Can You Keep A Secret?

[Swede]

If I invite you to hunt with me and sit in my stands, would you be able to keep quiet about their location? Would you talk to me about going back, and make sure to not interfere with my plans? Isn\'t it amazing how many people can\'t manage the basic human decency so obvious here? I understand that public land is public, and other people have scouted and legitimately found some of the same places I hunt. Some like Jeremy G. I have come to respect and appreciate. Still for others I have had to move, because locations I once hunted, were taken far before the season starts. These were places where there was no doubt I was using. Often they get a permanent ground blind with what I would consider garbage left in place.
Have you had any problems along this line?

 

[Olympushunt]

I willing to go one step even lower.....I\'m likely not only to keep hunting your stands but eat the elk you kill out of them. Mmmm.....elk steaks....

lol

I definitely need to be a better person about assuming innocence before guilt. I made a huge mistake thinking poorly of the guy you are talking about Swede and I\'m super glad he didn\'t hold it against me. He is one heck of a great guy.

 

[mtnmutt]

I do not find it at all appropriate to pass on information secondhand. I only share my firsthand info that I discovered myself and only on a very limited basis. As far as I am concerned, those spots belong to you and I do not own the information. You did the work to find those spots, therefore, I have no right to divulge them to others.

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

It\'s all about respect. Two ways to never get invited back.

1) Hunt my spots without or before me.
2) Leave early after I get you a bull.

 

[cnelk]

I have been burned.
To me that is Strike 3. You automatically start with 2 strikes if you pull a stunt like that.

There is only one thing that is more secretive than a bull elk and that is an bull elk hunter

 

[AndyJ]

I can keep your secret. I can\'t keep my own. If you take me to a spot, it goes in the vault and I will never utter a hint about it. However, MANY guys know where I hunt. With that said, I now realize that honey holes all have a life span. I used to get PISSED when guys found my spots...I\'m still not psyched about it, but I always wish them luck, tell them most of, if not all of what I know about the area, pack my stuff and go find a better spot. I fully understand how annoying it is to lose a good spot, but elk are all over the place and the season is too short to dwell on a busted spot. One day that honey hole will be good again and you will know where it is and how to hunt it, but while it is getting traffic, go add to your list of honey holes by finding as new and better spot. Look for features that are similar to the spot you just gave up: mainly elevation and aspect. In my experience, similar spots tend to have similar elk numbers.

 

[iccyman001]

2) Leave early after I get you a bull.

This one really gets me...

 

[Scot320]

I could never do that to a fellow hunter...I have deer hunted the same spot since I was 14 years old and made the mistake of inviting some work friends along one year...they have been inviting themselves back every year since...at least they where considerate enough to hunt outside my general area.

 

[Deertick]

I had a question the other day from a family acquaintance ... about where to hunt.

My reply was that I\'d be more than glad to help him in any way I could, but I wouldn\'t be able to guide him or take him with me. (I think he may have been asking something like \"Can I go with you when you hunt pronghorn?\" Well, no. I hunt alone, or with family, or with friends that I invite. Although I might hunt more than a lot of people, my days in the field are still few and precious, and they are MINE.

Like Andy, though, I\'m pretty horrible at keeping my own secrets, and I\'ve never been burned all that badly. Lucky, I guess.

I\'m surprised sometimes at how freely others tell me about spots. I\'m always wondering, in the back of my mind, if I\'m getting played.

 

[cohunter14]

I\'m surprised sometimes at how freely others tell me about spots. I\'m always wondering, in the back of my mind, if I\'m getting played.

I\'m glad you brought this up John, because I was thinking about that while I was reading about this. I have never been invited to hunt somewhere else, so really don\'t have a spot to tell anyone about, other than my own. And I have shared some info on my spots to certain people, but knowing that it was going to be hunted at a different time than me.

As far as John\'s remark, I ask this question: what if another hunter gives you information about an area during your hunt? I have run across many people who seem too proud about their spots to not share the info. Like John, I wonder if they are full of it or if they are telling the truth. I have never actually gone and hunted those spots, but it makes you wonder. What about trying those spots at a different time than the person is hunting them? Thoughts?

 

[Olympushunt]

I\'m surprised sometimes at how freely others tell me about spots. I\'m always wondering, in the back of my mind, if I\'m getting played.

I\'m glad you brought this up John, because I was thinking about that while I was reading about this. I have never been invited to hunt somewhere else, so really don\'t have a spot to tell anyone about, other than my own. And I have shared some info on my spots to certain people, but knowing that it was going to be hunted at a different time than me.

As far as John\'s remark, I ask this question: what if another hunter gives you information about an area during your hunt? I have run across many people who seem too proud about their spots to not share the info. Like John, I wonder if they are full of it or if they are telling the truth. I have never actually gone and hunted those spots, but it makes you wonder. What about trying those spots at a different time than the person is hunting them? Thoughts?

Good points both of you. I think a lot of us have had that situation where you run into people who tell you all about how great such and such drainage/area is. I often wonder if they are trying to get me to go elsewhere or feed me info they want. I will tell you what I do and it so far has worked out well for me. I try to start up a conversation asking them info on places I know extremely well. Eventually I find an area they talk about that I am very very familiar with. I act completely stupid ( I seem to have that down well.... :dk: lol) and ask questions that I KNOW the answer to. I do this A lOT....asking questions I already know...even basic road info. Through this process I find out pretty quick if they are full of beans. I was with a buddy once and I could feel him looking at me like what are you doing? But pretty quickly I was able to figure out how legit they were.

 

[Jason Balazs]

I used to hunt over by westcliff for deer. As a matter of fact, I took my daughter there a couple of years ago and she shot a small buck. Anyway, I hunted there for over 20 years and shot really nice bucks every year. Well my brother-n-law told invited one of his friends from work one year while I was deployed.
The next year I came home and hunted, with my brother-n-law, this other guy shows up with his uncle, brother, nephew, wife, and some other guy and they all had tags. I was like, WTF, over!.
I looked at my brother-n-law and said, \"Who the hell are these people?\" He then told me that while I was deployed he brought his friend with him. Well needless to say, I guess they both got really nice bucks and after that, the area was ruined. This was 1994, and I have not hunted with my Brother-n-law since.

 

[Swede]

JF does not like it when party members leave early. I understand how he feels, but sometimes things can happen. Also I understand when someone shows up at camp, as planned, and informs me he has to leave on Sunday 8 days away. Most people can\'t hunt as long as I do. It would sure be disappointing if that fellow had to leave early, just when I informed them I have a bull down. That would shake me up some.

 

[Ol' Arky]

I know this ain\'t elk huntin\' but we duck hunt public land only... We never take anyone we don\'t know well to any of our good spots... The reason is GPS... Nearly evryone has one and are pretty good at usin\' um...

Example: We had a friend that hunted with us for several years... One day we found a new \"sweet spot\" by legwork... We get back to the boat ramp and there was a couple of game wardens check license, guns plugged, shot size and ducks... We, as always were legal... I saw this friend talkin\' to one of the game wardens off by themselves... Didn\'t think much of it... Next morning we go back to that new spot and find a big group of hunters in the exact spot... Not near but exact spot... Come to find out our friend had give the GPS coordinates to the game warden... Friend no longer hunts with us... I have no problem with someone find the spots we hunt back hard work and scoutin\' the ducks... But we make it hard since we police our hulls and clean up what disturbance we make...

So yes we use to take new folks huntin\' but now we don\'t, unless they leave their GPS at the boat ramp... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Ya can ask Colorado Lew If I\'m trustworthy... He helped me by lettin\' me and my wife camp at their campsite and told me the areas to look at and hunt back in 2004... Killed my 1st elk... To this day no one except my wife and I know where that was... Never been back...

 

[elky McElkerson]

Your spot, your rules.

 

[Stringunner]

John and Oly, thank you for the kind comments. I too am greatful that my stumbling into you guys in the same areas has turned into a growing friendship. Who would have thought 3 years ago that we would be planning scouting trips together and seeking out new spots. It defintely was a turn of events that could have gone many different ways to the detriment of both our parties.

What I have learned from this experience, is that it is important to flush out the conversation as Oly talks about, to get to the bottom of what is really going. Much can be determined by the responses of each party.

It can be a catch 22 in relation to the \"new guy\" or \"intruder\" who finds a spot midsummer or a couple weeks before the season and that may or maynot look like it has been hunted in recent years. Its not fair to the intruder to have to assume every spot found is being hunted by someone. Much then lies upon their ability to be receptive to the fact that they might in fact be hunting someone elses spot. Grace on both parties is a great starting point if indeed this is a spot that is being hunted during season, by another.

As for inviting someone else in and then having that someone run out and tell the world about the spots...that probably gets handled in a completely different manner.