USFS Reverses Course Regarding On Trail Camping During Deer Season

[sargevining]

2014 USFS Hunting Guide just Published:

http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_...prd3809523.pdf


The part that concerns us:

-- All those camping or hunting in the Angelina, Davy Crockett, Sabine or Sam Houston National Forest or the Caddo National Grasslands must camp in designated campsites or developed recreation areas from Sept. 15 through Feb. 1.

Late last year, the decision was made to dispense with this nonsense. LSHT remains the only long distance trail in the country that does not allow on trail camping during deer season.

BTW---

Its still safe to camp on trail with bow hunters from 1 September to 14 September. They only become a threat to backpackers after the 15th.

[OneClick]

That's not "camping" to me. Hopefully this doesn't become more and more common. If it does, I'll either have to break the rules or stop backpacking. The whole point for me is to LNT, tread lightly and stay away from beat-down sites where people trashed and pissed all over.

And hunters should be taught that deer don't typically carry backpacks and walk on two legs

[Bruiserbaum]

I totally agree. Fall is one of my favorite times to camp in the NC Mountains, but it is also hunting season. I always wear a bright color due to not trusting peoples judgement. I never understood why in the world would a hunter shoot at something they can't identify?

[aussie_jason]

It is so annoying that the best time of the year for camping is off limits, why is hunting season so long anyway? Deer populations can't be that out of control as I've seen a grand total of 3 out there this year so why do we even have a hunting season?

[Acer]

That, unfortunately happens all the time in every state. Most of the time, its a weekend warrior type hunter, that just bought everything and goes hunting only the opening weekend of the season. Or the second reason is that a weekend hunter the opening weekend dumps his small kid out by himself in a area, and goes off in a different area leaving the youngster by himself. Bullets do travel long distances no matter where your at also so don't say you can't get shot and not hear the sound of the rifle going off. Another reason, hunting brings in big bucks in a lot of states a lot more than backpackers and hikers. The hunters complain about hikers and backpackers screwing up their hunting and they have various organizations that have quite a bit of money behind them getting their state DNR's to pass these regulations favoring the hunting masses. Also, the various states that will have rules like this are going to favor the hunters in order to decrease the wildlife as its the only real way to control the masses by allowing hunting and the killing of them. Opening weekend of gun season in Indiana sounds like a Vietnam war for the first couple of days here. Backpackers and hikers are in a small minority during hunting season moreso than summer and are going to have the rules against them when it comes to their saftey and the rules that are being created like this. Just my 2 cents but I see it coming down the pike, more and more.

Bowseason can be as dangerous as rifles anymore as the manufacturers are making stronger bows and crossbows all the time and they now shoot faster and farther than ever with some hunters now taking shots at deer up to 100 yds. I shot 2 large deer last year where the arrow blows completely thru them now and never did find my arrows from those 2 animals that were as heavy as 200 plus pounds.

I copied this also from a Texas hunting forum:

Hunters in 2011:
Spent $34 billion in total expenditures in the U.S. economy for hunting.
The average hunter spent $2,484 for hunting in 2011.
575,000 jobs in the U.S. are sustained entirely by hunting
Approx $17,000,000,000 in salaries and wages for jobs in or directly related to the hunting industry.
This contributes approx $2,400,000,000 in federal income taxes
Hunting memberships and contributions $382,817,000
Land bought or leased for hunting $7,389,915,000
Licenses, stamps, tags, permits $986,385,000
Vegetative plantings for food/habitat $702,601,000
Totaling $9,461,718,000 spent in 2011 in direct efforts for hunting and conservation

Hunters are the fuel behind RMEF and its 6.3 million-plus acres of habitat conservation.
Hunters pay more than $1.6 billion a year for conservation programs. Noe one gives more.
Ducks Inimited has 4,868,193 acrs of conservation in the U.S.
NWTF is committed to conserve and enhance 4,000,000,000 acres of upland habitat.
$4.2 billion — Amount of money sportsmen have contributed to conservation through a federal excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, and gear since the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Act established the tax. Millions of acres of public-use land has been purchased, preserved, and maintained with this money.
20-fold increase in the number of wild elk, the 133-fold increase in the wild turkey flock, and the roughly 70-fold increase in the national whitetail deer herd over the last century.
In 2013 alone the excise tax on firearms and ammo from the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Act produced $522,552,011 to be put towards conservation.
Approx $300 to $400 million per year for conservation from private hunting organizations in the U.S.
Nationwide, sportsmen’s dollars outpace tax dollars for conservation efforts by a ratio of 9 to 1.

[Acer]

It is so annoying that the best time of the year for camping is off limits, why is hunting season so long anyway? Deer populations can't be that out of control as I've seen a grand total of 3 out there this year so why do we even have a hunting season?

read this as your from texas and you have a whitetail deer heard between 3 and 4 million deer, not to count mule deer, and all the other critters you can hunt in your state.

http://www.wildtexas.com/wildguides/whitetail.php

[sargevining]

It is so annoying that the best time of the year for camping is off limits, why is hunting season so long anyway? Deer populations can't be that out of control as I've seen a grand total of 3 out there this year so why do we even have a hunting season?

Up until two years ago, the restrictions only applied to "gun season" which runs roughly from the last weekend in October until the second weekend in January. Most of us were willing to put up with that. For some reason, they elected to "make it easy on everybody" by extending the restriction to the present dates. You see, TPWD does not start and end gun season on the same date each year, one has to look at the TPWD website to find out when gun season starts and our alien overlords dedicated public servants at the Federal Gummint must have thought that was too onerous a task for us ignent peasants (and their employees) to contend with and blessed us with a restriction that goes further than what is logically needed (I know, I'm shocked, too).

The irony is that bow season starts on September 1 every. single. year. My guess is that the Federal gummint has deemed bow hunters to be harmless from 1 September until 14 September, upon which date they become color blind and near sighted enough to mistake a blaze orange clad backpacker for Bambi.

That, unfortunately happens all the time in every state. Most of the time, its a weekend warrior type hunter, that just bought everything and goes hunting only the opening weekend of the season. Or the second reason is that a weekend hunter the opening weekend dumps his small kid out by himself in a area, and goes off in a different area leaving the youngster by himself. Bullets do travel long distances no matter where your at also so don't say you can't get shot and not hear the sound of the rifle going off. Another reason, hunting brings in big bucks in a lot of states a lot more than backpackers and hikers. The hunters complain about hikers and backpackers screwing up their hunting and they have various organizations that have quite a bit of money behind them getting their state DNR's to pass these regulations favoring the hunting masses. Also, the various states that will have rules like this are going to favor the hunters in order to decrease the wildlife as its the only real way to control the masses by allowing hunting and the killing of them. Opening weekend of gun season in Indiana sounds like a Vietnam war for the first couple of days here. Backpackers and hikers are in a small minority during hunting season moreso than summer and are going to have the rules against them when it comes to their saftey and the rules that are being created like this. Just my 2 cents but I see it coming down the pike, more and more.

The restriction is a Federal one, it has nothing to do with the State of Texas. This is not something done to mollify the hunters as they are prohibited from hunting within 150 yards of any trail in SHNF, and it groups them all together in some rather crowded campsites with no developed sites or services---it also requires backpackers to share those camps with them making them even more crowded.

The Lone Star Hiking Trail remains the only long distance trail in the country that restricts on trail camping because its deer season.

[sargevining]

Part of our problem here is that the only organization backpackers have to represent them is a club that sponsors day hiking on the Trail and regards the trail as a day hiking trail, rather than a long distance backpacking trail.

[Acer]

Part of our problem here is that the only organization backpackers have to represent them is a club that sponsors day hiking on the Trail and regards the trail as a day hiking trail, rather than a long distance backpacking trail.

I agree totally, We are out spent, out gunned, out manned and out played against the Political Machinery when it comes to backpacking and hiking. And, being also a hunter, on both sides of this fence unfortunately. However, I am not against the backpacker and hiker as we do have a place in the foodchain as well.

[sargevining]

I agree totally, We are out spent, out gunned, out manned and out played against the Political Machinery when it comes to backpacking and hiking. And, being also a hunter, on both sides of this fence unfortunately. However, I am not against the backpacker and hiker as we do have a place in the foodchain as well.

This is actually a case where hunters and backpackers have common interest. We want to be able to backpack and camp on trail. They want to be able to hunt without being regarded as irresponsible knuckle dragging trigger happy rednecks unsafe to even be in the woods with.

Actually, the policy singles out deer hunters as being the most dangerous and irresponsible. The Forest is open to hunting and on trail camping during all the rest of the year. The same weaponry used to take down deer is used (and sometimes not enough) to take down the feral hogs that are inundating the state, and which the Forest Service is more than happy to see being hunted 365 days of the year.

The policy seems designed more to shame hunters and keep backpackers out of the woods than it does any other logical reason. If you can safely hike during daylight while hunters are in the woods, why can you not sleep in the woods after dark? If its safe to sleep in the woods while hog hunters are in it (with no restriction on where they camp other than the deer season restriction), why is it unsafe to sleep in the woods while during deer season?