Secret spots

[85yota]

Slow offseason so thought id share some entertainment.. Took a friend shed hunting in one of those areas that you probably shouldnt take other people but as he doesnt hunt or care to no big deal right.. Gave him the rundown on being tight lipped. 2 days later at a party with friends he starts explaining what city we were at and how cool the area was (one of those places with a small herd that no one really knows about unless you know).. Long story short he didnt say where or anything but after a while talking he finally understood my logic on how word travels to fast.. And than he made this meme which cracked me up so i had to share.

[go4steelhd]

I have lost two hunting spots due to this. I give the general run down before going. This is my spot, don't talk about it, don't show anyone, and don't hunt it when I'm not with you. And I was still burnt on it. I was told by one of them its public land anyone can hunt it


Now there are only a select few I will hunt with in spots like this.

I have traded information that is mutually beneficial, knowing that it runs a risk, you have to analyze whether the trade is worth it or not.

[85yota]

Meme

[Stein]

It pays to not have any good secret spots, I don't worry one second about anyone blowing up where I hunt.

[Jingles]

Don't and won't share or show secret spot other than in the woods in WA.

[jrebel]

I hate liars and thieves.....Only time it is acceptable to lie is when discussing hunting or fishing spots!!   

[Dan-o]

That's a GREAT meme!!!!

[haftard]

ehh public land. i would rater see someone i know in one of my spots then a tweaker or grumpy old fart. i get where your at tho with word gets around that so and so hunts here. then everyone has to come check out  the spot.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

The best "secret spot" is where I am sitting while the other place gets blown up...


Don't need to advertise, anybody that stops at the local fuel station will hear about it.
.
My best spot is in an area everybody speeds right on by to get "deep and dark", only to spend time socializing and comparing bikes, and listening to each other bugle.
.
I almost hate to say it, but not only are there Rocky and Roosevelt, Throw in "Cascade Roosevelt" (I-5/PCT),

.
But there is also "#!$"by!" Elk!
.
You know, they show up in the damndest places.
.
Can't find a 3pt Bull during season in Washington?
.
Standing in someone's backyard.
Trolling the parking lot at the local IGA...
Standing in the road making you wonder how much it would cost to fix your vehicle?
.
I will give up my "secret spot" in a heartbeat.
You walk it differently..
You go to the places I have already been.
.
You're welcome.
.
It's only a secret if you don't tell anyone.
.
Just because it was raining when I was there..

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

Sit on a stump in the right place, count the cars drive by...
.
Edge of public/private.
Sit your ass down and quit fidgeting...
.
You now have a secret.
Kill the elk/deer/bear/...
.
Now it's a "SECRET" spot...

[snake]

I never bring anyone to any of my "Secret" spots.  If it is that big of a secret and that important to you DO NOT bring ANYONE there. I have been burnt, I felt violated. I have since tested people by bringing them to a spot I don't really care about and telling them don't talk about it or go here etc.  Everyone fails the test. Every single time. 

[jstone]

I have made that mistake. Was a close friend. That person he told had a big camp the next couple years

[Magnum_Willys]

Took a good buddy to montana, he got a big buck didnt think just mentioning the lil town 10 miles from our camp was a big deal.

Well theres only one road though town leads past just a few obvious nice spots everything else straight up staight down.   Needless to say we ran into his buddies in all our spots the next year.

[trophyhunt]

Took a good buddy to montana, he got a big buck didnt think just mentioning the lil town 10 miles from our camp was a big deal.

Well theres only one road though town leads past just a few obvious nice spots everything else straight up staight down.   Needless to say we ran into his buddies in all our spots the next year.

ouch!!!  That is truly F’d! 

[hogslayer]

I took a friend hunting in Idaho a few years ago.  Next year I said I didn’t want him to come.  “It’s national forest, I can come if I want”.  He didn’t end up doing that.  But learned my lesson on that one.

[X-Force]

My secret spots are all for sale for a price. General and permit.

Trophy elk
Trophy bear
Consistent deer (4pt or better)

WA and ID.

PM me. Cash or PayPal.

 

[greenhead_killer]

I got burned by this too. It’s crazy how people feel the need to cash in on your hard work. I am very selective on who I tell. Vandeman is about the only one who knows all my spots

[Dan-o]

Biggest mistake i ever made was bringing a buddy to fish my secret spot ay Blue Creek on the Cowlitz.

I didn't learn my lesson.     
The next year I told the same guy I was gonna fish the lake Washington sockeye opener and troll by the I-90 Bridge.   Good grief it was crowded!!!

Oh crap.....   that might have been a little too specific   

[Chukar]

Crappie and Bluegill.
West side.
I’ll offer $10.
Hip me.

[Igor]

Crappie and Bluegill.
West side.
I’ll offer $10.
Hip me.

Campbell Lake, Anacortes, WA

[Mr Mykiss]

Had a dude call a landowner a few days after I took him there and we both shot deer. Landowner called me and told me about it.
I called dude and said “you know I’ve been hunting there for 10 years and break bread with that landowner a dozen times a year right??”
Effin DB.

[blackpowderhunter]

my wife is a hs teacher..
she had a student ask her where i elk hunt.
"in the woods" was her response.
shes a keeper!

[Rob]

I will choose to share my hard earned locations with select people, however I guard any spots shared with me by others with my life and would never hunt those spots without some kind of mutual agreement (i.e. with them).

Case in point, during Spring bear this year, I had conversations going with several people.  I shared my bear sightings with many of them, however if one of them shared a location with me, I did NOT pass it along to anyone else.  Just seems like basic manners to me!

[NW SURVEYOR]

True story,
I live down the street from a guy that hunts all the time.
He is very succesful and we chat about huntinhg all the time, but rarely specifics.
He and I both hunt Idaho, but have never exchanged details.
We have never hunted together and only get together for a beer once or twice a year.

Anyways, last season my partner and I were walking in on a trail to our "Spot" when we encounter a guy walking out at daylight.
Lo and behold, it's my neighbor!
He had a bum hip and couldn't manage the hike with his son and was returning to his rig.
So we laugh about the hypocricy of meeting 500 miles from home on a trail.
Anyways, I felt like I has to explein to my partners that this was coincidental, which he knows is the truth because we never share spots with those not in our circle.

[GWP]

After 50 years of hunting, I have determined there are NO 'secret spots'. Maybe 'lesser known and used spots', but not 'secret'.
I have a friend that hunts Indian artifacts, arrowheads and the like, not in this State. He will study an area and determine where the best hunting spot, camping spot, would be, and starts looking.
Another friend was with him on a trip and when they sat down in a 'chosen area' the guy scraped the ground where he was sitting and found an old broken clay pipe buried in the ground. Someone, many, many, many years before, sat in that very same camping spot and left a broken clay pipe.
Wife and I have a 'secret' spot for waterfowl hunting. WAY back through hard walking, nasty area's. Even there, we have seen footprints on the ground. And shells. And human leavings.
Nothing warms my heart like being in a pristine, remote area and finding human garbage...

[Magnum_Willys]

I had a lot of secret spots in the gpnf.  Secret has been so well kept even the game no longer can findem!   

[2MANY]

LOL

[Igor]

Many, many years ago a good friend and myself liked to backpack in the Sierras in California.  Our all-time favorite "hike" was up over a 12,000' pass, and we camped in the Pioneer Lakes Basin at 11,000'.......not a tree in sight.  There were four small lakes just full of native California golden trout.  We hiked up there on four different trips, and never saw another soul.

Fast forward 40+ years, and my wife and I were wandering around downtown Edmonds.  We were in a small shop where a guy had some paintings of lakes and mountains, and I commented while looking at one......"That looks like Pioneer Lakes".  He said "It is".  We chatted for a few minutes, and he said he had made many trips to the Pioneer Lakes Basin.  Guess our "secret" spot wasn't exactly a secret, after all.

[Igor]

Fishing in this "secret spot" pictured above is just incredible.....you can catch a limit of native Golden trout in less than an hour.

And, I will give detailed directions on how to get there.

[GASoline71]

Nothing warms my heart like being in a pristine, remote area and finding human garbage...

Chaps my hide to find trash in the woods anywhere.  But finding it in deep really sucks.

Gary

[hunter399]

Onx maps took care of secret spots.

[HooknoseHunter]

Onx maps took care of secret spots.

Agreed, OnX maps has ruined hunting. Now you have townies venturing into places they don’t need to be. I don’t care if it’s public land.

[Rob]

Don't feed the trolls...

[gee_unit360]

First rule of secret spots, don’t talk about secret spots...

[screedler]

Onx maps took care of secret spots.

Agreed, OnX maps has ruined hunting. Now you have townies venturing into places they don’t need to be. I don’t care if it’s public land.

Ooh noo, "townies"!

[Igor]

Onx maps took care of secret spots.

Agreed, OnX maps has ruined hunting. Now you have townies venturing into places they don’t need to be. I don’t care if it’s public land.

Ooh noo, "townies"!

Is that worse than "coasties" ?

[bigmacc]

There are "secret spots" and there are spots only yourself and a few people close to you know of IMHO. I have shared a few "secret spots" with good friends over the years and those friends still hunt with us today. Secret spots may be "secret spots" to others as well, folks you don't even know, you may see signs of people in there or catch a glimpse of a person every few years etc, could be their secret spot also. With all the technology out there with online maps, OnX etc its real tough to have a "secret spot" let alone to have a spot no one else knows of. We have a few spots left that I truly believe no one else knows of, we have never seen hide nor hair nor "sign" of others in these spots except for our bunch, I may be naive for sure, but all signs point to no one else being in there. They arnt vast layouts of land by any means, just "areas" or "pockets" that have everything you as a hunter need to be successful, we are very fortunate to have had ancestors who discovered these areas back in pre 1920 and knew the old saying, loose lips sink ships, folks in the camp know this, they respect the work and effort that went into finding these areas and they still pay off today. In the hay-days of the Little Bellingham camp (1920,s-70,s) there were 100 people in camp give or take on any particular year, in the early days they pretty much had vast areas to themselves, they were friends with many of the original familys in the valley when a lot of it was privately owned, especially in the north part, a lot of what is state land now was private back in the day. My great grandparents spent months (when they weren't in Alaska) scouting many, many different areas of the valley, camping in tents, using horses and mules etc to discover many different staging areas, routes and corridors, some are still kept close to the vest to this day, some are now common knowledge, they have been described in books and studied by college kids with radio trackers to game department programs, fact is(not a brag ) that a lot  of these "migration studies" and routes were identified by my great grandparents 30-40 years prior to being made "official" and "studied", in fact they along with my dad had many conversations with bios etc sharing info with them of some of their discoveries. Most all of the "secret spots" are no longer secret for sure but we do still have a couple places 'no one else knows of' , at least I like to think that

[idaho guy]

Onx maps took care of secret spots.

 

  this has been sadly true for me. But know I am using it to find other peoples "secret spots" -adapt or die 

[fishngamereaper]

Glad I still have a couple secret spots...never show all your card's.

[85yota]

Although im 31 I remember the days pouring over paper maps and driving roads navigating with old maps..honestly those days were better and finding honey holes and random trails to lakes took time and effort whereas now with WTA onyx and others certain spots are ruined to an extent..finally talked to my friends again today and he still doesnt seem to understand my side fully and asked if were still going to that " other" spot.. Made up some excuse but I said we can hike another spot from your trail book.. It is what it is I would surely say hikers are worse than other hunters.. Luckily our group has there lips sealed.. So far at least.

[archerykraze]

Hunted the same farmer's field all through high school and into my 20's with no issues. Took a buddy out with me that I taught how to duck hunt. The next year I was told by the farmer the field was leased out. Buddy called me to go duck hunting in that field and I told him we don't have permission anymore. He told me he leased it out and I can only go there with him since he's on the lease. Not a buddy anymore. Took another guy from work deer hunting in an area I know very well. Now he has a camp there with 15 guys and they plug up my hot spots every morning where I know the deer move through. I've moved on to greener pastures but leaving an area with 17 years vested to learn really hurts deeply.

[pianoman9701]

I don't mind sharing my secret spot, especially for all the new guys. N47.40'08" W122.21'02". There may be a firearm restriction in place. Take a bow. You're welcome, newbies!

[Rob]

Hunted the same farmer's field all through high school and into my 20's with no issues. Took a buddy out with me that I taught how to duck hunt. The next year I was told by the farmer the field was leased out. Buddy called me to go duck hunting in that field and I told him we don't have permission anymore. He told me he leased it out and I can only go there with him since he's on the lease. Not a buddy anymore. T

Wow...  that was a crap move.

[Skyvalhunter]

Really you don't need or want "so called friends"  like that. What comes around goes around

[hunter399]

Onx maps took care of secret spots.

 

  this has been sadly true for me. But know I am using it to find other peoples "secret spots" -adapt or die 

Totally agree
We as "hunters" are always in someone's spot.