Now What Should I do #6?

[Swede]

This is a different type of question about elk hunting, but one we are sometimes called on to address.

It is 9:00 AM, and the friend I have been calling for just ran back to me, from a position he was holding about 50 yards ahead. He seems confused and upset at the same time. We have been closing in on this herd of elk since shortly after daybreak. We have been positioning ourselves closer and closer, hoping to get a shot without spooking them. We have worked slowly and carefully to keep from being seen or scented. I have called while my friend has prepared himself to be the shooter. Now apparently a man and his son have heard the elk sounds, and have worked their way toward us. They too are close to the herd. The older hunter of the pair is telling my friend we need to leave. \"This herd is ours\" he says. Now what should I do?

 

[Stringunner]

Yep, this happens. We have encountered it. My initial thought is \"how can we work together?\" This may or may not work. The other thought is back out and try and get in front of the herd trying to predict where they will head either spooked or not. Good question Swede this is not an easy one to answer.

4-5 years ago we ran into this, my buddy and I were working a large herd that had wandered off the ranch, major rutting action going on, while in the process of trying to maneuver our way in, we ran into a group of 5 guys that were doing the same thing. We politely let them know we were going to back up and work our way around the herd and hunt them from the other side of the ridge, again this was a big herd, we saw 7 large bulls alone in this herd and an amazing amount of cows (and not something we have ever encountered again in our area). They said no problem. This was the last weekend of the season so we were all in desperation mode and that might have helped in the feeling like \"well why not, what have we got loose\".

 

[cohunter14]

I agree with a lot of what Stringunner said. My initial thought would be to try to work the herd together with them. If that\'s not possible, a lot depends on what season are you hunting? If this is archery and you are camo\'d out, I would just back out and try to place yourself on the escape routes, assuming they get bumped by the hunters. You have two possible routes to cover and being camo\'d out will help in keeping you concealed from the other hunters.

If this is a rifle season where you have hunter orange on, that option is a little more difficult, although feasible. I think the biggest difference would be the distances: both the distance you currently are away from the herd and the distance you need to give the other hunters. But in rifle season, chances are if I can see the herd I have already taken care of business and they can go chase them while I quarter up my elk

The only other option is if I am hunting with Cliff...how big is the kid? Any chance I can convince Cliff that they rode their bikes into that position? :lol:

 

[cnelk]

9am? ehh
I think it would be a great time to educate the other hunters about who\'s elk they really are.
Not theirs, nor ours.
Their elk license doesnt mention a particular herd they can hunt just like mine doesnt.

I have a saying that would be appropriate for this circumstance

\"Keep up or catch up\"

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

I\'d say \"That\'s cool, go ahead and keep pushing them. We have two shooters covering two main game trail towards the direction the elk are heading. I was getting really tired and need a break\".

 

[elky McElkerson]

i\'m a jerk. i would walk up wind and fart.

 

[StartMyHunt]

Tough one to call. For me, if the son was really young and on his his first elk hunting trip, I may let them have a pass. However, I would pull the dad aside and caution him that not everybody thinks the same way as me. Then, I would see what his response is and act accordingly. If he wanted to be aggressive, I would just walk away. If he seemed willing to acommodate our presence, I would suggest a plan that could be mutually beneficial.

This reminds me of a time when I was around 16 and walking back to camp along a designated forest service road after hunting all day. I was walking through a meadow and the sun was just starting to to set. All of a sudden, this guy comes running from the fringes of the meadow and yelling at me about how I had screwed up his evening hunt. I looked at him and said \"Well, maybe you should try hunting away from the road\".

The look on his face was priceless. First, he thought he could intimidate me because of my age. Second, I think he thought about how stupid he was for saying what he said. Last,he realized what an arse he was apologized.

Point is, if you run into a butthead while hunting, remember that they are armed with something that could really hurt you. The woods are too big and there are too many elk to risk not coming home.

Mike

 

[Deertick]

Most of the time, I\'m the kind of guy who would try to \"work this out.\"

I didn\'t get up that morning, as they say, wanting to be a ... for lack of a better word ... jerk. My first reaction is to defuse tempers and find common ground. I\'m usually likely to try to see things from the other guy\'s point of view.

But lately, I\'ve been a little upset about Humanity. The sense of entitlement and \"victim-hood\" that more and more people are displaying has lately gone from \"disappointing\" to \"upsetting\" and the next person who wants to tell me how the world owes them something may see my bad side.

 

[BTL]

I would adjust accordingly, meaning get ahead of them or keep following the elk. I wouldn\'t join the group because I feel it would hurt (in this case) our chances. One of you is more than likely in a better position to stay with them. If they acted aggressive I would leave. If they are willing to talk, figure out who is going after them and from what direction. Even how they plan on hunting them. More then likely both of you know the area so figure out where the elk will go. I would tell them where I think they will go if they get pushed and vice versa. I have only had one encounter close to this. Hearing elk in a drainage with at least 4 elk bugling in the morning non stop until 10 am and decided to hunt it that evening. Sitting on the south slope and listening to cow/calf talk with two bulls starting to bugle, I was glassing and trying to figure out where they were and where they were going. All of a sudden another hunter pops out of the trail I walked in on just below me 50 yards. I whistle to let him know I was there, he looked and quickly signaled to me he was dropping in. I was frustrated that I was sitting on my hands while another hunter was being aggressive and had a plan. I stayed up in elevation and followed the elk sounds. He had a really close encounter with the herd bull and was busted by a cow because the woods erupted. The elk were on their way out of the drainage and leaving in the direction I was. Perfect. Trying to cut them off, the bull was now separated and trying to get back to them. These cows brought the best bull I have ever seen running to my location. I screwed up by getting busted too, so there wasnt a happy ending to the story...
In my short elk hunting experiences, I have yet to run into someone with a mentality that it was their hunting area, or their elk. Until that bad encounter I will keep my positive outlook on stuff like this where we both can hunt and be happy :angle:

 

[Zpd307]

I have only ran into other hunters once. that was on my first trip to Colorado in 2012. the pair was from Wisconsin. they had two buddies staying lower, because they smoked :crazy: , anyways we talked for a bit and ended up hunting the same area when the bulls started their evening bugles. it was their 5th year and technically my 1st. I remember thinking omg, 4 years w/o killing an ek.

 

[elky McElkerson]

i\'m actually not a jerk. this is a true story.

AZ. couse deer.

my brother and i found a nice deer. i ran back a couple of hill sides and waved down a buddy. he had a spotting scope. he came over, we settled in and we looked at the deer with the big glass. i still remember my buddy exhaling and saying, \"whew..that is a better deer than you described\". it was a decent 8 pointer. the deer was meandering around nibbling grass. we all got comfy and just watched. i bet it was a mile away. a system of cliffs separated us. the deer bedded down after about 2 hours.. we took the time to discuss the surroundings. things like, \"just get to that white rock\" \"drop your pack at the round tree\". my brother patted me on my back and i headed out. i dont know how it was \"my turn\"...but i went. i crossed all those cliffs, ravines..drop offs. i climbed out and saw the most beautiful thing. that round tree!! i climbed up to it. (i was fat back then). i dropped my pack..looked left, and saw the white rock. WOW!! i got to the white rock. i bino\'d ahead and could see the horn tips!!! i put my bow down, and put on those felt booties. i found a small crack i could creep to 35 yards of the bedded deer. it was GAME ON!

i catch movement on the skyline in front of me. i see a fool waving both arms at me and he whistles!! WTF????? that deer went from sleeping to full sprint in a single bound. it ran past me at about 12 yards. i almost cried. the guy dropped down and walked to me. i was laying down. he said..\"sorry, i didnt know you were stalking the deer. i saw it from way over there and wanted to find it..and to spook it out of hiding\"

i just said. \"yea. public land hunting\" and walked off to get my pack.

later that week..hunting i see the same guy. he was stalking a big mulie. he lost the deer and gave up. i found the deer in my binos and waved at the guy. and directed him via hand signals to within 60 yards of the buck. he then missed the shot. he came and found me at our camp..he thanked me, and asked me why i still helped him even tho he blew my hunt. i said, \"hey you didnt do it on purpose..right?\"

(then he saw my california truck tags and went on a political spew that ended that friendship before it had a chance...hahhahah)

 

[elkmtngear]

But lately, I\'ve been a little upset about Humanity. The sense of entitlement and \"victim-hood\" that more and more people are displaying has lately gone from \"disappointing\" to \"upsetting\" and the next person who wants to tell me how the world owes them something may see my bad side.

Amen, Brother!

This has become my \"theme song\":

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H-Y7MAASkg[/youtube]

 

[Olympushunt]

But lately, I\'ve been a little upset about Humanity. The sense of entitlement and \"victim-hood\" that more and more people are displaying has lately gone from \"disappointing\" to \"upsetting\" and the next person who wants to tell me how the world owes them something may see my bad side.

Amen, Brother!

:clap:

 

[Swede]

All Right Guys! I hate to upset a party, even a pity party, but we are going way off coarse.

 

[Olympushunt]

Don\'t get your undies in a knot Swede. I can\'t help it if Tick made a great point!

 

[Swede]

This thread was not intended to ask for and receive the \"right answer\". The hope was, that it would get us to think about what has, or very likely will happen somewhere, sometime, while we are out hunting. Ultimately we almost all have some negative encounters out hunting. To a degree I too have run into hunters that have an attitude of entitlement. I am satisfied they represent a small minority of the hunting population. Personally I refuse to let them cast a dark shadow over my hunt.

My cousin, a friend and I had to deal with the scenario depicted in the opening post. We backed off, as it was pointless to try and compete with the new owners of the elk. I did move around just enough to be directly upwind of the herd, before we left. :twisted:

At another time a few years ago, 1/2 hour after daybreak, I was out with my brother when we encountered a couple along a main road. George was driving then. When he saw that a woman, very near the road was close to three large bucks, about 20 yards away from her, George immediately stopped and backed up. He parked alongside the road and waited for her to finish. After two or three missed shots, the bucks left. She and her husband (I guess), went out and started searching for the lost arrows. George drove down the road and we started traveling to where we had planned to do some spot and stalk hunting.
When we were 1/3 of a mile away, I saw a dry creek bed in the flat desert area, that would give me cover back to where the deer had gone. I told George to stop and let me out. No deer was wounded, and they had completely left the location where the woman first shot at them. The couple had not gone out in apparent pursuit. I considered the deer to be fair game, and went to see if I could intercept them if they had slowed down or stopped, which they had not. Well about 3/4 hour later I heard the man and wife talking and ratting rocks as they came up behind me on a hillside on the other side of the draw. I was stopped and backed up from where I had checked and glassed the bucks. I could see there was no useful approach to them, and stayed behind a ridge out of sight. I was planning to walk back to the truck, when the couple came and started threatening me and calling me every foul name they could spew out. They thought they owned those bucks. By the way they approached the bucks and from the level of noise they made, the bucks were in no danger, but they thought they were theirs. That to me is a sense of entitlement.

Fortunately, it is rare that I come across people with an attitude of entitlement who claim ownership. At least 99% of the hunters I come across are good and descent people. Once in a great while, we may encounter problems, but they can normally be discussed and worked out. Most hunters have a strong passion for the hunt, and may go to extreme measures to get out and pursue game. They use limited vacation time and spend thousands of dollars to be hunters. They are very serious about it. They generally deserve our full respect. I will give it to them until they get too far out of line.