Hunting pressure and competition

South_Slope

South_Slope

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With some seasons started but most just ahead of us I wanted to throw out a question: If you have or do spend a good amount of time scouting. Maybe you draw a limited tag and find a really good buck or bull to target. You focus your efforts and plan to start hunting there. As the season opens you learn someone who is known in the hunting community for taking trophies will be hunting or guiding is after the same animal you have focused on. Where are you at in your hunting career?

  1. Get discouraged and try and find a new area.
  2. Get aggressive and try and stake claim to the area.
  3. Approach them and make a plan to not interfere with each other, and work your tail off to get your animal while staying civil.
  4. Other?
 
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Depends on who the guide is. And if it's the guide, himself or one of his paid animal sitters.

Smaller less "famous" guides I'd talk to. Wade Lemon, and his ilk, you know will play dirty, so you just as well move on.

I purposely hunt areas that the rich and famous dont(nebo), unless there a sheep.
 
I'd likely just hunt however I was planning on hunting without interacting with them at all. It's an unfortunate reality of hunting public lands that you might end up in "competition" for animals.

I'd rather just do what I'm going to do. If I go talk to them, and we sort of make a plan, and then the animal forces me to change that plan, they're gonna be pissed. And vice versa...
 
A well known guide would love nothing more than to work out a plan with you (#3). Then they will know your plans/intentions. Which will make it easier to send an incognito "peon" helper there and mess things up for you. Working with a guide isn't ever going to make your chances better in the spirit of cooperation. Too much money and notoriety involved for the guide to take a chance.
 
DBLung said:
A well known guide would love nothing more than to work out a plan with you (#3). Then they will know your plans/intentions. Which will make it easier to send an incognito "peon" helper there and mess things up for you. Working with a guide isn't ever going to make your chances better in the spirit of cooperation. Too much money and notoriety involved for the guide to take a chance.
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Had that kind of experience with A3 guides on my sons archery Ibex in New Mexico.
 
South_Slope said:
With some seasons started but most just ahead of us I wanted to throw out a question: If you have or do spend a good amount of time scouting. Maybe you draw a limited tag and find a really good buck or bull to target. You focus your efforts and plan to start hunting there. As the season opens you learn someone who is known in the hunting community for taking trophies will be hunting or guiding is after the same animal you have focused on. Where are you at in your hunting career?

  1. Get discouraged and try and find a new area.
  2. Get aggressive and try and stake claim to the area.
  3. Approach them and make a plan to not interfere with each other, and work your tail off to get your animal while staying civil.
  4. Other?
Click to expand...
Other, like I did with my Desert Sheep in Arizona.

I had 3 good rams located from 2 weeks of scouting immediately before the opener.

My number one ram I found 3 days before the season, I never saw another hunter in the unit until 2 days before the opener.

As "luck" would have it, some guys that moved in 2 day prior found my number 1 ram and were just sitting on it.

The day prior to the opener they were still watching that ram, so I made sure that my number 2 and 3 rams were still where I found them. They were.

I figured rather than turn a once in a lifetime hunt into a footrace chitshow, I would just pursue my number 2 ram.

What we did was go back right at dark and see what ram 1 was up to. The guys sitting on the ram weren't paying attention and the 5 rams including my number 1 ram, moved north very quickly. The group of hunters lost them and panicked trying to find them. My buddy and I watched the rams move into an adjacent drainage.

Game was back on for my number 1 ram and right at daylight opening morning, I shot him at 80 yards.

Chalk one up for the good guys, worked out right fair.

IMG_0948.jpg


IMG_0966.jpg
 
“Hunt your hunt.” This is me and my friends saying before every hunt. Put the competition out of your mind and do your thing. Not all but many guided clients aren’t in good shape or can’t shoot or ……etc, etc. I am a very aggressive hunter by nature where others tend to sit back and wait for the perfect scenario or set up. Watching other hunters sometimes has me baffled and Im not going to miss an opportunity at my target animal because someone else wants to stare at them through their glass. They stare long enough and they’re likely to see it hit the ground. Hunt your hunt!
 
BuzzH said:
Other, like I did with my Desert Sheep in Arizona.

I had 3 good rams located from 2 weeks of scouting immediately before the opener.

My number one ram I found 3 days before the season, I never saw another hunter in the unit until 2 days before the opener.

As "luck" would have it, some guys that moved in 2 day prior found my number 1 ram and were just sitting on it.

The day prior to the opener they were still watching that ram, so I made sure that my number 2 and 3 rams were still where I found them. They were.

I figured rather than turn a once in a lifetime hunt into a footrace chitshow, I would just pursue my number 2 ram.

What we did was go back right at dark and see what ram 1 was up to. The guys sitting on the ram weren't paying attention and the 5 rams including my number 1 ram, moved north very quickly. The group of hunters lost them and panicked trying to find them. My buddy and I watched the rams move into an adjacent drainage.

Game was back on for my number 1 ram and right at daylight opening morning, I shot him at 80 yards.

Chalk one up for the good guys, worked out right fair.

View attachment 84686

View attachment 84687
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Congrats!
 
BuzzH said:
Other, like I did with my Desert Sheep in Arizona.

I had 3 good rams located from 2 weeks of scouting immediately before the opener.

My number one ram I found 3 days before the season, I never saw another hunter in the unit until 2 days before the opener.

As "luck" would have it, some guys that moved in 2 day prior found my number 1 ram and were just sitting on it.

The day prior to the opener they were still watching that ram, so I made sure that my number 2 and 3 rams were still where I found them. They were.

I figured rather than turn a once in a lifetime hunt into a footrace chitshow, I would just pursue my number 2 ram.

What we did was go back right at dark and see what ram 1 was up to. The guys sitting on the ram weren't paying attention and the 5 rams including my number 1 ram, moved north very quickly. The group of hunters lost them and panicked trying to find them. My buddy and I watched the rams move into an adjacent drainage.

Game was back on for my number 1 ram and right at daylight opening morning, I shot him at 80 yards.

Chalk one up for the good guys, worked out right fair.

View attachment 84686

View attachment 84687
Click to expand...
Nice ram!!! How do we know those other guys don’t put in the same work to locate that ram? Maybe they had been watching off and on for weeks. Who knows. I don’t mind other hunters. I would be very mad if it was some “Watcher” sitting on a critter and calling in for the tag holder. That should be illegal.
 
Gollywomper said:
Nice ram!!! How do we know those other guys don’t put in the same work to locate that ram? Maybe they had been watching off and on for weeks. Who knows. I don’t mind other hunters. I would be very mad if it was some “Watcher” sitting on a critter and calling in for the tag holder. That should be illegal.
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I don't know but in the 14 days I spent right before the December 1st opener I didn't see another person until 2 days before opening.

It's possible I just missed the other guys the half dozen or so times I glassed that area or we weren't there at the same times. I saw no sheep there the times I glassed it earlier.

I do know nobody else saw them the day I found them as I watched those rams from about 10 am until dark that day.

Still worked out though and I would have been plenty happy with my second or third choice rams as well.

I did miss finding the one ram that was a couple inches bigger than mine that another hunter killed. Never found that one in 14 days of looking. I looked a couple days in the area it was killed in, just didn't see it.

Pretty tough to find every ram in a unit even in 14 days of looking, in particular when you're solo.
 
It's public land. Every tag holder has the same opportunity. Status of hunter or hunting party carries no special privilege. If you want to extend someone else a curtesy based on them beating you to an animal, with hunter in hand or moving into position. That is fine. Probably what I would do. But if tag holder wasn't nearby, I'd hunt. The guy watching doesn't have a tag. No different than a bird watcher. Every situation is different. Nobody owns the animals until they kill them. Otherwise, it basically comes down to your own personal decisions. No right or wrong answer IMO.
 
Buxndiverdux said:
It's public land. Every tag holder has the same opportunity. Status of hunter or hunting party carries no special privilege. If you want to extend someone else a curtesy based on them beating you to an animal, with hunter in hand or moving into position. That is fine. Probably what I would do. But if tag holder wasn't nearby, I'd hunt. The guy watching doesn't have a tag. No different than a bird watcher. Every situation is different. Nobody owns the animals until they kill them. Otherwise, it basically comes down to your own personal decisions. No right or wrong answer IMO.
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I guess I'm just old fashioned & out of touch! I am a firm believer in the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Which means, to me, I treat people the way I would like them to treat me! If you are clearly on a bull (workin him on the calls or making a stalk on him etc.) I back off, , , , , and I expect the same in return. Just last year, I had a bull coming into my calls, and had him at about 50 yards in the thick stuff, just waiting for him to move into the clear. Suddenly, the bull lifted his head with his ears at full alert down to my left, and then he blew out of there! WTH! I look down the hill and there is another hunter trying to sneak in on the same bull I was workin. The hunter almost broke into a dead run trying catch that bull. It is a good thing I never saw that guy again cause it would not have been pretty.
To me, that was clearly a lack of respect & ethics from that hunter.
What do the rest of you think?

Elkchaser
 
elkchaserreturns said:
I guess I'm just old fashioned & out of touch! I am a firm believer in the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Which means, to me, I treat people the way I would like them to treat me! If you are clearly on a bull (workin him on the calls or making a stalk on him etc.) I back off, , , , , and I expect the same in return. Just last year, I had a bull coming into my calls, and had him at about 50 yards in the thick stuff, just waiting for him to move into the clear. Suddenly, the bull lifted his head with his ears at full alert down to my left, and then he blew out of there! WTH! I look down the hill and there is another hunter trying to sneak in on the same bull I was workin. The hunter almost broke into a dead run trying catch that bull. It is a good thing I never saw that guy again cause it would not have been pretty.
To me, that was clearly a lack of respect & ethics from that hunter.
What do the rest of you think?

Elkchaser
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I agree that it is bad ethics to move in on something when another hunter is already moving in. In your situation he may not have known you were there any more than you knew he was there. I think it can be more difficult with bugling elk. If you can hear him, most likely someone else is too. Personally I call very little if any. I prefer to move in to a bugling elk completely silent so another hunter would not likely know that I'm there too.
 
elkchaserreturns said:
I guess I'm just old fashioned & out of touch! I am a firm believer in the golden rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". Which means, to me, I treat people the way I would like them to treat me! If you are clearly on a bull (workin him on the calls or making a stalk on him etc.) I back off, , , , , and I expect the same in return. Just last year, I had a bull coming into my calls, and had him at about 50 yards in the thick stuff, just waiting for him to move into the clear. Suddenly, the bull lifted his head with his ears at full alert down to my left, and then he blew out of there! WTH! I look down the hill and there is another hunter trying to sneak in on the same bull I was workin. The hunter almost broke into a dead run trying catch that bull. It is a good thing I never saw that guy again cause it would not have been pretty.
To me, that was clearly a lack of respect & ethics from that hunter.
What do the rest of you think?

Elkchaser
Click to expand...
You should read what I posted again.
 
marley said:
I agree that it is bad ethics to move in on something when another hunter is already moving in. In your situation he may not have known you were there any more than you knew he was there. I think it can be more difficult with bugling elk. If you can hear him, most likely someone else is too. Personally I call very little if any. I prefer to move in to a bugling elk completely silent so another hunter would not likely know that I'm there too.
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I suppose it is possible that "the other hunter" didn't realize I was already on that bull??? Not likely, but possible.
Unless you are a world class elk caller, I can usually tell the difference between an elk, and a hunter trying to sound like an elk.
If I realize that there is already another hunter working a bull,
I back off!
If I see another hunter has already started to move on a bull because he got on it before I could,
I back off!
I expect the same in return.
 
Buxndiverdux said:
You should read what I posted again.
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I have several times. I'm not sure what you are getting at? My response to your post was not a challenge of it. I was merely using the opportunity to pose the question to anyone who is following this thread and, hopefully, to get them to think about their own position on competing for game while in the field.
No offense intended!
 
elkchaserreturns said:
I suppose it is possible that "the other hunter" didn't realize I was already on that bull??? Not likely, but possible.
Unless you are a world class elk caller, I can usually tell the difference between an elk, and a hunter trying to sound like an elk.
If I realize that there is already another hunter working a bull,
I back off!
If I see another hunter has already started to move on a bull because he got on it before I could,
I back off!
I expect the same in return.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't have responded if you hadn't quoted me. No worries. I've been on the receiving end of cow hunters blowing out the whole herd when I was in bow range of the cows waiting for a shot at the herd bull on a LE tag. It's beyond frustrating, but again, it's public land and it is what it is. I heard him coming with challenging bugles, but I was in so tight, I couldn't make any sound to alert him.
 
I'm with nontypical. Hunt, but if it becomes a hassle, go somewhere else. Life's too short to be fighting with other hunters all the time. I don't hunt Utah so I likely don't have the experience many guys here do. In Wyoming, you can usually get away from the crowd. I quit hunting my main area in CO because it got too crowded and crazy.

I hunt to relax and have fun. I might try once for a big buck with other guys around, but I'd head elsewhere if it got crazy or competitive.
 

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