I went out for the MT archery opener and had an interesting hunt.
I hiked in and camped Friday night. I didn't see the elk that night where I usually see them but I found them in the morning about a mile away. I began my stalk and closed the distance to 200 yards when I heard something below me. I see two hunters practically running to get out ahead of me. There's no way they didn't see me. It seemed they were trying to position themselves where they thought the elk would spook to if/when I spooked them. I thought no big deal. I'll just make sure when I spook the elk it's because I'm letting an arrow fly. I continue my stalk and the elk start acting spooked. It's weird because I don't think there's any way the can see me. That's when I notice a third hunter that has spooked them. Now there was only two things that could have been going on with the third hunter. He was either oblivious that the elk were there (there was no attempt at being stealthy that I could see) or he was working with the other two hunter to spook the elk towards the other two hunters and away from me. Either way that was the end of my hunt for the day. I guess that's what I get for only being a couple mile from the road.
My ethics question: If you see someone putting a stalk on an animal or a herd of animals do you consider that herd off limits while that hunter is making his or her stalk? I'm fairly new to Western hunting and I just assumed this was the case but maybe I'm just unfamiliar with the ethics of the situation.
I hiked in and camped Friday night. I didn't see the elk that night where I usually see them but I found them in the morning about a mile away. I began my stalk and closed the distance to 200 yards when I heard something below me. I see two hunters practically running to get out ahead of me. There's no way they didn't see me. It seemed they were trying to position themselves where they thought the elk would spook to if/when I spooked them. I thought no big deal. I'll just make sure when I spook the elk it's because I'm letting an arrow fly. I continue my stalk and the elk start acting spooked. It's weird because I don't think there's any way the can see me. That's when I notice a third hunter that has spooked them. Now there was only two things that could have been going on with the third hunter. He was either oblivious that the elk were there (there was no attempt at being stealthy that I could see) or he was working with the other two hunter to spook the elk towards the other two hunters and away from me. Either way that was the end of my hunt for the day. I guess that's what I get for only being a couple mile from the road.
My ethics question: If you see someone putting a stalk on an animal or a herd of animals do you consider that herd off limits while that hunter is making his or her stalk? I'm fairly new to Western hunting and I just assumed this was the case but maybe I'm just unfamiliar with the ethics of the situation.