hunter ethics ?

[wsm]

This past weekend i was hunting near princeton and was very dissappointed in the ethics i saw practiced by hunters.Before i start. I know its a free country a people may hunt where they please. I had my hunt ruined/ intruded upon by other hunters that could see me in plain view , (so knew i was there) . 4 times on sat morning and once on sunday. for example i was glassing a clearing from a road only bout 100yrds long and enough room to turn around a bus. so a truck turns down the road im on so i wave , he waves back and proceeds up to me . parks his truck , gets out and statrs glassing shoulder to shoulder with me . then proceeds to walk into the clearing i've been glassing for the last 45 mins. maybe this should not bother me but it does . i try very hard not to get in the middle of other peoples hunts . when i do see someone i go somewhere else. theres tons of places to go and game everywhere.

[tomahawk]

You have every right to be pissed off, that is a blatant act of unethical behaviour, where is the brain on these guys?

[Essential]

seriously!!! yah shoulda pretended you thought he was a deer walkin through the field..honest sir i was glassing the area and this "deer" just walked out in front of me>>>not sure if hes legal though cause his points not longer than 2 inches

[peashooter]

hoonk honnk bang bang bang. opps did i wreck your afternoon boys.

[wos]

I've been struggling with the same issues for years! it's the Quads, the road warriors, the drunks,etc. it can really tick a guy off but you can also use it to your advantage. Hunt the seasons that the jackasses will avoid. Hunt the 4 point season(early and late), apply for leh hunts you know provide good opportunities especially if it's not the most pleasant time of year. also getting more than 100 yds off the nearest road will help. that said if a guy sees your truck parked at the start of a cut block he should turn around and provide you the same courtesy you would show him.

[Hank Hunter]

When you road hunt, you are never alone

[frenchbar]

some people could give a shit about ethics and what you thnk they should do or dont do...parking at the end of a rd with a cut block is opening yourself up for dissapointment most days...just the way it is ...never going to change.some will leave ..some wont.

[Barracuda]

how do you know he didnt have a stand or a buddy in there allready?

far to many people seem to think that they own the piece of land they are looking at. no one has the right to block a road or stop others from accessing an area.

I have been looking over an area and someone has gone past me and i have watched them get out and walk into the tree line.
not really a problem if i am simply watching from a road .

you should see how pissed off some hunters get when hounds are working an area .

[emerson]

When you road hunt, you are never alone
True, if I am anywhere that can be driven to I expect and usually get traffic. When I walk off roads/quad trails there is no one.

[Jelvis]

wsm .. You have every right to be disgusted, that is very rude and should not happen, sorry to hear that it's going on.
Some people's kids have a dog eat dog attitude in a lot of different sports, folks just think they can do what ever they feel like and couldn't care less about your feelings.
Jel .. Tuff to avoid now a days, he probably thought you saw an animal and was going to see for himself and take it out right in front of you ..

[ravensfoot]

WSM, +1 for Jelvis comments. I can't believe that with a province as big as BC people feel the need to hunt on top of each other. People should treat this no differently than standing in the line at the grocery store. Yes you shop at the store and no you don't own the store but it's plain rude to cut in front of a person in line. If its ethically wrong to 'cut' into a line why is it OK to 'cut' into an area that is already known to be currently hunted. I'm sure the Pipe Smokers out there have done this a few times in the grocery store and out in road traffic too. This ethic of "I don't care if your hunting in that area, Im comin in to hunt it too" has literally ruined many of my hunts. It's plain rude, stupid, unsafe and arrogant. How can you tell that this really pisses me off.

I think i'm going to post a vote to see what the Masses out there think.

[Phreddy]

I bet it was a guy in a red Dodge pickup.

[Martin_Hunter]

This past weekend i was hunting near princeton and was very dissappointed in the ethics i saw practiced by hunters.Before i start. I know its a free country a people may hunt where they please. I had my hunt ruined/ intruded upon by other hunters that could see me in plain view , (so knew i was there) . 4 times on sat morning and once on sunday. for example i was glassing a clearing from a road only bout 100yrds long and enough room to turn around a bus. so a truck turns down the road im on so i wave , he waves back and proceeds up to me . parks his truck , gets out and statrs glassing shoulder to shoulder with me . then proceeds to walk into the clearing i've been glassing for the last 45 mins. maybe this should not bother me but it does . i try very hard not to get in the middle of other peoples hunts . when i do see someone i go somewhere else. theres tons of places to go and game everywhere.

Princeton is a waste of time to hunt.That's why I prefer to hunt up north.More game,less hunters and no headache.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Probably has been fishing the Frazer lately.........................

SSS

[wsm]

Probably has been fishing the Frazer lately.........................

SSS
lol he litteraly no word of a lie stood that close to me

[Rodd]

Some people just don't get it?? I have had guys follow us in the high country because they thought we knew where some rams were, and they didn't, so they would get up early and wait to see us leave camp, and follow us where we went, in hopes of locating the Rams we were pursuing. So we played them big time, and rode off in the opposite direction every morning and turning back when we knew we were out of their sight... Next day they were in the opposite area glassing hard... It wasn't till after we had our Ram they came riding into camp and were asking about it and where we got him etc... We told them good luck and hit the road otherwise we would have shared some info with them if they hadn't been so shady..

This year hunting a piece of private land where more than one person had permission, if we got there and someone beat us there, we would go elsewhere for the day, and last weekend this guy sitting 1km away on one edge of the field(My Duaghter and I didn't know he was there) we were watching a group of 11 cows and one small bull, then the fog covered us, and we waited for it to clear, I notice headlights coming directly through the field towards us, and he drives by, and parks in the field about 100yds from the Elk and starts intently watching the samll bull like he may be a 6 point... He knew where we were sitting as my Van was at the entrance to the property, and he continued and chased the Elk off into parts unknown... I'd had enough, and we headed up into the bedding area about 2km away, and tried there for the remainder of the morning.... Just cuz the Elk were not within range for him, he decided he'd better get over there before we shot one and try and cover the entire 2 sections of field.... GRRR! I hope he reads this!

[steel_ram]

This may not be the case, but a guy sitting in the comfort of his truck watching a hillside doesn't own that hill, or at least not to the point where he should stop someone wanting and willing to take a walk, perhaps with prior knowledge of what's beyond that tree line.

If I come across an unoccupied vehicle parked near the end of a spur road, especially during the prime hours, it's all their's.

[wsm]

i have decided in all my wisdom that i will carry a shooting target with me for now on . if this occurs again i will walk it to the bottom of the nearest hill (away from the hunter ) and begin to sight in my rifle. then we can both have a wonderful hunt

[thompson steel]

I had a similar experience as wsm around Princeton this past Saturday. My buddy and I parked at the bottom of a deactivated fsr that leads up to a cut that we hunt. We were up in the cut well before first light. Around 930 10 we were hiking back threw the cut to the road and a quad goes ripping by with two guys on it they wave at us. We keep walking along the road and about ten minutes later the quad comes ripping back along the road. They stop at us and ask how our morning was. They were younger one was probably in his young 20s and the other was mid to late teens. We told them that if they see some one that is in an area to turn around and leave it to the first guys. They were very apologetic and said that they didn’t know any better. We chatted for a few minutes gave the guys a few pointers they apologized once again and slowly went on their way. Personally I think that there is just a ton of people out there that weren’t brought up hunting and don’t know any better. Perhaps CORE instructors could make a mention about ethics in their courses.

[randymac]

Just got back from Leh moose hunt in the region 5.(successull)
Met some nice guys from Nanaimo that set up camp last saturday and then sunday some asshats parked a trailer and camper 20 feet in front of them. I thought that was kinda rude as there were other landings or pullouts to camp in.
Couple days later came around a corner and one of the asshats was aiming at a grouse in the middle of the road between him and my truck, sure enough he pulls the trigger and we get some gravel spray on the truck from his shot. He did say sorry he didn't see us but that was a bit hard to buy and I think thats just the type of people that don't really care about others rights or space. Not a young dumb guy either- just old and dumb or old and dont give a sh_t.

[kgs]

I am sick of people saying that others don't own the land or the hill or road who cares. The point is that other hunters who intrude on hunters that they can see are clearly hunting in an area and then some how intrude into that area thinking its ok. I tell you it is not a good practice to bother another hunter while they are actively hunting an area for a few hours. I mean come on have a little respect for your fellow hunter. I give that respect when I discover another hunter in an area that I want to be in. One trick that works for me most of the time is a simple card board sign set up in a place where other hunters can see it. Why ruin some one else's hunt just change up your plans I always have two to four areas in mind when I head out.

[bighornbob]

I had a similar experience as wsm around Princeton this past Saturday. My buddy and I parked at the bottom of a deactivated fsr that leads up to a cut that we hunt. We were up in the cut well before first light. Around 930 10 we were hiking back threw the cut to the road and a quad goes ripping by with two guys on it they wave at us. We keep walking along the road and about ten minutes later the quad comes ripping back along the road. They stop at us and ask how our morning was. They were younger one was probably in his young 20s and the other was mid to late teens. We told them that if they see some one that is in an area to turn around and leave it to the first guys. They were very apologetic and said that they didn’t know any better. We chatted for a few minutes gave the guys a few pointers they apologized once again and slowly went on their way. Personally I think that there is just a ton of people out there that weren’t brought up hunting and don’t know any better. Perhaps CORE instructors could make a mention about ethics in their courses.

I have to ask do you own the clearcut or the road the ATV was on???? I ask this becuase the way you write you think you do!!!

First off, a truck parked in a clearcut does not mean anyone is hunting it. A trucked parked at a dead end could be mushroom pickers, hunters hunting in the timber, road survey crews, block layout guys, fisherman that hike into a lake from that dead etc etc. Do you expect everyone to turn around as soon as they see a truck??

I turn around when I encounter someone driving as they have beat me to that spot. If I see someone walking early in the morning down a road I turn around as I assume they are hunting. If its later then a few hours after sunrise I drive up to them and see whats up. If they are hunting I turn around, more often then not they are walking back to their truck and gladly accept a ride back.

If you are hunting a road or clearcut you can expect this. Last year I was sitting in a cut when a truck pulls up about 200m from me and a father and son get out and proceed to start cutting firewood. Not sure if they looked up and saw my truck, does not really matter as they had as much right being there cuting wood as me sitting there waiting for a deer. The same would be if they were hunting. I proceeded to walk down to them and see how they were doing. Instead of getting upset I asked them if they saw anything and proceeded to chat with them for a few minites before I walked to my truck. Thats hunting a clearcut.

Also last year I was hunting with my dad in the burn above Kelowna, when I spotted a buck above the road. I bailed out and left the truck with my dad. I ended getting the buck about 300m from the road and my dad parked the truck and walked up to me. Dragging that buck out of there was hell with all the pecker poles that were down. When we were about 150m from the road I heard an ATV coming up the main road then I could tell he must have taken a spur road as the machine noise was getting louder. All of a sudden the guy pulls into a an old landing 75m away. He sees I am dragging a buck and drives right up to me over the pecker poles and asks if he can help by dragging the deer out with the quad. I am not stupid and gladly accept and the deer is on the road in minites instead of 1/2 hour. If the guy had turned around when he saw our truck, I would still probably be dragging.

BHB

[Rodd]

I have to ask do you own the clearcut or the road the ATV was on???? I ask this becuase the way you write you think you do!!!

First off, a truck parked in a clearcut does not mean anyone is hunting it. A trucked parked at a dead end could be mushroom pickers, hunters hunting in the timber, road survey crews, block layout guys, fisherman that hike into a lake from that dead etc etc. Do you expect everyone to turn around as soon as they see a truck??

I turn around when I encounter someone driving as they have beat me to that spot. If I see someone walking early in the morning down a road I turn around as I assume they are hunting. If its later then a few hours after sunrise I drive up to them and see whats up. If they are hunting I turn around, more often then not they are walking back to their truck and gladly accept a ride back.

If you are hunting a road or clearcut you can expect this. Last year I was sitting in a cut when a truck pulls up about 200m from me and a father and son get out and proceed to start cutting firewood. Not sure if they looked up and saw my truck, does not really matter as they had as much right being there cuting wood as me sitting there waiting for a deer. The same would be if they were hunting. I proceeded to walk down to them and see how they were doing. Instead of getting upset I asked them if they saw anything and proceeded to chat with them for a few minites before I walked to my truck. Thats hunting a clearcut.

Also last year I was hunting with my dad in the burn above Kelowna, when I spotted a buck above the road. I bailed out and left the truck with my dad. I ended getting the buck about 300m from the road and my dad parked the truck and walked up to me. Dragging that buck out of there was hell with all the pecker poles that were down. When we were about 150m from the road I heard an ATV coming up the main road then I could tell he must have taken a spur road as the machine noise was getting louder. All of a sudden the guy pulls into a an old landing 75m away. He sees I am dragging a buck and drives right up to me over the pecker poles and asks if he can help by dragging the deer out with the quad. I am not stupid and gladly accept and the deer is on the road in minites instead of 1/2 hour. If the guy had turned around when he saw our truck, I would still probably be dragging.

BHB

Well written Bob! I agree 100% I can whine about all the bad experiences I've had too, but truly the good ones far outweigh the bad by miles..... We are all lucky to live here and be able to experience and hunt within the wonderful BC Out of Doors!! And it's to be shared by all users, so just be curtious to all encountered.

[sawmill]

Half a dozen times this fall I have gone for an evening hunt and encountered some body in a place I was heading.I stop instantly,back up quietly(my truck is REAL quiet)and leave them to the spot.It`s a big country,I know lots of other places to go nearby.Simple common courtesy.Don`t cost a dime.

[BlackBear]

Not long ago, I took a 5x5 mule deer with the help of a road hunter. At 4:00am, I parked my truck at the start of a clear cut that ended with a dead end road. I worked my way through the clear cut in the dark. By 5am, I was in the treeline of a very large clear cut approximately 1.5km from the nearest road. At 7:30am, I spotted a 5x5 mule deer and a 5x4 mule deer making its way through the cut approximately 300 yards away from me. A truck drove very slowly into the cut. Both deer walked up onto a knoll. The road hunter spotted the deer then hopped out of the truck. He moved a short distance into the clear cut to attempt a shot at the deer. The shot was at the very least 1000 yards. He cleanly missed the deer. The road hunter walked back to his or her truck. Both deer ran directly toward me. I waited until the deer were in a safe spot (i.e., it was safe to shoot). I shot the 5x5 mule deer. The road hunter got back into his truck then proceeded to drive away slowly. I walked into the cut and waved. He or she stopped; I gave the thumbs up sign. He or she sped away. If it wasn't for the road hunter, I might not have had a chance at the deer. Road hunters offer an opportunity.

On the other hand, there is a significant risk, I have been scared stiff when a road hunter pulls into an area while there is a buck nearby that I don't want to harvest. And so, for the most part, I try to find areas that are as far away from a road as possible.

[BlackBear]

Just to add to my previous post, the aforementioned example is exactly the reason that one needs to be acutely aware of the area around an animal before shooting at it (i.e., minimization of risk). In this case, it wouldn't have been possible to know that I was not far from the deer.

[wsm]

i dont think that anyone here believes they own a place(cut block , road , etc). but i would sure like to think that hunters can at the very least, show the respect to each other that they would expect for themselves. do we all think that is asking to much ?

[Spokerider]

lol he litteraly no word of a lie stood that close to me


Passive : aggressive Pr!ck. I`d be mad too.

[Big Lew]

Unfortunately, there are two things that seem to effect humans minds enough that they will do anything to possess them....money and trophies. Many times I have had people rush in to either shoot an animal I was stalking or actually aiming at, or to scare it away so that I couldn't get it. Usually I can just walk away, but I'm also human, and have never said I was an angel. ( retribution and retaliation can be sweet!)
On side note, just because a hunting party has checked out an area, doesn't mean you won't have a chance after they leave. I took my little brother out hunting for his first deer north of Bridge lake several years ago. One of the multi-leveled slashes I had seen deer in had a hunting party slowly road hunting. We waited patiently for them to leave and then went in, driving past them as they exited. We had only gone 200 yards and there was a large 3-point just standing by a small tree only 30 yards from the skidder trail we (and the other hunters) were using. My brother got his first buck, After gutting it, we drove in further and saw another buck with 4 does. Some hunters just gaze over a slash without looking into the slash.

[thompson steel]

i dont think that anyone here believes they own a place(cut block , road , etc). but i would sure like to think that hunters can at the very least, show the respect to each other that they would expect for themselves. do we all think that is asking to much ?

well said.


BHB
I don’t think that it sounded like I owned that cut block but I guess it did and sorry for that .
If you saw a truck parked at a very obvious deactivation point on an fsr to a small cut block in hunting season wouldn’t you assume that someone is hunting that cut block?

[Barracuda]

there are so many jackass that block roads and claim sections to stop other hunters its just pathetic.

Purposly shooting to screw another hunter that decided to hike into a cut block is a classless act .

I have hiked out to a cut block from the forest and seen another hunter sitting in thier truck watching the block . whos block is it?

what would you do?

[wsm]

its everybodys block, however having done pretty much what you described ill tell u what i did . i left the hunter to it , after all he was there when i arrived and hoofed it to another spot . probly not what you wanted me to say but it is the truth . i try very hard not to inadvertantly spoil someone else's hunt

[Jonas111]

its everybodys block, however having done pretty much what you described ill tell u what i did . i left the hunter to it , after all he was there when i arrived and hoofed it to another spot . probly not what you wanted me to say but it is the truth . i try very hard not to inadvertantly spoil someone else's hunt

Thats the right thing to do. There seems to be a lot of people out hunting right now and good for them. I get out every chance I get and usually run into a few people. There is nothing I can do but smile and move on.

The funny thing is I look at hunting like Golf. If someone is slow on a golf course your supposed to let others play through. No one does these days. Hunting is no different. If I see someone is in the cut I have been watching for months, I will simply leave and find somewhere else to go. The people that intentionally shoot bullets to scare stuff away are the same people that do not let others play through on the golf course. What can you say. There are people on earth that cause problems and people on Earth that solve problems. Who do you want to be???

Enjoy your hunts guys.

[stoneslinger]

The way I see it, if I plan to go to an area and take the time and expense to hunt it then that is what I will darn well do. If other hunters are present I will either use them to my advantage or get the jump on them.
Just the way it is. Free country, free choices, limited time to hunt.

[frenchbar]

The way I see it, if I plan to go to an area and take the time and expense to hunt it then that is what I will darn well do. If other hunters are present I will either use them to my advantage or get the jump on them.
Just the way it is. Free country, free choices, limited time to hunt.

stay outa my cutblock:mrgreen:

[ZENYO]

If I plan to hunt an area and I take the time and expense to hunt it and I get there and there is another hunter... I will quietly walk away with a good luck wave and go to my backup.... Tomorrow I will get their much earlier... It's not an ownership thing, it's common courtesy and there's not enough of that now a days... People who block areas, well, I don't have a lot of time for people like that...

IMHO....

[Mark_S]

A few days ago I had hiked into an area in the West Koots for Elk. I hiked in and spent the night on the ridge. In the morning I was up early and I headed over to a section of the ridge I knew well and thought would be most productive. I bugled and cow talked a few times to which a bull answered from just in the timber 150 yards away or so and then several minutes later I heard two cow calls behind me. I turned around to see two other hunters right behind me. I waved and head on up to them to talk to them and they immediately split up and attempted to go around me. I cut off one of them and said "Hi, I'm not here to step on toes or anything I spent the night up here but I see you are here as well. Hopefully we can organize something together and not get in each others way"

He informed me that him and his partners had cut the quad trail into that ridge and they therefore had first dibs to the area. Regardless that I had hiked in on a hiking trail that was older than any of us nowhere near his quad trail.

At that point the bull I had calling bugled back and stepped into the open. The hunter rushed past me and stopped within 5 feet of my pack where I had been set up calling and counted to 6 and shot the bull I had been calling in.

I was floored. I couldn't believe what had just happened. He turned around and I took my glove off. I think at that point he thought I was going to punch him but I stuck out my hand and said "nice work, he looks like a nice bull" He shook my hand but didn't not catch onto my meaning.

Moments later his partner came over and we were all formally introduced and it turns out these are guys that know my Father well. To be fair his partner told me the next bull that came out was mine if I wanted it but I declined and helped to call in a second bull which they took.

No meat sharing was ever offered and when the rest of the crew showed up I was spoken to in an extremely demeaning manner by some of them even though I took pictures for them posing with "Their" trophy and filmed the killing of the second bull.

I really wish I knew then what I know now because in the future things will go very differently.

[Squirrelnuts]

Mark, you're a better man than I.

[Piperdown]

Holy chit Mark, that is unbelievable, I just had to pop another blood pressure med. Sorry but that is pure BS, I wouldn't have been able to handle it the way you did, but good on you, remember carma is a bitch, you have good they do not!

[stoneslinger]

stay outa my cutblock:mrgreen:

My haul truck drivers tell me there is a GIGANTIC Louie hanging around the clearcut and highway late at night. He has been seen 3 nights in a row. A prime 8 point with an elk's sized rack. Stay out or we will flatten your pickup into a pancake! He he he, no public access.................

[frenchbar]

My haul truck drivers tell me there is a GIGANTIC Louie hanging around the clearcut and highway late at night. He has been seen 3 nights in a row. A prime 8 point with an elk's sized rack. Stay out or we will flatten your pickup into a pancake! He he he, no public access.................
that would be him! a great roman nosed beast:-D

[Mark_S]

Holy chit Mark, that is unbelievable, I just had to pop another blood pressure med. Sorry but that is pure BS, I wouldn't have been able to handle it the way you did, but good on you, remember carma is a bitch, you have good they do not!



What can I say? I was hoping something might happen to make me feel better about how things had gone down. In all actuality I probably would have passed on that bull but I wasn't even given the opportunity to. I've been told by others that I should have put 5 rounds into the bull on the ground and walked away or tried to shoot the horns off it while it lay there.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda...

In the end I got punked. It's not going to happen again. My lesson was learned.

[ravensfoot]

Well that just tops it Mark, I honestly can' believe hunters can be such jerks. At least you decided to be the better man, i agree with squirrelnuts, I wouldn't be.

[dougal]

I cant afford a quad so we walk the distance but I watch the trucks and atv`s as they pass buy. we usually truck into an area then walk from there. more often than not the road hunters are going 40 plus and wouldn't see anything anyway "a terrible way to hunt imop" never had anyone ruin a hunt but I have had a few scowls and surprised "oh no " looks when they fly by and realise that there not alone in the wild.
and I am for roading itss a good way to kill a slow afternoon or check out a new area but at a reasonable pace. and if you see someone out there I leave them the spot ...first come firs serve no harm in being neighbourly.