Public Land Etiquette

[beginnerhunter]

I see a lot of you post complaints about other hunters doing things that mess up your hunt. Could you please list some situations and rules for handling them. For example, you are sitting across a draw from another hunter watching deer. How do you make a move on an animal without affecting the other hunters? That was just an example, I'd like to know about situations you all have been in, even if you were the one who did something wrong. Thanks!!

 

[406LIFE]

My rules for public land, from the top of my head:

1. If someone beats me to a spot, I let them have it.
2. I don't crowd anyone. Depending on a lot of variables, I let them have a wide berth.
3. I don't pursue an animal I know is currently, or has just recently been pursued (within an hour or so).
4. If I see trash, I pick it up.
5. I generally don't confront anyone who breaks "my" rules, but I probably won't be very friendly if you bust up my hunt.
6. I don't lie or mislead about reuglations or rules, but I don't feel obligated to give up my scouting info.
7. If I am watching another hunter, I will do what I can to help them (scouting, followup on a wounded animal, etc.).

 

[beginnerhunter]

Good stuff. So basically if there are hunters there just bail. Probably what I would do. What about camping? Any rules on where to set up a camp?

 

[Irrelevant]

Rule 1 can't be followed in WA or you'd never hunt or you'd never sleep. Rule 2 is likely significantly different as well. The rest are pretty universal.

 

[airlocksniffer]

My rules for public land, from the top of my head:

1. If someone beats me to a spot, I let them have it.
2. I don't crowd anyone. Depending on a lot of variables, I let them have a wide berth.
3. I don't pursue an animal I know is currently, or has just recently been pursued (within an hour or so).
4. If I see trash, I pick it up.
5. I generally don't confront anyone who breaks "my" rules, but I probably won't be very friendly if you bust up my hunt.
6. I don't lie or mislead about reuglations or rules, but I don't feel obligated to give up my scouting info.
7. If I am watching another hunter, I will do what I can to help them (scouting, followup on a wounded animal, etc.).

Pretty much this.

 

[Walkathon]

My rules for public land, from the top of my head:

1. If someone beats me to a spot, I let them have it.
2. I don't crowd anyone. Depending on a lot of variables, I let them have a wide berth.
3. I don't pursue an animal I know is currently, or has just recently been pursued (within an hour or so).
4. If I see trash, I pick it up.
5. I generally don't confront anyone who breaks "my" rules, but I probably won't be very friendly if you bust up my hunt.
6. I don't lie or mislead about reuglations or rules, but I don't feel obligated to give up my scouting info.
7. If I am watching another hunter, I will do what I can to help them (scouting, followup on a wounded animal, etc.).

^^ This ^^

 

[James Riley]

I avoid human beings like the plague.

 

[Rob Allen]

this last week my wife and I camped at the end of a closed road. i started walking at 6 am and hiked about 8 miles. During my hunt i saw no animals but did see two hunters.. They had parked next to our camp and the 4 of them waled into the area I was hunting. The got 2 mule deer, one of them 300 yards from our tent.. After they left several other vehicles came in saw our camp and turned around and left.

Now this is public land and people are free to do pretty much as they please, but it speaks volumes that so many other people chose to leave the spot for the ones who got their first and 4 guys from Wisconsin did not.

Ironically we ran into another group from Wisconsin at the restaurant on the way home, they were great guys who had gotten a nice bull, congrats to them. They were however disappointing to hear what their neighbors had done.


Simply put. whatever position you find yourself in think about how the other people involved will feel about it then act accordingly.. Unless you truly believe that your success is more important than the other persons experience.

 

[Rob Allen]

Rule 1 can't be followed in WA or you'd never hunt or you'd never sleep. Rule 2 is likely significantly different as well. The rest are pretty universal.

Umm that's not true.... and if you cannot find a spot without ruining another persons hunt then don't hunt that day. I hunted the Tucannon last year the whole season to get away from pressure all you had to do was walk.. I spent most of my time completely alone. and it was my first year of hunting!

 

[James Riley]

this last week my wife and I camped at the end of a closed road. i started walking at 6 am and hiked about 8 miles. During my hunt i saw no animals but did see two hunters.. They had parked next to our camp and the 4 of them waled into the area I was hunting. The got 2 mule deer, one of them 300 yards from our tent.. After they left several other vehicles came in saw our camp and turned around and left.

Now this is public land and people are free to do pretty much as they please, but it speaks volumes that so many other people chose to leave the spot for the ones who got their first and 4 guys from Wisconsin did not.

Ironically we ran into another group from Wisconsin at the restaurant on the way home, they were great guys who had gotten a nice bull, congrats to them. They were however disappointing to hear what their neighbors had done.


Simply put. whatever position you find yourself in think about how the other people involved will feel about it then act accordingly.. Unless you truly believe that your success is more important than the other persons experience.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt, I'm assuming the nature of the area made what these guys did an obviously inconsiderate thing under the specific circumstances.

Generally speaking however, I know many very large areas with very few roads ending at them. If one camp at the end of each road that approached the area was enough to keep everyone else from accessing the area, then one, two or three camps could claim exclusive use of entire Wilderness Areas and a thousand square miles of public land.

I've seen guys set up camp way in advance of season just to get first dibs on a campsite and I understand and respect that. But to view that as staking a claim to the whole area beyond is a bit much. I always view the end of the road as the place where everyone parks and hikes in from there. If you happen to camp at the end of the road, then expect some traffic. In fact, these areas usually have so much traffic that I avoid them and usually hike in perpendicular from a lateral road.

Again, not defending the guys in your specific case because I wasn't there and I don't know the area.

 

[Rob Allen]

it's a road that goes into maybe 2 miles long and 2 miles wide.. walking all the way around is easily done in a morning.. the entire area is covered in logging roads with lots of other opportunity very near by.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

Camp at the end of the road you should expect some traffic b/c camping there certainly doesn't claim the area for you.

As far as the comments on WA, not true. Maybe Clockum elk is like that, but that's a joke of a hunt. Plenty of public ground there and lots of areas guys won't hike to.

 

[Rob Allen]

I didn't intent to claim it as my own.. more of a good better best situation instead of a right and wrong situation.

 

[beginnerhunter]

This is exactly the type of discussion I wanted. Stuff that's taboo vs annoying, etc. Honestly, interaction with other hunters is the primary reason I have eschewed public land for so long. Hopefully I won't piss anyone off this weekend.

 

[MTGomer]

Try to look for areas where you don't have to worry too much about this stuff. The folks on this page are the exception to the rule for what most people are like as far as motivation to hike. Usually if you're more than a few miles off the road, especially if the terrain is rough, you'll be all alone.
Yesterday was my 25th day hunting this year, and only the second time I've seen other hunters. I have not seen a human more than about 6 miles from the pickup in over 3 years.

 

[1_pointer]

I've found that if one tries not to be a jerkball that things go pretty well...

 

[Gr8bawana]

Try to look for areas where you don't have to worry too much about this stuff. The folks on this page are the exception to the rule for what most people are like as far as motivation to hike. Usually if you're more than a few miles off the road, especially if the terrain is rough, you'll be all alone.
Yesterday was my 25th day hunting this year, and only the second time I've seen other hunters. I have not seen a human more than about 6 miles from the pickup in over 3 years.

Yes, it's not that hard to get away from the crowds. Either distance or rough terrain weeds out the majority of hunters.

 

[COEngineer]

Something not adding up here...

it's a road that goes into maybe 2 miles long and 2 miles wide.. walking all the way around is easily done in a morning.

i started walking at 6 am and hiked about 8 miles.

To the OP, there are so many variables, you have to follow your conscience. If you do what you think is right and can sleep with yourself at night, that's all you can do. For instance, in the Midwest (I used to live in MN and WI) it was very common to walk very near several other hunters as you made your way into any public land spot. Basically, if you were out of sight of another hunter, which was sometimes only a 100 yds, that was far enough (the two of you aren't going to see the same deer). Hunting in CO, you can see a lot further and there are generally fewer animals, so that out-of-sight distance might be unrealistic - above tree line, you can see other hunters miles away.

 

[mikieb]

I tend to camp on the end of a road from time to time. I always leave room for the other guy... or guys.

It's not my land. It's our land.

As for public land etiquette. I would say. DO NOT CAMP IN THE ROAD. I have seen this... It gets to be a bit of a testy situation...

The people I find that are the worst at public land etiquette are resident hunters. I'm not saying that to upset anyone, it is just my observation.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

I actually saw some hunters in the field this year for the first time in ages. Guess I was too close to the road.