Stay Limits during Hunting Season(s)

[S.Clancy]

do you have any idea if outfitters have to have their camps marked? Might call FS and ask figured someone might know?

It depends on the state I believe. In WY, at least in the backcountry, they are marked.

I know outfitter boats have to have their #'s visible on the boat (raft, jet, drift boat, whatever) in MT.

 

[sndmn11]

I'm not sure you're understanding the intention of this post.

I'm not sure I am understanding how you know, with an inability to see the future, that these people will be there into whatever hunting season you care about.

 

[midwestcowboy]

Oh yeah sorry I forgot to mention I actually have a crystal ball @sndmn11

 

[Customweld]

@midwestcowboy , you got to be getting excited! Clock's a tickin!

 

[midwestcowboy]

@Customweld I'm getting VERY excited, it'll be here before I know it. My buddy shows up in about a week and a half and we're diving in!

 

[sndmn11]

Oh yeah sorry I forgot to mention I actually have a crystal ball @sndmn11

Seems sarcastic; how do you know they will exceed 14 days then if you don't have the crystal ball?

 

[zrodwyo]

It is very, very common in Wyoming to leave your trailer out from snow off through hunting season. I have never heard of any enforcement.

 

[Fetty Wapiti]

It is very, very common in Wyoming to leave your trailer out from snow off through hunting season. I have never heard of any enforcement.

It is awful in the Bighorns. Abandoned campers all over. We just camp at the sites, use their firewood and propane etc. If you set up right they cant even use the spot they tried to hoard when/if they show up.

 

[Deadfall]

I already deal with one outfitter running multiple camps in my neck of the woods, just found another outfitter camp in the middle of a drainage i usually hunt… it’s all just so tiresome, I’ll move a little bit but damn man I’m kind of tired of it…

Pretty tough for legal outfitter to set random camps. Outfitter spots and days are highly regulated. Also highly regulated is number of outfitters in a given area. Use days are also extremely hard to come by. If someone new just randomly showed up doing outfitting/guide stuff. Odds are good hes a scab and should be reported

 

[Hnthrdr]

Pretty tough for legal outfitter to set random camps. Outfitter spots and days are highly regulated. Also highly regulated is number of outfitters in a given area. Use days are also extremely hard to come by. If someone new just randomly showed up doing outfitting/guide stuff. Odds are good hes a scab and should be reported

Yep, I mean I’m very familiar with the area for the last 5 years the guide service that I know in the area, has a drop camp in one spot and guides a different spot on the other side of the unit, so when I found a camp that I haven’t seen in 5 years it was just pretty surprising, I guess I could give the outfitter a call and chat, or one of the guides I know I little, I see if he knows what’s up.

 

[5MilesBack]

Seems sarcastic; how do you know they will exceed 14 days then if you don't have the crystal ball?

Every dedicated hunter is all about redundancy.......he's got a magic 8 ball as his backup.

 

[sndmn11]

Every dedicated hunter is all about redundancy.......he's got a magic 8 ball as his backup.

Mechanical or talking?

 

[elkliver]

Pretty tough for legal outfitter to set random camps. Outfitter spots and days are highly regulated. Also highly regulated is number of outfitters in a given area. Use days are also extremely hard to come by. If someone new just randomly showed up doing outfitting/guide stuff. Odds are good hes a scab and should be reported

or a hunter who happens to have horses and gear? Not sure what indicates that its an outfitter

 

[Jethro]

So all we really know is that there were a lot of camps, both big and small, wherever @midwestcowboy was over Labor Day weekend and he may have taken photos of the camps.

Long stays happen. Sometimes enforced, often not. Move on to the next camp spot.

 

[midwestcowboy]

Exactly @Jethro, thanks for summarizing.

I did take a few photos and pinned coordinates of the different sites I passed. I'll follow up here in the thread when I'm back out there and make note of what's still present after > 14 days. Still unsure whether they are outfitters or not so I don't plan to report anyone.

The idea of this post wasn't ever to get people in trouble nor worry about people "ruining my hunt". I will hunt wherever I want regardless of who's camp is set up where. I was just trying to better understand stay limits, if stay limits are enforced during hunting season or enforced for outfitters, and if other hunters experienced this in their neck of the woods. Thanks for commenting.

 

[MallardSX2]

Being a bit of a neat freak, I can’t stand groups that leave their bullshit parked, and set up on public land.

Any camp left more than the 14 day mark on public land should be treated as litter/garbage and be subject to the rule of pirate law.

Period.

To you guys leaving your shit set out all season, be glad I don’t run the show because if it was up to me I would pile your abandonded shit up and burn it. And then send you a ticket in the mail every week until you came and collected the ashes.

Pisses me off that I spend $1000’s of dollars to go hunting and I show up to the “good old boys resident trailer park” on the mountain. My wife and I shake our heads every single year at the shit that has clearly been set up for a month in the best spots and hasn’t been used in weeks. JFC

 

[5MilesBack]

To you guys leaving your shit set out all season, be glad I don’t run the show because if it was up to me I would pile your abandonded shit up and burn it.

Hopefully I can get out of my camp chair before you light it on fire. But by that point I really doubt there would be any fires started.

 

[TaperPin]

I was simply stating that, "wow a lot of people have long term campsites set-up 2 weeks prior to the hunting season in this remote unit, is that legal? If so, then fine! If not, then that's kind of frustrating and annoying + I'd wish somebody would enforce the rules."

In rural areas I’ve seen rules enforced for “me and not for thee” based on who has the most political clout complaining the loudest.

It’s also become a game of musical chairs with homeless camps or “van life” homeless moving between spots. It’s always been like that, but the increased drug problems of the past two decades have produced many times the number of people living on public land.

I’ve known a few young knuckle heads that would rather live in a camper or bus and work part time rather than join mainstream working folk - and there are plenty of modern hippy websites where they compare notes on how to game the system. We all have our demons I suppose. I tried to talk an apprentice into keeping a full time job and he had to go live in his bus and go rock climbing. Stupid hippie. He hooked up with a stupid hippy chick. Turned out she’s an only kid and her wallstreet dad is worth over a billion $$. The takeaway is don’t take career advice from me. lol

 

[MallardSX2]

Hopefully I can get out of my camp chair before you light it on fire. But by that point I really doubt there would be any fires started.

Are you referring to the chair you leave out there to hold a spot all archery season? lol

 

[Indian Summer]

Outfitters have what is called in assigned site. They pay a fee for the site and it is allowed up all season long.

And while 14 days is the regulation in areas of Wyoming and Montana where I hunt nobody really cares because there are plenty of places for everyone to camp. As long as it doesn’t affect you, it shouldn’t matter.