Public information I need to vent

[Lefty]

I have always tried to be helpful on forums and such and havent been shy about the type of area I hunt.
IS that a mistake? My wife daughters and good friend are the only people that know where I hunt. A neighbor lady knows I hunt near her family farm/ranch. and knows her family is my nearest human contact.

This year There has been a lot of traffic in the area I hunt.
At first I thought it was firefighters and those repairing the region from fires. I was wrong
This is the first time Ive had trail cam pics messed with and deleated pics,( hmmm,.. no weekday-daytime elk picss and missing JPEGS series)

People have used my blinds,yes it is public ( no problem) , ATVs and trucks driving to overlooks. Then last weekend I saw more hunters on Saturday than I have seen hunting the area in 5 years,.. all in one day.
A pair of hunters upwind of me skylines on a rock outcropping bugling like they are in a band , People parking near my camp to glass,.. just lots of traffic.

This year my friend is hunting with me. I made the comment "someboy must have written an article on the area". He said Dennis your cant believe the threads and a written articles.
Basically the general information I told him about where and how to hunt the area he found on a google search .
Yikes: I googled it out this morning, even more info on the rifle hunts.

My main reason for hunting the area was to get away from people;
My buddy Dave commented,.. Most guys wont be back its not their idea of elk hunting,.. heck after walking arounfd in 100 degree heat he is waiting for the last wek

I hope thats true

[cnelk]

Many years ago, there was an article in Outdoor Life written by Jim Zumbo.

The article featured one the areas I hunt specifically.
I saw a huge influx of hunters for 1-2 years and then it dropped off.

[kevin_t]

People can even watch where you scout. Last year, I hunted an area with moderate traffic . But I scouted it real hard because there was a giant bull I had been following for over a year. 14
People in my drainage opening day and I think mostly because I was not discreet enough in my scouting.
People knows truck and know I scout a lot. Funny thing is I saw someone 150 yards from the giant bull and they had
No idea he was there. That's another story but he made it through that season with a little luck

[Lefty]

People can even watch where you scout. Last year, I hunted an area with moderate traffic . But I scouted it real hard because there was a giant bull I had been following for over a year.uck

Ive watched others a lot,.. When I moved to Washington state I just watched a few guide boats to where I fished.

At one time I was a full time trapper,.. all sorts of little tricks,.. being carefull how you pull over in a vehicle. I think I blew the minds of a group of that hunt where Im at, As open as the area is I have always placed my camp where it cant be spotted from glassing locations or the main road.

[elkaholic]

I agree with "Dave." Most will be gone by next year as the country you hunt is more suited for antelope and rattlesnakes. Checking others cameras and deleting pics is BS. Sure wish you could catch them. Its also unfortunate that there are guys really giving the elk an education. Good luck on the rest of your hunt. I hope you and your partner find a bull or cow before the close of the season.

[Lefty]

Checking others cameras and deleting pics is BS. Sure wish you could catch them. .

I have a few pictures early on of ATVs and pickups
Last Saturday I discovered a place someone had a trail cam,., Not sure what but the door was open,.. my guess someone else messed with it and left it.

Its also unfortunate that there are guys really giving the elk an education.

I expect most will be gone.
Some guys just dont realize how much driving an ATV or truck around impacts the game, Vehicle hunters as tough of country Im in I just dont understand that as an "elk hunting method"

The skylined bugler was more than education but entertaiing. Reminded me of the shooting targets at a carnaval. Back-and-forth back, bugle, bugle, back-and forth, back-and-forth, bugle, bugle, bugle!

The guys tearing down the road at first light is really a big irritation to me

[JoeH2o]

We had a guy from Traditional Archery Magazine come into one of our spots use to hunt. He killed a cow, ran back to his office, and wrote a whole article about it and even told the spot in detail. The next couple years there were so many people in there, we just quit hunting it. This was a spot that we would take the horses in about 6 miles and set up camp. I wanted to beat that guy with a hose, to say the least.

[Indian Summer]

FOR SALE: I have Rino GPS that I bought from one of my guides. It was given to him as a tip from Seminole after he was out hunting with Paul and the ElkNut crew. It has several waypoints from the ElkNut crew's spots. Probably has JoeH2o's honey holes on it too. lol Not cheap!

True story... though not really for sale.

[Indian Summer]

UPDATE: I guess everything has a price. (grin)

[JoeH2o]

WHAT!!!
Well I guess if you tell somebody, make sure to tell them not to tell anybody. If they do tell somebody else, tell them to tell them not to tell anybody else.

[wawhitey]

.

[Indian Summer]

WHAT!!!
Well I guess if you tell somebody, make sure to tell them not to tell anybody. If they do tell somebody else, tell them to tell them not to tell anybody else.

I told everyone I know to keep it to themselves. Truth is I eBayed that GPS. Always wondered if the buyer took a peek at where the unit has been. You guys killed all those elk anyway and moved on.... like wolves.

[Lefty]

Im feeling better after Friday and Saturdays hunt.
Never hear a truck or ATV, never saw anyone tearing around
Maybe so many last week scared all the newbies out the country.

Saw one goup of hunters, never heard them come in ,,.. so that was a good thing,.
The weather was good : I hunted hard , never heard or saw an elk,..a great time to be out

[Norrec]

Or if you are just really good at researching and have the time and the patience to pour over maps of an area you could just stumble over JoeH2o's honey hole

for sell to the highest bidder! (after my hunt of course)

[Lefty]

Well the last days of the hunt I was glassing before sunup and saw 3 trucks. I went back to camp and spent some time in an are with nobody,.. and elk
I guess Ill dump the area I had been hunting and go for fewer elk and no hunters

[pointysticks]

first rule of elk-y spots, dont talk about elky spots.

i had a good friend show me a great blacktail deer spot. i havent gone back. he called last week and asked me if i went. i told him NO, and why.

he chastised me a tad (friendly-like). he insists that it is now one of MY spots as well. i just dont know who to take with me. some of my friends are "chatty". the spot is super secret to hunters, but there are lots of regular hikers.

good luck left.

[Bullnuts]

first rule of elk-y spots, dont talk about elky spots.

Exactly. Sometimes we get excited and can't wait to tell someone about our spots where we're seeing a ton of elk. We typically always pay for such indiscretions! I always have people ask where I hunt and I tell them "Notellum County" or something like that. I've seen my area turn from a place where no one ever bothered to go into a place that is frequented by gobs of hunting tourists from other states - I have NO idea how they could have found my little area since it's a low success area and not typically on the radar for those scouting from long distances. I can only guess that success by others breeds more hunters every year. It's probably time to find a few more back up areas.

[Lefty]

first rule of elk-y spots, dont talk about elky spots..

I was a fur trapper. The only time Im able to lie is when talking where I hunt or trap. Learned a good one a few years back. Ran into a fellow from OS. The next week he was asked on a forum whe he was hunting he answered "West of @##%
Yeah about 150 miles West.
So when peolpe ask where I hunt I hunt near @#$%$ with "near being relitive about 70 miles . As far as which area a handfull of people are aware. But maybe 5 know which unit. but within 5 miles My wife, my daughter and Dave,.heck within 10 miles,.. ah maybe 15 miles

[pointysticks]

my brother said you can pull info off of posted photos.

my computers skills fall somewhere between, "hey, there is the ON button" to "CTRL-ALT-DELETE"..so i have no clue if this is even possible. i do turn off the GPS feature on my camera while hunting.
it would suck to post up a pic of your trophy only for someone to pull up the GPS coords. they can see what you name the photo for sure..so dont name it.."kennedy lake bull" or something..

[BrentLaBere]

my brother said you can pull info off of posted photos.

my computers skills fall somewhere between, "hey, there is the ON button" to "CTRL-ALT-DELETE"..so i have no clue if this is even possible. i do turn off the GPS feature on my camera while hunting.
it would suck to post up a pic of your trophy only for someone to pull up the GPS coords. they can see what you name the photo for sure..so dont name it.."kennedy lake bull" or something..

WOW! Never even crossed my mind.......that may belong in the "CODE" thread that was up awhile ago.