USO BACK AT IT

[BTK]

I have a good friend who was elk hunting in unit of Arizona this year and he had another bad experience with a USO guide. I am ticked he did not get his name. His experience is as follows:

He was hunting along the edge of a large canyon and was looking at several large bulls when he noticed that a group of three or more people were glassin the same bulls that my friend was. As he was watching the bulls trying to field score them, one of the other three got down ready to shoot. At this point the guide and my friend had seen each other and both knew that they wanted bulls from this herd.

My friend decided to wait before he shot, so that he could be courteous to the other hunters. He felt that they would shoot ONE bull and the other bulls would hang out long enough for him to shoot one. All of the sudden all the hunters were on their rifles and began to shoot.

They ended up killing four bulls right under my friends feet, and he never got to shoot. I along with many other arizona hunters are very upset at the large groups of USO guided hunters in the field. I have found that they think they own the forest and the animals in it. I think that killing four bulls under my friends feet after it was apparent that he was stalking them is bad moral for the guide and a bad example to his hunters. The guide should have been courteous enough to let one of his hunters shoot and then my friend before the army was unleashed.

I am very ticked at the impact that USO has had on all our units in Arizona, and I was wondering what you all think. Has anyone else had bad experiences with these f@#$%@ idiots?

 

[supersider34]

Large groups? Well they are only allotted so many tags. If your friend didnt get a shot then it was his problem. I wasn't there and I believe neither where you. So is it fair to say that you heard the story not seen it. Just from my understanding they are doing just a service and doing it wrong doesn't mean all the guides do it wrong. So why blame the whole outfit of USO.
Thats like blaming all the elk being gone because all the wolves.
Just my thoughts.

 

[ElmerFudd]

Sounds as if they did not know you were there. Even if they did, ??? They probabally saw them first anyway, as they were getting ready to shoot while you were still evaluating. Poop happens.

 

[EPH]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-30-03 AT 10:44PM (MST)[p]USO clients have to draw their tags just like everybody else. They have no advantage in the drawing over anybody else. They, (USO), just apply for multiple quality hunts in multiple states to increase the odds of a client drawing a quality permit or tag. From your second hand story, it sounds like the USO guide and hunters were the first to find the bulls and set up to shoot. This happens to hunters all the time in all western states, weather they be hunting limited entry controlled hunts or over the counter general hunts. If your buddy wants no pressure hunting, he'll have to hunt on an exclusive lease or private ranch. The land he was hunting was public! It doesn't matter if it was a guide and hunters from USO, John McClendon, Pushe Ridge Outfitters, or Joe private citizen on a self guided hunt. Like the previous reply states, poop happens, and quite often on public land. Sorry to hear of your friends bad luck. I wouldn't like to see this happen to any sportsman.

This year I was hunting elk in Idaho. I had walked, in the dark, about 1 1/2 miles past the motor travel restriction sign, partially blocking the gait at the fence with my pickup. I had hiked up a ridge to gain some elevation to allow for glassing the sea of pines below. After about 2 - 3 hours of glassing I spotted elk on a little bare ridge that jutted above the pines. I glassed the herd, which were initially 17 head, filter out of the pines until there were 48 head. The last animal to come out of the pines before I bailed off the ridge to make a stock was a mature branch antlered bull. The elk were about 3/4 of a mile away, but with the crunchy snow and dead calm conditions, I took my time getting over to them.

Just before the timber started to thin enough to make out the elk, I heard the faint sound of an ATV above all the cow talk that the large herd was making. Initially I wasn't worried, I was in a non-motorized area and there weren't any trails near the elk I was stalking. Then the ATV gets closer and closer. Then I hear the elk go crashing off through the trees less than 200 yards from me. I made my way over to where I can see the top of the little ridge the elk 'were' on. Then the FU(#!n& "rider" of the ATV, he doesn't deserve to be referred to as a hunter, rides his FU(#!N& ATV right out on to the top point of the ridge the elk were occupying minutes before. He was fat, over dressed, and had a hard time walking in the 6" of snow on uneven terrain.

Hidden in the timber, about 125 yards down below him, I prayed that he would walk far enough from the quad that I can get a license number to report, cut a spark plug wire, or slash a tire or two since I won't be needing a good edge on my knife now, or all three. He walked about 16 yards from the quad, looked through his binoculars for a good 22 seconds, supporting them with one hand as he quickly panned 180 degrees, walked back to his quad, pulled out a two-way radio, and called his buddies to report that he had found "tons of elk tracks over here". I'm thinking, no sh!# Sherlock, they were most likely made by the 48 plus head that you so skillfully and unknowingly pushed out of the country as you illegally traveled cross country in a non-motorized area with your Fu(#!N& ATV.

Don't jump all over me. I regularly use ATV's on legal, open trails in an ethical fashion to gain elevation or retrieve downed game. I just wanted to point out this example of 'poop happening'. While some may argue on the ethics of this individual USO guide, it doesn't sound like any laws were broken, or any illegal activities occurred. Lighten up on USO and other guides and outfitters; they are trying to make a living doing something they love. Wouldn't we all like to be able to support our families while pursuing our love and passion of big game hunting?

Shoot straight! Back to camp late!!!

 

[PleaseDear]

Hows that saying go? 'shoot or get off the pot' ?? Tough luck for your friend, not any thing wrong with the USO guides/hunters. They shot== he didn't.

 

[Gator]

EPH you should just walked up to him and took a picture of him and his quad, what did you think he was going to shoot ya or what. I know when I'm pi$$ed I don't just watch someone ruin my hunt then just ride away, You could of did Idaho a great service by turning this guy in , You dropped the ball. Now the AZ question those hunters brought a tag just like your friend and your friend don't own those elk either, Your friend should of been shooting and not watching those other hunters shooting, that my 2 cents