even Farmer's can be A holes !!!

[jplittlebuck]

saw a sight tonight that makes my skin crawl, and it agravates the hell out of me, because i try to stay on most of these local farmers good side, 95% of them i have the utmost respect for, but theres always those few,
7:30 this evening, i pull up at a location to try and roost a gobbler, walk about 20 yards from my truck, between two fields, i see what looks like a black plastic seed bag in the dirt about 300 yards away, its a lone Tom picking grubs in a fresh turned field, about 50 yards from the edge of the woods, the sun was so bright on him, and he was not moving, he looked like a plastic bag,
Farmers throw seed bags all over the place filling hoppers this time of year,
well time to just watch this ole long beard head back into the hardwoods, from right were i am, it wont be long he'll be on a limb, it should be a nice hunt in the morning,
i can hear a tractor working up ground, rocks clanking off the plow, and i can just about follow were he is by the black diesel smoke in the air, these fields have alot of ups and downs, and i cant see him, niether can the
turkey,
next couple passes he starts comming higher, and the gobbler starts woking his way towards the woods,
around 8pm, with the bright sun light fadding on this big ole toms back, the tractor comes to a stop, at the crest of a knoll, at the edge of what he's plowing, and a green field, tractor idels down, gobbler is looking back at the tractor from about 400 yards, and i'm close to the road, about 400 yards from both the gobbler and the tractor,
BOOM as dirt and dust fly up about 20 yards past the Turkey,
Son Of A bitch !!! as the big Tom Beats feet towad the woods,
scared the living hell out of me, and let me tell ya, this Ahole is going to get an ear full from me in about 10 minutes, when i get back to my truck and drive over there,
drive back to his farm, and speed back through his tractor trail, property i have hunted on for many years, and a friendship i thought we had, i new in some cases he can be an outlaw, especially when it comes to deer, but let me tell you fellas, i am one pissed off sucker,
i jump out of my truck, start running him down out in the field, he stops, opens the door, i said " What the hell is wrong with you man, i'm back there roosting turkey "" gives me a funny grin, says, You Are ??
Ya i are, why did you shoot at that Turkey, he said there pulling up his fresh oats from another Field, besides, did you see the beard on that sucker, looked like it was about this long, i'm just shaking my head, he can see i'm pissed, so i chewed his ass off, told him if i ever see him do crap like that again, we were going to roll around in the dirt, his answer was whats the issue, theres plenty of turkey,
fact is there's not, especially big adult birds, and theres no damn reason to be pulling crap like that,
figured for sure at this point he would tell me to just get the hell off his land, and keep out of here hunting, but he didn't, i just walked away, wanting to ask him how many times over the years he';s been doing that crap,
what a stinken Waste, i'm still pissed as hell, he has left two messages on my machine, and i'm still to fit to be tied to talk to him tonight,
he missed that bird, but you have to wonder how many others he has hit,
and this is just one of about 40 locations i might hunt durring a spring season, so it shouldn't be a big deal right? wrong, it's a big deal to me, and tomorow when we talk, i'll lay into him again, i dont care if he tells me to stay off his farm, but if he kicks me off, i'm going to tell anyone that will listen to me, this story,
fact is i'm going to anyway, i got absulutly no sympathy for some of these cry baby's with there crops being eaten by deer, i'm not even going to talk about Turkey, Geese are 10 fold worse then anything turkey can do, and boy does this guy shoot geese and deer, last year before deer season started, he shot 27 deer in september,
everone that hunts on this particular block that didn't kill a deer last year blamed him,
shame to, all his deer shooting is done with approval of the state DEC,
and i even had a pair of Shed antlers last year, from a 130 class buck, that had great potential for last season, needless to say, after that slaughter i spent very little time bow hunting over there last season,
funny thing to is, that buck had made it through, and i know the fella that found the match, mine from 2 years ago are 130", and the ones from this spring are 145",
so he and i made a deal, if either of us killed that buck this upcomming season, would get both sets, so unless he does another depradation Slaughter, hope to be back there next season,
but wont loose sleep if i'm not !!
BTW killed a Tom this morning myself, not much on numbers but a heck of a nice show, to the end of the barrel, 18lbs, 9" beard, 3/4" spurs, 2 year old bird,
it's always nice to kill one a little later in the season,
when all commitments to other folks are done, the drive to kill one really kicked in these last few days, really have been enjoying the heck out of this spring season,
except for that crap this evening !!!
And also, i wont be hunting that big Tom in the morning, maybe in a few days i'll get someone else on him, besides this idiot farmer, he's actually in a very nice call in woods, it's a shame the poor ole longbeards have to be warry at 400 yards too !!!
BTW, it was a .223 he shot at that Tom, i know for a fact he dumps many Yotes with that rifle also, i cant blame himm for that,,,

[jirvin]

Dang it J.P.I hate to hear that and I'am glad you are ok.That idiot could have hit you,not knowing you were over there and taking a shot like that.Sometimes I wonder what a Turkey has to go through on a daily basis and I guess this is an example.No wonder on certain days they are not where you thought they would be.They get the sh*t scared out of them from 400 yards away.

Congrats on the bird you did get and I'am glad you are still with us.Now go give him and the turkeys Hell.

[DaveHawk]

JP, I hear ya, but the fact is, it is his property. That's why I always like to stop and let the owner know I am out there or let him see my van. I know farmers and what their campable of and many will take shots from their tractors or front porches and if I'm out there I don't want a shot coming my way.

This is the guy who took the Crop damage permits last year you spoke about I assume.

[jplittlebuck]

Thanks Jeff on the gobbler, and Dave, No, people cant do everything as they please on there own Land,
if that were the case, there would be no hunting season, rules and regulations reguarding hunting such game,
if people weren't prosicuted for these types of violations, there would be no game to hunt, and i sure as hell dont want this area to turn into other states, that have little or no game to hunt,
IMO things like this need to be stopped in there tracks,
so that the future generations can enjoy hunting, without having to pay for leases, and club fees, we dont have any of that crap around here,
but we darn sure will if every land own feels the need to shoot any wild game on there property, and being a farmer, doesn't give them excusive or special rights to do such crap,
he;ll i plant a bunch of expensive fruit trees in my yard,
and they get destroyed by deer or somthing else,
thats money out of my pocket, what to do?? go out and start shooting them ??
maybe farmers can legally do that in Maryland, but that may very well be the reason you have to pay to hunt land, were thats not happening, and if you choose not to pay, hunt your public land, and bring a
book with you to your treestand, so you can pass it to the guy sitting in the tree next to ya, LOL

[DaveHawk]

JP, in Md. and in Montgomery county, farmers can take anly kind of game distroying their crops by any means nessary . That 's a law on the books. Farmers here do not need a lic. for their own land.

I cleared it with the wife. I'll be out of here Thursady for a last Hurra Haaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !