Scouting

[Non-Typical Solutions]

There was a comment made on another thread about educating elk to certain calls and it got me to thinking about all of this scouting that goes on!

 

I remember back when I lived in Ash Fork right there in unit 10, about a month before deer season it was pretty common to see "spot lighters" out working the hills looking for deer and I always thought it gave the deer the "alarm" for deer season and they all went and hid!

 

Now that archery elk season is about to kick off, what do people do regarding scouting?

If my elk hunt isn't until late November does that mean it is taboo for me to be out scouting?

 

I mean, I understand the whole thing about screwing up somebodies hunt and all and I know I would be frustrated to get my hunt busted up by someone out there fiddling around during my hunt but......what do I do between now and my late November hunt?

 

Any common sense rule of thumb?

 

I remember one deer hunt up in unit 10......middle of the day, hotter than heck......we are out in the middle of the flats shooting prairie dogs and a local guy cornered me that evening and wanted to know what the heal I was doing shooting prairie dogs in the middle of a deer hunt?

I just laughed and said it was prairie dog season too!!!

 

Hind site I probably shouldn't have been prairie dog hunting right in the middle of a hunt but on the other hand, I had just as much right to be out there shooting prairie dogs as anybody else had to be out there hunting!!!!!

 

[Heat]

That is a tough question but unless you are talking about private land, everybody has a right to be out there like anybody else. Observing from a distance or driving around to learn the unit is one thing. Driving around at night bugling and spotlighting from vehicles is another. So is pursuing, calling at, or stalking in on animals when you have no tag. This is just my opinion and I fully understand that not everybody operates this way.

[AZ_SAWBUCK]

This is a very controversial topic, and you can beat it to death and probably not get anywhere. American society! Outdoor activities are no different than any other scenario in life. IMO most people think "whatever I'm doing is more important that what ever anyone else has going on". Its natural for us to think this way.

 

The OP had a very good example to start this discussion. I think he was in no way in the wrong. If he intentionally started shooting prairie dogs when a deer hunter was there in plain sight then that's a different topic. They were on public land and both had the right to use it for their desired use.

 

Here's another scenario. Say I only have one weekend to take my grandson squirrel hunting and it coincides with archery deer. I choose a spot up in unit 7 where I know there are a lot of squirrels and love to squirrel hunt, we go hunting and I'm teaching my grandson how to hunt. After a while we happen to walk by a tree stand or blind where someone has been salting and scouting for months. The archery hunter gets pissed and tells us it's his spot and we need to go hunt squirrels in another unit. Whose in the wrong? Am I because I should have chosen a unit where there was no archery deer hunt? Even though this spot was "my squirrel hunting spot". Or is the archery hunter in the wrong for jumping our butt for squirrel hunting in his spot? I would say he was...........I'm out there with a kid and had no intention of going to the "archery hunters spot".

 

The reality is we live in a great state with tons of public land that is everyone's to enjoy, hunters and non-hunters. With the state growing and tons of new people moving here and getting into hunting its not going to get any better as far as "having the woods to yourself". I try and choose activities and places to go where there are naturally going to be less people. Best advise I have is be courteous to others and conscious of your activities and how they effect others! Go out and do your thing!

 

"There are two types of hunters the ones in your group and the A** HOLES"! Steven Rinella

[AzDiamondHeat]

I go back and forth on this. Does the guy with the elk tag take precedence over the guy out there hunting coyotes? If the guy with the elk tag says yes, I wonder what his opinion was 3 weeks earlier when he was scouting for elk in the middle of the early archery deer season....

 

The forest belongs to everyone regardless of season. I try to have as much "courtesy" as I can and respect what others are doing out there at that time. With that said, I am not going to refrain from enjoying the outdoors just because someone else might be enjoying it in a different way.

 

A few years back I was elk hunting and was muttering about the danged wood cutters that were ruining my hunt. Later that day after I had shot an elk a wood cutter came by and spent 2 hours helping me track, dress, and load my elk. He wasn't out there being selfish trying to ruin my hunt; he was just getting wood for his family during the time he had available to do so.

 

As for the guys out there calling elk when they don't have a tag, I am fine with it. If you are good enough at calling then the elk will not be affected by any other "education" they may be getting.

 

I think it is more about courtesy and respecting others than anything else.

[Rag Horn]

I believe there are 2 sets of behavioral standards. One set of standards you apply to yourself and the other set of standards that you apply to others.

 

The formula for the behavioral standards you set for yourself is the legal minimum + whatever other higher code of conduct you want. This standard is only between you and the dictations of your conscious. Any application of this standard to others is inappropriate and arbitrary.

 

The formula for behavioral standards you apply to others is legal = ethical. Any more ethical layering is arbitrary.

 

we can't fairly dictate a set of unwritten rules and code of conduct. Therefore we only have the written law in which to dictate the ethical minimum.

 

May we all hold ourselves to a higher standard than the legal minimum and be courteous to others but may we also not impose our own arbitrary standards on others.

[Saguaro]

This is an important topic. I try my best to not screw anybody's hunt up. I think it's a big deal during archery antelope season because they will just about run at sight of a vehicle 300 yards away. I actually screwed up someone's hunt about 11 years ago by driving trough a push down where there was a group of antelope. If I was thinking, I would have noticed his truck at the beginning of it and backed off. At the end of the day I met up with this truck at a gate. I started talking with him and figured out that he and his dad were on a stalk and were making some serious progress when I pushed them away. They were cool about it but I felt horrible and now try to be aware of these things.

[chico]

IMHO-- As long as public land is public land , any and all who choose to go and recreate on said land have a right to do so . Whether a hunt is going on or not the folks that are aware of it--hunt is on-- will tend to respect that fact . The flip side of the coin is folks are going to be out at any given time enjoying public land wherever and whenever they so choose being it is public land .

The further away you get from easy access will most certainly give you the --I am here and hunting it -- feeling .

But at the end of the day it is still public land .

[PRDATR]

Good topic and somewhat timely. I remember my BIL telling me that once while on a yearly black powder camping trip with his scout troop off the 300 road a guy drove up and came into their camp crying up a storm that it was archery season of some sort and in so many words made some threats and opened up his coat to reveal an AK47.

Wisely he the scoutmaster and other adults chose not to escalate the situation.

[WHT_MTNMAN]

I am scouting almost every day from June on, I am a huge advocate of scouting from a far. Even when I come across animals on the road I rarely stop and keep moving so as not to spook them, including does and cows. I never call a bull in anymore and try my best to stay out of their comfort zone. I think someone that has a tag deserves this from me. That being said I love that people are getting out and enjoying this time of year. Im blessed to hear bulls from my bedroom window almost every night and I realize not everyone has that opportunity. I never fault someone from enjoying bugling bulls and calling them up close, BUT if they don't think they are educating them they are sadly mistaken. I think a little common sense goes along way, we are blessed to live in a nation and the State of Az that affords us the luxury of public lands. My .02