Trailhead Etiquette

[Ross]

Go hunt your spot. It is a trailhead, no one owns it. Good luck

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Preach. Same for leaving a treestand up on public in whitetail country. Same for leaving a ground blind out for pronghorn. If someone is hunting I will respect their space. If they think leaving their possessions on public land saves their spot, they can get bent.

Let's go ahead and add duck blinds in too. Just because you build a damn blind in a prime cove doesn't mean you own that spot.

 

[oldhornhunter]

Should have asked him what they do other than put stickers on them, if they don't come back and write tickets then it's useless.

I did !! He said if the unit is not moved within 3 days of being stickered they will issue a ticket to the name registered with the DMV according to the plate. Now whether they did or not I guess the only person that can verify that is the dude that owns the trailer

 

[CorbLand]

Let's go ahead and add duck blinds in too. Just because you build a damn blind in a prime cove doesn't mean you own that spot.

I hate when people act like they own a spot because they built a blind. There’s a dude around here that hunts 3-4 days a week. He will burn down other blinds if he finds them and then tries to kick you out of blinds he built. He will also get pissy if you set up where he wants to go even if you beat him there. Dudes a complete tool. If I passed him and his boat was broke down, I would give him the bird and keep going.



To OP. Walk right past their camp and hunt. Trailheads allow you to access the ground behind them. Simply camping at them doesn’t reserve the ground behind it for you and only you. If you don’t want people walking through your camp, don’t camp at access points. It’s really pretty simple.

Use to hunt a spot that had a paved parking lot at the trailhead. Had permission to use atvs on private ground adjacent to the public ground. Could use an atv to get to the top of the mountain and hunt from there, where others had to hike to the top on the public. Showed up on opening day to a few people camped in their vans in the parking lot. Unloaded the ATV, loaded stuff up and took off. Came back to a note saying how disrespectful that was. Just ignored it and showed up every morning for the next 4 days and drove right past the same group.

 

[Serrano]

I think the regulations are saying you can't camp in the parking lots at the official trailheads.

If the area is really too small for two hunters, the odds are someone will blow out the game early. But I agree, their tent doesn't reserve the area.

But I have seen plenty of other hunters, landowners, and outfitters try to keep me out of "their" canyons, some even huge canyons several miles long.

 

[mad_angler]

I was just in Wyoming last week. General rifle opens on Oct 15. There were empty camps all over the place. One camp was at a trailhead that I planned to hunt. I walked slightly around their camp and hunted like I had planned.

This is public land. Parking a camper for 2+ weeks does not reserve the area...

 

[robby denning]

when someone backs up too close to a tent and the guy wire goes over the ball hitch and the driver unknowingly drives off, the tent falls down considerably lol.

I'd never recommend this, only heard of it happening

 

[SleepyJones]

Rock out man. Screw these people who try and 'block' other people from hunting where they want to hunt. I'd hunt there EVERY DAY that person was camped there out of spite... maybe set up and do a bit of target practicing too. I wouldn't mess with their stuff, but it's so tacky when people do this.

 

[Robinhood21]

So how'd it go?

 

[Indian Summer]

Rock out man. Screw these people who try and 'block' other people from hunting where they want to hunt. I'd hunt there EVERY DAY that person was camped there out of spite... maybe set up and do a bit of target practicing too. I wouldn't mess with their stuff, but it's so tacky when people do this.

Camping at a trailhead isn’t blocking access. Trailheads can be like little communities during elk season. Walking past tents is normal. I’ve met some pretty cool people as camping neighbors.

 

[Patriot2]

Dispersed camping on National Forest or BLM is a no brainer for us. Find the first spot before or after the trailhead where you can disperse camp.

 

[midwestcowboy]

I've run into the same problem throughout Idaho. Had experienced it in previous years, but this season has felt worse than before. I actually started a thread 1-2 months ago about it.

We hunted past their camp, respectfully of course. Didn't mess with their shit - hell I don't even think we saw them over the course of multiple days (which is another gripe I have about the 14 day stay limit in Idaho - how do you realistically enforce that). Didn't even think about them or their camp after we were a few hundred yards down the trailhead, it didn't matter.

Nobody can expect to "reserve an area" by setting up camp at a trailhead or the bottom of a basin. Hunt where you want, it's public land.

 

[HilltopHitman]

This year felt bad in Idaho. Like a lot worse. Camps everywhere, multiple vehicles at trail heads, and guys everywhere.