An etiquette question

[justinspicher]

What's your setup and what does it weigh? I want to find something worth carrying for grouse when muzzy hunting with the family. I usually shoot them with my bow, but this year I didn't have a tag and wasn't carrying it.

I have a Ruger MKIV 22/45 with a Silencerco Spectre II. I put it in an Uncle Mikes cordura large frame revolver holster and hang it off my left side of my bino harness. It is set up like a cross draw. So far its worked out pretty well for me.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Shucks... I've busted out the .44 when the elk hunting was slow and we busted a covey of blue grouse. Head shooting those suckers with iron sights will make you focus on your trigger work, that's for sure!

 

[JPD350]

I stopped and talked to a grouse hunter this year in Colo, he had already killed some birds off the logging road I was going in on, I had asked him about if he's seen any elk around and what he might know about elk in that area, it was a good conversation, it ended with me mentioning where I had seen some more birds while scouting.
I also ran into a guy and his wife, the wife had a bear tag, I told them where I had seen a big bear a couple days earlier, she was packing a bad ass 44 mag!! also a good conversation.

Anyway, it's healthy not be so uptight and angry about things that you have no moral high ground to stand on.

I have had bad experiences as well,
One time in NM I was hiking into an area that the road was supposed to be closed, in NM we don't actually close the road they just say it's closed, no enforcement. Pitch black morning (5 am) I see headlights flashing on the hills and they are getting closer, I start hearing dogs barking and the dogs are way ahead of the headlights. Apparently I must have stepped in some fresh bear scat because the dogs are bearing down on me, I whip out an arrow and backed myself against a big ponderosa, it's pitch black and I have 4 or 5 dogs circling and barking at me. 5 minutes later 2 trucks show up and 5 or 6 guys get out and a couple of them get the dogs and kennel them. The other guys start verbal assaulting me and threatening to kick my ass for messing their dogs up, I still had an arrow in my hand so no one was actually coming forward, I just started backing up and I left into the darkness.

There is no doubt that having overlapping and different types of hunts at the same time can cause some real jacked up scenarios, best if we try and keep those types of scenarios diffused.

 

[GreyBeck]

what about hikers enjoying a peak? had some come up to me as i was getting my shotgun out and putting my rifle away during fall bear. I told them I saw some grouse and planned to have them for dinner. shot 3 about 200' away from where they were taking in the scenery. I think i ruined their peaceful hike. part of the overlap on public land.

 

[TaperPin]

In

what about hikers enjoying a peak? had some come up to me as i was getting my shotgun out and putting my rifle away during fall bear. I told them I saw some grouse and planned to have them for dinner. shot 3 about 200' away from where they were taking in the scenery. I think i ruined their peaceful hike. part of the overlap on public land.

In our family if a kid knowingly took a shot only 60 yards from someone, you would loose your shooting privledges for the rest of the year. If an adult kid did it, they wouldn’t be invited to hunt with the family that year.

Our expectations are apparently higher than yours.

 

[svivian]

In

In our family if a kid knowingly took a shot only 60 yards from someone, you would loose your shooting privledges for the rest of the year. If an adult kid did it, they wouldn’t be invited to hunt with the family that year.

Our expectations are apparently higher than yours.

It helps to understand the words you read.

The hikers approached him, he gave them his intentions. They chose to stick around

Also I don’t think anyone on this forum would have any problems not hunting with you

 

[The Guide]

Went hunting with my buddy and his family. Was 4 adults, 2 youth hunters, and 2 youth non hunters (too young). Walked up a closed dead end road and with the group and got into a bunch of blues and ruffed grouse. Shot over a dozen with shotguns (12, 20, and 410), 22LR, and air rifles. While we were shooting a bull was bugleing and chuckling the whole time.

While we cleaned birds and cooked supper for the kids, my buddy walked up the road about 400 yards to the next big clearing and made a few cow calls. Had 2 different bulls come in to the calls while the herd bull kept making noise. Took a shot on one at 35 yards that took off. He marked the shot location and the place where the bull was standing and came back and got us. We searched high and low for blood but couldn't find anything. I had him take me back to the shot location and walk me through the shot. He is a fair bit shorter than me so I had him stand in front of me and redo the shot as I sat on the hill behind him and looked Where he shot. Spotted his arrow stuck in a tree 30 yards past where he shot. We found that he had miss judged the distance and shot over the bulls back. The arrow was clean but the broadhead was stuck in the tree forever. Meanwhile, the girls found a few more grouse and shot them and the herd bull kept bugleing while we looked for the arrow or blood. The shotgun blasts from 400 yards away in the forest were very muted and sounded like rifle shots from several miles away. I don't think grouse hunting has as much effect on elk as people think. Would those same archery hunters be mad at a mountain biker on their trail or a hiker out for a walk about? It is public recreation on public lands. Want some exclusivity? Lease a ranch and make it your private hunting preserve.

Jay

 

[TaperPin]

It helps to understand the words you read.

The hikers approached him, he gave them his intentions. They chose to stick around

Also I don’t think anyone on this forum would have any problems not hunting with you

We’re the fun kids everyone wants to hang out with

 

[parshal]

You should see the reactions from the hikers when hunting ptarmigan and grouse. This time of year is the fall colors and the mountains are more busy than usual with hikers. It ranges from horror that someone has a gun to people saying the dogs must be on leash. LOL

 

[Poser]

You should see the reactions from the hikers when hunting ptarmigan and grouse. This time of year is the fall colors and the mountains are more busy than usual with hikers. It ranges from horror that someone has a gun to people saying the dogs must be on leash. LOL

Go marmot hunting some time and see what kind of reactions you get....

 

[The Guide]

What’s different between shooting rocks or shooting grouse, or sighting in a rifle, or blasting through a box of 9mm? It’s a free country and public land bla bla bla.

For guys who have struggled to draw a tag and have spent thousands of hard earned dollars just to get there, especially older hunters that are limited in how far off the road they can get, it seems like a dick move to hunt nearby birds during archery seasons. I don’t know where all these easy going elk hunters that wouldn’t be pissed off, but I’ve never met one.

What the hell is wrong with people to not know how to act around others?

You seem pretty entitled to think that your hunt has more value than someone else's does. Unless you are in an archery only area during an archery only season, maybe you should do some research on other open seasons and what to expect while out hunting. Maybe it is your fault for camping or hunting in a special grouse hunting area.

I've met guys out hunting that have spent thousands of dollars to hunt birds on their trip and that was the only reason they came to Montana. They drove from the east coast to western Montana to hunt mountain grouse then planned to work their way east and over the next 3 weeks hunt for all upland bird species in the state with their final week being the opener of pheasant season. Great guys that spent a shit load of money in our small towns over the course of the month they were gone from home. I was jealous of their ability to spend that much time exploring the wild lands of our state. 4 guys and 2 dogs making memories.

Public lands are for all to use. You have no idea how many times I've come in to go hunting in a spot only to find someone camped right where the elk were crossing the road every day or someone hiked in and put a tent 50 yards from the bedding area that a big buck was using. All I do is figure it out. I have one spot where as soon as you drive up a certain road, all the elk leave this particular park but there is no way to get to the park unless you drive up that road or hike up a different mountain and come in on the ridge above them. I've been getting ready to shoot an elk, waiting on legal light, and had someone drive up that road and blow the elk out. That's just part of the game and what you deal with on public lands. Pretty sure no hunter leaves home with their plan for the day being to **** up another hunters hunting.

Jay

 

[TaperPin]

You seem pretty entitled to think that your hunt has more value than someone else's does. Unless you are in an archery only area during an archery only season, maybe you should do some research on other open seasons and what to expect while out hunting. Maybe it is your fault for camping or hunting in a special grouse hunting area.

I've met guys out hunting that have spent thousands of dollars to hunt birds on their trip and that was the only reason they came to Montana. They drove from the east coast to western Montana to hunt mountain grouse then planned to work their way east and over the next 3 weeks hunt for all upland bird species in the state with their final week being the opener of pheasant season. Great guys that spent a shit load of money in our small towns over the course of the month they were gone from home. I was jealous of their ability to spend that much time exploring the wild lands of our state. 4 guys and 2 dogs making memories.

Public lands are for all to use. You have no idea how many times I've come in to go hunting in a spot only to find someone camped right where the elk were crossing the road every day or someone hiked in and put a tent 50 yards from the bedding area that a big buck was using. All I do is figure it out. I have one spot where as soon as you drive up a certain road, all the elk leave this particular park but there is no way to get to the park unless you drive up that road or hike up a different mountain and come in on the ridge above them. I've been getting ready to shoot an elk, waiting on legal light, and had someone drive up that road and blow the elk out. That's just part of the game and what you deal with on public lands. Pretty sure no hunter leaves home with their plan for the day being to **** up another hunters hunting.

Jay

If someone is a dick, people won’t like them. Being a dick is usually a universal condition, so their wife knows it, their kids know it, their friends know it, and the strangers around them know it. If a hunter can’t figure out how to be polite in public, the internet isn’t going to fix that. We teach our kids how to not be dicks and it helps them in all aspects of their life.

 

[Jason Snyder]

If you think I’m the only one that thinks it’s a poor choice, when I don’t even have a horse in this race as a rifle only hunter, you will be surprised to discover elk hunters in some drainages aren’t as nice about it. Nobody in our family would ever do it and I can’t think of anyone I know being misguided enough to do it.

I don’t care if you are or aren’t the only one. I asked why? Do you have a reason?

Tomorrow I will be grouse hunting in an open elk unit. Unashamedly and enthusiastically.

 

[Ringbill27]

If someone is a dick, people won’t like them. Being a dick is usually a universal condition, so their wife knows it, their kids know it, their friends know it, and the strangers around them know it. If a hunter can’t figure out how to be polite in public, the internet isn’t going to fix that. We teach our kids how to not be dicks and it helps them in all aspects of their life.

So grouse hunters hunting grouse during grouse season are dicks? Noted.

 

[sndmn11]

I stopped and talked to a grouse hunter this year in Colo, he had already killed some birds off the logging road I was going in on, I had asked him about if he's seen any elk around and what he might know about elk in that area, it was a good conversation, it ended with me mentioning where I had seen some more birds while scouting.
I also ran into a guy and his wife, the wife had a bear tag, I told them where I had seen a big bear a couple days earlier, she was packing a bad ass 44 mag!! also a good conversation.

This is how it is supposed to be; none of us are in competition with each other even if we are hunting the same things.

I wouldn't have any problem with a grouse hunter near me, or hunting grouse near an elk hunter. The exception to that is if there is a dog chasing deer/elk/bears/not their game.

 

[The Guide]

If someone is a dick, people won’t like them. Being a dick is usually a universal condition, so their wife knows it, their kids know it, their friends know it, and the strangers around them know it. If a hunter can’t figure out how to be polite in public, the internet isn’t going to fix that. We teach our kids how to not be dicks and it helps them in all aspects of their life.

So you know all about this situation. Glad you can see that someone who thinks their own actions on public lands are of a greater value than someone else's activities on public lands are "dicks". Nobody has more rights because they are older or spent a long time getting a tag. Just wait until you get to a block management area and someone else is parked there and signed in to hunt for the day! Oh no! How could they! You drove all the way there and this was your place to hunt! Or someone is parked at the trailhead you drove 17 miles off road to get to! Dear God, the horror...

Jay

 

[saskhunter]

It's public, you can go and enjoy it as you please as long as it's legal.

Anyone who gets butthurt about this is a whiner.

Part of the deal when hunting public is that you never know who/what you're going to encounter.

 

[saskhunter]

Why are archery bro elk hunters such f'n divas?