Pumpkins!!!

[Kc_Kracker]

What's a pumpkin refer to?

[KFhunter]

hunter orange - looks like pumpkins in the field

[Sitka_Blacktail]

I'd guess all the road closures and limited permit only hunting on the west side sent a lot of people east.

Just find the nastiest, steepest, brush hole you can and maybe you'll lose the crowd.

[calib]

i was kind of surprised, went out to a spot where i thought from a distance i would see all kinds of people and i would stay high and watch and nothing. only guy i had seen was my buddy showing up a few hours before we were leaving. didnt see any bucks just does

[steen]

We had the same thing but only one hunter, he was in the spot we scouted and the worst thing is he wasn't in the right spot to see where the deer would be coming in.  We just turned around and hunted in another little spot.  Sometimes all the other hunters can put it in your favor....keep hunting.

[OregonDuck]

After years of buying the Hancock Pass and seeing wayyyyyyyyyy more rigs than deer I finally decided to start hunting behind locked gates and I could not be happier...Its been 2 seasons now and I have yet to see another hunter and am 2 for 2 in the deer department. Yesterdays coming about 5 minutes after sunrise....Amazing what happens with a little scouting and no other people around.

[blackveltbowhunter]

After years of buying the Hancock Pass and seeing wayyyyyyyyyy more rigs than deer I finally decided to start hunting behind locked gates and I could not be happier...Its been 2 seasons now and I have yet to see another hunter and am 2 for 2 in the deer department. Yesterdays coming about 5 minutes after sunrise....Amazing what happens with a little scouting and no other people around.

   Awesome!! Any pics?

[OregonDuck]

After years of buying the Hancock Pass and seeing wayyyyyyyyyy more rigs than deer I finally decided to start hunting behind locked gates and I could not be happier...Its been 2 seasons now and I have yet to see another hunter and am 2 for 2 in the deer department. Yesterdays coming about 5 minutes after sunrise....Amazing what happens with a little scouting and no other people around.

   Awesome!! Any pics?

I have a couple on my phone but he wasnt anything to brag too much about....just your typical mature 2 pt black tail. He was a big fella body wise though....learned a hard lesson about dragging a deer out on a gravel road for a mile and a half...wont be doing that again.

[passing-thru]

So the wife got a new rifle this year and decided ( much to my regret) that she wanted to try modern rifle. Took her out yesterday and remembered quickly why I switched to archery 20+ years ago  ...Saw more pumkins then in the last 10 years of taking kids trick or treating. Never again..

[j_h_nimrod]

Amazingly, opening day had few sightings. I think I only saw 3 other hunters (in the hunting area) and none were retarded wanderers.

Today was a different story. 

-A family of 4 pulled in just as I was leaving then saw a guy wandering below me on another cut road.

-Then got to my glassing spot and look across to another ridge spot two guys about 30' from a paved road with their long shooter on a lead sled glassing at no less than 1000yds using the rifle scope only.

-Then a guy sitting on a rocky point 50' below the road glassing inaccessible area at no less than a half mile. Then walked probably a mile back through the brush to his truck thinking he really put in his time. I don't think he even realized he was less than 100' from the road with a nice glassing spot.

-Then hiking out I hear a shot that sounds close. I wait a bit trying to see anything that may be moving from the shot when I hear voices. Turns out the wind was just right for me to hear the post shot conversation from 1300 yds. I think they shot from their rig but had no idea if the deer was hit or not and we're not even sure where the animal had been standing.

The High Buck was even worse though. Ten miles in and there were as many as 40 people on an area not much bigger than a football field. We were on one glassing point watching something like 6 guys wandering around like they were on an Easter egg hunt

Certainly considering switching to muzzy or stick and string...

[adamR]

Same situation here. My bro-in-law were set up in our spot by 6:00. Just before first light we made out a group of deer on the opposite hillside. We had just spotted two bucks when some jack wagon came stomping up the draw. As the group high-tailed it out of there we got our first look at the only shooter in the bunch!   We stayed put for a couple of hours cause there was so much pressure pushing things around. Then at 10:45 some morons came stomping down the hill right past us making no attempts to remain quiet. It was so bad I had to take a pic.

Not trying to stir the pot, but why are these people "jackwagons" and "morons" just because they were out hunting in your spot?  I guess I just don't understand all the negative posts this weekend on this site.  People are out hunting just like you and just because they happened to walk down the canyon you were in doesn't mean they are a moron.  Maybe they purposely make noise to kick the brush?

I'd guess all the road closures and limited permit only hunting on the west side sent a lot of people east.

Just find the nastiest, steepest, brush hole you can and maybe you'll lose the crowd.

I was right in the middle of the pumpkin patch Saturday morning.  Saw hunters all around me sitting on ridges and waiting for someone to do the work for them.  I walked about 3 miles into the nastiest group of canyons I could find right in the middle of all these "jack wagons" and killed a buck.  I didn't see another hunter all morning hiking where I was at, just watching from a distance as I packed out what was probably "their" deer while they called me a moron.

[deer_hnter]

My point is to the people who see the other hunter and make no attempt to go around or stay out of the way. The first guy we ran into yesterday clearly saw us and didn't care. He stomped right up the draw. I'm also not talking about a large area; there was only 300 yds separating us from the top of the next hill. He walked within about 75 yds of us. Sorry, not what I consider normal behavior in the woods. 

[nategood21]

Same deal today. Got to my spot and the other 2 rigs pulled in behind me i talked to em again today the guys that shot a box of ammo at the one deer told me the 2 of their friends that did all the shooting didn't get him. there were the same amount of people today but I got in before they pushed everything to the bottom of the valleys. was able to find two barely legal 3x2s at a distance of 500 yrds. looked when i got home. before i could close the gap some hunters sitting in their truck at the bottom of the valley at the back end of the orchard scared em off. wasn't as disappointing today didn't mind not getting to the 2 bucks and i was further ahead of the other hunters so i could see everything they were pushing ahead of em. and i only heard 3 shots today. the best looking buck I spotted yesterday was taken in the opposite field where i didn't have permission. got to see it up close and talk to the guy that found him. excited for next weekend to try again. good luck to the hunters that get to go during the week, I'm stuck at work till Thursday

[JimmyHoffa]

I saw a bunch of pumpkins earlier, and they weren't even hunters.  At first I thought I stumbled into some honey hole.  I rounded a bend on a forest road and as soon as I did a bunch of guys in orange vests and white suits started coming out of the woods and all assembling by their vans.  Then I saw guys in black with guns coming out of the woods.  Looked like it was prisoners doing some kind of work in the woods--they had chainsaws and all kinds of other tools.  Didn't get close enough to 'chat'...the guys in black (guards) didn't look too excited having a stranger driving up.   

[cryder]

thank you for confirming my every belief that bow is the way to go when it comes to public lands,i was shot towards one year never again,my lesson has been learned,i believe that in the ne'er future we will have to draw names day by day to see who gets to hunt