Hunt area etiquette

Joined
Jul 20, 2020
Messages
323
Location
MT
Hey guys curious what your thoughts are on bringing people to spots you personally use, have discovered, keep secret, and are public land. Say you bring said person to spot, what are the respectful unwritten rules that guest is expected to abide by? I understand it is not law, yadda yadda, I know. Just want your experience on the topic?

Example 1:. the area is off limits unless you are present or give blessing

Example 2: they are not welcome to bring anyone else to said spot without your blessing.

Example 3: it's a free for all, bring your friends, family and whoever, whenever you please without asking

This being said,do you make this clear in an open discussion before entering the field with said person?

Thanks for your input
 

BBob

WKR
Joined
Jun 29, 2020
Messages
4,404
Location
Southern AZ
Hey guys curious what your thoughts are on bringing people to spots you personally use, have discovered, keep secret, and are public land. Say you bring said person to spot, what are the respectful unwritten rules that guest is expected to abide by? I understand it is not law, yadda yadda, I know. Just want your experience on the topic?

Example 1:. the area is off limits unless you are present or give blessing

Example 2: they are not welcome to bring anyone else to said spot without your blessing.


This being said,do you make this clear in an open discussion before entering the field with said person?
Yes to 1 & 2. It is absolutely verbally clear beforehand. I vet super hard before even thinking about someone new and they don't ever get to go to prime locations or get any prime info until they've been vetted for quite awhile to prove they are worthy. New people are rare for me, been doing it too long and already have a reliable very small core group and even then not everything is discussed freely. Most of this applies to Coues deer and mby not quite as strict on other species.
 

FlyGuy

WKR
Joined
Aug 13, 2016
Messages
2,088
1 & 2, but I wouldn’t show your best spots to anyone that you don’t plan on being a real hunting partner for many years. If you are trying to teach someone, then have them pic a spot, help them out, but from them on its “their” spot. If you are trying out new partners, I would suggest to go to a spot that’s new to both of you.


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BBob

WKR
Joined
Jun 29, 2020
Messages
4,404
Location
Southern AZ
I'll add: I have those rules I wrote for a reason. When younger and nicer I got burned, many others I know got burned. We all got burned by so called friends. If you don't get yourself some strict rules you will get burned, no doubt.
 

Meshnasty

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 19, 2018
Messages
135
#2 in my case as we typically hunt together and most of our favorite spots were found while scouting together.

I really only hunt with three people including my wife. Our scouting, spots, and success/failure is an open book between us, but hunting with either friend is seperate (one is midwest based hunting while the other is western based). Both people are my closest friends and have been for well over 10 years. If either person ever wanted to bring someone else out such as friend or even their own family they would ask first just as I would if I wanted to bring someone new. Last year my one buddy wouldn't go out to our spots, even with the ideal conditions, because I was coming back to hunt in a week and he didn't want to burn the area. I told him multiple times to go out there, but he never did. It's not uncommon for us to argue with each other trying to get the other person to go to the better spot. He'd rather see me get a shot and I'd rather see him get a shot. I don't think we would ever let another local person hunt with us. We just have too much time and too many miles devoted to the areas we like to hunt.

In general I would trade my own valuable information (not something I scouted/hunted with a friend) in an out of state area for information that is valuable to me. That being said I have only done this twice. In both cases they were people I have never met in person. I've only used one person's information so far and I won't pass it on to anyone since they are still applying for that hunt/it isn't mine to share. I hope someday they will use the information I gave them.
 

WCB

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2019
Messages
3,628
If you show anyone, you've shown everyone.
If you have shitty hunting partners. Guys I hunt with and have brought to spots avoid them like the plague if I am not with. Even out of states spots that I don't have a tag for I have to almost fight my one buddy to go to spots I showed him because he feels guilty.

Where most guys get in trouble if the friend of a friend or relative of a friend. I personally just don't get my self into that situation.
 

MThuntr

WKR
Joined
Apr 10, 2015
Messages
1,083
Location
SW MT
1 YES
2 Never to Rarely...I've also gone to say no girlfriends EVER because they'll either blab to their friends and before you know it Jerry from down the street hunting there or when she bails and takes her new dude there. I showed a spot to a friend who wanted to take her dad hunting...he could get lost in his backyard with a map. To this day he thinks he was hunting nearly 100 miles from where we actually were and has not interest in coming back because the hunt was much harder than his body could handle.

No spot is free for all though agreed if you show 1 person without a doubt they're going to bring someone

Spots found together remain unspoken to others and variations of rules 1 and 2 apply.
 

def90

WKR
Joined
Aug 12, 2020
Messages
1,696
Location
Colorado
Hey guys curious what your thoughts are on bringing people to spots you personally use, have discovered, keep secret, and are public land. Say you bring said person to spot, what are the respectful unwritten rules that guest is expected to abide by? I understand it is not law, yadda yadda, I know. Just want your experience on the topic?

Example 1:. the area is off limits unless you are present or give blessing

Example 2: they are not welcome to bring anyone else to said spot without your blessing.

Example 3: it's a free for all, bring your friends, family and whoever, whenever you please without asking

This being said,do you make this clear in an open discussion before entering the field with said person?

Thanks for your input

What would your friend do if you just told them that you broke up with your girlfriend? Would they be hanging with you putting down some beers or would they be texting her for a date?

Might be an indicator of what they may do if you show them your spot.
 

TheGDog

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2020
Messages
3,406
Location
OC, CA
Not only a problem of whom you directly tell or bring.. but also if you don't hide the carcass/gut-pile... OR... if you leave TrailCams up where they can be easily visible, sure enough... you'll then start to see curious new roaming figures showing up in your cams. So remember, that carcass and those cams do just as much talking as you ever could.
 
Joined
Jun 6, 2013
Messages
1,112
Location
IL
If someone brings me to an area, I don’t advertise it to anyone. No one. No buddies. Not my wife.

If I bring someone to an area, I expect them to respect that.

Perhaps that’s unrealistic.
 

Elkangle

WKR
Joined
Jun 16, 2016
Messages
971
I won't even take my wife to good public spots.

I showed my ex one of my archery spots after 3 years...and she slipped up after a month

I also slipped after like 5 years and my inreach had the location on my best Idaho rifle spot...she literally was using that as leverage when we broke up

Trust nobody with the good spots
 

Sanchez

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 23, 2019
Messages
146
My experience is they will almost always eventually violate any agreement you make when you show them a good public land spot.

They might hunt a slight different version of the same basic spot, they might act like a statue of limitation exists and if you do not hunt the spot for a year or two it is wide open, they might tell their friends who will act like they discovered the area on their own, etc..

As soon as you show them it is as much their spot as yours.
 
Joined
Apr 21, 2015
Messages
978
For me its "Never go back to another persons "spot" unless invited by that person".

For that reason I hate to have folks show me places, cause I don't want to exclude places that I might have some day discovered on my own. Having someone show me a place more or less wipes it off the map for me.

But in my experience my behavior is rare. Therefore I don't show anyone any place I'm not willing to walk away from. Just like loaning money. Never loan out any money you expect to get back.
 

Kilboars

WKR
Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Messages
1,546
Location
West Palm Beach, Fla
Don’t show it to Joe Rogan. JRE inside joke.

Just know people/friends will show their true color. I’ve lost “ what I thought was” a good friend over something similar.

Got permission/lease to hunt some private land from a guy, then had a guest/friend of my own go behind my back to lease it himself.


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