt! We should have that!

Its not tough to hang a no Trespass sign on your home either, But its not necessary there. I just don’t see a difference. I believe the law was changed out in ND as well on being able to hunt unposted land. Even if it has not been changed out there, I’d be real careful about trespassing on some of those farmers lands without asking. They often don’t really care what the law says and handle the situation themselves I know of more than a few ND farmers, and I can tell you if you are on their land without asking permission, its going to end rather poorly for you.

Youbetcha wrote:

Heck in ND if a property is unposted physically and electronically its legal to hunt!

I stand corrected. Your statement is correct. Not sure how the whole Electronically posting works but hopefully its rather easy and effective. With the amount of land some farmers out there own, It would be a lot of work to post with physical signs. Either way I know I would not hunt any land out there without getting permission from the owner.

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Carter Johnson wrote:</div>
Heck in ND if a property is unposted physically and electronically its legal to hunt!

I stand corrected. Your statement is correct. Not sure how the whole Electronically posting works but hopefully its rather easy and effective. With the amount of land some farmers out there own, It would be a lot of work to post with physical signs. Either way I know I would not hunt any land out there without getting permission from the owner.

Its a weird law for sure. I think its common out east too.

fishthumper wrote:

Either way I know I would not hunt any land out there without getting permission from the owner.

I lived in and hunted ND for 8 years and couldn’t disagree more with this. I actually spent the first year doing exactly what you say… asking permission for unposted land. Majority of the time this just annoyed the owner and they were like why are you bothering me, it’s not posted. Realize the vast majority of asking permission in ND is for waterfowl hunting harvested ag fields. It’s an ask permission today, hunt tomorrow kind of deal. Farmers with posted fields get inundated with calls when they have a hot field, thus some of them choose not to post so they don’t have to deal with the chaos. Turns out they’re kinda busy with work in the fall.

fishthumper wrote:

Even if it has not been changed out there, I’d be real careful about trespassing on some of those farmers lands without asking. They often don’t really care what the law says and handle the situation themselves I know of more than a few ND farmers, and I can tell you if you are on their land without asking permission, its going to end rather poorly for you.

What do you mean with this exactly? Have you watched Fargo a few too many times? I know a bunch of farmers, and the last thing any of them would do is what you are implying, unless I’m missing something.

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
Even if it has not been changed out there, I’d be real careful about trespassing on some of those farmers lands without asking. They often don’t really care what the law says and handle the situation themselves I know of more than a few ND farmers, and I can tell you if you are on their land without asking permission, its going to end rather poorly for you.

What do you mean with this exactly? Have you watched Fargo a few too many times? I know a bunch of farmers, and the last thing any of them would do is what you are implying, unless I’m missing something.

Many farmers in ND now have 4 years+ of college education and are more versed in business than Ag. No one is assaulting anyone these days over trespassing, sorry.

BigWerm wrote:

What do you mean with this exactly? Have you watched Fargo a few too many times? I know a bunch of farmers, and the last thing any of them would do is what you are implying, unless I’m missing something.

Never watched Fargo. Is it worth the time to watch? I was part of a larger group who waterfowl hunted out in the Perth area in SD for over 20 years starting in the mid 80’s. Doing so we ran into a fair # of others hunters along the way. There was plenty of encounters with some Farmers in the area. Most would do almost anything to help you as long as you took the time to stop and talk with them and ask permission. But there were some who flat out did not like or want anyone hunting on their property without permission. If you want to hunt on property out there without permission, Go ahead. Sooner or later and you will run into someone who does not appreciate it and will find out what can and may happen. I have not been back hunting in ND since the mid 90’s so maybe all the farmers out there are all really nice towards trespassers these days. I live by the thinking that just because you can get away with doing something, does not mean that you should. Other live by other standards I guess. Everyone is free to do what you want. I just know I’m far less likely to have a problem with a landowner who I asked permission from, than from one who I did not.

fishthumper wrote:

Never watched Fargo. Is it worth the time to watch?

Yeah, I liked the movie and one season of the show.

So just so we are clear you don’t actually know any ND Farmers, only hunted SD over 20 years ago and the rest you were just making up stuff? Sounds about right. Farmers are some of the best people out there in my estimation, and yes everyone should respect property rights and local norms. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk!