Are other hunters a help, or a hindrance?

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

I killed my first elk in 1982.
Using a 30/30.
I didn't have a clue.
I just had a tag and the season was open.
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Spike bull.
Only reason I got the shot was I was in the right spot when someone else spooked them my direction.
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Actually had no clue what I was doing.
I just was walking around with a weapon.
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I was at the "Sportsmans Show" in the Kingdome and listening to a sound I had heard from elk on a few occasions and was attracted to those booths..
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Chuck Berry?
Sold me some diaphragm calls and a couple of Larry Jones cassette tapes.
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I practiced, I listened and tried it out....
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The very next year I practiced while in the woods during a scouting trip in the now permit only area behind Kapowsin .
I called in so many elk that I was hooked.
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It was so much fun to get a response to my calls, and so frustrating to not "seal the deal"
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But, elk hunting became a whole different thing.to me.
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Instead of wandering around, I would announce my presence and if I got an answer?
Boom!
I knew where to go.
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My opportunities increased, buy my success?
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I have a lot of those stories..
My enjoyment was top notch, and I wouldn't give any of those encounters up.
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As years progressed more people got into Archery.
More people got into calling.
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I started to doubt the effectiveness of calling.
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Honestly.
I used to chase down every bugle.
I never have had a hunter run away from me.
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And I have met a few..😆
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I now don't chase elk, I wait in places I find sign and just wait quietly
.
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Fresh green poop 💩
And wait for all you "steep and deep" bicycle riders and all day hikers to chase them towards me.
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If I'm all alone in my chosen location I hope you chase them b'tards towards me.
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I honestly had fresh rubs within 50 yards of my camp last year because I was trying to get away from people.
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And I was off hiking elsewhere..
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I should have, I could have, but I did not.
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I was trying to avoid other hunters.
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Yet they walked through my camp while I was elsewhere.
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Chasing a bugle, or putting out effort is great!
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But it's different now.
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I'm going to try just picking a pocket that I know they pass through.
And hope somebody pushes them my direction.
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So, yes..
I welcome other hunters .
Bugle, scream,  cow call, whatever..
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If you don't kill that animal?
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I'm waiting for it to show up in my spot.
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Probably not as exciting as hiking 5 miles in, but it I don't kill an elk this year.
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I get to hunt late season

[ghosthunter]

I like to sit and wait too.

The only hunters I don’t like are the ones riding atv half mile away from the road. Down some grown over cat tract I might be near.

I don’t get why they got to be so lazy. Half my age.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

I like to sit and wait too.

The only hunters I don’t like are the ones riding atv half mile away from the road. Down some grown over cat tract I might be near.

I don’t get why they got to be so lazy. Half my age.

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I agree,  it hurts me just to walk around a Walmart,  and they still don't have what I want

[scotsman]

Yep. I was especially good at that… after walking through the elk woods for miles, to say to myself, ‘I might as well go back to camp because there aren’t any elk here’. Then jump out of my skin as a herd of elk blow outta there like a huge covey of quail. Dang.  It took a few years to recognize likely escape routes and learn a bit of patience.

[chukardogs]

I push my cart loaded with gear 3 miles behind a gate and then backpack in another mile for the sole purpose of not seeing another hunter. Would I see more animals if I hunted closer to the masses, sure most likely. Would I find the buck I've been searching for, for 40+ years, probably not. I also wouldn't have the week plus of peace, quiet and serenity that I work hard to find.
I have to agree with Ghosthunter and say, there's nothing worse than hiking in three or four miles on a road closed to motor vehicles and then hearing an ATV rolling up the hill.

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

I push my cart loaded with gear 3 miles behind a gate and then backpack in another mile for the sole purpose of not seeing another hunter. Would I see more animals if I hunted closer to the masses, sure most likely. Would I find the buck I've been searching for, for 40+ years, probably not. I also wouldn't have the week plus of peace, quiet and serenity that I work hard to find.
I have to agree with Ghosthunter and say, there's nothing worse than hiking in three or four miles on a road closed to motor vehicles and then hearing an ATV rolling up the hill.

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I usually see the buck I have been looking for all year in my own backyard.
.
 .
Nocturnal *censored*s that play poker with th a neighbors dogs.
Eat my tomatoes, tear apart my fruit trees, and dodge my neighbors vehicles.
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Damn deer won't hide..
But, again..
I bought this subject up because I was curious.
.
I seem to see more animals when the area is full of hunters.
Compared to when I am alone with the squirrels.
.
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And if I'm going to sit on a stump, I'd rather do it somewhere th a t gives me something to watch.

[NOCK NOCK]

I push my cart loaded with gear 3 miles behind a gate and then backpack in another mile for the sole purpose of not seeing another hunter. Would I see more animals if I hunted closer to the masses, sure most likely. Would I find the buck I've been searching for, for 40+ years, probably not. I also wouldn't have the week plus of peace, quiet and serenity that I work hard to find.
I have to agree with Ghosthunter and say, there's nothing worse than hiking in three or four miles on a road closed to motor vehicles and then hearing an ATV rolling up the hill.

.
I usually see the buck I have been looking for all year in my own backyard.
.
 .
Nocturnal *censored*s that play poker with th a neighbors dogs.
Eat my tomatoes, tear apart my fruit trees, and dodge my neighbors vehicles.
.
Damn deer won't hide..
But, again..
I bought this subject up because I was curious.
.
I seem to see more animals when the area is full of hunters.
Compared to when I am alone with the squirrels.
.
.
And if I'm going to sit on a stump, I'd rather do it somewhere th a t gives me something to watch.

Always makes me smile when folks say you have to go steep and deep to see the big bucks.
Alot of them live way closer to us or a road than most think.  Just look at the largest mule deer herds areas, any deer that migrates any distance has to cross multiple roads to get to their wintering grounds.

But to answer the question, all depends on the year/circumstance, espc. elk hunting. Some areas only takes 1 guy to blow the elk out and ruin it for days. other areas it is a valuable asset to have more folks walking around stirring them up.  I'd be lying if I didn't say I have watched other hunters till I figure out their plan....then use them as bird dogs.



My pet peeve is hunters camping where the elk are currently using the area, always blows them out before the season ever really gets going in those spots.

[MeepDog]

And if I'm going to sit on a stump, I'd rather do it somewhere th a t gives me something to watch.

I'd rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
-Thoreau I think

[Feathernfurr]

I love a lot of different types of hunting. I’ll admit that in the moment I always hate seeing other hunters when I’m at the trailhead, usually gets me fired up. But it almost always works out. There’s game out there to be had, and if you get after it you’re going to have opportunities.

Your point about sitting in one spot and taking it all in is what I try to explain to people about treestand hunting if they didn’t grow up doing it. There’s just something about being 25ft up a tree and watching nature come alive while you’re a fly on the wall.

[chukardogs]

I am positive that there are big bucks living in people back yards. My mother lived for years in Crooked River Ranch Oregon. I have pictures of studs laying in her driveway. I've seen bucks laying in people's gardens at Fish lake or Plain. Monsters spending their entire summer next to the Entiat river on someones manicured lawn under their apple tree. All that said, I'm also positive that in the area that "I" hunt and have hunted for 30+ years, that's 25 miles from the nearest neighborhood or apple tree, where I don't have to worry about private property, other hunters, etc...etc. the only big bucks I've seen anywhere near where my vehicle is parked, have been well after the regular modern firearm season is over.
 I take two or three, three day trips in this area for Grouse before deer season and two or three trips after deer season. (until the snow makes it dangerous for me to be on the steeper slopes by myself) I can guarantee you, until mid Novemberish, unless you happen to catch the new moon, the toads that I'm looking for aren't wondering or laying around on the open hillsides during daylight hours. If they were, my Setters would be busting them out of their beds on a regular basis. I've had decent size bucks, 3, 4 year olds jump up and run across the hill in front of me but not the 7, 8 or 9 year old that I'm looking for. Twice we've actually taken those younger bucks during the rifle season in exactly the same spots the dogs jumped them during early Grouse season. I'm sure I could find a place to hunt where I could sit in my rig drinking coffee and see a decent buck to shoot. I'm also sure I'd be sitting there with every Tom, Dick and Sue driving by stopping to chat, blaring their music and slamming their doors but that's just not the experience I'm looking for during deer season.

[Sandberm]

And if I'm going to sit on a stump, I'd rather do it somewhere th a t gives me something to watch.

I'd rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
-Thoreau I think

"No face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well at last as the truth.

For the most part, we are not where we are, but in a false position. Through an infirmity of our natures, we suppose a case, and put ourselves into it, and hence are in two cases at the same time, and it is doubly difficult to get out"

The only Thoreau quote i know. I liked it so much i wrote it out years ago and tacked it to the bulletin board above my desk.

[ducks4days]

I push my cart loaded with gear 3 miles behind a gate and then backpack in another mile for the sole purpose of not seeing another hunter. Would I see more animals if I hunted closer to the masses, sure most likely. Would I find the buck I've been searching for, for 40+ years, probably not. I also wouldn't have the week plus of peace, quiet and serenity that I work hard to find.
I have to agree with Ghosthunter and say, there's nothing worse than hiking in three or four miles on a road closed to motor vehicles and then hearing an ATV rolling up the hill.

.
I usually see the buck I have been looking for all year in my own backyard.
.
 .
Nocturnal *censored*s that play poker with th a neighbors dogs.
Eat my tomatoes, tear apart my fruit trees, and dodge my neighbors vehicles.
.
Damn deer won't hide..
But, again..
I bought this subject up because I was curious.
.
I seem to see more animals when the area is full of hunters.
Compared to when I am alone with the squirrels.
.
.
And if I'm going to sit on a stump, I'd rather do it somewhere th a t gives me something to watch.

Humans cultivate the landscape in a way that is massively beneficial to deer, especially whitetail and blacktail. If youre looking for high deer density or fat and healthy bucks, youre a lot more likely to find them closer to people than not.

That doesnt mean I want to pop up a tent in somebody's yard, Id prefer to enjoy the hunt which for me involves getting away from people for a while. I have the whole duck season to hunt if I want to be sociable. But if you just want to fill the freezer, the deer are where the people are.

[Karl Blanchard]

A hindrance always.

[brocka]

A hindrance always.

100 Percent

[GWP]