Cute ones aren't any better, but I digress.
I had a sweet little old lady next door neighbor call me over to her driveway the other day.
She said she saw me field-dressing a deer from the gable of my front porch, and wanted to know if I would be interested in some apples.
Seems she had an apple tree taken out of her back yard and had collected 4 or 5 bushels of apples.
She said they were too small to use for cooking or eating, but she had heard that deer like apples.
I told her yes, I would haul off the lot of unwanted apples for her.
I picked them up this morning and headed out to the property I have permission to hunt.
I was parked along side the road playing Johnny Appleseed, just tossing hand-fulls of apples here and there then move the truck 20 yards or so and repeat.
Here I am, minding my own business, when a van passes me. I didn't notice at first, but it traveled another several hundred feet down the road and stopped.
When I noticed the van stopped I turned to face it and raised my arms as if to say, "What?"
The van turned around and came back, but it stopped adjacent to the back of my truck.
I approached the van and asked if I could help her.
The lady, and I use that term loosely here, asked "What do you think you're doing?"
I told her I was out trying to get apple trees to grow on the property I hunt.
"So, you're going to hunt this property. Do you have permission?"
I said yes, I do have permission, and have had standing permission to hunt these 3 adjacent properties for just over 10 years.
She said, "I know what you are doing. It's called baiting, and it's illegal."
I tried to tell her that she was mistaken. That baiting was legal, even though that's not what I was doing. I told her it is legal to bait as long as it is removed from the site within 10 days of the hunting season.
She was adamant that I was involved in a criminal activity and that she was going to ensure that authorities were notified as to m,y activities.
She then asked the names of the property owners and I obliged.
She then said, "I'd better NEVER catch you on MY property."
I asked her where she lived and she said, "I'M NOT going to tell you that."
I asked her what her name was and she refused to tell me, only saying, "You'll find out soon enough who I am."
She pulled out her phone and took a picture of my license plate. I then reached in my pocket and said, "You want to know who I am? Here's my business card with my contact info."
She snatched it out of my hand and repeated, "I'd better NEVER catch you on my property, and I better not see your truck anywhere NEAR my property."
I told her I only hunt property I have permission to hunt, that she was still wrong about baiting, and that she was more than welcome to try to report my alleged criminal activities.
She put the van into drive, turned the wheel hard, looked me straight in the eye and said, "Yeah, well F*** YOU!" and drove away in a hurry.
I yelled back, "You have a nice day too."
I was taken aback only because this encounter was completely unexpected.
As I said I've hunted this property for 10 years and have had ZERO issues with anyone in the neighborhood.
I finished my task of playing Johnny Appleseed and hoped back in the truck. Headed back into town I started to brew over this ignorant you-know-what giving me a hard time for no good reason.
I decided I didn't want this to be a one-sided story if it came to that so I drove to the Sheriff's office and filed an incident report detailing her description, van's description, plate number, time of day, geographic location...and the situation as it played out.
The Sheriff's deputy kind of chuckled and said, "Deer season already?" I told him it didn't start for another few weeks.
He chuckled and said they would look into the matter and inform DNR, but that I should not worry about it.
I told him I wasn't really worried about it. I was more ticked off that this not-so-nice individual saw fit to harass me and threatened to have me arrested. I also told him I was more than just a little ticked that she decided to curse at me for no apparent reason.
I don't know for sure if it really "takes all kinds to make the world go 'round..." but even if it DOESN'T take all kinds, they're still out there, whether we need them or not.
Rant over.
I had a sweet little old lady next door neighbor call me over to her driveway the other day.
She said she saw me field-dressing a deer from the gable of my front porch, and wanted to know if I would be interested in some apples.
Seems she had an apple tree taken out of her back yard and had collected 4 or 5 bushels of apples.
She said they were too small to use for cooking or eating, but she had heard that deer like apples.
I told her yes, I would haul off the lot of unwanted apples for her.
I picked them up this morning and headed out to the property I have permission to hunt.
I was parked along side the road playing Johnny Appleseed, just tossing hand-fulls of apples here and there then move the truck 20 yards or so and repeat.
Here I am, minding my own business, when a van passes me. I didn't notice at first, but it traveled another several hundred feet down the road and stopped.
When I noticed the van stopped I turned to face it and raised my arms as if to say, "What?"
The van turned around and came back, but it stopped adjacent to the back of my truck.
I approached the van and asked if I could help her.
The lady, and I use that term loosely here, asked "What do you think you're doing?"
I told her I was out trying to get apple trees to grow on the property I hunt.
"So, you're going to hunt this property. Do you have permission?"
I said yes, I do have permission, and have had standing permission to hunt these 3 adjacent properties for just over 10 years.
She said, "I know what you are doing. It's called baiting, and it's illegal."
I tried to tell her that she was mistaken. That baiting was legal, even though that's not what I was doing. I told her it is legal to bait as long as it is removed from the site within 10 days of the hunting season.
She was adamant that I was involved in a criminal activity and that she was going to ensure that authorities were notified as to m,y activities.
She then asked the names of the property owners and I obliged.
She then said, "I'd better NEVER catch you on MY property."
I asked her where she lived and she said, "I'M NOT going to tell you that."
I asked her what her name was and she refused to tell me, only saying, "You'll find out soon enough who I am."
She pulled out her phone and took a picture of my license plate. I then reached in my pocket and said, "You want to know who I am? Here's my business card with my contact info."
She snatched it out of my hand and repeated, "I'd better NEVER catch you on my property, and I better not see your truck anywhere NEAR my property."
I told her I only hunt property I have permission to hunt, that she was still wrong about baiting, and that she was more than welcome to try to report my alleged criminal activities.
She put the van into drive, turned the wheel hard, looked me straight in the eye and said, "Yeah, well F*** YOU!" and drove away in a hurry.
I yelled back, "You have a nice day too."
I was taken aback only because this encounter was completely unexpected.
As I said I've hunted this property for 10 years and have had ZERO issues with anyone in the neighborhood.
I finished my task of playing Johnny Appleseed and hoped back in the truck. Headed back into town I started to brew over this ignorant you-know-what giving me a hard time for no good reason.
I decided I didn't want this to be a one-sided story if it came to that so I drove to the Sheriff's office and filed an incident report detailing her description, van's description, plate number, time of day, geographic location...and the situation as it played out.
The Sheriff's deputy kind of chuckled and said, "Deer season already?" I told him it didn't start for another few weeks.
He chuckled and said they would look into the matter and inform DNR, but that I should not worry about it.
I told him I wasn't really worried about it. I was more ticked off that this not-so-nice individual saw fit to harass me and threatened to have me arrested. I also told him I was more than just a little ticked that she decided to curse at me for no apparent reason.
I don't know for sure if it really "takes all kinds to make the world go 'round..." but even if it DOESN'T take all kinds, they're still out there, whether we need them or not.
Rant over.
