How do you remain calm with overcrowding?

[Hackleback]

Most only hunt the first weekend
Most only road hunt
Most only hike less than a mile
Most are not on stand before first light
Most don’t hunt till it’s too dark to see.

 

[ReaptheHeat]

I don't know where you guys are hunting, but near me, people will climb 500-1000' ft elevation straight up a sagebrush covered hillside before first light. Absolutely brutal mornings.

 

[robby denning]

I still scratch my head at these.

I was hunting a walk-in area in Colorado a few weeks ago and yes, first few days were busy with guys. From day 5-7 I saw about 6 hunters in the area with plenty of elbow room between and I saw two shooter bulls in range and on public. The last two days I saw no one and had a chance at that 2nd bull if I'd been bull hunting. This is in an OCT resident unit and I think NR can get a tag easily.

I find some places are way busy (and have been since the 80s) and other places like what I experienced above. Move is the best advice I can give. But I hunt too much for anyone to convice me hunter crowding is everywhere.

 

[Poser]

I don't know where you guys are hunting, but near me, people will climb 500-1000' ft elevation straight up a sagebrush covered hillside before first light. Absolutely brutal mornings.

Yeah, the amount of “just get off the roads” advice is laughable. This isn’t 1996. Sure, maybe 90% never get 1/4 mile from their vehicle, but 25,000 hunters going “deep” is a lot

 

[ReaptheHeat]

Yeah, the amount of “just get off the roads” advice is laughable. This isn’t 1996. Sure, maybe 90% never get 1/4 mile from their vehicle, but 25,000 hunters going “deep” is a lot

Yep, OnX and other phone GPS devices make it so easy to find spots and "get off the road". No where is really safe anymore.

No offense to anyone, but this isn't Kansas/Nebraska/Kentucky/etc where people won't leave their truck or deer blind. People coming to hunt CO are coming here with a purpose.

 

[id_jon]

I don't know where you guys are hunting, but near me, people will climb 500-1000' ft elevation straight up a sagebrush covered hillside before first light. Absolutely brutal mornings.

I have found that in most of the areas I hunt, once I get 800 or so feet up, the boot tracks stop and I stop seeing people. Or stop seeing the day hunters I should say.

 

[BRTreedogs]

Marijuana edibles really help keep you calm. A friend told me.

 

[Yoder]

I hunt public land in Pennsylvania. Is there any place that has more pressure? Cry me a river.

 

[awnicho2]

Yeah, the amount of “just get off the roads” advice is laughable. This isn’t 1996. Sure, maybe 90% never get 1/4 mile from their vehicle, but 25,000 hunters going “deep” is a lot

Just have to find the in between. You have to be past the quarter milers but closer to the truck than the rest. There is an art to this, dependent on how steep the terrain is and what the access is like. It feels lazy, but it works.

 

[Huntnnw]

Ill gladly hunt places with fewer elk if that means almost no people. I cannot stand hunting around people and wont. I spend alot of time finding those places

 

[Wapiti1]

I’m wrapping up another hunt in MT. Pretty much the same as the last 35 years. Some areas had hunters, some didn’t.

There is a new hot area that changes every few years that gets pounded. No one shoots elk there outside of the first week and if there is a ton of snow. But its typically easy hunting, so the hopeful flock there.

I watch where the hunters are, figure out which rigs contain non-road hunters and then hunt in between. Pressure helps me know where to start looking.

Jeremy

 

[danb3]

Take it as a lesson learned in that area and go elsewhere. There are plenty of places that have less pressure.