Road Hunting
- Thread starter idelkhntr
- Start date
Nameless Range
Well-known member
I live right above a popular road-hunting road. Every day during rifle season, the hordes from Helena are driving up and down - a truck pulled over every quarter mile or so to glass the open stuff above. And here's the fact of the matter. Those road-hunters are often successful.
In country that is heavily roaded with heavy pressure road hunting can be effective. I'm certainly not condoning it as a method of hunting I appreciate or engage in. But I know quite a few obese and old locals who slay bulls and bucks year-in and year-out by simply putting in time behind the dashboard. When there are no large swaths of roadless areas for Elk to take cover in or when those areas are limited,as they are in the section of the Boulder Mountains where I live, elk simply spend hunting season on the run. Rotating between taking cover in the areas devoid of roads, and being pushed out of those areas by the heavy pressure that recognizes those areas as the only legit locations to get away from motorized use.
Basically, heavily roaded/heavily pressured country kind of sucks.
In country that is heavily roaded with heavy pressure road hunting can be effective. I'm certainly not condoning it as a method of hunting I appreciate or engage in. But I know quite a few obese and old locals who slay bulls and bucks year-in and year-out by simply putting in time behind the dashboard. When there are no large swaths of roadless areas for Elk to take cover in or when those areas are limited,as they are in the section of the Boulder Mountains where I live, elk simply spend hunting season on the run. Rotating between taking cover in the areas devoid of roads, and being pushed out of those areas by the heavy pressure that recognizes those areas as the only legit locations to get away from motorized use.
Basically, heavily roaded/heavily pressured country kind of sucks.
Hunting Wife
Well-known member
I understand that some folks are unable to hunt without use of a vehicle, and I'm fine with them doing what they need to to continue to enjoy doing what they love. I'm even ok with people who just like to hunt from a vehicle. Whatever floats your boat. The thing that really makes me mad is hiking my butt into a non-motorized or walk-in only area and having some yahoos come driving cross country "road hunting".
On my first ever solo hunt I had two guys, probably mid-30s, no orange, clearly physically capable of walking into the walk-in area, come driving cross-country along the top of the coulees I was hiking. They clearly saw I was there. As I closed in on the best cover, they raced up ahead of me, parked at the end and got out, rifles in hand, waiting for me to push deer to them. I walked to the top of the rim where they could see me, made it obvious I saw them, then dumped my pack and stretched out for a nap. They gave up and drove on after about 15 minutes, at which point I picked up my stuff, dove back down to the bottom and promptly filled my tag. I'm happy to help those who need it, but I refuse to bird dog for those who are lazy and completely disregard the rules.
On my first ever solo hunt I had two guys, probably mid-30s, no orange, clearly physically capable of walking into the walk-in area, come driving cross-country along the top of the coulees I was hiking. They clearly saw I was there. As I closed in on the best cover, they raced up ahead of me, parked at the end and got out, rifles in hand, waiting for me to push deer to them. I walked to the top of the rim where they could see me, made it obvious I saw them, then dumped my pack and stretched out for a nap. They gave up and drove on after about 15 minutes, at which point I picked up my stuff, dove back down to the bottom and promptly filled my tag. I'm happy to help those who need it, but I refuse to bird dog for those who are lazy and completely disregard the rules.
idelkhntr
New member
Nope. I'm talking about able bodied people that don't have medical issues that can get out of their vehicles and hunt.
Elkmagnet
Well-known member
What criteria do you use Judge there health?
have gun will travel
New member
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2012
- Messages
- 343
My guess is everyone's complaints are of the same people. regardless of how they hunt.
devon deer
Well-known member
I can understand where the OP is coming from, but with all the injured servicemen returning from Afghanistan i bet some of them are road hunters which has been forced upon them by no fault of there own.
Cheers
Richard
shootbrownelk
Well-known member
You nailed it Elkmagnet. I have medical issues with bad knees and arthritis. I still manage to limp off the road, away from my UTV a quarter mile or so. I still manage to kill a critter now and again. I guess I ain't lucky, I have yet to see a big buck or Bull standing along the road, that I could get a legal shot at....you know, be off the road over the ditch. They don't seem to wait for me, I'm too old and slow.
shootbrownelk
Well-known member
The littering bothers me more than road hunting. That and the poaching.
This drives me absolutely nuts. Especially after Halloween here in Montana, guys fill up on fun size candy bars and leave a trail of wrappers on the logging roads they're walking.
Even better- getting dropped off on the tundra 150 miles from the nearest road, and finding baby wipes and Mountain House wrappers blown all over the hillside from where some idiot buried his garbage the year before and a bear or fox dug out. All they had to do was walk it 1/4 mile back up to the airstrip to put on the plane.
I can't comprehend what can go through a guys mind before make a decision like that.
idelkhntr
New member
Agreed. My point exactly, but it ties to people throwing pee bottles out of the window. And yes there are slobs everywhere. I pick garbage up in the mountains all of the time and not just along side the road. And I fully understand people that are not physically able to get out and hunt and road hunting is their only option. That I get and respect.
We, as hunters, promote that hunting is conservation. Many times us hunters are blasted by the media and non-hunters for what we do. The least we can do is not give them a reason to add to their cause. Pick up after yourself, don't poach, follow the laws and be respectful of your environment and the privilege we have to be able to hunt. There are many people that would take that privilege away if they could. Why give them a reason?
mtlion
Active member
I'm not naming any names...:hump:
