&*!#@* Hunters!

[007]

The fish and game should promote a "wood land watch" program and incourage people to help out. They could give out stickers you could put on offenders vehicles that stated an infraction had occured and would be under investigation.

They could set up drop boxes for you to leave plate #'s and witness statements.

They could offer free tags and training for "honorary fish and game agents" who would help patrol and report.

In Montana they close off most atv trails during the season which keeps bubba on the couch watching football where he belongs.

I'm an avid motorcycle rider and hunter but I believe ATV hunters are the plague of the earth.

 

[1leglance]

To me this is nothing more than the gun side of the 4x4 land abuse issue we see year around...
my answer is simple and cliche..
be the change you want to see...
make it happen...
see it, own it...

yes the person has a gun, yes they are a slob, yes they might be an idiot but if YOU don't do something about it why should anyone else?
If you aren't comfortable comfronting the person then make sure you have all the phone numbers of relevant angencies in your area...and call them! Immediately so they can respond, don't put it off till tomorrow, don't hope someone else will do something, just do it.
Those of you who went to the expo trophy and caravaned out know that I stopped to talk to the family shooting across the plateu...they just weren't thinking and with some calm quiet talking they moved down the road to a hill with a backstop...they walked the area before shooting and thought all was well, simple ignorance nothing more and nice folks....
today wheeling in the table mesa west of I-17 area...lots of shooters, 1 group without a backstop just shooting down a wash..10min stop and talk about all the atv's cruz'n the washes and they turned 90 degrees to where at least they had the bank as somewhat of a backstop...they had never heard the term before
so be the change you want, pick up trash, talk to people (be cool not angry) and the world will either be a better place or you will die trying

 

[Wanderlusty]

Good points, Lance....

I think that while some folks may know better and choose to do as they please, most folks do as they do out of ignorance of the 'better way' than out of malice.

As far as talking to them...that's just going to be a situation by situation call.

Now...if we could just get folks to pick their shell casings up after they go shooting....

 

[texas taco]

Good points, Lance....
Now...if we could just get folks to pick their shell casings up after they go shooting....

Not to mention the bullet riddled old targets.

 

[Suty]

As a avid Bowhunter, I must agree with all that has been said. I left gun hunting years ago, looking for a greater challenge I turned to the Compound Bow. This lasted about 2 years , once I found out that the " Aftermarket" had started making Laser range finders that mount on Bows. A "thing" that allows you to carry your Bow at full draw, so you don't even have to draw your bow in the stand or blind. Just pull the trigger and it releases.... I now shoot only Longbows and Recurves. I use my fingers for releases, my eyes to aim and cedar for my arrows. Everyone I have met on the Traditional Side of Bowhunting has been a True Hunter and outdoorsman. All of which I would not have a second thought of inviting them to my House for Dinner. Much like what Expo is for us, Tradgang.com is for Traditional Bowhunters (check it out). So, Hunters have Heart, there is hope, and that hope may come from where we as hunters least expect it......Our Youth, Take a Kid Hunting, and show them the right way....not the TV way.

 

[edgear]

I am a hunter, but do not own an ATV. But after helping to carry out 3 elk on my back this year, I can see how an ATV would be an appropriate tool for such a task. Despite that, I doubt I would still ever want to own one. I think the reason we were able to go three-for-three on filling our tags is that we chose to hike up where no motorized vehicles were allowed. I actually felt much safer up there, because I knew there wouldn't be any ATV hunters trying not to spill their beers.

I took the Hunter Safety Class when I was about 12, and think anyone considering taking up hunting should do likewise. I mainly hunt birds (dove & quail), and always enjoy hiking out into the desert, far away from other hunters. This was my first time hunting elk, and I'm sure I'll continue to do the same in years to come.

I like to think that the money I pay for licenses & tags will go to conservation efforts to keep these lands open & available for hunting & fishing, but I think I need to take a more proactive role in helping to remedy this issue of problematic hunters out there.

Good topic Jonathan -- thanks for starting this thread!

 

[fisher205]

This summer two of my friends saw some guys bait fishing and keeping the fish on a catch and release area of the Tongue River. They went to get the plate numbers from the guys' truck to turn them in. The plate number was 666. They concluded the Devil was a bait fisherman and it may be safer not to turn them in.

 

[sammy]

Hi folks,
I read a lot of the posts here but I don't post much. I have to put in on this one though. I love hunting and take a 3 month vacation every fall to hunt. I live for wilderness hunting. Most guys that hunt cannot get a mile from the road without an atv. I hate the dam things. Are most hunters slobs? I have to say I believe yes. The same though is true of most ATV users whether they are hunters or not . I walk or canoe to my hunting areas after getting as far back in as I can with my 4x4 truck. My truck never comes off the "road or track" Those slob hunters we all see are not conscientious hunters. If you have no respect for the animals, or the country then you shouldn't be in the outdoors. This is true of so called hunters,offroaders or whatever. Are most hunters slobs? yes nowadays I'm afraid they are but I think that is true of many people today not just outdoorsmen. Just look at society in general. The problem is a lack of respect and that covers a great many people in our society not just hunters.
regards
Dan

 

[KMR]

Hunting season has become a war, and I increasingly find myself on the side of the wildlife and the environment.
What if open season, became just that, a true OPEN season. You could be permitted to bag any offensive individual in possession of a hunting license. :elkgrin:
By employing principals of true hunting, stalking, concealment, physical exertion and PATIENCE, the morons could easily be out played and taken at their own game.
Just think how easy it would be to pick off a bubba blazing by on a ATV from your concealed rock outcropping, wouldn’t even hear the shot coming.
All I can think of when out hunting, while hearing the first pot-shots of the morning before the dark has lifted enough to see your hand in front of your face, is that the tables should be turned in the interest of true conservation, there are not too many deer in the woods, just to many “hunters.”

(my above statement is tongue-in-cheek, I do not advocate murder, but it is what I think of when out in the woods during hunting season, or when the house gets spot-lighted, or when I see blatant trespassers…….)

 

[p1michaud]

Hunters, guns, ATVs, houses...

Tony, Sometimes it feels like the wild west out there...

Sometimes! I can't recall who I was speaking to about this during the Expedition Trophy, but what a culture shock for me. :gunt:

I've been around guns and hunting for 15+ years now. I've lived through the time where you could walk up to the store with a valid Firearms Acquisition Card (FAC) lay down your hard earned cash and walk away with hunting rifle or shotgun. Since those days, you have to go through a Hunter Education (provincial) and Fire Arm Safety (federal) course before you can get a Possession and Acquisition License (PAL similar to the FAC but need to pass the courses). Now in Canada, we have very strict Firearms regulations and it was quite a shock to see people carry guns with them, let alone discharge them at an unsuspecting piece of junk mistaken for a target (i.e. propane tanks). We still get the yahoos shooting around during hunting seasons, but you don't see people out with guns outside of hunting season (roughly 2 months of the year). Perhaps I've been living a sheltered life

Did I get your attention?

...Guys with rifles sit on the hillside 200 yards from our house, apparently hoping one of the deer that come in to our yard for water two or three times a day will wander within range....

Any thoughts?

Jonathan,
I typically try to say too much on these types of threads but can't resist the temptation in this case.

Are there any laws against discharging a fire arm near a house, camp, barn or other buildings? Here we have to be 200m away from a house before discharging a shotgun or 400m away for a rifle.

I have made the following observations in the 15+ years I have been hunting:

• I call it the "Jekyll & Hyde" effect, get certain people out in the woods, with a gun in their hands out on their ATV or 4X4 and they start to do stupid things that they would not normally do.
• ATVs have allowed easier access to hunting areas IMO
• It's all about the immediate gratification
• Most people just don't know better, they usually listen when you try and educate them.

12 years ago, I was nearly shot in the neck/head with a .22 riffle (accident and negligence on the hunters part). One of my friends and I were out hunting for partridge and met two other hunters. We stopped and chatted for a while standing in a circle, when out of the blue one guy standing to my left stepped back, raised his gun and pointed at a squirrel. I had not seen this and was stepping back when my friend yelled, grabbed me and pulled me forward. When the shot went off, his barrel was 4" from the back of my head. The only reason I did not get hit was because my friend was paying attention and for that I will always be grateful. The outcome could have been very different. After a few moments when things started to sink in, I lost it and yelled at this guy. They packed up and headed out of the woods, so did we. I was pretty shaken up by the close call. Now I pick my hunting partners very very carefully...and am always nervous around people holding guns that I don't know until they show me that they are careful. I observe, it's not a written test!

People need to be better educated and trained before being allowed to carry any fire arm and there needs to be some form of gun control IMO. Don't get me wrong, the regulations here are not perfect and that's a whole different discussion. My observations is that the gun control regulations here keep the honest people honest, I'll leave it at that.

Sorry for the rant, but I love nature and hunting! We as sportsman need to respect it and others regardless if they hunt or not. :sport_box

 

[MaddBaggins]

if they are only 200yds from your house, I'd say thats easy pickins...for you.

Kidding aside, I feel ya. I usually don't see those types when I hunt becasue I get farther out there and away from any kind of road.

 

[Wanderlusty]

Not to mention the bullet riddled old targets.

No kidding. At the Trophy, we retrieved:

a 'muffler man' that was 4-5 old mufflers assembled into something resembling the shape of a man...riddled with bullet holes....

a bullet riddled front bumper

more propane bottles than you can count

and...on the sand course, someone found a partially buried car door...

It's crazy..and sad....

 

[Scott Brady]

Only the Bubbas are breeding...

Maybe the solution is not fewer hunters, but fewer ATVs... Fewer/no ATV's would purge the outdoors of many of the yahoos referred to above AND significantly reduce the plague of "off-trail" ATV riding I see.

As ATVs near the size of a flatfender Jeep, their ability to access even further (carry more fuel and supplies) into the backcountry and more powerful engines and better suspensions allow faster speeds and a more destructive effect.

Based on my experience with the behavior of 90% of the ATV riders out there, they should be banned from all non-OHV areas. Or at a minimum, no ATV rider outside of an OHV area should be unlicensed, and every ATV should have a plate on it. I rarely favor regulation, but this must happen soon, before the places we love are gone.

And Mike, good point about the breeding. I have been reading some scary statistics about birth rates among the educated and successful in the US.
Unfortunately, only (mostly) the Bubbas are breeding, and they are buying everything for the next generation from Walmart...

 

[7wt]

And Mike, good point about the breeding. I have been reading some scary statistics about birth rates among the educated and successful in the US.
Unfortunately, only (mostly) the Bubbas are breeding, and they are buying everything for the next generation from Walmart...

Don't worry about the breeding issue, I have a plan for that. When I am ruler of the world I will put birth control in cigarettes.

 

[Martyn]

Maybe the solution is not fewer hunters, but fewer ATVs... Fewer/no ATV's would purge the outdoors of many of the yahoos referred to above AND significantly reduce the plague of "off-trail" ATV riding I see.

As ATVs near the size of a flatfender Jeep, their ability to access even further (carry more fuel and supplies) into the backcountry and more powerful engines and better suspensions allow faster speeds and a more destructive effect.

Based on my experience with the behavior of 90% of the ATV riders out there, they should be banned from all non-OHV areas. Or at a minimum, no ATV rider outside of an OHV area should be unlicensed, and every ATV should have a plate on it. I rarely favor regulation, but this must happen soon, before the places we love are gone.

And Mike, good point about the breeding. I have been reading some scary statistics about birth rates among the educated and successful in the US.
Unfortunately, only (mostly) the Bubbas are breeding, and they are buying everything for the next generation from Walmart...

Lovely idea about having fewer ATV's. If the number of calls we get for Off Road trailers that are capable of hauling an ATV are any indication of the number of ATV owners who want to get further back into the bush, then it isn't going to happen.

Hunters, 4X4 owners, ATV owners are all pointing the finger at each other. They/We are all to blame. If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem, it's a tough line to take but it renders results.

In my life it's racism and homophobia, if someone says something racist or homophobic I call them on it, because not doing so is condoning the behavior.

So next time you encounter something that goes against your principals or morals become part of the solution.