Has anyone ever hunted this area? My son and I went there for the weekend and I have never seen people act like some there do. We were threatened with our lives if we tried to hunt on PUBLIC land!!! They then called the game warden and made false claims aginst us saying they seen us dragging a doe. This has been the worst hunting experience I have had in 40 years of hunting. Oh and all the deer shot there at the check station were SPIKES!!!!! These assholes are willing to kill for a spike that might break 100 pounds. They must be very hungry.

Start hunting with a FAL

I can't fathom the stupid required to threaten someone's life while they are armed over a damn deer.  

I have hunted the ocala national forest for the better part of 20 years, (since i was 10)  the past few seasons i have heard and seen some very disturbing acts by some of the locals. i would contact the local sherrifs office, the fwc, the media, anyone who will listen and let your story be known, maybe with enough complaints something will be done. on  a different note if you and your son are looking for some place to hunt in central florida, contact me i am always willing to help a fellow arfcom member take his son hunting, i have a small lease not far from there

I will probably give up hunting if I am required to hunt public land in Florida. For some reason, people here are very odd about it, to include staking out territory and thinking that they own it. Spend much time out there and you'll quickly understand why FWC people are so skittish.

Two campers murdered last year in Ocala Forest for no damn reason.

ONF breeds the winners thats fer sure.
what end are you hunting on?

IMHO the way i was able to get away from most of the yahoos was to humpi it in,,deep where most wouldnt go...

in other words strap on a pack,, find a decent trail,,, and  go for it.

if you have a map youll know this area, im about to talk about.

back in the mid 90's before i left ONF for GOOD.
we used hopkins as a base camp. This was before the days of Rv's, gates and paymenst to camp there. we'd drop a truck in a spot friday mid day.
We would then drive to FR65 ,, and head north.
from there   youd have to look for fr51 or 50 sorry its been awhile.
Anyway.
Back then 51 was no wider than a atv trail, and over grown. heck  if it wasnt listed on a map, most would think it was just an atv trail or a fire break.
anyway. we'd drive in 400 yrds, park thne hump in  good 1/2 mile. the FT runs through there so it's able to be  crossed and used to scout and set up as need be.

issue was,,well befor ei left ,, rail buggys started coming through every now and then during our hunts. im sure that 51 is 3 lanes wide now


we didnt see many folks, maybe a handfull the 3 yrs i hunted just that one spot.
our stands never were abused or stolen. Though some how,, by some freak deal  i found cig butts in mine once. it was so outta the way , and so far back,, someone must just stumbled on it and used it.,


my point is if you go to the outta of the way spots you wont run into  the majority of the folks that give that place a bad rep.....



another good area is way up near the damn, on the edge of the river,where its all swampy and nasty ,so hard to get to spots.....had decent luck up that way a few times,.


i used to hunt the northa nd middle alot,, had different areas scouted and would attimes drive from  near pats island  all the way to the damn area, then back again to hunt different stands and different times.
YMMV

Two campers murdered last year in Ocala Forest for no damn reason

Sad part is they were in a designated "no hunt" area that was also off limits to carry anyway,,,,least till now.

was there 2 weeks after and my  brother had been there at the same time that jackass was out there ..he and his wife  camped 400 yrds north of where those campers got killed and had two large dogs. prolly the only thing that saved their ass.. was that.
He told me around 11pm the dogs went nuts, and he knew some(thing-one) was wacthing them so he played it off when his wife asked what was going on...
" ahh nothing dear,,nothing this  357 CANT fix........."


with in seconds the dogs went quite and everything went back to normal........

kinda freaky actually and he had no clue about those murders till i told him,, he was 100% WTF "dont tell the wife,,"   LOL

I would appreciate it VERY much if you would e-mail me the specific areas you were in and any additional info such as specific persons or vehicles that confronted you.

[email protected]

THAT oughta be interesting!

Quoted: THAT oughta be interesting!

I am still waiting on an e-mail with the info.  My zone partner and I have been spending some time in the ONF lately and won't put up with any such BS. I will gladly handle my business against any asshole, armed or otherwise.

I would like the info to pass on to my FWC friends as well as some of the Marion County guys...

BTW... not "tough talk", just not going to put up with it and let it slide...

Oh, I believe you. I'm just very interested in seeing that some of these assholes get a taste of justice.

It appears that this sort of thing has been on the increase in some of the Southern WMA's in the past few years or so I have been told.

About three years ago, I took my then 10 year old son camping and hunting in Green Swamp WMA, an area I used to hunt years ago and like very much.

I for one do not mind "man talk" around the camp fire at night after a few beers or stiff drinks, but I do not engage in, nor will I tolerate, "man talk" while children are present or near.  After hearing enough, I walked about and made eye contact with a few guys and I guess they realized my son was present and they stopped without me having to say anything.

Then, while talking with a hunter the next day, he told me that he had been "run out" of the very area that I had been hunting and told that the area was "theirs" as they have been hunting it for years.

Well, I hunted the area the next day and I passed by two nasty/dirty hunters coming out as they were going in.  They did not say anything or give me any mean look but they did rubber neck at my AR15, which many folks on here know that is what I hunt with.  

Maybe it was my son, maybe it was my choice of rifle, or maybe they were just nice hunters... I was ready to retreat in any case due to having my son with me but had he not been there, I wonder if they would have said something.

I discussed it back then with FWC and they said the past three or so years have seen an increase in complaints about hunters trying to run other hunters out of specific areas as well as bad conduct at the camping grounds.  They said the Regional Director/Office had directed increased proactive patrols to resolve the problem.

I have not hunted Green Swamp in the past two years so I don't know if it is still an issue.

I ENCOURAGE ALL HUNTERS TO IMMEDIATELY REPORT SUCH INCIDENCES ASAP AND INCLUDE DESCRIPTIONS OF PERSONS AND VEHICLES... DEMAND AN INCIDENT REPORT IF YOU ARE THREATENED!!  The land belongs to ALL to hunt and enjoy.

Yeah... that kinda shit happens all the time in ONF and increasingly in other WMA's, especially those that allow dog hunting. Seems that the dog clubs think that because=use they hunt a specific WMA all the time, it belongs to them.

I remember hunting at the Relay WMA a few years ago when some asshole told me and my hunting buddy we had to pay a "trespass fee" to hunt there, because the Relay Hunt Club ran the place. I told him to go hump a goat and we went on in to hunt.

Later that evening at the check station (my buddy had killed a spike), ANOTHER asshat commented on the trespass fee bullshit. The check station guy was grinning like kid that got his first feel, thinking he was gonna see some money handed over.

Several other guys gathered around, but they all got a real surprise when Roy and I both politely told the check guy to log Roy's deer and "We are leaving. Any of you in-bred assholes that try to stop us will not like the end results of your error." I had my .22 camp gun (a S&W 422 handgun) in my hand kinda casual like (it was unloaded IAW the WMA rules, but it wouldn't have taken but a blink to load) and they all seen it.

We got the hell out and haven't been back. We called Ocala FWC (Game and Freshwater Fish Commission then) and reported it. The gal we spoke to sighed and said that wasn't the first time she'd heard that!

ETA- I hunt the smaller WMA's now and have had ZERO problems with other hunters, although we did have a problem with a jackass landowner that lives next to the Salt Lake WMA. We reported his hijinx as well and FWC tightened him up. No problems this year at all.

i just love the road hunters out in the newer caravelle area??? just south of palatka, off silverlake. we have private land in the middle of it. Love the guys that have been riding by in their trucks ,,slowly creeping by  the fire cuts and cleared/logged areas...
No issues at all with the GFC leo's out there pretty nice guys........one of the least used wma's least from what i can tell traffic wise.


2nd on the relay  deal. never went there just becuase of the " you aint allowed here boy.." menatlity ,,came in once to scout and that was enough. for me.

My friend use to hunt the public areas and stopped because of stuff like that.
This year he got in on a lease up near Perry. Nice place and no inbred poaching tough guys.

Quoted: up near Perry.....no inbred poaching tough guys.

You ever been to Perry?

Quoted: Quoted: up near Perry.....no inbred poaching tough guys. You ever been to Perry?

Was up there this weekend.

Wish I'd known. I'm right down the road a little ways and wouldv'e invited you up.

Be advised, if you didn't see any inbred poachers in Perry, it's because you weren't looking hard enough.

Quoted: Wish I'd known. I'm right down the road a little ways and wouldv'e invited you up. Be advised, if you didn't see any inbred poachers in Perry, it's because you weren't looking hard enough.

Next time I head up there I'll let you know.
Really like it up there. Reminded me of east Texas.

I stopped going for the same reason. Too many dirty rednecks drinking with firearms.   Not my thing at all.

ETA:  Richloam / Green Swamp / Croom