# Inconsiderate campers spoil AEP weekend



## maggot (Apr 12, 2008)

I invited friends down to AEP this weekend for a camp out. They came down early Friday morning as to be assured a good camping spot. They went to camp at C. Sand Hollow. They got the campsite right as you come through the front gate on the right hand side. Anyone familiar with C knows this is the spot the caretakers had last year that are not there this year. It is a primo spot. They went fishing late morning on Saturday and when they got back to camp they found that another group of campers had moved in right on top of them. They had moved a picnic table and fire ring from some other site to put there. There were other sites available for them to use but instead choose to camp on top of my friends. I went to the campsite to confront these low life's and there answer to me was that this is public camping and they were not going to move. I explained to them that this site was not designated for more then one group of campers and we had more people coming and that they would have to move. They said they were not moving unless the security guard told them to. Well legally I suppose they could camp there but anyone with half a brain would not crowd someone out that was there first. Because of their lack of courtesy my other friends that were coming down Sunday for one day had to find another site to camp because there was no longer any room because of these ill mannered inconsiderate so called camper low life's. If my friends had not gone fishing on Saturday morning those guys would of never set up camp. They were able to set up camp only because no one was there to tell them other wise and chase them off.. My one friend said we should of shot them like The Cartwrights would of done on the old Bonanza Show when they encountered squatters on their piece of ground.
I would like to hear other member feedback on this issue.........Am I wrong to think they should of moved? What would you have done?


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## alan farver (Apr 9, 2005)

i for one don't like being crowded in on anytime fishing or camping.that is why we own land outside reinersville and have our own campers.the only problem we have there is during deer season with all the trespassers.was down today to trader days did'nt think there was as much stuff there as before but atleast it wasn't muddy


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## wannabe (Dec 24, 2007)

Probably city campers.


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## Bassnpro1 (Apr 6, 2004)

If it was legal, I don't know what you can complain about. MY only question is if you had more people coming why didn't you set up on the other site as well? Or were you planning on putting the other people on the original site and possibly crowding out the next site yourself. There are always two ways to look at things and I have no problem as long as they were in a campsite. That being said, they could have moved to another one, but what were you expecting on Memorial Day weekend, the place to yourself?


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## maggot (Apr 12, 2008)

Bass pro

This site is all alone.it is 1 camping site ....nobody next to u to crowd out. If u had ever been to campsite C you would know exactly what I am talking about but apparently you have not, so I will leave it at that.
And yes I expected to have that 1 campsite all to myself as it was designed to be. Thats why we got there *EARLY*


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## bountyhunter (Apr 28, 2004)

best thing is just let it go , yep they screwed up your wkend , but your still alive, you never know anymore you;ll just up and shoot your group just for fun. lot of idiots out there ,don;t become one of them.


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## Yanks (Oct 4, 2005)

Some lame responses in this thread. Some people just don't get it and clearly never will. If you've never been to AEP then you wouldn't realize the way most of the sites are setup.. It's not like "camping" at many state parks with nice flat, paved, cleared spots to park your RV 10 feet from the next weekend warrior. AEP spots are meant for ONE group generally. Most normal people tend to observer some form of etiquette towards there fellow outdoors man. While you can never claim ownership of something that belongs to everyone there are still unwritten laws or simple forms of decency that most tend to follow. There are always those few hilljacks that have no conscience or moral compass. The ones who seem to care little for those around them, and tend to be the ones lacking respect and destroying what makes nature so wonderful. Simple solution - next time go grab a ranger, tell him your situation and have him ask to see their permits. My money would have been on they didn't have any. Hopefully you still had a great weekend and caught a few nice fish.

Edit- Don't you also have to put your name/party size/stay down at each site in the little log books. Seems like if your name is in there then perhaps technically it is YOUR spot for the time being..


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## FishJunky (May 20, 2004)

I agree Yanks. When I camp down there it's usally with a number of guys and we do not have this problem. But the times I do go down with just Myself and a friend we try to spread out our site a little so people keep there distance. If they don't keep there distance than I ask them to move nicely the first time. The second time, well we'll see how nice I ask them.


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## shroomhunter (Aug 6, 2004)

Yanks, some lame responses but what can anyone really say. I agree the spots are designed for one group and most times people are respectful of others. This is the first time I have heard of this happening down there but it probably has before. I don't think you could get a ranger to intercede unless it got violent, but good luck finding one. Unless you have music cranking at 1 AM you'll likely never see one. I see game wardens there occasionally but they seem awful busy checking lifejackets and boat numbers. The camp monitors are not there this year except at the bucket and I doubt they would intercede either. So I guess it comes down to a fistfight or however you choose to handle it and these idiots knew they had the group outnumbered and really didn't care what anyone said. Had it been my group we have a couple loose cannons and it would have no doubt gotten very ugly for them.
Those kind of people always seem to find folks they can take advantage of.
I wish there was a way of rationally dealing with people like this but you cannot deal rationally with irrational people. I just figure what goes around comes around, they'll get theirs one day.


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## Bassnpro1 (Apr 6, 2004)

sorry for being lame. I have never been to AEP, but you guys make it sound like if someone is in Campsite C that the whole campground is theirs.

And hearing you guys talking about shooting people and fistfights and all the drinks, it must be pretty wild crowd down there.


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## shroomhunter (Aug 6, 2004)

Not normally a wild place and I never meant to imply that I would get in a fistfight or a gunfight over a camping spot. I believe the other post that was talking about guns meant that you have to be careful how far you want to take a confrontation these days as you never know who is carrying a gun and wether or not they would use it. I'm just glad it wasn't my group it happened to and feel bad for those it happened to. The were open campsites at C so I have no idea why these guys moved in on the other group, it wasn't that crowded down there.


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## Bassnpro1 (Apr 6, 2004)

maggot said:


> My one friend said we should of shot them like The Cartwrights would of done on the old Bonanza Show when they encountered squatters on their piece of ground.


 
Yikes. Makes me think twice about going there. I just got a float tube for AEP also. I was hoping to make my first trip there. I might want to get my CC permit first

Without knowledge of how the campground is set up, I clearly can't say for sure, I just took the original poster as taking for granted he had "this amount of space" and somebody came and set up in the adjacant space. To me it sounds like there was some ground that could have been claimed by either and the second group laid claim to it. It sounds like he got mad becuase they were wanting that extra space because more people were coming in. How the second group could have known this, no idea, but they should have gave the first group the benefit of the doubt anyway. That being said the first group could have "claimed" the space by spreading out more.


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## shroomhunter (Aug 6, 2004)

Bassnpro1 said:


> Yikes. Makes me think twice about going there. I just got a float tube for AEP also. I was hoping to make my first trip there. I might want to get my CC permit first
> 
> Without knowledge of how the campground is set up, I clearly can't say for sure, I just took the original poster as taking for granted he had "this amount of space" and somebody came and set up in the adjacant space. To me it sounds like there was some ground that could have been claimed by either and the second group laid claim to it. It sounds like he got mad becuase they were wanting that extra space because more people were coming in. How the second group could have known this, no idea, but they should have gave the first group the benefit of the doubt anyway. That being said the first group could have "claimed" the space by spreading out more.[/QUOTE
> Most weekends it's not too crowded and I think with gas prices it'll be less crowded. I really was surprised how many open spots there were this weekend. I doubt you'll need a CC permit and you'll have a blast tubing down there, talk to Fishjunky he's a pro on that subject.


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## maggot (Apr 12, 2008)

I did take for granted that this was our spot, as like I've said twice before, it is a 1 campers spot...room for only 1 setup.....1 picnic table and 1 fire ring...these guys moved another picnic table and fire ring from another campsite into our area.Why didn't they stay at the spot where they got the table and ring from in the 1st place???? So somewhere at C there is a campsite that is missing a table and fire ring that these yahoos moved..


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## Bassnpro1 (Apr 6, 2004)

maggot said:


> I did take for granted that this was our spot, as like I've said twice before, it is a 1 campers spot...room for only 1 setup.....1 picnic table and 1 fire ring...these guys moved another picnic table and fire ring from another campsite into our area.Why didn't they stay at the spot where they got the table and ring from in the 1st place???? So somewhere at C there is a campsite that is missing a table and fire ring that these yahoos moved..


 
makes a little more sense to me now


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## Hook N Book (Apr 7, 2004)

wannabe said:


> Probably city campers.


Puleeze...!


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## pitdweller (Sep 16, 2004)

Two years ago memorial day weekend at A I had a single site setup complete with canoes,camper,truckload of wood and single picnic table. I went fishing to return to find a shiny SUV parked beside the camper someone elses camping gear on the picnic table that had been moved and no one to be found. Closer towards dark another shiny SUV pulled up with six people and began to set up camp with the items on the picnic table. 
By then I had quenched my thirst with a couple of cold ones and was in the mood for some rock and roll so I cranked the radio, then I decided the batteries needed charged so I fired up the generator.
My dog at the time was a pup and never met a stranger after he had been in the mud so I thought it might be time to meet the neighbors. 
We approached the folks with Franklin county plates as the dog beat me to greet them with muddy paws all over yellow and blue fleece and nylon he was so happy to see someone else and jumped up on all of their stuff.
I had been camped there five days all ready and had rather a "grubby" look to my self clutching a cold one I introduced my self while the dog continued to checkout their stuff.
They didnt say much so I returned to my cooler and seat and waited, another beer later I decided the music needed to be a little louder so I cranked it up,crouching by the fire ring starting a fire I noticed the wind direction and thought a little used motor oil would spark up the fire, and after several billows of thick smoke it took off followed by me yelling "now thats a fire". I pulled my chair closer to the fire cracked another beer and the next thing I saw was tailights going out of the campgound, the "squatters" had moved on.


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## Bassnpro1 (Apr 6, 2004)

You could have just talked to them...

Sounds like you really got them though, good job.


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## shroomhunter (Aug 6, 2004)

Pitdweller....Great story LOL!!


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## BBANKS (Mar 31, 2008)

Pitdweller----------
That is a fantastic story. For once the good guy wins without fighting. That is also why i try not to go on a holiday weekend. All the yuppies from the big cities want to come to gods country and camp.


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## Smallmouth Crazy (Apr 4, 2006)

I think people from big cities are getting a bad rap in this thread, people are capable of doing some real boneheaded inconsiderate things to each other...but those kinds of people can come from the country just as easily as they come from the city, I feel for the people that gave examples of being wronged in this thread, my father always taught me to never crowd a person fishing/hunting, to me that should also apply when camping, boating, picnics you name it, obviously there are people who never had that explained to them, there seems to be a need for more park ranger presence in the area.


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## wayward1 (Jun 4, 2008)

This has happened to me at AEP. I use a truck camper. We had set up in a one unit site next to a lake, took the TC to fish another pond and get supplies. When we returned we were supprised to find an old dude and his girl had moved in on us. We had left our camp stove, a case of water, a pile of fire wood, a cooler, and our chairs along with a big note attached to our table that said will be back this site is occupied. It did not matter to them they were not moving and I did not want to thump the old dude. (Me 300lbs + not fat!!!) Did i mention they were homeless as they were sleeping in a 1980's ford 4 door sedan that looked to hold all they owned. Some times you have to roll with the changes.


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## BBANKS (Mar 31, 2008)

I guess this has happened to all of us! It sounds as though it is none of us that have been going to AEP for a long period of time that is doing it though. I mean no disrespect to the Big City People that enjoy AEP and have been going down there for a while. It is the first time people with no clue or morrels and no respect to the fellow campers and outdoor people that i am talking about. Sorry if i offended anyone.


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## Boom Boom (May 31, 2005)

This thread made me think of the signs posted in Northern Michigan where I used to hunt...posted land also had signs that read "NO CITIOTS"


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## BBANKS (Mar 31, 2008)

Now Thats Funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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