SFC B
Well-known member
I want to start this story by saying that I am more than grateful to have had the opportunity to hunt this year after having Uncle Sugar ensure I couldn't last year. I had a wonderful time of fellowship in our camp which included 3 Army and 3 Navy Vets this year. As many of you know I hunt the east portion of the Flattops and it was a rough year to start with for the area. No weather (snow) and very mild temperatures meant the usual number of animals (especially elk) were not down in our area during my 5 days in camp. So, with that in mind, I really didn't need the following.......
Opening morning myself and 2 other guys from our camp get up very early (we were in position NLT 0530) and spread out across a valley that covers about a mile and a half and is usually very productive. About 0700 we notice that another hunter has slipped into the drainage and is on the other side of the valley. Not is a great position but tolerable from a etiquette standpoint. HOWEVER, about 0800 his two buddies come down off of the ridge above us, stomp through a known bedding area and proceed to walk through the middle of the valley/meadow. Disappointing to say the least....but it gets worse. Those two stomp around the lower end of the valley near a creek for a few hours and then about 1300 the straw broke for me. One of the later 2 marches up the valley and posts himself directly in front of me at 100m. I try whistling in hopes that somehow he did see me. Nothing. Finally I walk into an obvious spot and wave. He shrugs his shoulders and tries to wave me off. I motion in various directions where there is land without ME. He gives me a dismissive wave and I march straight to him. When I get there I enquire as to what he was thinking sitting directly in front of my rifle at 100m. He signals that he is deaf. I look him in the face and signal for him to read my lips (one of the few things I know in ASL). I then take the next 5 minutes to explain hunter safety and acting in a courteous manner. Some words may have been of a colorful nature. I go back to where I was sitting and he leaves after about 30 seconds. He goes down to where his buddy is posted down valley and then leaves. 5 minutes later THAT dude comes walking up the valley. He gets to where I am and tells me his friend is scared (he was deaf too but had a hearing aid and could talk). I pointed out to him that I purposely approached his friend WITHOUT my weapon and let him know what the discussion was about. I then pointed out exactly where his buddy was sitting and the tone changed. He realized the danger that his buddy had put himself in and promised to talk to his friend. I left that drainage and hunted elsewhere. Guys from another camp tried to go back in that drainage and reported those guys continued the same behaviors.
Issue 2.....Monday around 1100 my hunting buddy and I met in camp to eat some chow and were witness to some really crappy rancher behavior. As we sat and ate we start hearing moo s . This was really strange as the grazing pattern for the year had cattle out of this area. A couple of minutes later about 200 head of cattle come barreling down off of a ridge, through another group's camp, on through the main Jeep trail and about another 5 camps through the next 2 miles. The ranchers had driven the cattle off of private land, across a large creek up a valley where about 5 hunters were hunting and then on through what I described to another portion of their land. Seems they had just gotten hunters in the land (they have an outfitting business of course) where the cattle had been ;( The hard part to swallow is that if they weren't doing this to be disruptive to us as public land hunters they would have simply made the move during the break between 1st and 2nd seasons. It is really disheartening that this type of thing happens on a regular basis in the area and CPW always falls back on the "well, that's not what they said " business. I did get one quick pic as the last of the cattle cleared the first camp and am going tot he local office on Friday to show and discuss. Probably won't matter but I have to try.
Realize this has been a bit of whiny-ness but needed to vent. Hope all of you are having good seasons.
Opening morning myself and 2 other guys from our camp get up very early (we were in position NLT 0530) and spread out across a valley that covers about a mile and a half and is usually very productive. About 0700 we notice that another hunter has slipped into the drainage and is on the other side of the valley. Not is a great position but tolerable from a etiquette standpoint. HOWEVER, about 0800 his two buddies come down off of the ridge above us, stomp through a known bedding area and proceed to walk through the middle of the valley/meadow. Disappointing to say the least....but it gets worse. Those two stomp around the lower end of the valley near a creek for a few hours and then about 1300 the straw broke for me. One of the later 2 marches up the valley and posts himself directly in front of me at 100m. I try whistling in hopes that somehow he did see me. Nothing. Finally I walk into an obvious spot and wave. He shrugs his shoulders and tries to wave me off. I motion in various directions where there is land without ME. He gives me a dismissive wave and I march straight to him. When I get there I enquire as to what he was thinking sitting directly in front of my rifle at 100m. He signals that he is deaf. I look him in the face and signal for him to read my lips (one of the few things I know in ASL). I then take the next 5 minutes to explain hunter safety and acting in a courteous manner. Some words may have been of a colorful nature. I go back to where I was sitting and he leaves after about 30 seconds. He goes down to where his buddy is posted down valley and then leaves. 5 minutes later THAT dude comes walking up the valley. He gets to where I am and tells me his friend is scared (he was deaf too but had a hearing aid and could talk). I pointed out to him that I purposely approached his friend WITHOUT my weapon and let him know what the discussion was about. I then pointed out exactly where his buddy was sitting and the tone changed. He realized the danger that his buddy had put himself in and promised to talk to his friend. I left that drainage and hunted elsewhere. Guys from another camp tried to go back in that drainage and reported those guys continued the same behaviors.
Issue 2.....Monday around 1100 my hunting buddy and I met in camp to eat some chow and were witness to some really crappy rancher behavior. As we sat and ate we start hearing moo s . This was really strange as the grazing pattern for the year had cattle out of this area. A couple of minutes later about 200 head of cattle come barreling down off of a ridge, through another group's camp, on through the main Jeep trail and about another 5 camps through the next 2 miles. The ranchers had driven the cattle off of private land, across a large creek up a valley where about 5 hunters were hunting and then on through what I described to another portion of their land. Seems they had just gotten hunters in the land (they have an outfitting business of course) where the cattle had been ;( The hard part to swallow is that if they weren't doing this to be disruptive to us as public land hunters they would have simply made the move during the break between 1st and 2nd seasons. It is really disheartening that this type of thing happens on a regular basis in the area and CPW always falls back on the "well, that's not what they said " business. I did get one quick pic as the last of the cattle cleared the first camp and am going tot he local office on Friday to show and discuss. Probably won't matter but I have to try.
Realize this has been a bit of whiny-ness but needed to vent. Hope all of you are having good seasons.
