Is nothing sacred

[MichaelO]

I thought I had a really nice spot picked out to go this year and then I watched a well known hunters YouTube video from that state. He very briefly showed the GPS and it’s the same spot I’m going. Lol not changing my plans.

Unless you have some private land, the honey hole is a dead concept. Can’t put that genie back in the bottle. Being bitter won’t change it.

 

[mwebs]

This thread isn't about whether or not the honey hole is a dead concept or if it's possible with the amount of hunter in the woods now. It's about how talking about units and areas on the internet highlight them PERIOD. Google your unit and tell me what results you get, it's all hunting forums and gohunt. So everyone needs to shut up about areas and units and when a guy registers and ask about his first ever elk hunt what does everyone know about unit X, there shouldn't be no response. PMing a guy like that is just plain rediculous, but if it makes you feel knowledgeable and self-righteous go for it. The barrier to hunting elk out west is smaller each year, and when guys can just ask a simple question on the internet and get areas to hunt with no effort that lowers it.

I hope everyone that is defending their, "it won't affect my hunts, I'm a great guy so I help everyone position" has never complained on this forum.

Rant over, I've held off on this thread for a while but sorry I couldn't handle this rediculousness any longer. Stop talking about areas and units on public forums period, let's guys earn and figure stuff out like we had to.

 

[Pacific_Fork]

If it has generations of memories a posting about it on the internet shouldn’t change that. Good grief. You don’t like spots posted on the internet? Then don’t read the internet and live in your fantasy land that you have a honey hole. Nothing gold lasts forever.

 

[Jeronimo 56]

2nd Post - I had trouble getting registered here on Rokslide for the past couple months... then all of a sudden today everything went through and now my silence no longer protects me as I contribute to this forum.

I drew a couple tags for NM Gila hunts back in April and although I'm a resident, it's not my local area and I don't know much about it. So I was able to create an account over in Hunt-Talk and started a thread for new guys - something to the effective of a novice guide to the area. I started by listing out allt he things I already knew so I wouldn't have to re-read that you need to get in shape, study, scout, gather your own fundamental info, etc.. That seemed to go well and I had a few comments but for the most part I must have had all those things reasonably well covered.

Then I posted a few comments asking about using a packer or a drop camp. I got a few skeptical comments indicating that wouldn't be easy to find... it wasn't easy but it wasn't that hard. I dug around and found that precisely what I was asking about exists. But mostly I got the silent treatment.

Then I make a list and added a web link to the major trailheads into the Gila wilderness... absolute radio silence.

Now this isn't my first circus, and I've negotiated my way through the forum world before and I've learned a few things.
1) Forums were created to share info
2) Not everybody wants that info to be shared
3) When you share wrong info everybody jumps all over it... you seldom see a falsehood left to die on it's own
4) When you share accurate info one of two things happen
.... folks go dead quiet and neither confirm nor deny
.... or somebody feels obligated to blast your character for letting the deep secrets get out
5) Many more etc..

Anyway, thanks for the newbie post thoughts. J

 

[RCB]

More people in one spot means less people in another.
Unless it’s unlimited OTC and tag numbers are increasing, of course....

 

[Gila]

If you want to find places to hunt, fish and camp then put your boots on, fill up the truck with gas and get out there. If you can't go scout on your own then hire a guide or don't hunt. This pissin' and moanin' about people not sharing their hunting areas on a public forum is BS!

 

[Geewhiz]

If you want to find places to hunt, fish and camp then put your boots on, fill up the truck with gas and get out there. If you can't go scout on your own then hire a guide or don't hunt. This pissin' and moanin' about people not sharing their hunting areas on a public forum is BS!

Clearly you haven't had a spot blown out of the water by someone you thought you could trust.

Its easy to fill up the truck with gas and hit the hills. What's not so easy is to find a truly exceptional area that few people know about. Those areas are few and far between. And I'm not saying a specific area belongs to any one person, but if they are as disposable as you portray, clearly you haven't been into any high producing areas that have provided success year after year.

 

[Gila]

Clearly you haven't had a spot blown out of the water by someone you thought you could trust.

Its easy to fill up the truck with gas and hit the hills. What's not so easy is to find a truly exceptional area that few people know about. Those areas are few and far between. And I'm not saying a specific area belongs to any one person, but if they are as disposable as you portray, clearly you haven't been into any high producing areas that have provided success year after year.

I have spent thousands of dollars and spent 100s of hours afield to find the areas that I want to hunt. To suggest that I should share that investment on a public forum is ludicrous.

 

[Geewhiz]

I have spent thousands of dollars and spent 100s of hours afield to find the areas that I want to hunt. To suggest that I should share that investment on a public forum is ludicrous.

I'm not asking for your spots man...

I'm sharing the OP's frustrations about people and their big mouths.

Are we both arguing the same side? lol

 

[Nickofthewoods]

This thread used to be sakret. Now it's ruined.

 

[Gila]

I'm not asking for your spots man...

I'm sharing the OP's frustrations about people and their big mouths.

Are we both arguing the same side? lol

Apparently we are on the same side.

I have been to places in the wilderness that I know no one has been to in quite a few years if not decades. I would like to keep it that way.

 

[Southforkguy]

Does anyone hating on NR realize if they also hunt out of state they are the same POS Non resident to someone else? Lol give me a break with all the hate crimes here

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

1. Western big game animals move. A lot. If you haven't looked at them before, do some research on the former elk and mule deer migration paths that used to encompass a huge swath of land in NW WY, SW MT, Idaho, etc... These traditional movements used to change a little every year, but profitable hunting ventures, ranches, and other changes to the environment have interruped or wholey changed some of the old routes.

2. What was a sakret, super secret, never had a hunter's eyes laid on it before, honey hole one day may be a desolate desert the next day. This is especially true after hunting season opens, and if there is intensively managed private land bordering the honey hole, good luck finding an elk or deer once the pressure on public heats up. They will hole up on the private never to be seen again until next season. This is why the rut is such a blessed time to hunt in Iowa.

3. Lots of people forget that, as a whole, the number of hunters in the US has been on the decline for a long time. Some folks should think about the legacy of our sport and whether or not their own selfish desires are more important than the future of hunting. When barriers for entry into Western hunting continue to increase, it is that much harder to recruit the next generation of hunters. As a NR going on my first hunt this fall, I have incredible appreciation for Rokslide and the willingness of most to provide information and support. I would never ask for unit numbers, coordinates, or specifics about anybody's lands. However, tactical support on gear, calls, etc..., is invaluable to newbies like myself. I hope that this information sharing doesn't stop and that this site doesn't die like others I've visited.

4. The guys complaining about honey holes must not go fishing too often. Most of the substance of this thread is an everyday occurence on public waters. If you don't like the crowds, adapt and find other places to catch "fish". When those spots become public knowledge, which they will, move on to the next place. Eventually the first honey hole may become hot again as people continually jump on the bandwagon.

 

[Pacific_Fork]

You’re going on your first hunt this year and you’re already preaching about our legacy? What gives you that authority to even have an opinion on this matter? Burn some hard earned boot leather for a decade champ, then come talk about legacy and how social media is the best thing for hunters and the resource…

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

You’re going on your first hunt this year and you’re already preaching about our legacy? What gives you that authority to even have an opinion on this matter? Burn some hard earned boot leather for a decade champ, then come talk about legacy and how social media is the best thing for hunters and the resource…

I've been hunting and fishing my whole life chief, more than 35 years. I've also raised and mentored 3 of my own kids and several others to love hunting and fishing and the outdoors. I have more than earned my right to have an opinion on any such matters. So don't preach to me about Western hunting access, honey holes, and hard knocks as if they are any different than hunting and fishing where I come from. Iowa is 49th in the country in access to public lands, so I know more than many folks on here about the challenges of finding a good place to hunt and then trying to keep it. We have the same challenges here, and it is how we choose to answer them that matters.

Trying to keep everything secret so you and your cadre of "purists" are the only ones that are ever successful is the surest way to doom the lifestyle we all love and want to protect.

 

[Dos Perros]

Wait, did that guy say barriers to entry for new hunters is going UP? I’d have to disagree: western hunting has never been more accessible than it is right now.

 

[orionsbrother]

“Trying to keep everything secret so you and your cadre of "purists" are the only ones that are ever successful is the surest way to doom the lifestyle we all love and want to protect.”

I don’t think it’s about “keeping everything secret”. You want information about tactics, gear, specific strategies for specific situations or scenarios... I doubt you’ll find many places where people are more generous with their opinions and time than here.

But I feel strongly about people openly blowing up specific locations on the internet. Anyone sharing locations privately via PM or phone, that’s their business. You want to put up a commercial for a private ranch, go nuts. There’s limited access.

I hunt some public ground that my buddy scouted and located. My wife doesn’t even know where it is. She knows that if I need to be found and a cell call won’t go through, she should call his brother.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

But I feel strongly about people openly blowing up specific locations on the internet. Anyone sharing locations privately via PM or phone, that’s their business. You want to put up a commercial for a private ranch, go nuts. There’s limited access.

From my previous post... "I would never ask for unit numbers, coordinates, or specifics about anybody's lands. However, tactical support on gear, calls, etc..., is invaluable to newbies like myself. I hope that this information sharing doesn't stop and that this site doesn't die like others I've visited."

We are not hunting any private land on our hunt this fall, and we don't own any hunting land in Iowa either. We are doing a traditional Western big game hunt in the Bob Marshall Wilderness; packing in over 20 miles on horseback to base camp with an outfitter in NW MT. From base we will ride out on horses every day in search of game. This will not be an easy hunt and our chances of success aren't that great, but like somebody else on here already told me, we gotta, "...burn some hard earned boot leather...", to have any credibility on this site.

 

[WTFJohn]

Trying to keep everything secret so you and your cadre of "purists" are the only ones that are ever successful is the surest way to doom the lifestyle we all love and want to protect.

This year is already starting off as a drought year in the west; should we all give up our good spots and help other folks out? What does that do to the animal populations that will be fighting against that drought and unprecedented recreational pressure through the summer & fall? And their fight against the cattle/sheep on USFS/BLM grazing leases for premium forage?

We had a fairly weak winter after a hot and dry summer last year; and don't have 'good' rain in the forecast at all. What happens if/when we have another record-setting fire season where entire units burn up overnight or are closed; forcing hunters to new units on short notice? Think any will do some searching and come up with what's put out on here? What happens then to that animal population long term? After a rough few years getting hammered by poor weather, predators, recreational pressure, and hunters (both local/return and led by their internet searching), populations will drop, and folks will lose access to easier draw tags and higher harvest rates. This is not a healthy long term management strategy, and yet we've seen it happen multiple times in CO.

It's not always about keeping it secret for some wacky 'purist' reason, it's because years like this can have long term impacts on the resource if too much info is too easy to come by. Many units have been ruined by tv shows, podcasts, and even paid scouting/info services; here is no different.

 

[Gila]

The area that I hunted fished and trapped in virtual solitude for years if now a wildlife sanctuary and no one can go there.....