Hunt area etiquette

[EastHumboldt]

Can you keep a secret? Well don’t worry ... cuz I’m not gonna tell you one.

 

[SecretSpot]

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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Pretty sure that was one of the shows with Steven Rinella if I'm not mistaken

 

[Kilboars]

Pretty sure that was one of the shows with Steven Rinella if I'm not mistaken

Not sure, “as the thread is asking” I just remember Joe going off on a rant on several podcasts of not understanding how a person showing friend his secret honey hole on public land could ever get mad if the friend start hunting that spot himself afterwards.

Joe doesn’t put any value in the days spend hunting over the years to FIND and understand it’s a honey hole.

I’m thinking Joe must have burned a hunting buddy just doing that and now he’s trying to play it off.


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[ReddingArcher]

It should be number 1 but it’s never that way. All spots are eventually ruined and it’s time to find new ones. It’s gotten to the point where I’d rather pack an animal out at night so other hunters don’t see. I definitely wouldn’t take someone who I don’t regularly hunt with to a spot.

 

[rob86jeep]

I don't see what the big deal is. If I had a friend that brought me hunting to a public land spot but said I could never go there again without him, then he's probably not a true friend (in my opinion). There's tons of public land out there. If you don't want people to know where you go, then don't tell/show them and problem solved.

 

[Antares]

I have three tiers of spots I will take people to or tell them about.

Tier 1: My current good spots. This is me and my brother only. Full stop.

Tier 2: My old good spots. Good friends.

Tier 3: Well known, halfway decent spots that I never go to. Everyone else.

I'm the worst. One of my favorite games is using Google Earth to try to bust peoples spots based on photos they post. If you post a pic with some skyline in it and the sun (or a good shadows), I'm gonna work on it. I might not go there, but I like figuring it out.

I just expect people to blab about spots, so I don't even bother playing the trust game. The first rule of good spots is you don't talk about good spots (or post pics).

 

[Lowg08]

This is a very interesting question. I’m not sure of other places. Here it’s kinda understood if it’s so and so’s area stay out. Public or not. Secondly. If you are wanting to hunt an area that the said individual doesn’t hunt you need their blessing but it now becomes your spot. For an example. A gentleman I go to church with hunted a spot for 25 years. He has gotten too old to hunt. My Dad had me ask for permission to now hunt that spot. He was glad to tell
All the details and all the stories. He even makes sure to check on me through the season. Since then. I have inherited several more spots and the same process has repeated. I found it amazing how many old timers are tickled they can pass down a spot and the stories. The only thing that was a condition of permission was that I made it a point to share all of it with my son and so forth and so on.

 

[Kilboars]

I don't see what the big deal is. If I had a friend that brought me hunting to a public land spot but said I could never go there again without him, then he's probably not a true friend (in my opinion). There's tons of public land out there. If you don't want people to know where you go, then don't tell/show them and problem solved.

Just make that clear to your friends how you think.


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[Kilboars]

Normally now my close hunting friends are ones that invite me to hunt their land or leases as well.


It’s a running joke we have about “friends” that ask to hunt your property but never invite you to theirs.


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[rob86jeep]

Just make that clear to your friends how you think.


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I do. I just told a distant work buddy about my elk spot and how to hunt it. I told them to feel free to go and try and that it's one of the most crowded units in CO. I still have success every time I go though because an extra 1/2/5/10 people won't have an effect on the hunting pressure in a unit that's already pressured.

 

[SecretSpot]

One issue is packing an elk from X amount of miles alone. The excitement and rush of the kill coupled with the allure of some 2 legged help can get you on inreach and texting directions for help. A year later your asking yourself why the hell didn't you just get it out alone...

 

[Kilboars]

I do. I just told a distant work buddy about my elk spot and how to hunt it. I told them to feel free to go and try and that it's one of the most crowded units in CO. I still have success every time I go though because an extra 1/2/5/10 people won't have an effect on the hunting pressure in a unit that's already pressured.

I hear you but I think they’re talking a different level hunting spot.


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[gabenzeke]

Loose lips sink ships. The only people I'd bring to a spot know without saying they aren't coming back without my invite.

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[Zappaman]

This year, my trusted biz partner finally got into hunting after a serious early life stint in boy scouts (Eagle Scout of course) and he's hiked a lot and is very technical with his gear, etc.)

As I have been his mentor for six years now in our biz, I've come to trust him and so I explained to him ONLY he is allowed in my deer honey hole. As I trust him, I feel it was my duty after he froze his ass off about 20 first (recurve bow) hunts with no success elsewhere.

Then, after going out and showing him the "spot" he passed on some very close (bow) shots. So he proved he has the correct ethic. Hunting IS ALL about ethic... and there are MANY good friends I'd never show my spot to. But when they REALLY do the due diligence, that is the only time I'll break the silence.

Then... he called ME and had a hunt where he got permission from another good friend (who's family were Kansas settlers and have a LOT of excellent deer habitat). They showed us around and after two days of snow, rain and two clean knives later (*and camps you couldn't tell we had been at), they invited us back any time but "horn season" to kill doe.

So what comes around, goes around sometimes. And I am a very lucky hunter with both public and private hunting resources. That said, I would never ask a landowner to invite another person to hunt. My family once owned/leased about 80k acres (cattle sheep and goats) and when the FEW were invited back then, my dad wouldn't allow "another" hunter unless it was a son/daughter of a hunter coming up * and they asked the year before.

I honestly believe the land owners who allow me to hunt their land KNOW if they need help "off season" that they can call me and I'm there with my gloves ready to help out. I always gift back some back-strap, sausage and summer garden stuff too. They are friends I call year round- not just hunting season. So when they invite me... it's JUST me. When I explained this and warned my buddy to NOT invite me to his friend's land- he TOLD them of my warning-- and I was instantly (officially) invited

BTW: just joined and glad to be talking to other hunters!

 

[elkbowhuntr]

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

Damn ! Bad enough they end up with half of your s..t but your hunting spot used as leverage !

 

[elkyinzer]

I don't really think relying on some unwritten etiquette is the path to clear understanding. Best to communicate any expectations in advance. In practice I guess it helps to be a stubborn independent introvert. Some of the more hunting socialite types I can see how things of this nature could become a problem especially when a couple of those types combine and you get all kind of validation seeking outcomes. Only have a handful of people I hunt with and we take the team approach, collaboration over competition. Good group, no flakes, no moochers, no ego.

 

[Rich M]

My thinking is why would you show someone you can't trust something that took perhaps 5+ years of work to find and figure out?

The small groups and guys with one or two buddies that hunt together all the time are one thing, it's the taking Joe from work part that causes problems. Joe is gonna go brag to his real buddies who he does stuff with all the time and take them there the first opportunity. If they get something then the next level of friends will get taken there. Fact of life. It only takes 1 guy to ruin an area with hunting pressure.


All that said - most of the guys I ever met in the field, hunting out of state have been real nice and helpful. Best folks in the world. They try to help. I'm very free with information when out of state cause the guys i meet there are that way.

 

[Antares]

In practice I guess it helps to be a stubborn independent introvert.

Oof, that hit a little too close to home... I read that as "antisocial."

 

[axemill]

unfortunately #3 usually wins out. I have had super secret spots on public only to find out someone was there the week before. Depends on your friendship with the person, if they are willing to share with you, share with them. if they do not share I would not share with them

 

[danwattsmessick]

Once again I fall back to the fact that I don't really have friends. Or hunting partners. So it isn't an issue for me.

That being said, I hunted a private spot one year, nothing huge. 10 acres, mostly pasture but a decent finger of woods that was a funnel for deer between two feeding areas. It was owned by a coworker who didn't hunt and he invited me out one year. Shot a pretty decent buck, but didn't tell anyone where I had hunted. Coworker was super excited, thought it was just the coolest thing.

Fast forward a few weeks when I went to pick my blind and cameras up. Someone else had moved their chairs into my blind, put cameras on the same tree I had mine on, butted right up to mine. Coworker had told a friend I shot a good one there and he proceeded to use my blind to hunt out of.

Pulled my shit and left his chairs out in the open. Never heard how it went over as the coworker quit not long after.

Lesson learned.