Am I in the wrong?

[Sccritterkiller]

It's public land...had 2 different bulls shot out from under me last year in NM and I had tag soup...The other person has just as much right to be there as you...Welcome to public land hunting...you want undisturbed ground to hunt book a private ranch.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

Almost sounds like he owes the guy an apology for almost ruining his hunt

The lengths some people go through to try to turn a post around on the OP is just ridiculous. It was kind of cute in the first few years of the internet, but anymore it's just trite and counterproductive. The OP seems very reasonable to me. I understand his frustration. All of us recognize that it's simply part and parcel of the public land hunting experience. That doesn't make it any less frustrating. I can tell you this. I would not have taken the shot that he described the guy taking within 100 yards of where he knew other people were set up first. That is not cool in my value system. Last year I put a good bit of work into choosing my opening day duck blind. I arrived early, but someone was already there. I could have set up 40 yards away from him. I didn't. I moved several hundred yards away to a different pond.

 

[Forest_Ghost]

There are more hunters in the public land than elk.

That's just part of it now, it won't get any better anytime soon. Figuring out and knowing where people/traffic/roads/pressure are and how the elk respond to it is invaluable. I know not everyone can spend weeks or months scouting but all of these things are important to utilize in planning these days if anyone wants success here now without drawing in a 20+ point unit or on private land. There is plenty of good hunting still, I just think that many people are wishing it was like 1990 again and unfortunately that is not going to happen.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

I don't know the area your hunting. Around here I'm not gonna unload next to another rig to go hunt. I will go elsewhere

That said I run across somebody while I am hunting. I am not changing my plans just because they are more special than I am

I can assure you of this. If anyone thinks they are so special that they can set up on top of me, they ain't going to kill shit.

 

[Super tag]

After reading this again I think the OP posting up on a ridge directly up from a known drop camp is no different, fundamentally, from a guy coming up the hill from said camp.

So if you posted up on a ridge and noticed a drop camp down the ridge, like the OP did, you would have left right?

That’s right

 

[def90]

Heck, this is par for the course. Last year 2 guys saw me sitting on a buck in a sage flat, I’d already been there for a couple of hours waiting for him to come back to public, and they tried to put themselves between me and the buck, then laid out all their hunter orange on sage brush around them so I’d see where they set up. It’s only been 345 days or so, but as you can see I’m definitely over it…

I would have taken a shot at the fence post and scared him off.. all's fair in hunting public land.

 

[Steve300xcw]

The OP got awful quiet

 

[Ucsdryder]

I would have taken a shot at the fence post and scared him off.. all's fair in hunting public land.

Let’s just say there was zero chance that deer was making it to them…

 

[Billy Goat]

My bad.

 

[stanginthe11s]

we all want space, I myself love to have the mountain to myself. I must have missed something though, 4 "hunters" sit on a ridge watching elk. 1 unknown hunter walks up says hello then goes down to elk and shoots one? are you mad because you knew he was at a drop camp and you thought you would get there first but it still didn't matter? kinda sounds like he showed you how its done. might be different if you were camped first and were aggressively working a bull. and if your brother had a bull in crosshairs then he should have pulled the trigger.

 

[damthemainstream]

I'd like to hear the other guy's side of the story.

 

[Olympics777]

I had a similar thing last year, the herd I’d been keeping an eye on had a nice 6x6, and some guy came and sat like 50 yards away right at first light and shot it. Oh well. It’s just the way public land goes. This year there was like 4 guys in my spot, so I just left and went somewhere else. If you let it make you mad then they beat you twice I guess.

 

[freddyG]

Gotta send it quick on public

Yep. I’ve seen foot races on public ground. I guess some dudes want an animal worse than others.

 

[streetdoctor]

You are working a ridge and come up on a group of of entitled people. Instead of turning around and going home you keep going.

Would you personally pass on a bull to save somebody's feelings or not?

I would talk to them and come up with a plan.

The OP got awful quiet

He probably realized arguing with children on the internet is futile? Some of the "what I would have done" here is shameful and embarrasses me to be associated with this same group of people. As much as we need to be on the same team I believe more and more there's a fundamental difference between rifle and bow hunters... as proof by this post.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Yea you are in the wrong for being mad. It’s public land, that guy owes you nothing and you owe him nothing. He got an elk and you didn’t, I’d be frustrated too but walking past where folks are posted up is fair game. I see it here in AK, guys are camped on a river so we drive past them for quite a ways, on the way out with our moose, the camps lower on the river are jelous.

That guy had a better plan, better fitness and better skill than you on that day. I mean seriously he got it done solo when you had what? 4 guys? Tag soup is on you buddy.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Ya, everyone has different sized personal space zones in every day life and hunting. Mine are larger than most are, I'm sure. I use a 14x16 wall tent solo, my space is important to me. There are some rivers where fly fishermen are 30 feet apart. I like to have at least a mile of river to myself, and I will fish every bit of that.

In this instance, the guy had a drop camp. You don't pay for a drop camp to have four guys move in and set up on the ridge above your camp. Yes, it's public land. But if I hiked in and found a drop camp, I'm then at least two miles too close to said drop camp and I'm moving on.

Since 2010 I've had five different ML hunters shoot bulls out from under me while working those bulls during archery season. All but one of those was within 100 yards, and I had no idea any of those hunters were even in the area. That's always disappointing, but it's never made me mad. Getting mad is a choice.

Please excuse my ignorance, what is a “drop camp”? Honest question.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I'd like to hear the other guy's side of the story.

I’m sure it would be about lien this: I was headed out hoping to get an elk, I bumped into a group of guys and talked to them for a bit. I walked past them a ways then had the chance to shoot an elk so I did.

I highly doubt there’s any more to the story than this. The guy beat feet more than the four guys posted up and he found the elk, shot one and now he’s grilling steaks while the other guy is on the internet. Same exact thing with hunting moose here in AK.

 

[thedutchtouch]

I look forward to trips where the only thing that messes up my hunts are either my own mistakes or other hunters. Hunting whitetail on public in Maryland exposes me to all sorts of bird watchers, dog walkers, forest fornicators (too far off to see anything good/bad), dirt bike dbags (because they are illegal there, I have nothing against legal bike use) etc... I've also had hunters set up within 50 yards of me in gun season and walk/talk/shoot squirrels right under my tree.

Or in other words, public land, being used by the public. I'd be annoyed too, but if you stay pissed for days you're just ruining your own time, he didn't, he just hunted.

Edit: Ah crap I just did the newbie Necro post redundant opinion thing. My bad.

 

[Hawk3473]

Unfortunately this happens all too often on public land. What good is it doing you to be mad though. Learn from the missed opportunity of where to have someone posted next time. Your other option would be to buy or lease private ground so this won’t happen to you again.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Some of the replies here are pretty eye opening.

OP, I feel like you're right to be upset but have to understand that's just public... it's not a "confront the guy" type of upset it's more of a "say a few cuss words and move on" type of upset. FWIW, when I walk up on pumpkinheads in Colorado I vacate the area immediately, don't care if they're near a spot I want to go or not I don't wanna be anywhere near them because my goal is to be in nature away from people and observe/hunt Elk being Elk and not just running for theirs lives through a pinch where I sit to get lucky. That's just me though, I'd rather have a peaceful people-less hunt and not kill something than to hunt in a circus and punch my tag every year.