Swivelhead Report post Posted October 13, 2014 A parking/glassing spot should reserve __ square miles of public land for my exclusive use? Fill in the blank. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
100%DIYazCOUES Report post Posted October 13, 2014 Just because its public land doesn't mean it has to be common sense/common curtosy-less land Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brian390 Report post Posted October 13, 2014 Ethics 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Couzer Report post Posted October 13, 2014 If someone beats me to my spot, I'm pissed that I didn't get there before they did, only mad at myself. Move one to plan b, c or d. Ethics 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OpticNerd Report post Posted October 13, 2014 I for one see nothing wrong with the actions of the other hunters. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coach Report post Posted October 13, 2014 Good responses so far. Clearly, it's all public land. Some areas, there's a limited amount of space we share and get along. But there's also an unwritten code of ethics, as many have pointed out, and I abide by. We had certain, specific places in mind and someone got there minutes before us. We backed out and found other areas because I think that's the right thing to do, and that's what I teach my boys. Others chose not to do so. This spot was way in some back country, and the road just keeps on going. It's not like they couldn't have gone another mile or two or five back and had lots of country all to themselves. They had a spot in mind, got there late, and found someone was there, but made the decision to hunt right in the middle of the guys who got up earlier. That's the part that I'm pissed about. 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coues 'n' Sheep Report post Posted October 13, 2014 Public land is Public land... Can't expect because you are parked somewhere first that you are going to the same spot... also maybe they saw the buck you bumped... This has happened to me... sometimes you are the windshield... sometimes you are the bug. Here is a great example: On a late hunt: I am driving down a road (in the dark) when I catch up to two very large trucks, road is snotty and these guys are NOT moving over for me...LOL. So I just follow along, I have a plan A and a bull to kill... maybe they do and maybe hey don't. We get to the end of the road and all our trucks stop at the same spot... and bodies are literally boiling out of the two big trucks running through my headlights to get in front of us...LOL. The guys with me have eyes as big as saucers and I just giggle... I say, "It is a big piece of country... don't sweat it." We calmly unpack and head up the mountain... I can see their head lamps way below me so I know they are skirting the bottom and so I just maintain Plan A. The sun comes up and we smoke a nice bull, they follow suit by killing a bull as well. They repeated the process the next day and killed another bull... oh... and there was no hard feelings from either party after the dust settled. LOL. In structure of todays hunts, based on "Opportunity", you are gunna have to realize you are almost Never truly alone and others want to hunt where you are. Someone is Going to show up where you least expect them and change the out come of your hunt or theirs. Taking it personal is your choice, but it is a foolish one. Teaching your kids how to cope with it and be a faster better hunter than the completion, is the best answer IMHO. 13 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnnie blaze Report post Posted October 13, 2014 Well..... I dont wanna see anyone before, or after where I park at. Sure they could be hiking into a different area...but to think that they wont "interfere" with your hunt in some way...is probably the kinda hunter that WOULD park right next to you and not care that you are there already. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnnie blaze Report post Posted October 13, 2014 I think everyone gets the whole its public land thing....but not everyone has caught on to the fellow hunter etiquette. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Str8Shot Report post Posted October 13, 2014 Well..... I dont wanna see anyone before, or after where I park at. Sure they could be hiking into a different area...but to think that they wont "interfere" with your hunt in some way...is probably the kinda hunter that WOULD park right next to you and not care that you are there already. It is public land and while if I know that the majority of game I am looking for seems to reside in smallish area and I see someone beat me to a spot I do not feel will accommodate additional pressure I go to plan B... I always try to see where they are at or are going if going to push out in same area... If arriving about the same time I find that having a open discussion about how and where each wants a hunt can take away much of the animosity... Many hunters not just myself have benefited by other hunters coming in later from same area and pushing game right to them ... when you are a ways from the road for a couple hours in the morning sometimes who you think is messing you up sends game that slipped right between you and the road while you sat into your area... With that being said 3 years ago was the first time I got remotely upset and it was because these 2 hunters ( with coues whitetail shirts on ) were literally following My cousin and I every time and place we moved trying to glass from shoulders of the roads the areas that we were hiking into .... I was fine with even that until they tried to take a few of those 1000 yard shots over our heads at a group of 4 bedded bucks we had seen bed down in the general area the night before ... The bucks had moved all but a few hundred yards up from where we last seen them and we were just sitting down at our glassing spot about 200 yards from them, and well over a half mile from the two guys on the side of the road, when first light came up and they let the bullets fly sending all the bucks hightailing up and away... They missed and watched as we did, the bucks run up the steepest nastiest mountain far out of reach from anyone... They could hear us coming back pissed and high tailed it out of there, and that bachelor herd of Bucks we had seen the weekend before and the night before opening morning in almost the same area where not seen again on that side of the mountain the entire remainder of what ended up being a really difficult hunt once the weather and wind moved in... It comes down to respect and Ethics in my opinion and some things cross the line ... Down south I have had bullets from long range shooters come over my head on 3 separate hunts. Every time the shooter/shooters missed and all 3 times the deer that we knew were in the area were not seen there again during the remainder of the hunt... That is why we have plan B,C,D,E... you get the point 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Non-Typical Solutions Report post Posted October 13, 2014 Coach, You guys beat Show Low.......things are looking up.....forgive and forget......I always fall into the category that I shoulda got up 20 minutes earlier and so the other guy beat me there, but I will choose to move on to another spot. Couple of the areas we hunt the end of the road is a trail head and there are always rigs parked there. It is depressing at first but usually people have different ideas about where the deer are from that point on. Sometimes we bump into people and just have to make adjustments. One elk hunt we were out at the tree farms and we knew there was going to be alot of hunters there. We get out of our truck after glassing up some small bulls and we are getting ready to leave the dirt 2 tracker to work a no cover wide open ridge to get ourselves into position for these bulls to maybe come across us. A truck pulls up as we are getting ready to walk away and they stop, we tell them exactly where we are headed thinking that we could avoid conflict. They pull off and drive cross country exactly where we told them we were headed. I was ready to put a .270 round in his tailgate but figured that would not be the best. About 30 minutes later we saw G$F pull the guy over, I hoped at that time he was getting a citation for off road travel. Fishing is where I really get riled up.......have somebody come and cast right over my bobber sitting out there....it is like dude there is the whole rest of the lake for you to cast and you cast over my bobber....... I have decided that there are just some people who have not been taught that ethics word and just don't really give a rip whether they intrude on others or not. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sjvcon Report post Posted October 14, 2014 Had some guys do that in Kaibab to my friend and I. We were slightly annoyed until they shot in our general direction. There were definitely some "words" exchanged. I never do that just because I have no idea where the other hunter went...would feel like a real jackass if I shot at someone who wasn't smart enough to sport some orange just because I didn't see them behind my target. Also don't much like getting shot at. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MULEPACKHUNTER Report post Posted October 14, 2014 I know its likely they were hunting but how do you know for sure if a parked vehicle is hunters. I k ow many time we have gone to our special area only to find vehicles. So we spend the next few hours thinking the worst so sure there will be 5 tripods set up on our ridge only to glass up hikers and a young family doing trail work. Lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naturegirl Report post Posted October 14, 2014 Funny you say that. It happened to me when I was up north last. here's the funny part though. I wasn't hunting anything. I was taking pictures of who knows what and exercising my rear off. I'd been parked there for a few hours so these guys thought I knew something, but my goal that day was to stay out of the way of where I knew hunters would typically be on their archery elk hunts. They parked a hundred yards or so down the road from me. Well, they got to hike a really steep mountain for no reason. It's kinda funny if you ask me. I saw them for the second time when they drove by my camp awhile later and I didn't see anything in the back of their truck, but I'll bet they were tired Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edge Report post Posted October 14, 2014 It's common to see rigs belonging to others at trail heads. But if I see hunters where I'm hunting, I didn't go far enough. Almost 40 years ago, some yahoos got into a squabble with me in 27 over a buck I downed. They claimed to have shot it same time as I, then said they had been trailing it...whatever. I was determined to get away from the crowds About a week ago, I had a dream where my pack horse was shot by a deer hunter. So MULEPACKHUNTER comes by the other day and we chart out where we are going, he knows 22 and gives me about a 99% probability of not seeing another soul. But to those of you whom cannot get far back into the sticks, you can use the other energetic bushwackers to your advantage and let them drive the deer to you. Hunt smarter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
