Trailhead etiquette

[Blacktail_]

Wondering if I can get some trailhead etiquette tips from y’all! Where I do most of my hunting, you find a locked gate and walk in, never would I park at the same gate someone else is at, and never has anyone done that to me. Heading to Idaho this year and from what I can tell there are often very popular trailheads that people park at before hiking in further. Is this just a normal part of the game and feel free to head on in or are those usually big hunting parties it would be better to stay away from? Probably a dumb question but I’m not used to this so don’t flame me too hard!

 

[JREG19]

I frequently hunt from the same trailhead as other guys. Most times I get back there a little ways and get off the trail and never see anyone else. It's public land, feel free to head on in.

With that being said, if I talk with the other hunters, I try to figure out where they are going so we don't go to the same spot.

 

[taskswap]

If you can fit, you can sit.

In general in the West you'll find that because it's a popular destination, lots of folks will be at trailheads. And in many areas we have long/late recreation seasons so half those folks will be hardy "7-mi is a short walk for my dog" types mixed with birders, quadders, and more. If you passed by every trailhead with somebody parked there, you'd fall into the Pacific. But also, parking is usually generous and easy. It's actually rare IMO in most places to not have enough parking at all.

The one thing to be careful of is while many USFS and similar lands have locked gates, a locked gate is not an invitation. Get OnX or some other tool to keep you on public. Leases, private property with easements, and other reasons can leave you with a USFS-LOOKING gate but now you're trespassing.

 

[mad_angler]

I agree with the other responses...

I general have a destination in mind. And there is a lot of land behind each gate. It is unlikely that we are all heading to the same place.

If someone is at the trailhead before me, I try to ask where they are going. Since they were there first, I'll try to avoid their destination.

Like others have said, I occasionally see other trucks when I park. I very seldom see other hunters near my hunting destination.

 

[Poser]

Depends on a variety of factors. There are "1 vehicle" trailheads/pullouts and then there are primary trailheads with a parking lot, sometimes multiple trails stemming off from one area. I've parked at a trailhead with a dozen vehicles + 2 horse trailers and seen no one back in there and I've been the only vehicle at a 1 car pull out and ran into other hunters who accessed the area from a different trailhead.

 

[Indian Summer]

Trailheads are parking areas. For everyone. If you passed up every trail head with a camp or a vehicle or two at it, you would be hard-pressed to find a place to hunt unless of course you want to park at a random spot.

Like mad angler said if you run into people you could talk to them to make sure you guys don’t step on each other‘s toes.

 

[resident vs nonresident]

Park and hike. It’s public and for everyone to share. Just be courteous when you see other hunters once far in and move to put some distance between yourselves so everyone has some breathing room
Also out west if it’s September (archery) many of those cars may be hikers/fisherman etc

 

[Ross]

Trailheads and gates give access, not rights to the area. Stay cordial, most are great.

 

[Weldor]

Public land, feel free. it belongs to everyone. Down this way the trend seems to be parking with your RV blocking access to FS roads and camps.

 

[Speaks]

Totally depends on where you are.

Near my cabin in WI just on my 6 mile long road there are probably 30ish trails or logging roads coming off of it. If one has a truck I assume someone is close by and hit another (many of them may just go anywhere from 1/4 to 1 mile back in). There are a few that are access into much larger areas and those I dont care who is parked there as there are spots for dozens of hunters.

 

[Pony Soldier]

I had one that pitched his wall tent across the trail that blocked the access. My camp was two miles beyond that so we just rode through the camp (left a little horse poop in front of the tent) and went on about our business. All was gone when we came out later.

Had another that pitched their tent in the middle of the turn around at the gate. It made it tough to maneuver a horse trailer at the site.

Both were NR. In either case we never saw any people or tracks behind the blockage. It made me thankful that I didn't live where they were from and were that stupid.

 

[cnelk]

Ive seen the FS ticket vehicles that block the gate.

Ive also parked at gates with lots of trucks at a gated area and hunted the area thats foot/horseback only. Hardly see anyone

Choose wisely

 

[CMF]

All dependent on the situation. The west if very different from whitetail hunting in the east, where there's a roads and hiking in the same trail head has a good potential of running into someone already there.
But so many factors to the trails out west, like:
Are there overlapping seasons with elk, deer, sheep, etc?
How many are likely recreational?
How much country is accessible from there?
We once parked at a trailhead with 50-100 vehicles filling the parking lot and down the road. Dropped off the trail perpendicular to the trailhead, down and up over a ridge, and never saw a person, and found fresh elk sign.
I've also bushwhacked 5 miles up an unmaintained trail with no parking spot to find a hunters that rock scrambled in from another way.
If there are hunters there already, I'll try and talk to them and I'll avoid where they're going or go somewhere else depending what they're doing. If I'm there first, I usually start out telling them where I plan to go. If we're hunting different species, sometimes we swap no.

 

[Pacific_Fork]

It really depends on the location. I’m almost always the first one to a spot before a hunt for elk. I arrive 3-4 days before opener in my spots and camp on the bull I have found during scouting. Sometimes the night before opener someone will show up and it rubs me the wrong way because it’s a small drainage. And plenty more country to hunt past my vehicle or before it. I don’t drop a fishing line in someone’s hole they’re at.

If a hunt unit is small and there’s only so much room it’s a different story, but I mostly hunt low hunter and game units in huge roadless areas so when others follow in behind me it’s just annoying. I always steer clear when someone has me beat to these kind of spots, which is rare though.

If it’s a trailhead into a vast area no big deal.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Not unusual for there to be 2/3 to 15 trucks parked at places I hunt in September , not all are hunters but a lot are, I would spend most of a season driving around if I was worried about parking at an empty trailhead

 

[mtnbiker208]

I have had some pretty bad experiences with other hunters behind gates. Sometimes it is no big deal, other times I was wondering if I could take all 3 of them.