Sitting water etiquette

[coast2peak]

I’m sure this may have been discussed but I drew an archery antelope tag for August this year and planning on getting a blind and sitting water. It’s an out of state hunt but I’ll get over there once this summer to scout the road system and put trail cams up on some watering holes. It will be my first antelope hunt and I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes or u knowingly piss people off. What is the etiquette for setting up and blind. Is it just first come first serve type of deal or is there going to be several blinds on every water hole? I’m going to try to find some water that hopefully takes a little effort to get to, so hopefully that will help with the people. Should I get here a few days before it opens and set my blind up? Do people move blinds of others or vandalize them? Anyway just wondering how people generally go about it. Thanks

 

[wytx]

Just don't set where there already is a blind and if there are cattle in the area they will destroy a blind.
Keep in mind water holes can dry up between now an August, have a couple of spots picked out.
Better stake it down well too.

 

[realunlucky]

Just don't set where there already is a blind and if there are cattle in the area they will destroy a blind.
Keep in mind water holes can dry up between now an August, have a couple of spots picked out.
Better stake it down well too.

What's the protocol if there is already a blind on the water hole?

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[Gulogulo]

What's the protocol if there is already a blind on the water hole?

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Find another.

 

[realunlucky]

Find another.

So if I set multiple blinds up I can basically reserve the entire area?

I won't want to screw up someone else's hunt but I don't think leaving blinds long term should give someone exclusive rights either.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

It depends on the area, how much pressure and how much water, but in my experience there is no etiquette. I stay away from them. Spot and stalk or figure out a way to hunt the routes to and from water. Fence crossings can also be effective and less crowded.

 

[TaperPin]

I wouldn’t expect a trail cam to survive without a few bullet holes - if it’s a nice blind it will also disappear if it survives the cows and wind. Blinds are very easy to see for anyone driving by the two track it’s off of and people are naturally curious. Local antelope hunter will have scouted many times prior to the season and know how long your gear has been abandoned.

Back east do folks leave blinds and trail cams easily seen from access roads in state parks or other public space for many weeks? I honestly don’t know, but it seems similar.

 

[Weldor]

So if I set multiple blinds up I can basically reserve the entire area?

I won't want to screw up someone else's hunt but I don't think leaving blinds long term should give someone exclusive rights either.

Yea, It's a catch -22. Outfitters do it all the time, put up tree stand, tripods and ground blinds and call it their's. Other hunters too. It's a goat rope for a limited resource. I choose to cut the water off, hunt trails leading to it, less competition.

 

[Rich M]

Yea, It's a catch -22. Outfitters do it all the time, put up tree stand, tripods and ground blinds and call it their's. Other hunters too. It's a goat rope for a limited resource. I choose to cut the water off, hunt trails leading to it, less competition.

It seems to be the better place - everyone local will have the water staked out.

 

[sndmn11]

I won't want to screw up someone else's hunt but I don't think leaving blinds long term should give someone exclusive rights either.

While @TaperPin is out there shooting trail cams and janking blinds, has anyone left their contact information on a note within a blind, and received a response?

I've had success doing that on trail cams to learn what is being hunted and when so that nobody feels slighted.

 

[svivian]

While @TaperPin is out there shooting trail cams and janking blinds, has anyone left their contact information on a note within a blind, and received a response?

I've had success doing that on trail cams to learn what is being hunted and when so that nobody feels slighted.

Ive done it with a tree stand elk hunting for a few years while in high school. I put one up where only a few people knew where this wallow was. My trail cam would catch them from time to time. So i put up a tree stand with my contact info as well as what days I planned to hunt. I got a call from two dudes and it worked out well for everyone.

 

[S.Clancy]

If you are gonna scout, I would GPS any blinds you see, take photos and share them with the LEO of the Federal land agency that they are on. If they are left more than 14 days they are considered abandoned and the agency will remove them. I've done this on forest service with tree stands. We used to remove a ton of cached stuff (camps, canoes, etc) from FS land when I worked with them. I hate people just parking shit on public land.

 

[bdg848]

I wouldn’t expect a trail cam to survive without a few bullet holes - if it’s a nice blind it will also disappear if it survives the cows and wind. Blinds are very easy to see for anyone driving by the two track it’s off of and people are naturally curious. Local antelope hunter will have scouted many times prior to the season and know how long your gear has been abandoned.

Back east do folks leave blinds and trail cams easily seen from access roads in state parks or other public space for many weeks? I honestly don’t know, but it seems similar.

People will hang multiple stands and leave them for the entire season. In my view, that's fine for the sake of the convenience of not hiking a stand in every time but in no way means that's "your spot". I hunt wherever the best setup is, even in the tree next to another stand, as long as there is not already a butt in the seat. If someone beat me there, I move to my plan B spot. If they show up and don't have a plan B, that's their problem. However, Guys might only hunt any given stand a couple times during an entire season and I've never actually sat within view of another stand and had someone come in while I was there but I don't hunt on the weekends so that helps too.

 

[coast2peak]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like I should just get up early and go setup a blind at an unoccupied water hole in the dark. That’s disappointing that people might mess with the trail cams. There is 200 tags across three units for this hunt. Being my first antelope hunt I’m not exactly sure what pressure like that looks like. I hunt places for deer and elk with a lot more tages than that all the time and never have issues with people but I’m also all spot and stalk and not trying to compete for a spot to sit. I plan on setting out several trail cams. I just have basic cheap cameras so hopefully if they get destroyed it’s not the end of the world. I definitely won’t sit in a spot someone already is. Confrontation with someone who thinks they own a water hole doesn’t sound like a fun hunt to me. Worse case I’ll spot and stalk, it’s just seems like it’s maybe not as effective as sitting water in August. Thanks again.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like I should just get up early and go setup a blind at an unoccupied water hole in the dark. That’s disappointing that people might mess with the trail cams. There is 200 tags across three units for this hunt. Being my first antelope hunt I’m not exactly sure what pressure like that looks like. I hunt places for deer and elk with a lot more tages than that all the time and never have issues with people but I’m also all spot and stalk and not trying to compete for a spot to sit. I plan on setting out several trail cams. I just have basic cheap cameras so hopefully if they get destroyed it’s not the end of the world. I definitely won’t sit in a spot someone already is. Confrontation with someone who thinks they own a water hole doesn’t sound like a fun hunt to me. Worse case I’ll spot and stalk, it’s just seems like it’s maybe not as effective as sitting water in August. Thanks again.

There are few things more fun than spot and stalking pronghorn with a bow in August.
There are few things more miserable than sitting a blind bow hunting pronghorn in August

 

[coast2peak]

There are few things more fun than spot and stalking pronghorn with a bow in August.
There are few things more miserable than sitting a blind bow hunting pronghorn in August

It does sound fun, but also sounds like I would need some luck to get it done. I have never been there, so if the terrain looks like it could be productive for spot and stalk i definitely will try that!

 

[wytx]

I gotta ask, what state are you hunting because some of these things just don't happen here in Wyoming in the pronghorn areas we hunt ??

If there is a blind there look for info as stated by others. Put your info in the blind and coordinate with other hunters. Move along to another spot if a blind is there, well just don't put up another one.
Not sure you need multiple blind sets.

And yes it is miserable hunting, lol.

 

[npm352]

In Idaho, there will be 2-4 blinds on many of the water sources.

It is a shit-show free-for-all.

Archery hunting antelope convinced me that antelope were created by God to be shot with lead objects flying about 3,000 fps.

 

[WCB]

I can't imagine setting up a blind or trail cam next or on the same waterhole/wallow. Seeing pictures of 10 cameras on one post in front of a water tank is laughable. Why you would even want to hunt that spot or general area makes zero sense.

If there is another blind just move on. Also, you might want to have plan B of spot and stalk, or fence crossing spot. What happens if the area you are in is wet or gets rain a day or two before you hunt. Water is essentially meaningless.

 

[coast2peak]

I can't imagine setting up a blind or trail cam next or on the same waterhole/wallow. Seeing pictures of 10 cameras on one post in front of a water tank is laughable. Why you would even want to hunt that spot or general area makes zero sense.

If there is another blind just move on. Also, you might want to have plan B of spot and stalk, or fence crossing spot. What happens if the area you are in is wet or gets rain a day or two before you hunt. Water is essentially meaningless.

Definitely will be ready to spot and stalk if needed! Yea I’m not gonna go anywhere where there is already blinds. I’ll try to get there a day or two early. Hopefully locate some animals with the trail cameras and find a spot with no blind. If I can’t find that, I’ll belly crawl around for a week trying to get close in the August heat