Oh well, I tried. Guess non resident hunters don't need any help!

[elkantlers]

What were those GPS coordinates again? lol

Good on you for your efforts.

 

[elkduds]

The fallacy of the Golden Rule: Believing others will treat you as you treat them. In these less-than-honorable times, stay mindful that you are fully responsible for how you roll, and just an observer of how others operate. I'd rather be you than them. Your generosity and frustration are recognized and appreciated by those w like minds, as noted above. Add me to that list.

 

[elkhnter]

Some people you just can't help, no matter how hard you try. I'll be in 80 next year and be happy for any advice. Can't make it this year, got to hang sheet rock in the daughter's condo in Houston.

 

[LopeHunter]

Maybe, given they are both active duty, things have come up and haven't been able to communicate that much.

Possibly, if Special Forces. Otherwise, that is a big negatory. No regular soldier gets taken off the grid with 30 minutes warning for a duty assignment. Sure, might be arrested and locked up or were in a vehicle that got plowed into so both KIA or in comas. Generally, the simpler explanation is the one that answers the question, why did two military personnel got radio silent to someone doing them a favor at no charge? The soldiers chose to most likely while still communicating with others just not with the OP. Not a good look for our military, if that is the case.

 

[Addicting]

Trying to find a Military member without a smart phone with internet access is the perverbial needle in a haystack. The 30 day timeline mention above doesn't just mean SF. For recently we were given 48h to have our formation and equipment ready to leave. Equipment was on its way in 24h. If that time I got 5 hours sleep and was non stop busy coordinating movements. However, I still found time to text my family and responded to Chushman's text.

No excuse for them to not make contact unless something very unfortunate happened. (Life,limb,or eyesight)I would look at thier activity log, if there is activity since last communication, write them off. That's not who you want in your camp.

 

[Addicting]

Deleted, iPhone double post! Love technology, I wish I knew why it randomly does this.

 

[Lefty315]

Since they are active military I would say they're of a younger generation than I am. Something is being lost in society called "courtesy" and it's not just the younger generation. I have a couple of friends, let's just average their age at 50, that I'll set up a day hunt or fishing with. They are super excited about going when it comes up but when you try to reach out the night before.....crickets....

Also, try selling something this day and age. "Hey, I'll be there at 11:00 Saturday". Four hours later and nothing, no text, no call to say I've been abducted by Sasquatch or aliens, nothing. Then 2-4 days later you get the "sorry, something came up". That's when I usually tell them the item is no longer for sale, at least to them.

We all have things that come up, change our minds or finances change. Just a little communication goes a very long ways.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Eastern Tenderfoots are funny

 

[N2TRKYS]

That's an awesome thing that you're doing for folks. As a nonresident, I would love this type of help and would be much appreciative. Maybe then I could kill my first elk. Lol

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Sorry to hear about this. Thank you for your effort to help non-residents looking to learn and trying to show them a good experience. As others have stated, I hope you don't let this put a sour taste in your mouth on helping others in the future. Your effort is appreciated. Good luck this season! You'll just have to go get the big one they decided they would rather not get!

 

[fulldraw]

I applaud your efforts and generosity . There a very few people out there that would take that time and effort to help a non resident hunter they had never met before.

 

[Outdoor Junkie]

Thank you for trying to help someone new to western hunting. If it wasn't for this forum and guys like you, Buzz, Snoweymountaineer and others, my friends and I would not have been nearly as successful and probably wouldn't have become as addicted as we have to western hunting.

Please don't let the actions of a couple knuckle heads stop you from helping nomeeaidents cut their teeth in the west.

Thank you for what you've done!
Chuck

 

[Majja]

Good on you for the effort and gesture. It is their loss I would like to just spend a week in that country let alone elk hunt it.

 

[Ridge Ghost]

Wow, their huge loss. Very generous of you though.

 

[rmauch20]

Sounds like you went above and beyond. As a first time Western hunter heading out west I appreciate people like you wanting to extend a hand to get people out there.

 

[targetpanic]

Sounds like you went above and beyond. As a first time Western hunter heading out west I appreciate people like you wanting to extend a hand to get people out there.

I couldn't agree more!
I joined here with the intention of reading and gleaning as much knowledge about hunting out west as possible, hoping that when the time came I would be able to ask the right questions. To have a Member offer to help someone coming from 1000s of miles away with first hand knowledge, a place to crash or a hot meal is above and beyond what anybody would expect. The least you can do is have the decency to keep him abreast of how your plans are coming along.!

 

[Crossbowguy]

I'm older, Fatter and out of shape compared to when I was in the service, but if I told someone I was going to be there, I'm there! Need more people in this world like you Sir and less of those little snot nosed brats.

 

[land7601]

I truly hope there are more people in the hunting world like you windymtnman. The reason so many of us are even drawn to hunting is because of an experience we shared with someone like you. For me, it was my dad, but many people aren't that lucky. It feels like our duty to pass on the things we have learned in the field, whether that be with friends or family, and I commend you for making the effort. Too often we run into people in the field that make our experience less enjoyable. I hope that one day I am lucky enough to cross passes with someone as passionate and willing to share the knowledge they have acquired as you are. So you may not have gotten it from them, but from one hunter to another, thank you!

-Alex

 

[nhn2a]

That was an awesome offer from you and disappointing they blew you off like that. There are a lot of really good people in the Military but unfortunately there are some not great people also. Its not a reflection on the organization, just some bad apples. I personally had the complete opposite scenario happen to me. I had a guy in South Dakota offer to let a couple Active Duty guys come hunt his 9k acre ranch. Me and a buddy jumped on the offer and he chose us to go. We had been talking to him the entire off season and he had been sending us photos non stop of deer he was watching. Talked back and forth for probably 6 months. We had submitted our leave and made all the travel arrangements to drive there from Fort Bragg, NC for a week long hunt. Well about 45 days out we stopped hearing back from him. We kept texting and calling with no response. I finally got a response back about 3 weeks out saying his mother in law had a heart attack but was doing fine, then there was another family member that had gotten in a car accident and he was going to respond shortly. We never heard from him again after that. We ended up using out time off just hunting whitetails locally but it was disappointed getting that fired up over a hunt that just fell through like that. I even reached out months after the hunt was supposed to happen just to say I hope your family is doing better with no response.

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Good on you for helping them out! Even if they did flake on you..... more people like you the better this world would be today. I personally have seen how friends off forums will help you out. I had "Jim" off this site hook me up with his buddy for my NV deer hunt. Great guy, drank beer, helped him rope steer's 1 day, showed me all the spot's the deer were in, helped feed horse's, spread gravel in a couple of horse pen's. It was great even though I did not harvest. And now a have another new Friend!
Matt