Rant - What happened to respect for other hunters???

[flyfisher117]

Blame it on the instagram hunters. Blame it on the out of staters. Blame it on the new hunters.

This is nothing new it's been going on longer than I am old. Most of the biggest assholes I've ran into are the old locals. That claim to own the land cause "my pappy hunted this land for 69 years"

For all you know he may not have realized you were there until he was ontop of you. The fact that he stopped and asked seems pretty decent. Most people I have ran into just tromp along like a heard of elephants. Better yet they hop on a wheeler and just start riding where ever they please.

 

[Glory]

This one seems simple. He was out hunting and you showed up and decided to glass his route back to the vehicle. At least he came and talked to you before bailing into the drainage.

 

[Poser]

This behavior has always occurred and probably with the same % of hunters who tend to display these behaviours. Its just that public land is more crowded than it used to be so these types of encounters happen with more frequency.

My advice is to not get worked up about it. Any series of events can trigger another series of events.
I called some hunters in back during archery season. They were fairly uptight about it. I had to laugh. They continues on down the drainage pissed off, I climbed 500 feet higher and struk up an actual bull.

 

[TSAMP]

A couple weeks ago I was in Wisconsin grouse hunting. Had observed pressure via vehicles but
Not on foot.

I located an area on OnX and arrived at sunrise and pulled off to park. The road went another half mile back and dead ended, but it appeared to be great habitat so I thought sombody could walk the road back and hunt it.

Dogs were out and I had 3 guys on my tailgate when a SUV buzzed in. Waved at us and sped down the lane. We all kind of said we'll shit at the same time. We had options and quickly came up with a plan when he came back in reverse. Couple old timers and he said sorry. We blew by then thought, we should probably talk to these guys and make a gameplan to stay out of each other's way.

Local guys, a brief chat and all was well and they went down the lane, and we went our way.

Sometimes guys aren't as clear as they think they are in these interactions. Be direct and polite and most people are going to give you space.

 

[robby denning]

I understand that hunting public land in the west generally means you will be near other hunters but I was always taught to keep your distance and avoid ruining opportunities for other hunters who may have gotten there first. Apparently some hunters never received this teaching, or chose to ignore it tonight just to piss me off.

Tonight I hiked my ass off to get up to a ridge top by 4:30 PM so I could glass and hunt until dark. The spot I initially wanted to go to had 2 hunters posted on it glassing, so I went to an alternate ridge instead. After glassing around 30 minutes, I noticed another hunter coming towards me climbing up the same ridge, about 1000 yards away. I told myself this was no big deal, he obviously saw me and would hopefully keep his distance.

I checked on him again about 15 minutes later and he was still coming directly at me, now about 500 yards away. “Okay, he hopefully will drop off soon and give me some space but at this point he’s getting a bit close for comfort”.

15 minutes later he stopped about 200 yards short of me on the same ridge and as I stared at him, he sat down and looked to be glassing. “Okay, this is getting a bit annoying, but at least I’m higher up and have a drainage in front of me I can focus on.”

Nope, apparently that wasn’t good enough for him. 15 minutes later, now getting into prime hunting in the final hour of shooting light, HE WALKS DIRECTLY TO ME. He says, “Hey bro, would it totally screw you if I drop down this ridge to your left? That’s the best way back to where I parked”.

Trying to stay civil, I replied, “You know, I generally don’t make a habit of bothering other hunters, let alone hiking through the area they’re clearly glassing and hunting.”

Despite this and a few more brief words, he proceeded 10 feet in front of me, then dropped down into one of the two drainages I was actively hunting and proceeded to walk right through the middle of it, spoiling any potential deer hunting in that entire area.

Can you guys give me a sanity check? Is it too much to expect another hunter who arrived well after me to keep their distance, let alone not hike right next to me and then continue hiking through the middle of the area I’m actively hunting? Especially when there are multiple other routes to get to the vehicle that wouldn’t interfere with my hunting at all.

we should reasonably expect hunters to give others some elbow room. I always try to if at all possible, although I'm sure I've mucked up others hunts on occassion.

 

[*zap*]

hey, bro.......

that right there is your opportunity to tell him what you really think....don't hold back because it is a moment in time that will be lost forever in just a few seconds.

Yup.

 

[gbflyer]

Exactly what I thought. OP didn't do himself any favors.

I personally try not to attribute to malice what could also be attributed to incompetence.

And if you're going to be a jerk, you better be prepared for them to as well.

Hanlon’s Razor. Haha.

Me, a friend of mine and his son were on a well known and well used lookout one day in W CO. Another guy came along. We just shared the spot. Both parties ended up killing elk. It was kinda cool actually.

Sorry to the hive in advance. I don’t have pictures to prove it.

 

[Trogon]

If Im out on a ridge, in the open, and there are other hunters hiking around, I know Im in the wrong spot and I need to get my ass out of the ASAP. Maybe thats what he was thinking. But thats also what Id be thinking as the guy that got my glassing lane walked on.

 

[Hnthrdr]

If Im out on a ridge, in the open, and there are other hunters hiking around, I know Im in the wrong spot and I need to get my ass out of the ASAP. Maybe thats what he was thinking. But thats also what Id be thinking as the guy that got my glassing lane walked on.

Ehhhh, come to Co during our rifle free for alls. Usually the guys who plant their butts and glass have a better idea of what’s going on. The zombie pumpkins will tromp all over God’s green earth, wind at their back just wandering, and wondering why they never see those elusive animals haha

 

[ianpadron]

Gotta remember that hunters are no different than any other demographic in America today, a massive percentage of them are idiots lol

Not much more you can do but try and educate folks who may have made an honest mistake, after that just gotta thank the Good Lord for working on your patience.

 

[MallardSX2]

I lost all faith in public land hunters when I tried to hunt Nebraska on public land rifle season opener back in 2018.

30 years of living in PA and dealing with gun season lunacy didn't even hold a candle to those dip$hits in Nebraska. It was pure insanity.

I have tried to recover from what happened, but I just can't. So now, years later, and after applying for points for a decade, we pretty much only hunt a tag that takes 10 or more points and/or know that there will be a very limited number of people in the area. Until we have that tag, we will sit it out. It's just not worth dealing with the idiots.

Typically, if you wait 10 years, the people are slightly more civilized and professional about things than people who can go buy their tag from wal-mart and go hunting.

 

[Yoder]

This isn't new, people have always been inconsiderate. One year when I was only 13, we were in our stands before it got light. A guy walked right by us at 8am, setup less than 50 yards away, took a shit, then shot a small buck and drug it out the way he came. My old man was so pissed. It's actually kind of funny thinking back on it.

 

[OKHunter84]

My dad had hung a tree stand on some public in southern Oklahoma back in the early 90's. He was in it very early before daylight and another guy started climbing his tree. Dad shined a light on him and the guy said, "guess we're going to be neighbors." He got down at 9a and peed on the bottom of the tree before he left.

We had a rancher in New Mexico drive a client he had in his side by side into BLM and start banging away at a buck that we had bedded and were about to stalk. Called the warden and they ended up getting him for illegally driving his side by side through the BLM and his client had a private land tag. That was in 2014. The rancher and his client both looked to be in their 60's.

In a public area in Kansas in 2010 I had hiked through my cousins place down a big hill onto the public and had to row a canoe 700 yards down a river to get to the backside of a soy bean field. You would've had to hump in a couple miles coming from the road, that's why I took the river. I had a climber in this pinch point between a couple fields, a scrape and a rub line. Some guys on the river saw my canoe, cause I could hear them talking even though they couldn't see me. Next day when I came back in, they had hung a stand fifty yards from me and put a camera where I would have to dang near walk in front of it.

These are just examples of dick behavior on public a long time before bro culture, meat eater or YouTube hunting. It does suck and it's very annoying though.

 

[terrytheluddite]

This is totally a function of the individuals character and temperament around other people. Had this happen by locals and non-locals. Its the same with fishing a creek or finding a campsite. I always take the camp spot on the opposite side, but oddly enough there are people out there that will choose the spot right next to you even though the whole place is empty. Maybe it's a herd mentality thing.

I'm curious about everyone's preferences around the face to face interactions. If I see a hunter nearby in a big area we share, I actually prefer to quietly chat about what I'm seeing and build a small report. I figure this helps us both and avoids us being rivals in the area. Maybe I should just avoid all interactions IDK

 

[steelheadmike]

This is totally a function of the individuals character and temperament around other people. Had this happen by locals and non-locals. Its the same with fishing a creek or finding a campsite. I always take the camp spot on the opposite side, but oddly enough there are people out there that will choose the spot right next to you even though the whole place is empty. Maybe it's a herd mentality thing.

I'm curious about everyone's preferences around the face to face interactions. If I see a hunter nearby in a big area we share, I actually prefer to quietly chat about what I'm seeing and build a small report. I figure this helps us both and avoids us being rivals in the area. Maybe I should just avoid all interactions IDK

With very few exceptions, I generally go out of my way to be cordial and pleasant, no matter the situation. I lean more towards the "more flies with honey" philosophy.

I hate to keep bringing up duck hunting but I've had 10x more interactions with other hunters in the marsh than the woods: on more that one occasion, I have had somebody set up their decoys 50yds are less from me. I'll usually make sure they know I'm there and go over to talk. After I get the feeling that they are relatively sane, I'll ask them if want to move over and set up with me. This way, both our hunts aren't ruined and I've shared a blind with a few of them on subsequent hunts.

If I got pissed off every time somebody did something that I didn't like while hunting, I wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning.

 

[treydfoster]

I'm right there with you. If I have been out there all day busting my butt and working a ridge back to the truck, see a guy "hike his butt off" just to hunt the last 2 hrs of light, I'm probably not deviating from my plan. Again, I could be wrong, wasn't there, just going off context clues....

I get to hunt a lot of states and a lot of days and had just about every interaction you could with other hunters, from some literally sh*tting on my truck to a stranger helping me kill a B&C animal I didn't know was there. Nine times out of ten it is just ignorance, they either don't know you are there or don't know better, not malicious or trying to mess up your hunt.
A few exceptions are if a guy seems to know what he is doing and continually pops up on you in the same area, he is probably hunting a specific animal he's already scouted and not willing to leave because you wandered into the area (I don't blame these guys). Then there are the few that are really trying to mess up your hunt or do not care that another hunter is there. In my experience, these interactions tend to happen more in some states than others (CO/UT).

Got any pics?

 

[CjMelendrez]

My buddy an I were recently hunting elk in a draw only Idaho unit with a very limited number of tags. We were stalking a bull with a few cows and trying to close the distance to make a shot. There was a lead cow that kept looking down our direction but didn't know we were there. She also kept looking over her shoulder down the opposite draw (she was on the ridge line and the rest of the heard was below her on the face we were moving to). Before I could get set up for a shot, the bull walked behind a tree and into a dark pocket of timber. The cow also blew out and into the trees. We decided to get to the ridge and see if we could spot them in the timber or find out which way they might have moved.

As we got to the ridge, there was another guy making his way to a rock pile, interested in the same heard. We stopped the hunt at that point and walked over to him. He never saw the bull but could hear him. He didn't know we were below them the whole time and asked if he messed up things for us. We all agreed, that no, he didn't mess anything up. We were just getting to the elk a few minutes too late.

We talked a little about our hunt up to that point and told each other where we were from. Then made plans to go opposite ways, even giving him some beta on elk we had seen that direction while scouting (we had other elk to work on the other side of the mountain).

It was a pretty pleasant interaction and I hope he killed his bull! I was able to harvest mine a few days later.

Not all interactions are bad in the mountains, but I have had my fair share of head scratch questioning why some folks do the things they do...

p.s. My hunting buddy and myself are in our early 30's, the guy we came across looked to be the same. I wear a flat brim hat and I'm a fan of MeatEAter

 

[MuleyFever]

I get to hunt a lot of states and a lot of days and had just about every interaction you could with other hunters, from some literally sh*tting on my truck...

Got any pics?

Thats just gross man.

 

[Hnthrdr]

With very few exceptions, I generally go out of my way to be cordial and pleasant, no matter the situation. I lean more towards the "more flies with honey" philosophy.

I hate to keep bringing up duck hunting but I've had 10x more interactions with other hunters in the marsh than the woods: on more that one occasion, I have had somebody set up their decoys 50yds are less from me. I'll usually make sure they know I'm there and go over to talk. After I get the feeling that they are relatively sane, I'll ask them if want to move over and set up with me. This way, both our hunts aren't ruined and I've shared a blind with a few of them on subsequent hunts.

If I got pissed off every time somebody did something that I didn't like while hunting, I wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning.

Yeah didn’t even think of duck hunting had som good days and met a hunting buddy or two doing that while duck hunting. Little different since the quarry comes in a flock or flocks typically. But always good to be polite

 

[cb2176]

I understand that hunting public land in the west generally means you will be near other hunters but I was always taught to keep your distance and avoid ruining opportunities for other hunters who may have gotten there first. Apparently some hunters never received this teaching, or chose to ignore it tonight just to piss me off.

Tonight I hiked my ass off to get up to a ridge top by 4:30 PM so I could glass and hunt until dark. The spot I initially wanted to go to had 2 hunters posted on it glassing, so I went to an alternate ridge instead. After glassing around 30 minutes, I noticed another hunter coming towards me climbing up the same ridge, about 1000 yards away. I told myself this was no big deal, he obviously saw me and would hopefully keep his distance.

I checked on him again about 15 minutes later and he was still coming directly at me, now about 500 yards away. “Okay, he hopefully will drop off soon and give me some space but at this point he’s getting a bit close for comfort”.

15 minutes later he stopped about 200 yards short of me on the same ridge and as I stared at him, he sat down and looked to be glassing. “Okay, this is getting a bit annoying, but at least I’m higher up and have a drainage in front of me I can focus on.”

Nope, apparently that wasn’t good enough for him. 15 minutes later, now getting into prime hunting in the final hour of shooting light, HE WALKS DIRECTLY TO ME. He says, “Hey bro, would it totally screw you if I drop down this ridge to your left? That’s the best way back to where I parked”.

Trying to stay civil, I replied, “You know, I generally don’t make a habit of bothering other hunters, let alone hiking through the area they’re clearly glassing and hunting.”

Despite this and a few more brief words, he proceeded 10 feet in front of me, then dropped down into one of the two drainages I was actively hunting and proceeded to walk right through the middle of it, spoiling any potential deer hunting in that entire area.

Can you guys give me a sanity check? Is it too much to expect another hunter who arrived well after me to keep their distance, let alone not hike right next to me and then continue hiking through the middle of the area I’m actively hunting? Especially when there are multiple other routes to get to the vehicle that wouldn’t interfere with my hunting at all.

It is not you. You're sane.

I too find it ridiculous what you see some others do with a total lack of respect for others.