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

[Mike Islander]

Fuds and dickheads are not new. I started out as a clueless newby over 55 years ago.

 

[texastea23]

Once you start hunting private, to adapt with public land hunters will be difficult sorry about that by the way

I’ve turkey hunted public in multiple states for several years now, and that’s the only time where someone knew where I was and came into that exact spot. In the moment I wasn’t too happy, but that’s more because I knew my brother was gonna make it happen. It happens, plenty of my hunts have been screwed up by others. I still congratulated him on the bird, but I give him hell for it every time I see him. Makes you appreciate the success you have even more.

 

[texastea23]

Grew up hunting private.
Tried public land a few times.
I'll pay to hunt private rather than wander around public land with the fruitcakes!

texastea23 - when any hunter sets foot on public lands, the fact that they can hunt private property is "MOOT"!
Private land hunters pay the same fees and taxes that fund public land access the public land hunters pay.

I only hunt private land. I've still had hunters pull birds I was working...AND...I've pulled birds another hunter was working! That happens when you hunt the fringes of private property. It has nothing to do with etiquette and everything to do with luck and skill....which is what "hunting" is about.

You can shoot game on public land from private property.
You CAN NOT shoot game on private land from public property.

Lol I get it, and I’m not new to it all. It’s happened other times too, but I don’t think you’d actively go hunt a spot your friend told you he’s hunting. Maybe you would. I still congratulated him, but in the moment I wasn’t too happy.

 

[ReaptheHeat]

What happened to common sense? No one needs to tell you to not walk into other hunters.

 

[Amos Keeto]

Lol I get it, and I’m not new to it all. It’s happened other times too, but I don’t think you’d actively go hunt a spot your friend told you he’s hunting. Maybe you would. I still congratulated him, but in the moment I wasn’t too happy.

Well, guess I missed part of what you were saying.
You're correct.
If you told Dumbledorff "where" you were hunting and he purposely comes into the area, then yes, he's being a sphincter muscle!

Growing up, I always knew where everyone else was hunting. I steered clear of them and vice versa. We still occasionally bumped one another, but it was accidental.
The lease "rule", such as it was, you hunted daylight to about 10AM. we all went to camp, had a meal and took a short nap. Back to your stand 230ishPM and hunted until dark.
Unless you needed help with something, you didn’t disturb the other hunters.
We had the occasional "dork" who would NOT stay put in their stand. They just "HAD" to get down and walk around.

 

[texastea23]

Yeah it was a special circumstance, I’ve given him hell for it. Bumping people in their spot on public is part of it. Especially with turkey hunting where some guys just blend in so good you never see them until they get up.
My dad is the worst still hunter I know. Set him up in my spot when I was in high school where I knew two does would come out, it wasn’t 20 minutes from when I left him he comes around the corner of the woods and goes “saw a raccoon! Tried to hit it with a corncob but I missed. Should’ve shot it with my crossbow.” The man can trap and raccoon hunt as good as anyone but he’s the worst deer Hunter I’ve ever met. He paid for his first vehicle in all cash from his furs.

 

[JeffRaines]

As an adult onset hunter, it's not exclusive to our status. Nor is it to age, political affiliation, resident status or otherwise.

You're either a "I'm gonna get mine no matter what" kind of person, or you're not.

I personally avoid other hunters like the plague. If you're sitting on a ridge - it's yours, I have a plan B. If someone's there, I have C. If I run out of plans, I'm calling it a day instead of shitting on someone else's hunt just because I was late to the area.

At the end of the day, I obey the golden rule. I treat others the way I would like to be treated. Unfortunately, not everyone does this.

 

[Fxs]

Had hunter creep past tree stand unaware of me being followed by mature doe. I've often glanced behind myself since.

 

[Blowdowner]

Had hunter creep past tree stand unaware of me being followed by mature doe. I've often glanced behind myself since.

Wow how far behind? Could you smell him using gland scent or something?

 

[Mtndawger]

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.

In todays world it seems like the answer is yes it’s too much to expect. Happened to me and my son last year on our elk hunt. A group of 5 guys just moved in on us and blew up our area. I talked with them after ( they were camped near us) and they literally had not a clue. They proceeded to hunt it the same way for the rest of the week. We moved onward to other areas but it definitely effected my approach to the draw applications this year.

 

[Mtndawger]

Conservative versus liberal hunting mindsets?

That is needlessly provocative and a needless accusation. Plenty of rednecks on both sides of isle.

 

[AlabamaMountainMan]

I was on a draw hunt this previous year in a small WMA in the SE US. There were maybe 8 hunters total, 2 of which were me and my dad. You could only enter the hunting zones of the WMA after 5:00 am so at 5:00 am on the dot I would head off into the woods to get to the spot I found since it is first come, first serve. The second morning I saw headlights coming my direction so I flashed mine in that direction just to give a heads up where I was. It was still about an hour until legal light so no big deal. I just expected them to veer off in a different direction, or at the worst, walk past me and keep on going. The lights turned towards me, stopped for a sec, then kept right on walking towards me. This guy and his dad wound up walking back-and-forth in circles for 45 minutes until the sun came up about 30 to 100 yards in front of me, about 100 yards east of me and 100 yards west of me. The dad veered off before the sun came up and went out of sight east of me. Found out later he climbed a tree about 300 yards through the trees from me. His son had gone out of sight to the west, but then walked back 20 yards in front of me and waves at me. I had flashed my headlamp and whistled at them multiple times and at this point, it was legal shooting light. Needless to say, none of us saw anything that morning. At 9:00 am they walked out about 50 yards behind me through the brush about as loud as they could be. I was fuming pretty much the entire morning. After speaking with them later on back at the campsite, I am convinced that they weren't rude, selfish, or even really aware of what they did. They just seemed totally clueless to general etiquette. They also said that they set up about 500 yards away from the me the previous morning and were just hoping something came by them first which tells me they knew I was there and just did not see anything wrong with setting up near me.

 

[Trimbandit]

I went to buy a hunting pack from a local guy yesterday. We were talking hunting gear and I asked what binos he runs. He said "you're going to laugh" before he proceeded to tell me what binos he uses. The fact that he thought he had to qualify his gear is sad. We are all hunters, we should respect everyone and where they are in their hunting journey.
The fact of the matter is the mountain is the great equalizer. It doesn't care about your financial status, background, creed, religion, etc. It treats us all the same.
I have been on a hunt, when a dude and his boy came up to me, they told me a story about how someone walked past them right into their hunting area and they were upset about it. Then he proceeded to do the same thing to me. I am sure he didn't even realize he did it. Give folks the benefit of the doubt. No sense in getting upset. It won't help.
All this said, if you get there first you have the spot while you are there.