Hunter says somebody left a note at his stand even though he was on private land with permission — and the note-writer had trespassed to do it

A hunter in r/Hunting said he showed up at his stand and found a note waiting for him. That would have been irritating enough on its own, but what made it worse was where the stand was. He said it was on private property where he had permission from the landowner to hunt, which meant the person who left the note had to cross onto private ground to stick it there. On top of that, the other hunter’s stand was on nearby public land, only about 100 yards away from his. The post made it clear he had already had his setup there for months, so from his side of it, this was not some guy barging in late and crowding somebody else. (reddit.com)

He posted because he was trying to decide how hard to push back. In his words, he was wondering if he would come across like an a-hole for standing his ground and respectfully telling the guy to kick rocks. The comments took off from there, with plenty of people telling him that if he was on private ground with permission, the other hunter did not have much room to complain. A bunch of them also zeroed in on the same part he did: the note-writer had crossed onto land that was not his just to make a point. (reddit.com)

At first, the story looked like it was headed straight toward one of those ugly private-versus-public fights where everybody digs in and nobody backs down. Some commenters told him to ignore the note completely. Others said he ought to pass the phone number along to the landowner since it involved trespassing on his property. A few told him flat-out to call a game warden. The whole thing had that familiar feel right away, where a guy goes into the woods expecting a normal hunt and instead gets dragged into somebody else’s boundary drama before he even climbs the tree. (reddit.com)

Then the hunter came back with an update, and it shifted the story a little. He said he decided to call the guy after all, and the conversation turned out a lot calmer than he expected. According to the update, the other hunter had been hunting the public land behind the private property for a while and said he tries not to step on anyone’s toes. He told him he did not necessarily have a problem with where the stand was, even if it was not ideal from his perspective, and made it clear he understood the man on private ground had every right to be there. (reddit.com)

The backstory on the note was a lot less dramatic than the post first made it sound. The hunter explained that he had tagged out during fall bow season at the end of November and had not been in there much since, aside from checking trail camera batteries and doing routine stuff. The other guy apparently saw him come in one afternoon during the six-day rifle period and tried yelling to him, but he said he genuinely never heard him and never saw any blaze orange. The note got tucked behind his camera, folded up enough that he did not even notice it until later. (reddit.com)

The other hunter also told him he was about 157 yards from the house, said he was within legal yardage, and claimed he tries his best not to fire toward the private side, making sure his bullet path goes into the ground. So instead of this turning into a flat-out feud, it wound up sounding more like two hunters who started off on the wrong foot, with one of them choosing a pretty lousy way to make contact. Even then, the part that stuck with people was still the same: if you have to cross private property to leave your note, you are not exactly starting the conversation from solid ground. (reddit.com)