How many folks have encountered illegal activity on public land? Just curiosity. This year nailed down a promising spot on public land after a lot of scouting, late season find fresh remains of a buck that had the “trophy” removed and everything else left, along with corn. Game cam shows a guy going in at night and spotlighting.

Know it happens, just throwing it up for discussion as to how prevalent it is.

Not just public. I found an ejected shell from a caliber that I don’t own on my place last week. Somebody had to walk a long way to get there.

I ran into a teenager out here at the Cooper WMA that was standing on the side of the road. I stopped to see if he needed help. He said his Dad had dropped him off at a brush blind they had built. He was sitting there when a guy walked by carrying a shovel. He had no gun or bow. The guy didn't see him so as soon as he was out of site he came out of the woods. The only vehicle within a mile in either direction was his Dad's. Don't know where he came from, where he was going, or why he was walking around in the woods carrying a shovel but he sure scared that kid.

All. The. Time.

Like wise,All.The.Time. however this is all private property and the land owners do not even know or maybe they just turn a blind eye to it.

I called the law on some guys one time. I was on Fort Bragg. It was the only day that i hunted that year. Never again.

I have never felt so let down by law enforcement than in that moment.

I've seen more illegal activity these past 2 season than ever before. Usually its people baiting on public land, cutting trees down to make a shooting lane, littering/dumping, and using rifles/shotguns in archery only areas (I find spent cartridges and shells).

But the last incident was by far the worst. It happened at Sam Houston.

I was blessed with a USNF doe tag for the rifle season.
On my last opportunity to get a doe during rifle season (January 6), I drove up to a logging road gate where I planned to walk in and hunt.
Immediately there in front of the gate was a dead deer. Not even 10 yards from the road. Got out of the truck and went to check it out. It was an undersized 8-point buck (about 11" spread)

I flipped it over and it was evident it was shot, then dumped there. I'm thinking someone shot it, then realized it was undersized and got rid of it.
Really sucks.

Very prevalent.

Hunting on Fort Bragg, I hiked in about three miles to hunt a spot where I knew there were some good deer. I heard the ATV’s, well you know I had to sneak in and look at these mfers that were messing up my hunt. Found a buck missing the head, backstraps, and hams and a doe missing the backstraps and hams. It was definitely a quick job in the field and illegal activity, every deer shot on Fort Bragg must be physically checked in at the station and it was forbidden to take a motorized vehicle off the road. Called the police, told me to call the outdoor rec center. Called the outdoor rec center, told me to call the police lol. Called them back, they tried to gaslight me and convince me on the phone that it was coyotes. So i took pictures of cleanly sawn bones and cuts and sent it to them. They contected the game warden, one reason or another he could not come.

They eventually sent me an MP, an E6 on a power trip that has never spent any time in the woods other than field training in the Army. I hiked some 2 and a half miles back and forth to his car twice, took and sent him pictures, he tried to tell me it was coyotes he obviously didn’t want to deal with it. He was afraid to get lost or stuck and pretty much made me spend the day hiking back and forth and conducting his investigation for him lol. It was the only day I had to hunt, that year, at all.

Also first thing he did before anything else was check everything he could possibly cite or arrest me for. Of course I did everything right, hunting on post not worth taking nay risks at all. Apparently unless you are a poacher with an ATV, lol. Pretty sure he called my chain of command too and told them I had an attitude problem. You bet I did, after working for him until past dark. And i never said a cross word to him… just obviously was not happy about it.

I will never call the law on another poacher as long as I live. I will handle it myself or more likely, not at all.

Many times they don't want to hike for miles and have it eat up the whole day to end up writing a ticket or two.

Just gets worse as we get more people on earth & lots of those just get sorrier.

I watched a guy boat up at sunrise to a draw only, duck hunting refuge area. He hopped out, put a mojo up and shoot a couple of times then grabbed his mojo and left. Why?

On a piece of property I hunt, a neighbor crossed a fence and set up a stand facing the direction of my feeders on the last Friday of rifle season. I noticed it on the following Monday when I went to check cameras and feeders. The landowner told me to take it down and met me and he carried it to the interior of the property. The neighbor called him and said someone took his stand!

Lotta bad folks out there. Keep your head up and do right. Call in what you can and slowly back out of things beyond your control. Live to see another day.

One year I was driving by Cooper WMA and had to use the bathroom really bad. I grabbed a shovel out of the back and started walking into the woods. There was a kid sitting in brush blind that startled me really bad. He was clearly hunting illegally.

nice