Elky Welky
Well-known member
I've seen and appreciate this point, but I don't think that correlation with past experiences with hunters is all that fair. We don't give domestic abusers a pass because they had issues in their past with their mom. I can certainly understand why a landowner might be cautious and even come out angry, but upon recognizing the situation I'd hope they'd have some basic courtesy. That's not what happened here.My question would be what happened in the past to make this landowner feel this way. We as hunters are our worst enemy. If that rancher was a born and raised Montanan my guess is someone in the past or multiple someone’s did some pretty stupid stuff on his place and he doesn’t wanna deal with it anymore.
In my experience, whether or not a rancher is from MT seems to make little difference in how they treat people. Good people are just that. I do know some very good ranchers from here or elsewhere, and I've met my fair share of unethical hunters too (If anything, I've met more local hunters that were worse, to be completely honest--if not a little beside the point).
My story was largely to illustrate the extreme example of why it is good to be cautious. The law, as it stands, will favor a private property owner, whether they are a good person or not.