Hunting behind gates courtesy

[Jeffro1972]

I have a question about hunter courtesy. If you come to a gate and there is a car parked there and you know there is lots of spots to hunt is it rude to go ahead and walk in?

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[The Heretic]

If it is private property and you do not have explicit permission to hunt there, then you are not only being rude, you are breaking the law.

Sandy man cited for illegally shooting a deer on private property

Not knowing the land is private is not an excuse. It is the responsibility of the hunter to determine whether the land is private or public. There are maps you can buy to help in this determination, but I would say that if there is a gate, then it is probably private land.

 

[Jeffro1972]

It is timber land that is open to the public for walk in access. I know who owns the land and what their rules are for accessing the property.
I'm not an idiot.

 

[Gunnerboy]

No not unless you run past the guy who was there first like what some people love to do to me.

 

[edslhead]

I have a question about hunter courtesy. If you come to a gate and there is a car parked there and you know there is lots of spots to hunt is it rude to go ahead and walk in?

Nope. Might be quite a few cars when you come out. Thats if you have room to park without blocking.

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

The wrong expectation to think that a "first come-first served" situation exists at the industrial gates.

I make the effort(s) to discuss routes with the other hunters.

The hunters who try to block other hunters may have a boarder line personality disorder.

 

[BBQ Guy]

Nope. While it is gated land, it is open. If you come across another hunter. Be courteous and polite. You never know what information might be shared if you are nice.

 

[MilitantBEEMER]

When I am out hunting if I come across someone who is parked at a gate that I intended to hunt, I move along to somewhere else. I would hope they would do the same for me, either way it is the right thing to do as far as I am concerned. I am a courteous hunter.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

For me it depends.
If the public land in question has lots of room to maneuver , so to speak , I'll go on in or at least think about it.... If it is a smaller area or one with limited access , then I'll move on to the next spot.
Andy

 

[jsparks747]

Heck no! That being said, similar to Andy, it depends on the amount of space that there is to hunt. If there is 100 acres of land I will hunt it whether the guy/gal who was there first likes it or not. If it is public land, I can hunt it and their greed can't prevent me from hunting it.

 

[cowboykid8]

Agree that it depends on the size of the area, also they may not be hunting the same thing as you, or hunting at all. I have almost bailed on hunting an area before due to a guy being at the gate, but he was scouting for a different season, we shared some information with each other and my hunt continued.

 

[JRuby]

If you want to hunt a specific spot might be wise to be the first one there. There are a lot of idiots that stay up drinking and show up late thinking they can come encroach on someone elses hunt that has been there before the break of light. If you want a spot be there first.

 

[Cortes]

We'd all like private hunting, all to ourselves. I'd certainly appreciate it if when I was there first, anyone else would keep moving. It's not always practical though, and since this is private timberland that allows hunting, in many cases these areas are huge and there is plenty of room for multiple hunters. There can also be benefit from hunting pressure from one area to the next. More than once I've killed deer that were put on the move by another hunter.

Sounds like you are a courteous hunter or you never would have asked the question. Just be your courteous self and be careful out there.

 

[moose]

I have a question about hunter courtesy. If you come to a gate and there is a car parked there and you know there is lots of spots to hunt is it rude to go ahead and walk in?

I bicycle elk hunt out on the west end of the OP. The timber companies dont mind too much (there are some exceptions, like private hunting leases) if you go beyond a gate without motorized transportation. They take great exception to sign shooting, beer can tossing, fire starting pigs who pull down obstacles and generally tear things up.

Going 5 to 10 miles back on some old logging railroad grade is no big deal and easy to be away from anyone else.

 

[Koda]

it really depends on the size of the area but the real question is why would you want to hunt an area thats already got people moving around in?

 

[clearconscience]

Just don't use animal hide for camo

 

[P7M13]

Depends.

1. If it's a nice truck with spendy tires, seize the opportunity and steal the tires.
   
2. If'n it's an average rig/car and it's a large parcel, barge on in - see if you can discover where their hide is.
   
3. Small parcel, move on, or set the car on fire to get them off the land so you can hunt it.
4. Who cares? You've been saving that last pack of Black Cats you have in your glove box just for this occasion!

Answering seriously, I either find a different way in or a different place.

 

[dplev4]

This is a good question and I'm not sure of the answer. I Have also run across this when hunting gates. What I've done depends on where I'm hunting. I sometimes hunt Weyerhaeuser. Since I've paid my lease fees l will go in even with a truck parked at the same gate. Once when I parked first another fellow drove up and we discussed where we planned to hunt so as not to interfere with each other's hunt. Another time I came "second" and I asked where the other fellow planned to go and he said he was going to hunt it all (mountain bike. I said good luck and started to walk in he packed up and drove away. He wasn't happy I didn't drive to a different gate.

On Public Land I'm a little more cautious and usually won't park where another hunter is already parked. However that's because I think my chances are better if no one else is pressuring the game. I'm an archery hunter. But Public land is public land. I don't believe you get to "call" your spot because you arrived first. Hunters have different schedules and times and we can't always get our camp set up or get our hunt going so we are first. That said the first hunter has a better chance of coming onto game cause he's first and has his choice of spots. I have been frustrated when I've set up in a good spot waited a couple of hours for the elk to come out and a parade of yayhoos come stumbling by ignoring me and spooking everything for miles. I've also waved to some trail cameras and wondered how they hauled all these apples up here as I have stumbled through some other hunters favored spot. That's hunting nowadays.

 

[nwwoodsman]

Just do your best to give the other guy room. Couple of years ago my son and me were first to a gate and already hiking in when we saw another rig pull in. We hurried up to put some distance between us. 15 minutes later while checking out a game trail 3 guys with rifles ride up on mountain bikes and ask is where we were planning on hunting. WE WERE ALREADY HUNTING!!! My response to them was the first time my 13 year old heard me say the "f" word.