I am a neurotic, paranoid mess. People think I've gone off the deep end because all of my conversations tend to gravitate to one common theme. I'm not sure, but maybe a call to 3rd floor is in order.
My current state should be caused by bad students, ignorant parents, a close minded administrators. This is not the case as I have had one of the best school years ever with all the parties mentioned above doing great and wonderful things. There is one thing that is tearing me to shreds today - hunters. Deer hunter members of the orange army, to be exact!
So, I was pumped last week, looking forward to a relaxing weekend in pursuit of that elusive buck that has taken residence in my dreams of the past 3 months or so. On Friday night - or what I like to call Deer Season Eve- we pulled into our hunting "camp", which is nothing more than our old farmstead up by Lake of the Woods. I had been getting word that farmers were seeing some nice bucks crossing our land so I was already filled with adrenaline when I saw three faint lights dancing within the wooded portion of my neighbor's hunting spot. Now, I admit to being very protective of my hunting land, but my neighbor is three levels more intense than am I. I know something was up. As advised by Jeff, the local C.O., I called in what I considered to be suspicious activity. To make a long story short, I was able to confront three Brainerd residents exiting the neighbor's land, carrying typical hunting gear, including deer stands. They gave me some song and dance about a lost and hurt hunter and ensured - no proclaimed - the that FOR SURE had full permission to be there by the landowner himself! A LOW county deputy showed up, took info, and that was it. After some follow up, it was clearly shown that their whole story was a crock. Guess what happened - yep, nothing.
Later in the weekend, as I was packing up after a morning hunt, I was approached by another out-of-towner and WELL KNOWN poacher. He inquired as to my exact leave time (he knew that I was a teacher and had to be in school on Monday) and if anyone was hunting with me. He wanted to know alot of what I thought was really odd details about deer movement on my land and who was hunting where. I tried to create an impromptu story to throw him off my trail, but it was poor and I think he saw through it. He explained that his son (a guy that my hunting buddy caught heading to one of our stands a couple of years ago) was coming up to hunt during the week - like I said, this guy knew I would be gone during this time - and that he planned to hunt some land to the east of us. I explained that most all of the land was privately owned but he didn't seem too worried. His sone was coming and that was that.
Well, I had to pack up and go back to work that evening, fully understanding that this former co-worker of mine was going to be reporting back to his son that they would have a green light to our hunting land and it would be free of hunters. I am convinced of that!
The icing on the cake came on Monday night in the form of a phone call. I was working on my dog's kennel, so I didn't take the first call. Rather than leaving a message with my wife, he insisted that he talked to me directly. When I called him back, he asked some non-sense question about goose hunting. I am sure that he was just double checking that I would was not up at our land and wouldn't be until the weekend. Am I an idiot or is that not as clear as it can get that these guys know how to play the system?
Lots of people have been telling me to report these happenings and to let law enforcement handle the situation. I've done the reporting but I understand that the local deputies and C.O.s are as busy as they can get during this time and to dedicate most of their time to one chunk of land is unrealistic. Besides, most poachers are wise. They know enough to plan a back up story and they study land boundaries to create quick exit strategies. It becomes such as cat and mouse game that it sucks all fun out of my hunting. I am at the point that I believe I should sell all my hunting stuff and take up scrapbooking! My alternative to this is make tourist season into a real season, with a daily bag limit of one and possession limit of two. That makes way more sense to me!
