New way of hunting discovered!!!!

[CouesSlayer]

Well I don't know about this, Who thinks it's a fun way to hunt? Honestly? The funnest part is just being on top of a mountain relaxing eating a burrito and glassing!

[Dan H]

I was hiking reavis trailhead quite a few years ago in Jan and took a nice 2x3 muley archery hunting javelina,. and thinking back now I was probably only one pace 2-3 feet off the actual trail and it is a numbered trail I wonder how a G&F officer would have handled that? My truck was back in the parking lot connected to the trail.

Most archery hunters have probably always seen a nice buck when driving down a dirt road and got out and taken a shot by just stepping off the road.

Isn't that what everyone has always thought of as the legal rule?

 

Well for me I have never got to play road hunter with a rifle deer tag we have always back packed in miles to get away from the roads.

 

But to go back a few topics I have done the quail thing with trucks in washes like one guy mentioned earlier.

 

Hhm,...

Dan

[Rembrant]

I haven't taken the time to review the regs lately, but I am sure that you gotta STEP OFF the RIGHT-AWAY before shooting at any game. The guys that get busted shooting at decoys are not stepping off the right-away and worse yet, even getting out of their vehicles. Stepping off the right-away can be as simple as taking a step off of the beaten track of a two track road, but I think to get off of the right-away of a paved road or other maintained road you would have to go all the way over and cross the fence if one exists.

This past spring I was hunting turkeys with a Az G&F Wildlife Manager. We were busting our butts hiking in way before light and also after dark trying to scam on goggling toms. We were driving back to camp down a dirt road for lunch when two gobblers crossed the road in front of us. My friend stopped the truck, grabbed his shotgun and stepped off the right-away on the left side of the road - where the toms were. I caught up to him shortly, walked further to the left about 10 feet, leveled off on one of the toms and waited for him to shoot.

He says, "Dang! I unloaded my gun!! Shoot one of them birds!"

I did.

He ran back to the truck, grabbed a couple of shells, rammed them into his gun, and was returning back to where I was. All this time the other tom was totally spazzing out, staying put, But as the hunter was returning, the turkey starts to cross the road again the other way. My buddy smartly dashed across the road to the right so's he could blast the bird as soon as the bird stepped off the road. But instead of crossing the road, the bird ran directly up the road for at least 100 yds and got away!!! We had a good laugh about that as we picked up the gobbler that I shot.

We weren't pursuing game with the use of the vehicle. We were enjoying life and hunting hard. There is nothing wrong with seeing game from your truck and getting out, clearing the right-away and killing the animal. Never has been. The people that hunt exclusively from a vehicle are missing out. It's easy to write in to a hunting forum and say you wouldn't shoot an animal if you saw it from the road. I bet that over half the hunters that may find themselves in a similar situation with a tom turkey in the middle of a dirt road during turkey season - with nobody around - shoot the bird.

Mike

[.270]

my dear ol' dad can't walk more that a couple hundred yards. and that will take him an hour, with a cane. he's still sharp and can shoot a gnat's eye. uses his cane for a monopod. only way he can do much is putt around in his ol' pickup and glass and hope he can find one close enough to shoot at. he gets a buck every year. but if you think he likes it better than hikin' the hills, you're way wrong. he gets so upset with himself because he can't get of in the canyons anymore, that it's sorta sad. i'd guess that what he does is road hunting. he generally parks and hobbles off to a vantage point to glass or glasses from his truck. when he sees one, he knows the terrain well enough to figure out a way to get a shot. i ain't gonna bash anyone for seeing a deer from the road. i might be in same boat some day. as for now, it's huntin' boots and horseshoes. it depends on the situation. there are a lot of units in Az. that i'd rather hunt, but i apply with him ever year, for the same place, so i can punk his buck out for him. i always take off the entire season and spend everyday with him or close enough to him that he can signal me. a lot of times he'll let me out to hunt an area and then pick me up on down the line somewhere. but i also feel that able bodied folks oughta get out and hump it. leave the road for those that have no other choice. there's a big ol' world just outta rifle range o' the road, and if you ain't seein' it you're missin' a bunch. do yourself a favor and get off in the wild stuff. while ya still can. my oldest son got to go to the new KC Cabelas this weekend. he came home with a freighter pack that will hold more than i wanna haul. just for his upcoming coues hunt. so he'll have enough room for his camp and for the buck he plans on packin' out when it's over. Lark.

[trufletch]

Like most of the people on this forum, I like to get out and hump the hills, get away from the crowds and glass my eyes off. I too have paid my dues in strained eyeballs, sunburn and worn out leather. Last time i actually rifle hunted mulies, 15+ years ago (36B), we had hunted our tails off with no luck. Last day of the season, driving to an area to glass, we saw 2 mulie bucks at first light, about 100 yards off. A fork horn and a 3X2 just off the 2track we were on. I am not one to look the gift horse in the mouth. I got out, loaded the rifle, was able to move away from the truck and nail the 3X2. My partner got the other. Didn't shoot across the 2 track and did not shoot from the cab of the truck. This is just the way it goes sometimes. Normally, most of the game shot has to be packed, dragged for miles out of the hills. I prefer getting out and away from the masses. I know there will come a day that I won't be able to climb the hills like I do now, Just try to stay in shape so I can and hopefully when the day comes that I can't climb em any more, my boy, like Lark will be there to give me a hand.

 

trufletch

[ajohunter]

I had a similar experiance in 36B also a few years back. On the last day of the oct whitetail hunt we were driving to our area at first light when i spotted 2 small bucks bedded 75yds off the road. After 3 days of hiking and glassing it was like a gift from god. Although I had passed on other bucks the previous days there was a storm rolling in, so I got out of the truck, stepped off the road loaded my rifle and proceeded to fill my tag. It was only a small 2x1 buck but he had enough antler to wrap a tag around............lol. That was also the amallest deer I have ever killed. At the G & F checkpoint he weighed in at a whopping 53lbs field dressed.

[azcoueshuntr]

ernesto if i saw you shoot a nice buck off the side of the road i would not judge you in that way i would call it luck (and thats part of hunting) and give you a pat on the back. was it hunting maybe not to some people your plans dont always go your way thats whats great about hunting if you planned to road hunt all day then i would not call it a hunt but if you busted your a-- off to get your animal then thats what its all about. dont get me wrong i dont think people should road hunt Me personaly my greatest day hunting wasnt the day i killed a monster buck it was the day my 5 yr old saw his first deer with out my help if people want to road hunt then thats there dicussion who are we to judge them if there hunters are not i hunt for the callenge and to spend time with my family and to pass on what i Know to my son and daughter.

[Guest Ernesto C]

Amen azcoueshuntr,nothing makes me more happy than seeing a young kid enjoying the outdoors.