Here are some thoughts to both sides of the tell or don't tell issue. First of all, I agree with the original post that scouting and time in the field are the most important aspects of trophy hunting, as are always looking for the next good spot. Some hunters say such and such area is good without giving a spot, thinking that they haven't given anything up. However, if all they do is make someone who knows how to find the hotspots in an area take a closer look at this spot, then it will have an affect on the spot. I used to run with a group of nationally known bowhunters, guys who make it their business to find the next best area. Two well known bowhunters put out a video on bowhunting mule deer in Nevada. We watch the video which shows some huge bucks and notice the mt. goats on the slopes in the background. It was as simple as calling the Nevada Game Dept to find out where they had mt. goats to know which canyons these guys were hunting in.
Another time, a guy tells me he killed a big buck in Nevada. I ask him which city he hunted out of and he tells me. He tells me about seeing a hundred deer a day and even some bull elk. One call to the game dept. nearest that city, I describe the number of deer and the fact that there were elk there and the biologist says that can only be one place. I go scout it and find some great bucks and kill a few. Three years later, I talk to the same guy and it turns out that I had found the exact camp that he hunted out of. Needless to say, he was surprised and pissed off at himself.
So, if you don't want anyone to find your spot, you probably shouldn't even tell them that you're killing big deer. Anyone, can pretty much contact a game dept. and find out who drew what tags. It won't give up your canyon, but a good detective only needs to know where to start looking. And if you think that your spot is safe because you lease the land, you might be surprised. I know guys with very deep pockets who love to lease land out from under guys who were bragging about the quality of their hunting last year.
On the other hand, I don't believe that hunting was meant to be so secretive. I don't see any thing wrong with giving out some information to help out someone getting started. The biologists do it every day. Yes, animals will get killed because of it, but can we survive as a nation of trophy hunters? Not likely. We all know that without new blood in this sport, we are doomed. So,for myself, I do both. I have spots that I never tell anyone about my hunt and I have spots that I will direct guys to that will give them a reasonable chance at seeing game. The rest is up to them. I know that in doing so, some guys who also hunt there might be hurt by it, but that's no different than the guy who rides his ATV up a closed trail to hunt where I just backpacked into (and this happens every year). There is no way to do anything in life without having someone disagree with you over it.
And yes, as a whole we are all becoming better at finding good spots. One trend that I have noticed is that fewer guys are doing the conditioning that will make them mentally and physically tough enough to go where no one else goes. I talked with hunters in Wyoming in the past that will point to the exact spot on a mountain where they saw a thirty inch buck with their 'super' binoculars, but there was know way they could get there to hunt those deer. Others, who would cut and run after backpacking into a great spot because it was going to snow and it would then be TOUGH. I'm in my late fifties and thrive on the spots that the twenty and thirty somethings aren't tough enough to get to.
Every piece of information that one shares, whether it be on better equipment or scouting in the summertime will help others kill the deer that you are trying to save for yourself. I just don't see that as being such a bad thing for our sport.
