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Weekend warriors (public land hunters) #7756644 02/26/20 02:17 AM
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7mag Offline OP
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So I watch way too much YouTube. Saw an episode today and a couple of guys are after mule deer on public land in Idaho.

They spot 3 mule deer and one of them is a stud. For what it’s worth they are bow hunting. One of them is about to start a stalk when they see 3 other hunters with the same intentions. The 3 hunters are at the bottom of the basin and closer to the deer.

The 2 youtubers decide that’s their deer and they also start a stalk, they are a long ways off. As they continue to slide down the mountain one is obliviously pissed. He starts rattling off the weekend warriors are messing up his hunt blah blah. They start waving at the three to back off.

I honestly think the 3 opposing hunters never knew and saw these guys. The deer get spooked and that ends that stalk. As you can imagine the 2 YouTube guys weren’t happy. I am not sure what public land animal etiquette is but these 2 were complete DBags, IMO.

Any thoughts or real life experiences?? I am of the kind set all is fair. The other 3 had no ill intentions so I don’t see what the problem is. It’s public land, it’s part of the game, imo.


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Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7756679 02/26/20 02:59 AM
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Who’s to say the other guys were weekend warriors. Even if they are, not everyone can go spend a week or the whole season on a hunt. I would argue most guys can’t.

I have had a few run ins, but nothing terrible. Some very crowded spots in Colorado (Pronghorn and Mule deer) and Wyoming (elk). Nobody being DBs in those situations. I did have two different groups of hunters come and camp right on top of me on my NM elk hunt. Literally I got to the unit two days early to setup camp, and had some guys that showed up sometime opening morning while I was out hunting and setup a camp 50 yards from my camp in an open meadow. They of course drove down a closed road just to camp that far from me.


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Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7756683 02/26/20 03:07 AM
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My partner had a similar situation with his brother this fall hunting bighorn sheep in Utah.

First scenario they came upon a group of sheep that was already being stalked by another group. Could have killed it but they let the other hunter in ( unbeknownst to them it was a 70 year old man with terminal cancer ) and after the kill helped him pack it out.

A few days later they were on another group of sheep and had another group closing in from a long ways off on the ram they were on. They ended up getting it but they felt pretty rushed to get there before the other hunters did.

I think one of the biggest things hunter from Texas has to get used to is seeing other hunters cross their paths. I’ve never had a bad experience with other hunters but it does suck when your out hunting and you see another hunter emerge from where you thought a deer would come from.

Public land is getting crowded. They are shutting down more units in CO to OTC making them draw only. That is gonna crowd the remaining OTC units even more

I don’t mind seeing a few hunterss but it’s pretty demoralizing getting to your spot to find a camp with 8 or 10 guys in it.


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7756691 02/26/20 03:17 AM
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All of my hunting here in NM is on public land and if I see a guy that is closer moving in on a buck you spotted I just let it go, its not worth getting worked up over. I deal with the pressure on public land by scouting more and finding unlikely out of the way places. Last year on my Mule Deer hunt I did not even see another hunter until I was headed back to camp with a 4x4 in the bed of the truck.


New Mexico: Not Really New, Not Really Mexico
Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7756809 02/26/20 01:17 PM
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Once in Colorado on an elk hunt, I left camp at 2am for a long hike in 10 degree weather. Got to my meadow an hour before sunrise. At sunrise two other hunters walk
halfway down the middle of the meadow and then turn and go to the other side. They started piling up so branches so I thought they were making
a ground blind. Nope, started a big old fire. I sat there for another hour before I got up. I walked over to them and they were very friendly.
Said that they did not realize how cold it was and needed a fire to keep warm. they invited me to warm myself, but I turned them down and headed
back to camp. Never saw them again and never saw an elk in the meadow after that on my 5 day hunt.


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Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7756839 02/26/20 01:53 PM
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LOL ... way to many public land hunts to mention all the stories, mostly CO & NM from back in the 70s-90s, way before internet, Google earth/maps with satellite views.

to me on public land it's all fair game and no need to get upset if someone else is out there trying to do the same thing I am doing.


"everyone that lives dies but not everyone who dies lived..."

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Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7756845 02/26/20 01:58 PM
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I have been raised especially in hunting etiquette to be the bigger person. We are blessed with some vast country and hunting being dominated with a great deal of luck it's not worth the potential bad consequences to battle over dumb situations. As a young man around 20 years old I approached a tree stand on public land, an hour before day light, that I had built and used for many years. To my surprise it was occupied. I told the fella it was mine and asked him to vacate. He rudely refused. I had a portable stand hidden in the leaves about 200' away. I pecked it up and moved down the trail and set up to hunt. I'm not sure why but a really nice 8 point crossed within his range and came in my direction. I shot that buck and realized that my decision to move on was not in vain. Never did see that fella again who took my stand and I'm sure his not seeing that deer was my reward for tolerance.

Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7756860 02/26/20 02:09 PM
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Hunting shouldn't be a competitive sport. Now if your about to starve to death the story might be different.


Sometimes it's hard being me! But somebody has to do it.
Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7756917 02/26/20 03:08 PM
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That’s public hunting, but I would let the guys who are closer have it. This is pretty common when pronghorn hunting on public land.

Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7758770 02/28/20 04:13 PM
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Really had some high hopes about some interesting stories on this thread.

Where they at?!

Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: DirtNapTET] #7758943 02/28/20 07:39 PM
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Originally Posted by DirtNapTET
Really had some high hopes about some interesting stories on this thread.

Where they at?!




Several years ago I went to Colorado to elk hunt.

Early October, warm, just a absolutely gorgeous day. I hiked a pretty good way and came up to a large vista that had two monsterous spruce trees on top. I hunkered down under these spruce trees and started to glass. After a bit, the warm air and sun on my face got me feeling a little drowsy so I layed down using my pack as a pillow and dozed off.


Woke up about an hour later to a couple of guys standing about 10 yards away. Somehow during my nap I started moving around and instead of me on my back with my head on the pack I ended up face down in the dirt in some kind of fetal position…..they thought I was dead.


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: DirtNapTET] #7759334 02/29/20 02:09 AM
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Originally Posted by DirtNapTET
Really had some high hopes about some interesting stories on this thread.

Where they at?!


Ok I got one or two.

Caprock Canyons State Park Public Aoudad hunt several years ago. I went three days early, found out where a balloon race across the area saw Aoudad, and scouted hard. Unfortunately first day you had to hunt the compartment they assign you, but you could choose another compartment on the 2nd day. I had found a canyon full of them with one really big one, but did not draw that area. 2nd Day I asked to move to where I had previously scouted and there was only two other hunters in it, so they let me. I knew from scouting where the aoudad were and from the wildlife manager where the other hunters were entering the canyon at. I got on a pre scouted high vantage point where I could glass across a narrow area of canyon knowing the Aoudad were between my location and the other hunters. I knew the two hunters would eventually drive the Aoudad through that narrow area below me. And it worked. There was a rumble and dust rising before I saw them. The one biggest ram was behind the main group and stopped for the longest one two 300wby shots I have ever taken. One of the other hunters was actually glassing me from a distance wondering what I was doing when I ran to the edge of the canyon to take the shot. It took that guy and hour and a half to reach me. They were not upset at all with my plan of secretly using them to push the aoudad to my pinch point. My plan would not have changed their hunt one bit. Both guys even helped me pack my animal out and invited me to dinner that night. My best Whitetail ever was killed on Oklahoma public land using a very similar plan knowing where a big buck bedded every night and where a single bowhunter set up every Saturday morning. That bowhunter was usually late and I knew he was driving that buck off it's bedding area. I set up much earlier in the morning on a funnel area down the escape trail opposite direction from where that bowhunter had been entering from every weekend. But know I had scouted that area for a month and it was one of three bucks and of a few weekend warrior hunters I had patterned for an opening day muzzleloader hunt.

Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: txtrophy85] #7759340 02/29/20 02:17 AM
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Originally Posted by txtrophy85
Originally Posted by DirtNapTET
Really had some high hopes about some interesting stories on this thread.

Where they at?!




Several years ago I went to Colorado to elk hunt.

Early October, warm, just a absolutely gorgeous day. I hiked a pretty good way and came up to a large vista that had two monsterous spruce trees on top. I hunkered down under these spruce trees and started to glass. After a bit, the warm air and sun on my face got me feeling a little drowsy so I layed down using my pack as a pillow and dozed off.


Woke up about an hour later to a couple of guys standing about 10 yards away. Somehow during my nap I started moving around and instead of me on my back with my head on the pack I ended up face down in the dirt in some kind of fetal position…..they thought I was dead.



That's funny...I bet that was an interesting conversation followed by a lot of laughter.... roflmao


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Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7759408 02/29/20 03:57 AM
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On another hunt in Arizona we were in the middle of BFE. I made it back to the caliche road to get my truck and o noticed another truck comming up the road. It passed by me slowly and I noticed a woman driving ( didn’t stop but if I were her I wouldn’t have either).

She goes on and I get my truck and head out toward the highway. A mile or three up the road o see her truck and another truck pulled over on the side of the road. Get out and we they are loading up a mule deer buck. We chit chat and turns out they were from Gonzales Tx. After we realized we were all from Texas we ended up drinking beer together on the side of the road.


For it is not the quarry that we truly seek, but the adventure.
Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7759458 02/29/20 06:06 AM
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A number of year ago I hunted mule deer on Colorado public land. I saw many hunters, most were from TX. I had gone with a friend who grew up in the area. Towards the end of our trip, he arranged for us to hunt on his sisters ranch. The private land was the key. We could not hunt there when we first arrived because his sister was letting some TX hunters hunt it. I am sure they were paying her, and we were not. They tagged out, and the door opened. I had pictured hunting out in the wild west, and having solitude. My tip is that if you make a out of state trip, try to go with someone who has some contacts on where to hunt.

Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7759694 02/29/20 06:21 PM
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I was doing an early season archery hunt in the Suislaw NF in Oregon for elk. I was glassing a clear cut and this grey haired hippy looking couple step out into the clearing, buck nekid. They were picking stuff, berries, mushrooms or something, I couldn't tell.

Re: Weekend warriors (public land hunters) [Re: 7mag] #7759748 02/29/20 08:34 PM
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Public land means public game. Nobody can lay claim to any animal until it wears your tag. I grew up hunting public land in CO. Sometimes someone beat me to the game and sometimes I beat them to the game. I normally hunted smart and let other hunters push game to me. All part of the game.


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