So the seasons over and its a time for reflection. Overall I had fun...I kind of over extended myself of hosting buddies on hunts this yr, but that's my fault. I wanted to share an experience that takes the cake as far as public land a-holes go...in my experience anyway. I can honestly say its something I would never do in a lifetime of hunting, I don't care how bad I wanted an elk or how big the elk was. Also, Let me state here, that this occurred on public land and everyone is entitled to equal use and access. BUT....
My buddy from Ohio (63yrs old) came out the end of the 3rd week of Novemeber. He got here just as I finished a fun successful eastern MT deer hunt with a couple of friends from FL. Due to my big mouth relating how much fun it was, I ended up turning around and driving back to eastern MT the next day with my buddy and son for another 3 days of deer hunting...which cut in half the elk hunt he originally came out for. ..Anyway all he wanted was a decent bull. I had been watching some elk for a couple weeks that sporadically had a couple 5x5s in with them. So Mon morn after driving most of the night we hit the mnt to go after them. Well, long story short it took us longer to get to them than I had anticipated...something about not being able to breath or something. We did get to the top to watch about 70 head w/ two ok racked bulls feed into the trees from 600 yds away with no options to get closer, ie no cover and crunchy snow. So I told my buddy we could come back that afternoon or the next morn and they would most likely be back out. Well after hiking out he decided maybe the next morn would work better.
Heres where it all went in the toilet. I got us up and going an extra hr early so we would have time to make the climb to where the elk were. So way before daylight we were climbing and about an hr into the climb I see headlights coming up the access rd. I turned on the blinker on my headlamp thinking it might alert them to our presence... and it did. They stopped for a few min and then kept coming. I told my buddy we were going to have company and we needed to pick up the pace. I watched the truck drive up the rd and park literally right beside mine. We kept hiking another 20 min and got to the top with 30 min to go till legal. As it starts to get light I see there are about 120-150 elk on the ridge across from us about 700 yds away and we are between the elk and the trees and they are feeding towards us.
Now, we are on a wide open hillside 1500 vertical feet above the truck 1.25 miles away....which is visible, also visible are the two guys that parked beside me who are climbing up the draw below us and between us and the elk. I flash my light at them...and I know the see us because Im looking at them through my bino's looking at us. They 100% know we are on the elk, they know we are close to the elk, but that doesn't stop them. They keep coming and make it plain they are going to come up right between us and the elk. I cow call to them and the stop and look at us again and keep coming. Im like are u kidding me!!, they are really going to do this!!!!!!! We can now see there are 9 legal bulls with two 6x6s at the back of the main wad. The closest cows are ~400 yds and closing. The bulls are all at 582 yds. Its now legal shooting and I tell my buddy we have to do something stupid and move on the elk...the closest of which will for sure see us and spook, but with the 2 guys slipping right between us and the elk we have no choice. So we move and spook a group of about 30 cows, but not the main group. The 2 guys see us moving on the elk and start running up the slope between us and the bulls. I'm not into combat hunting, so I concede to these scumbags. As we are standing there watching these two jackwagons walk across right in front of us, I'm in total amazement that this actually happened. I make a decision to sink somewhat to their level. I fired a round into the hillside totally in the opposite direction away from us, them and the elk, hollered thank you!, and spooked the whole herd. Buddy asked why I did that and I replied I'm not proud of it, but I'll be dammed if I was going to watch them shoot two bulls right in front of us after what they did.
Ive been hunting here in MT for over 20 yrs. I hunt almost exclusively on public land, in an area with some of the highest hunter numbers in the state. Ive seen some actions that made me question why I bothered, but Ive never seen such blatant unethical disregard for other hunters.
Anyway that's my rant for the yr.
My buddy from Ohio (63yrs old) came out the end of the 3rd week of Novemeber. He got here just as I finished a fun successful eastern MT deer hunt with a couple of friends from FL. Due to my big mouth relating how much fun it was, I ended up turning around and driving back to eastern MT the next day with my buddy and son for another 3 days of deer hunting...which cut in half the elk hunt he originally came out for. ..Anyway all he wanted was a decent bull. I had been watching some elk for a couple weeks that sporadically had a couple 5x5s in with them. So Mon morn after driving most of the night we hit the mnt to go after them. Well, long story short it took us longer to get to them than I had anticipated...something about not being able to breath or something. We did get to the top to watch about 70 head w/ two ok racked bulls feed into the trees from 600 yds away with no options to get closer, ie no cover and crunchy snow. So I told my buddy we could come back that afternoon or the next morn and they would most likely be back out. Well after hiking out he decided maybe the next morn would work better.
Heres where it all went in the toilet. I got us up and going an extra hr early so we would have time to make the climb to where the elk were. So way before daylight we were climbing and about an hr into the climb I see headlights coming up the access rd. I turned on the blinker on my headlamp thinking it might alert them to our presence... and it did. They stopped for a few min and then kept coming. I told my buddy we were going to have company and we needed to pick up the pace. I watched the truck drive up the rd and park literally right beside mine. We kept hiking another 20 min and got to the top with 30 min to go till legal. As it starts to get light I see there are about 120-150 elk on the ridge across from us about 700 yds away and we are between the elk and the trees and they are feeding towards us.
Now, we are on a wide open hillside 1500 vertical feet above the truck 1.25 miles away....which is visible, also visible are the two guys that parked beside me who are climbing up the draw below us and between us and the elk. I flash my light at them...and I know the see us because Im looking at them through my bino's looking at us. They 100% know we are on the elk, they know we are close to the elk, but that doesn't stop them. They keep coming and make it plain they are going to come up right between us and the elk. I cow call to them and the stop and look at us again and keep coming. Im like are u kidding me!!, they are really going to do this!!!!!!! We can now see there are 9 legal bulls with two 6x6s at the back of the main wad. The closest cows are ~400 yds and closing. The bulls are all at 582 yds. Its now legal shooting and I tell my buddy we have to do something stupid and move on the elk...the closest of which will for sure see us and spook, but with the 2 guys slipping right between us and the elk we have no choice. So we move and spook a group of about 30 cows, but not the main group. The 2 guys see us moving on the elk and start running up the slope between us and the bulls. I'm not into combat hunting, so I concede to these scumbags. As we are standing there watching these two jackwagons walk across right in front of us, I'm in total amazement that this actually happened. I make a decision to sink somewhat to their level. I fired a round into the hillside totally in the opposite direction away from us, them and the elk, hollered thank you!, and spooked the whole herd. Buddy asked why I did that and I replied I'm not proud of it, but I'll be dammed if I was going to watch them shoot two bulls right in front of us after what they did.
Ive been hunting here in MT for over 20 yrs. I hunt almost exclusively on public land, in an area with some of the highest hunter numbers in the state. Ive seen some actions that made me question why I bothered, but Ive never seen such blatant unethical disregard for other hunters.
Anyway that's my rant for the yr.
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