Scouting Etiquette Question

[trb]

Hi all,

Just curious what you guys think about the etiquette of scouting for 2nd season during 1st season. I am free next weekend so I was planning on backpacking into an off trail area I have scouted all summer that my brother and I will be doing an 8 day backpack hunt during 2nd season. Aside from the issue of inadvertently potentially pushing elk around back there, is it considered bad etiquette to be deep in the woods during a hunting season for which you don't have a tag?

I just want to take advantage of every opportunity to put myself in a position to potentially be successful in a couple weeks, but I don't really want to screw up anyone else's hunt either. I haven't seen anyone else back there all summer because it is a hellacious off-trail trek through downed timber, but you never know.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[Fj605]

Public land? Shouldn't really matter what anyone else thinks. You have every right to be out there. Just try not to ruin someone's hunt though. Cause that'd suck if it happened to you.

If I were scouting during a rifle season, I'd probably wear some blaze orange so I don't get shot accidentally.

 

[Tradewind]

you're fine. stay high. stay on the trails as much as u can. scout w the bino's. don't walk past any one.
Don't do what you wouldnt want someone to do to you if you were hunting.

 

[rtraverdavis]

Don't do what you wouldnt want someone to do to you if you were hunting.

^ This.

No reason you can’t be out there, as long as you’re aware of your surroundings and not blowing it for other guys.

 

[trb]

Don't do what you wouldnt want someone to do to you if you were hunting.

Words I try to live by, but also partially why I'm asking the question. I probably wouldn't think twice if it were a perfect ridgeline looking into a basin, but the area I am looking at is 2+ miles offtrail, and really thick timber with moderate topography (not ideal for glassing). Easy country to stumble into a fellow hunter WITH a tag. I'm probably going regardless, just wanted to make sure I'm not breaking some unwritten rule. Im just hoping to continue to familiarize myself with the area, and look for fresh sign.

I appreciate the advice!

 

[RockinU]

I think you're fine...unless you jack my hunt, in which case I'm going to pee in your boots while you sleep. Just sayin...

 

[greaseywater]

My elk hunt is the 2nd week of December. There is a hunt in that unit every single week from mid August until mine. Some combination of archery, rifle, muzzleloader; deer, elk, turkey.

I’m not letting any of them keep me from scouting.

 

[trb]

I think you're fine...unless you jack my hunt, in which case I'm going to pee in your boots while you sleep. Just sayin...

Cheaper and more biodegradable than those stupid toe warming pads...I'll take it

 

[Muley_Stalker]

Hi all,

Just curious what you guys think about the etiquette of scouting for 2nd season during 1st season. I am free next weekend so I was planning on backpacking into an off trail area I have scouted all summer that my brother and I will be doing an 8 day backpack hunt during 2nd season. Aside from the issue of inadvertently potentially pushing elk around back there, is it considered bad etiquette to be deep in the woods during a hunting season for which you don't have a tag?

I just want to take advantage of every opportunity to put myself in a position to potentially be successful in a couple weeks, but I don't really want to screw up anyone else's hunt either. I haven't seen anyone else back there all summer because it is a hellacious off-trail trek through downed timber, but you never know.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Are you talking about Colorado? The 1st rifle ends on the 16th and 2nd rifle starts on the 19th. You have a couple of days to scout between seasons that nobody will be hunting. That's better scouting and closer to your hunt.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Words I try to live by, but also partially why I'm asking the question. I probably wouldn't think twice if it were a perfect ridgeline looking into a basin, but the area I am looking at is 2+ miles offtrail, and really thick timber with moderate topography (not ideal for glassing). Easy country to stumble into a fellow hunter WITH a tag. I'm probably going regardless, just wanted to make sure I'm not breaking some unwritten rule. Im just hoping to continue to familiarize myself with the area, and look for fresh sign.

I appreciate the advice!

I would be cautions about your scouting based on that description. More in terms of screwing up your hunt than others peoples. If you are walking around in the timber you will be stumbling inadvertently into bedding areas and bumping elk, if they are in the heavy cover because of pressure earlier in the season they might blow out of that country entirely.

I'm sure there are a bunch of different perspectives on this, but personally I don't want to have an encounter with a bull at 70 yards, during hunting season, if I don't have a tag in my pocket... in July sure, in Oct no way.

 

[trb]

Are you talking about Colorado? The 1st rifle ends on the 16th and 2nd rifle starts on the 19th. You have a couple of days to scout between seasons that nobody will be hunting. That's better scouting and closer to your hunt.

Work and grad school keep me to the weekends unfortunately. I'm using all my leave to be able to do the 8 day backpack hunt itself.

 

[trb]

I would be cautions about your scouting based on that description. More in terms of screwing up your hunt than others peoples. If you are walking around in the timber you will be stumbling inadvertently into bedding areas and bumping elk, if they are in the heavy cover because of pressure earlier in the season they might blow out of that country entirely.

I'm sure there are a bunch of different perspectives on this, but personally I don't want to have an encounter with a bull at 70 yards, during hunting season, if I don't have a tag in my pocket... in July sure, in Oct no way.

I have really wrestled with this exact question, and you make a great point. Maybe I will just visit my planned campsite to make sure the trickle of water I am counting on is still running rather than doing a full scout of the area. I am eager to be as prepared as possible, but I don't want to screw it up for myself either.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I have really wrestled with this exact question, and you make a great point. Maybe I will just visit my planned campsite to make sure the trickle of water I am counting on is still running rather than doing a full scout of the area. I am eager to be as prepared as possible, but I don't want to screw it up for myself either.

I scouted this weekend and stayed on the ridges... all the elk sign and the couple I saw were in the aspens below, I would have liked to know if there was a good bull in there so that on opening morning I don't shoot a 5x5 not knowing there is a big 6x6 running around... but it is what it is...

 

[TN_Rifle_Junkie]

Great question, and I myself am planning on "scouting" my units for as many days as I can before actually starting the backpack hunting adventure with four people. It is nice to know that the elk are in the area before jumping off the trailhead into a steep and deep drainage only to come back with regrets and a nice cup of tag soup.