PSA: yes, you have a sweet new hot tent, now please stop camping in the elk...

I just LOVE the groups that set their camps (RVs and tents) up on the only water source around for miles.
We see it antelope hunting, mule deer hunting and elk hunting. Many times at the top of a hill or ridge where animals can see their camp from miles away.
Some guys have no business squirrel hunting, much less big game hunting.
 
I will never understand camping deep into deer or elk country from a vehicle. I get packing in deep and having a low impact camp on foot or horseback. But from a vehicle???? Camp in a damn campground or trail head and let the damn elk and deer sleep and eat in peace, then go get em in the morning. It makes hunting better for all.
Huh???
 
Love it!

I tell my sons now that the Hoochie Mama is no longer popular, I can use mine again because I’ll be retro with it.
A few weeks ago, my 12 year old son and I lightly spooked a bull from a meadow we were walking out into. He started bounding away. I gave one squeeze on the Hoochie Mama and he just stopped in his tracks, while turning broadside at about 100 yards. Judging from my son's expression, I might as well have just cast a spell on him with my wand.. 😅

*Note: this is only possible when one is solely in possession of a cow tag.
 
A popular camp site right off the road had a nice meadow in it. One side has a saddle with no trail and skitzy terrain/brush the other side has high boulders and an east facing bench. The road and atv trail had hunters traveling several miles out each day. Fresh elk and deer shit we’re in that meadow every morning. I shot a deer in sight of an rv and found a fresh elk rib cage from someone who thought the same way. I think it’s all situation dependent on how the animals react to camps.
 
What I really appreciate is when someone drives their motor home to a section of land and parked it right where the elk and deer cross to get onto public. Said couple then left the motor home for 4 days locked up. Then on their return they drove their keep wrangler all over the blm to try and find the deer and elk in the area.
 
One of my favorite and most successful elk hunting locations requires me to camp about 100 yards from where I hunt it. It's a small canyon separated by a small but steep ridge so I literally wake up, get ready in the tent, and make a short steep climb every morning and I'm hunting the other side in minutes. At 5+ miles it's too far to day hike it, and due to the topography if I camp farther away in either direction I risk bumping elk coming into the canyon while I hike in the dark, so I camp in the one nice flat spot right on the other side. I use a regular tent and don't have fires though. Outside of that place, I typically want at least a 1/2 mile buffer zone, it's annoying to have to whisper at camp and worry about your scent wafting into your hunting area.
 

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