Hunter Ethics?

[brooks]

I don't even expect other hunters to give a darn any more really a lot of times they act just like everyone else these days ...every man for him self... Afew years ago I was hunting turkeys from a blind and had a flock of 2 big gobblers and about 6 hens working their way in when 2 guys snuck through the woods and down the river bank, walked up to where the birds were crawled up the bank and thru the high grass to the cut feild and shot a big gobbler right out from under me. They were about 100 yards from me they grabbed the bird and left. I had a gun and they both had guns...sucks.

 

[dustyboots]

I had a couple situations come up last week while hunting an elite unit in New Mexico 100 tags for a huge unit. On two seperate occasions we were set up sitting water and were the first ones there and had prescouted each area. The first time a guy and presumably a guide came by our setup, saw us then proceeded to walk directly toward the elks bedding area bugling like crazy and then finally tromped off after not getting a response and spooking the elk. The second occasion was worse as we were about 3/4 mile from a 4 wheel drive trail set up on a natural lake where we had scouted a huge 7x8 and were sitting on a fresh wallow. The bull was bugling early and was working directly towards our setup then two guys showed up on the other side of the lake we waved so they knew we were there and hunting the area. They proceeded to sit down bugle and cow call at the bull then after several minutes got up and went chasing the bull and calling cutting us off and also with the wind totally against them. We walked over and tried to confront them but after scaring the bull out of the country they snuck out of the area as they knew they had done wrong.

 

[tookeymonster]

I'm new to public land hunting and there are lots of good points/sides here. Good post

 

[sethkuhl]

Being in my younger years, I have had great success in telling people who pull up to the same area and just continuing to hunt where I want. I have had my run ins, but in Western MT there are so many places to go, if someone is there before me I don't want to ruin their hunt or mine so I go elsewhere.
I did have one run in with a local guy (who claims to be blind) figure that one out, he was packing a rifle. I had gotten to a spot early, he pulled up after me with another two rigs in tow and I just straight told him what I was doing. He claimed he was going to do the same thing and asked how we would not "screw each other up" Told him to go with what he felt, grabbed my pack and continued. Not sure what he did, did not see him all day. It is public land, not sure it pertains to hunting ethics, but I think it does come back to integrity. Some people just don't have it!

 

[xtreme]

I try to avoid other hunters and that is not always possible. While hunting elk near Delores Co I was at my stand for the morning well before daylight. I was in a good place with dark timber behind me and i was watching a drainage beneath me. I think it was an outfitter and his hunter came up stream and when they saw me the guide motioned me to leave by waving his arms. He was very insistant but I would not bulge, of course my hunt was ruined.
The other two bad expriences happened in Nebraska. The first was a young man who knew where I was hunting and he rode his atv to just above the bowl I was watching. He stopped and watched, after a while I yelled at him that I could handle this valley. He fired up the atv and came straight at me and when he got to me I didn't know what was going to happen next. He said,"mister I didn't mean any harm". I explained something about hunting ethics. He was a nice young man and we visited a while.
tT

The same trip and same place in Nebraska, a group of four hunters in a suburban managed to get it up a steep hill and proceeded to drive cross country, thru the woods and all fields. I sat down at the top of a steep hill on the edge of the property. They stopped at the bottom a spent probably five minutes trying to wait me out. I just sat there. That night when I walked the half to 3/4 miles down the trail, the game warden ask me if I had seen them. I told him I had and how bad they were, He said i have the evidence I need but I don't know where to find them. I told him he was in luck because I know where they sleep. He said I will get them.

 

[llp]

While your second post may have helped clarify your posistion, your first post made it sound like you came off as the jack ***. If I ever encountered somebody on public land telling me I couldn't hunt in an area I would be offended. It isn't your area / road even if you are there first. Yes, I probably wouldn't have even hunted the same area if others were already there, but you don't know what he really had planned. He may have been continuing on to another clearcut, etc.

Many years ago, I arrived at a trailhead in MT and started a long 5 mile hike into my prescouted area 2 hours before light. There was a horse trail going most of the way, and I began plodding down the trail. About a half mile from the truck I encountered three hunters who stopped us, told us there were elk ahead, and we had to wait until daylight with them before proceeding. We indicated we still had 4+ miles to go, and would try not to spook the elk, but we were continuing on. We wouldn't be anywhere near them come first light. They were extremely unhappy, abusive, and claimed we were ruining there hunt and they were there first. Not a pleasant situation, but it is public land. I usually hunt so far in to avoid these confrontations, and in my expereince when meeting other hunters they rarely hunt where they say they are going.
Seek more secluded areas, and move on to somehwere else when the blow hards arrive.
llp

 

[Drhorsepower]

While your second post may have helped clarify your posistion, your first post made it sound like you came off as the jack ***. If I ever encountered somebody on public land telling me I couldn't hunt in an area I would be offended. It isn't your area / road even if you are there first. Yes, I probably wouldn't have even hunted the same area if others were already there, but you don't know what he really had planned. He may have been continuing on to another clearcut, etc.

Many years ago, I arrived at a trailhead in MT and started a long 5 mile hike into my prescouted area 2 hours before light. There was a horse trail going most of the way, and I began plodding down the trail. About a half mile from the truck I encountered three hunters who stopped us, told us there were elk ahead, and we had to wait until daylight with them before proceeding. We indicated we still had 4+ miles to go, and would try not to spook the elk, but we were continuing on. We wouldn't be anywhere near them come first light. They were extremely unhappy, abusive, and claimed we were ruining there hunt and they were there first. Not a pleasant situation, but it is public land. I usually hunt so far in to avoid these confrontations, and in my expereince when meeting other hunters they rarely hunt where they say they are going.
Seek more secluded areas, and move on to somehwere else when the blow hards arrive.
llp

Aren't elk nocturnal? They move at night? First off they thought you were so inconsiderate. And they blamed their ruined hunt on you. I love it.

I agree second post help clarify the situation.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

I've hunted Wyoming since the 70's and had a situation come up some years back that was a little unusual. Wy has lots of isolated state owned sections called school sections. Lots of them are totally surrounded by private land. I had written permission to hunt on a private ranch and was hunting deer. A bordering ranch was leased out to an outfitter and posted as such. A school section was bordered on 3 sides by this ranch and on the 4th side by the ranch I had permission to hunt. I knew the area well and climbed over their posted fence on the school section. I shot a real nice 5x5 and was gutting it when my son (he had already shot a nice 4x4) told me someone was coming up the ridge we were on. A guide for the outfitter and his hunter arrived and the guide proceded to yell at me about trespassing, calling the sheriff and so on. I got out the topo map I always carried and showed him the public land we were on and my license with the landowners signature on it . Wy law say if you have written permission from a landowner adjacent to and bordering public land you can enter it, even if you cross a posted fence border. The guide was extremely pissed off, but finally left.

Sometimes no matter how you cut it, not everyone is pleased with a situation. This time I knew inadvance what the law was and knew I was right. I think the guide knew I was right as nothing was ever done or said about it.

 

[jjenness]

What's the right, or wrong, answer here? I had something similar happen to me this year, only slightly different. Opening day of the MT bow hunting season I took a friend of mine into the hunting area that I had spent numerous hours into scouting. The area is a place where nobody else hunts, and I have had tremendous success in locating bulls every year. After all, he is the one who called me two days before the season opener and asked if he could tag along. So I thought that I was just being a good friend. After taking him into the area, one time, he then had himself and two other people in there the following week. The ended up shooting a six point bull that I had on trail camera. Needless to say that the elk promptly moved out of the area, and I only saw one bull in there the rest of the season. This to me falls on the side of, not right man. However, in responding to the thread at hand, I think that if a person is hunting public land and you run into another hunter, you always have to prepare yourself to have that person screw things up for you. It really boils down to the values that the person was either raised on, or the values that were taught to them by whomever introduced them to hunting. With more and more people getting of the beaten path, conflicts like this are destin to happen. All that we can hope for is that the other person shares some of the same values as us. If not, then I guess it's time to hunt farther and deeper than the other guy is willing to go.

 

[oneredarrow]

Growing up in the back woods of Idaho I have seen this a lot. what I do is just be kind (after all we both share the same passion for hunting) and simply tell them what area I'm going to hunt. I ask them where they are planning on hunting. This way we can do two things. 1) stay out of each others way. 2) use the other hunter to my advantage. In other words let them push the game to you. I have killed lots of game that was pushed to me by others.

Our just hike farther than them.

This is what works for me.

 

[henkesean]

Thats Why They Call It PUBLIC. Nobody has dibs. Its all open to anybody.