WTF is up with some hunters

[AZLance]

Hunting has changed over the years... a bunch of whiners now-a-days.

 

Man I miss the good old days, when men just killed and ate deer!

[chico]

Public Land = Access to anyone , whether hunting , recreating or plain just enjoying being out .

[300RUM]

You can either be mad or not. Public land is public land and I think people should be polite enough to go someplace else if somebody is at a spot already. Usually if somebody gets to a spot first I will talk to them and then go to a different place. I expect the same in return. That is one problem with the draws. It does limit the number of hunters but on the other hand, if this is one chance in 10 years many might push the boundaries to fill the tag.

 

I have gotten good information from other hunters because I was just hunting for any elk, archery here is ES, and they were sitting water hoping for a big bull to come in. We weren't competing and I was getting into elk. The only reason was we talked and worked things out. I have also given information to other hunters to help them out, it helped me out as well. Then there was the one time muzzle loader hunting.

 

I was sitting a waterhole in the east end of a dead end canyon. The road came in from the west, the direction of the evening wind and the elk dropped into this canyon and down the road from the west. Some idiots came in about 4 PM and were bound and determined to sit the waterhole I was on. Since it was public land and they were being idiots I said I would go hunt some where else. Imagine their surprise when they drove past me after dark and I had a bull down since I put in the time to pattern the elk. I did have to go retrieve my socks, t-shirt, and base layers I hung in the trees so any elk approaching the waterhole would be downwind of them.

 

I did not live up to my mentors advice on that time-- Better only one A-hole than two.

You were not an A-hole, just a superior predator.

[knothead]

After reading some of the posts on here it makes me happy that I really don't care if I tag an animal or not. I like to get to my spots as much as the next guy but you just learn to deal with the hand you were dealt. Just hunt

[AZDirtyTaco]

FWIW

I was deer hunting last year. Driving early in the morning I was going slow up and down this steep rocky road when a Jeep showed up behind me. I had several opportunities to pull over and let them pass but I was a jerk and kept driving the speed I wanted. They had their brights on and KC light bar on high I knew darn good and well they wanted to pass me. In my mind they were just being idiot jerks that wanted to run me off the road. Unyielding I persisted because dang it this is public land and I was here first. I just knew they wanted to get to the same glassing spot I wanted at the end of the road. I wasnt going to give up my spot to some jerk in a Jeep. If these jackasses in a Jeep wanted to get to my spot they shoulda got out of bed earlier. I built these Jeep drivers into these idiot careless road warriors. Well we get to where I want to be and force them to go somewhere else. Well after a half a day of glassing and no deer I drove back down the road to a different spot. When I got to where I was going I looked in the back of my truck and saw that the bed of my truck was empty. Somewhere my tailgate dropped and my chainsaw ice chest and hunting gear fell out. Well I turned my truck around and went looking for my stuff when look who comes down the road. The jackass Jeep drivers. Well turns out they were really nice people who upon seeing all my crap scattered down the road stopped and collected it all and were bringing it back to my camp because they knew it must belong to me. Because they had seen my truck at the campsite and followed me in that morning. Hundreds of dollars of gear all collected returned to me. Plus they shot a deer in the area they moved to and I saw nothing. Anyway there was a lesson of karma with a side dish of humble pie with that experience. People can be jerks, we can be jerks, and even when we think they are the jerks sometimes we are the jerks.

 

This is not to say the OP or any poster since then are wrong. This was just a hunting lesson when I was definitely wrong. I was wrong for not letting them pass and especially wrong for giving the Jeep drivers bad names before meeting them.

Man... I can't believe you shared this story. Kudo's to you for being able to reflect on that day as you have.

[AZDirtyTaco]

I looked at the situation from my point of view. I would never walk right in front of someone glassing and hike directly to where he was glassing. But that's just me I guess.

Were you hunting along a hiking trail? I don't want to assume as much, but it sounds a lot like you were by your description.

The other week there was a thread about a guy that parked his truck to block access on a FSR. I'm not seeing the difference between that situation and yours. Metaphorically, you're saying that it's your right to be the truck that prevents anyone from gaining deeper access. If that logic goes over with anyone here... how far do we take this entitlement to "our spots"???

If these guys were polite and considerate about how they proceeded though the area you were glassing, that's as much as you can ask, and as much as they should do. Sorry man... but thinking that you have the right to stop someone else from getting to their spot that is deeper in to an area is not cool in my opinion.

[208muley]

Hunt your hunt cause everyone else is gonna hunt their hunt. I've killed plenty of great critters after other guys have blown thru areas I was hunting. No biggie.

[300RUM]

I was hunting 37B this year. One day I was perched up on a glassing point and had seen nothing all day. I had an incredible view and the Arizona Trail passed right past my glassing spot. Toward evening a lone hiker came down the trail and kicked up a small heard of deer. Those things had been lying low in a wash 1/4 mile from me me all day long and remained undetected. Only deer I saw that day. Sometimes a little disruption in an area can be a good thing.

[trphyhntr]

Rant: Headed down a long rough road to the parking area I was going hunting in. 1 Hour rough drive on quad. Passed a grandma speed polaris UTV about half way. Made it to the parking area, now an hour hike up and down hills to reach the good stuff... near the base of where it gets steep. I'm glassing what I can see before pushing on. Pushing on means only 1 good way to go. It's steep right, it's steep left. However go straight and it gets better then you can really see good country. 30 minutes of glassing I hear 2 guys coming up behind behind me. Yep... polaris guys. Small chat for a minute and they say well good luck... and walk directly in front of where I'm glassing and into the area I'm working into. Is it just me was that an a-hole move?

next time go straight to the good spot.

[G_E_E]

You passed them on a dead end road, they passed you on the trail. No harm no foul.

[azshtr]

 

Rant: Headed down a long rough road to the parking area I was going hunting in. 1 Hour rough drive on quad. Passed a grandma speed polaris UTV about half way. Made it to the parking area, now an hour hike up and down hills to reach the good stuff... near the base of where it gets steep. I'm glassing what I can see before pushing on. Pushing on means only 1 good way to go. It's steep right, it's steep left. However go straight and it gets better then you can really see good country. 30 minutes of glassing I hear 2 guys coming up behind behind me. Yep... polaris guys. Small chat for a minute and they say well good luck... and walk directly in front of where I'm glassing and into the area I'm working into. Is it just me was that an a-hole move?

next time go straight to the good spot.

 

Sure... and blow out the deer between where I was and there. By the way, this wasn't a "trail"... the trail branches off about 1/2 mile back. This was a ridge line. I just wouldn't have done what they did.

[trphyhntr]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

[Delw]

 

 

Rant: Headed down a long rough road to the parking area I was going hunting in. 1 Hour rough drive on quad. Passed a grandma speed polaris UTV about half way. Made it to the parking area, now an hour hike up and down hills to reach the good stuff... near the base of where it gets steep. I'm glassing what I can see before pushing on. Pushing on means only 1 good way to go. It's steep right, it's steep left. However go straight and it gets better then you can really see good country. 30 minutes of glassing I hear 2 guys coming up behind behind me. Yep... polaris guys. Small chat for a minute and they say well good luck... and walk directly in front of where I'm glassing and into the area I'm working into. Is it just me was that an a-hole move?

next time go straight to the good spot.

 

Sure... and blow out the deer between where I was and there. By the way, this wasn't a "trail"... the trail branches off about 1/2 mile back. This was a ridge line. I just wouldn't have done what they did.

 

A ridge line is a trail, you yourself said it was impassible/ extreamly rough on both sides. now you expect then to walk 1/2 mile back to go another route.

 

fake edit

they coudl be saying, you know we were driving alon at our own pass and this guy passed us hauling butt right in front of us scaring everything away

[azshtr]

 

 

 

Rant: Headed down a long rough road to the parking area I was going hunting in. 1 Hour rough drive on quad. Passed a grandma speed polaris UTV about half way. Made it to the parking area, now an hour hike up and down hills to reach the good stuff... near the base of where it gets steep. I'm glassing what I can see before pushing on. Pushing on means only 1 good way to go. It's steep right, it's steep left. However go straight and it gets better then you can really see good country. 30 minutes of glassing I hear 2 guys coming up behind behind me. Yep... polaris guys. Small chat for a minute and they say well good luck... and walk directly in front of where I'm glassing and into the area I'm working into. Is it just me was that an a-hole move?

next time go straight to the good spot.

 

Sure... and blow out the deer between where I was and there. By the way, this wasn't a "trail"... the trail branches off about 1/2 mile back. This was a ridge line. I just wouldn't have done what they did.

 

A ridge line is a trail, you yourself said it was impassible/ extreamly rough on both sides. now you expect then to walk 1/2 mile back to go another route.

 

fake edit

they coudl be saying, you know we were driving alon at our own pass and this guy passed us hauling butt right in front of us scaring everything away

 

Sure thing boss... scaring everything away that was 1/2 hour down a rough road then 1 hour hike down a ridge line. Glad I have more ethics than you. We'll have to simply disagree on ethics. I'm done. I simply don't agree on playing leap frog with another hunter. There was another way to go and I did, they didn't. Enough said. Enjoy your hunts.

[Eagle mountain ranch]

Just hunt who cares ... just enjoy your time in Gods country ... public land we all gotta deal with it.