When do you own the area?

GSPHUNTER

WKR
Joined
Jun 30, 2020
Messages
4,560
The whole state apparently. I wish he’d have been there to get hurt feeling when we packed out the bull. Love all them diehards that show up 10 minutes before light and are mad they’ve been beat.

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How did they know your name???????:)
 

ODB

WKR
Joined
Mar 24, 2016
Messages
4,008
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N.F.D.
You folks are triggering some memories. Some of the most violent experiences have not been hunting but armed huckleberry pickers in August. Most have been out of staters with some real possessive problems. Add money to a resource and some really bad attitudes come to the front. The mexican mushroom pickers you find after a fire have always been nice (somewhat trashy) but nice.

I ran into a whole passel of mushroom hunters in Washington once. It was like a caravan with hippies and campfire philosophers. Strange bunch of folks.
 

KsRancher

WKR
Joined
Jun 6, 2018
Messages
707
Let’s say you park your entire life’s possessions at the end of the road. What portion of the area behind that road do you now own for elk season? Would one be accurate to say all of it? 😂

If it was a circle, would you own 360 degrees or just 270 degrees. 1 mile? 5 miles?

If you’re on here, I’m sorry I walked through your camp, and got close to your donkeys, I mean “mules”. We weren’t hunting the same area, trust me. And that bull that bugled 150 times in an hour 500 yards from camp wanted to die, and no, he wasn’t too far away. 😝
Let's see the elk. I don't get to out there until Oct. So I have to live thru everyone else
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2021
Messages
1,821
Location
Montana
Up to three miles - I would say none. Someplace after 5 miles ( with a lot of uphill) I would 65-85% if it is heavily timbered. The ownership gets higher with 1-2 ft of snow. Likely 100% at -20 degrees but who cares the elk are heading for the winter range.

I've never put in a camp that could be seen or found without a tremendous effort. And I never use the same trail to get onto the trail I cut into camp. If someone finds it - I move the next year. It's obviously too crowded.
 
Joined
Feb 26, 2013
Messages
12
Blocking the road is so stupid. It's a public hunting area! LOL! There is one area in Colorado where someone has been putting up NO HUNTING and Private Property signs on public hunting to get hunters to stay out.
 

mxgsfmdpx

WKR
Joined
Oct 22, 2019
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5,915
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Outside
Blocking the road is so stupid. It's a public hunting area! LOL! There is one area in Colorado where someone has been putting up NO HUNTING and Private Property signs on public hunting to get hunters to stay out.

I know of some good coues deer spots here in AZ that local ranchers, who run cattle on the public land, have put up no trespassing signs.

I checked with AZGFD in that unit and even showed him the signs. He took them down and said he’d call the rancher. The next season the signs were back up in the same exact spots.
 

dryfly101

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 21, 2020
Messages
190
Interesting reading through all the posts here. For a different perspective, Idaho native, hunted for the last 30 years or so, and I'll say, right or wrong, that it seems like there has always been an unspoken code of conduct when hunting, and fishing for that matter that everyone has followed.

1- First guy to a spot gets it.
2- If you're not first, give a wide berth so you don't mess up someone else's hunt. Basically, go somewhere else.

That's been the norm and it's what most Idaho guys are used to. That's when there have been plenty of 'somewhere else' places to go and less hunters I guess. Anyway, that might help explain people trying to stake out spots. It's how I treat others camped like this. I go somewhere else. But I haven't hunted a lot of trailheads and mostly park on the side of a road and hike into a drainage for a few days.

It's only been the last few years that I've experienced people parking next to us and walking into where we're hunting messing things up. The idea of doing that to someone else makes me want to stay home. This helps me to understand that mentality. It's the world we live in apparently.

I sound more and more like an old curmudgeon talking about the good old days. Hell, I don't even live in Idaho anymore.
 
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Ucsdryder

Ucsdryder

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Jan 24, 2015
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6,636
Interesting reading through all the posts here. For a different perspective, Idaho native, hunted for the last 30 years or so, and I'll say, right or wrong, that it seems like there has always been an unspoken code of conduct when hunting, and fishing for that matter that everyone has followed.

1- First guy to a spot gets it.
2- If you're not first, give a wide berth so you don't mess up someone else's hunt. Basically, go somewhere else.

That's been the norm and it's what most Idaho guys are used to. That's when there have been plenty of 'somewhere else' places to go and less hunters I guess. Anyway, that might help explain people trying to stake out spots. It's how I treat others camped like this. I go somewhere else. But I haven't hunted a lot of trailheads and mostly park on the side of a road and hike into a drainage for a few days.

It's only been the last few years that I've experienced people parking next to us and walking into where we're hunting messing things up. The idea of doing that to someone else makes me want to stay home. This helps me to understand that mentality. It's the world we live in apparently.

I sound more and more like an old curmudgeon talking about the good old days. Hell, I don't even live in Idaho anymore.
If I encounter someone else there first when walking into an area I agree. “Where are you going, I’ll go elsewhere.” Does that extended to someone parked on a forest service road too? If someone parks at the end of the road do they own the whole area for the whole 28 day season? What if it’s 5am and they’re still sleeping when you roll up? What if they don’t even hunt that day or skip a morning/evening?
 
Joined
Sep 13, 2016
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2,413
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Idaho
About 10 years ago my brother and I had an elk camp set up fairly high and decided to move lower due to some weather forecasted to come in. We had been hunting a trail that was at the end of an old road and on the way out one evening some fellas had set up a nice camp. It looked like they had stopped at Cabelas on the way in and literally bought everything they needed. Cots, sleeping bags, the wall tent. They were still pulling stuff out of the original boxes . I tried to chat with them and they weren’t real friendly. I asked them if they had seen the weather report, they just kinda sneered at us, so we left outta there.There were 4 guys and 4 boys. When we left my brother asked if I had seen a chainsaw and I didn’t. The weather stayed pretty calm for a couple of days and then started snowing one night. We decided to hit that trail again one morning because it was below the fog line. When we go to their camp, they obviously had left everything up there for the next weekend. Their tent was caved in with snow,Heavy, wet snow. We hunted that morning and came back out and stood their tent back up and cut a ton of wood for them. We never stopped back by there after we left. I hope they enjoyed their next trip up there.
 

dryfly101

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 21, 2020
Messages
190
If I encounter someone else there first when walking into an area I agree. “Where are you going, I’ll go elsewhere.” Does that extended to someone parked on a forest service road too? If someone parks at the end of the road do they own the whole area for the whole 28 day season? What if it’s 5am and they’re still sleeping when you roll up? What if they don’t even hunt that day or skip a morning/evening?

Lots of good questions.
I think it's all about the pressure an area gets. Kind of like taking a piss in a public bathroom with one other dude, you don't stand next to him. When it's full, that's another story.
Ha, it just occurred to me that maybe that's not how people are now either. It is a public bathroom after all. They have every right to saddle up right next to whoever they want.

Where is the line? I guess it keeps being redrawn as more and more are out doing what we all like to do.
The point I was trying to make and probably didn't is that yes, it's public land, but there might be more to it. My 4 year would say to use the golden rule.

I gotta say, I laughed at your first post. Some people are just ridiculous about it.
 
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dryfly101

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 21, 2020
Messages
190
About 10 years ago my brother and I had an elk camp set up fairly high and decided to move lower due to some weather forecasted to come in. We had been hunting a trail that was at the end of an old road and on the way out one evening some fellas had set up a nice camp. It looked like they had stopped at Cabelas on the way in and literally bought everything they needed. Cots, sleeping bags, the wall tent. They were still pulling stuff out of the original boxes . I tried to chat with them and they weren’t real friendly. I asked them if they had seen the weather report, they just kinda sneered at us, so we left outta there.There were 4 guys and 4 boys. When we left my brother asked if I had seen a chainsaw and I didn’t. The weather stayed pretty calm for a couple of days and then started snowing one night. We decided to hit that trail again one morning because it was below the fog line. When we go to their camp, they obviously had left everything up there for the next weekend. Their tent was caved in with snow,Heavy, wet snow. We hunted that morning and came back out and stood their tent back up and cut a ton of wood for them. We never stopped back by there after we left. I hope they enjoyed their next trip up there.
Good for you guys. I'll bet they couldn't believe it when they rolled up.
Way to pass it on.
 

Weldor

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Joined
Apr 20, 2022
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1,831
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z
Hunted the over crowded North Kiabab for quite a few years (archery at the time unlimited) . I have had guys in my treestands multiple times. They always gave it up when I arrived, but definitely no one ever tought them any sportsman ethic's. My buddy just stopped by to complain about Elk hunters roping and flagging their camp in the NF. He went to the FS office less than 20 miles away a week ago signed the statement they want to get a LEO out here. Crickets ,never showed. With no enforcement people feel entitled to do whatever they please I guess. I am glad I was not raised that way, but I'm old.
 

Beendare

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May 6, 2014
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Corripe cervisiam
If I encounter someone else there first when walking into an area I agree. “Where are you going, I’ll go elsewhere.”
UCS, you will like this one….

Hunting ID last week I went into a good looking area I identified on a map….about 2 miles in up a steep trail. I bumped into 2 ID residents- nice guys that essentially asked how I found their honey hole that he has been hunting for 6 years. I got the hint, no worries, which way are you guys going, we will go the opposite.

The opposite was crap, super steep and thick- so 1.5 hours later we were bushwhacking back down through those areas close to where we left those guys and found a freshly killed bull shot quartering to through the front shoulder blade- good shot but no blood trail.

I whistled loud twice…nuthin. I yelled, “ We found your bull” and 300y away the guys hooted and hollered And came over. They may have found it…maybe but hopefully that left them with the thought that not all Californians are bad. Grin
.
 

UpTop

WKR
Joined
Mar 30, 2019
Messages
314
I just don’t get thinking because you staked out an area it’s now yours. Sorry about your luck jack, but public land is public land. I’m not going out of my way to roll right up on someone but I’m not yielding a whole area to someone either.
 
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Ucsdryder

Ucsdryder

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Joined
Jan 24, 2015
Messages
6,636
I just don’t get thinking because you staked out an area it’s now yours. Sorry about your luck jack, but public land is public land. I’m not going out of my way to roll right up on someone but I’m not yielding a whole area to someone either.
Don’t worry, there was no bad luck! 😜
 
Joined
Sep 28, 2018
Messages
2,197
Location
VA
When we showed up the day before season some inconsiderate idiot had pitched his tent across the road to purposely block it from anyone accessing it.

You handled tha better than i would have. I would have likely pulled all the stakes and moved it off the road
 

Ehunter

FNG
Joined
Jul 13, 2022
Messages
75
Location
Oregon
Not a camping issue but I had a issue once pulled into a pull out. Pretty wide spot jumped out dropped off into a canyon. Came back and 2 trucks front in back pulled in so close I couldn't get out. I was ticked. So I started my truck and laid on the horn for half an hour and finally some Ahole shows up moved his truck. I was like come on man you have 25 yards To park in he just shugged his shoulders. I am sure they were trying to send a message it was their spot.
 
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