Disappointed in non-resident hunters

Sorry, I don't have any patience with willful reckless & stupid combined with bully mentality. In a past life, for a short time, I had to find out who & what caused the results of willful reckless & stupid. Seems like people who know better give the willful reckless & stupid a pass leaving the affected to deal with the bad results.
 
I feel for you. Been fortunate to hunt a lot of deeded ground the past 20 years and avoid the crowd. However, just got back from a deer hunt in G. Rode in 5 - 7 miles every day. Saw exactly three hunters in five days of hunting.

Guided hunts on private are looking better and better every year...
 
I believe anyone guilty of violating fire regulations should be penalized to the fullest extent of the law. But, discouraging non-resident hunters from hunting in Wyoming could be quite detrimental to the sport. As has been pointed out, Non-resident revenues are a significant contributor to Wyoming's commerce, and Wildlife Managenet revenues. Bottom line...It enables a powerful voice in the state legislature that will insure resources and importance.
As the OP points out....Ignorance has no boundaries. It would be an unfortunate mistake to generalize all Non-resident hunters as Nimrods. I along with many personal acquaintances have hunted Wyoming as Non-residents for many years and have shown the greatest respect for Wyoming's laws and habitat. I don't believe we are in the minority. IMO.
 
The first time I hunted elk in Montana as a non-resident I I paid $1000-$1500 for a tag. The cash went into the MT fish & feather's or some other state fund and was hopefully used to to maintain MT hunting. Lots of non-residents also paid the same in my group. Tags were allocated thru licensed outfitters who also benefitted from the other funds collected. All this contributed and is contributing to MT's economy. All the folks that I met then and now who are MT non-residents want to please and are focused on the hunt and are willing to pay for a good ethical hunt. .

As for real egregious stuff, (edit: relatives that worked with a) gunsmith/dealer in my old (unnamed) town was fined over $20K by the feds for guiding hunters into a national park to shoot wild sheeps (more than one).
 
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If you were to check on the back grounds of the people of the western states few of them were born in the states they now live in . The U.S. is a fluid country meaning that the people are moving around it from place to place and they normally take with them the habits that were taught to them by their grand parents and parents or what they learned from others some very good some not so much .
 
Had a resident, local, first timer walk right through our setup this year as we were working a bull during archery season. After we waved to him, showed him our bows with nocked arrows and pointed downhill where the bull was. He just kept going and walked right towards the bugling.

Earlier in the morning he had beat us to a ridgine and was working two bulls, we backed out and went the opposite direction.

Its not just non-resisents.There are a lot of new people out this year "rediscovering" the outdoor world and have no idea what common courtesy or ethics are.

Montana hunters ed covers this, but I think many just gloss over it and don't take it to heart.
 
Start calling all of them in guys. My wife is with DNRC and says if we don't start doing that then we are as much to blame as them. Wish we could just pull valve stems on their outfits and walk away...but just do what we can to protect our land and wildlife. As for out of staters, just because I live in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean you can use my driveway as a **** basecamp, but thanks for the revenue you create for fwp and our small towns.
 
I hunt WY regularly as an non-resident. Bad apples on both sides. For Elk Hunting, we hunt in Grizzly country and the problems mentioned here are far and few in between in those areas, and the Elk Hunting is AWESOME. From a trash perspective you HAVE to be 'Bear-Aware' there (i.e. we keep a tidy camp, trash in trees hunt at least 12ft high, pack out, etc.). There are some yahoos that come in occasionally but they don't hang around long and we do cross paths with other hunters and frequently compare notes (where the bears were spotted, herds, etc.) we help each other become more successful hunters. Now when we antelope hunt, its an entirely different story. Finding that HMAs/BLMs that are hunted hard, we see the most issues and try to get Owner Permission on private land and pay a trespass fee (sometimes well worth it).

Also, to the comment about WDFG folks, those folks are spread VERY thin and have a vast area to cover. They are also some of the nicest and most helpful WDFG folks I have ever met and we help them out whenever we can. I don't like to snitch on bad apples but if they are recklessly dangerous then it becomes a safety issue. In one case I actually watched a group of hunters just shooting away at antelopes from 800-yards+, guts hanging out and all... They would just shoot them and never tag/retrieve/harvest them. Had no problem giving over the WY license plates numbers over to the WDFG folks when we met up and inquired if I was part of that group as they were watching from a distance.
 
This is sad to hear how little respect individuals can have for the outdoors and other individuals. I am from Mississippi and have two options to hunt the beloved western areas, guided or DIY on public land. I own quite a bit of land here where I raise cattle and hunt myself. Whenever I get the opportunity to hunt out west or any public/private land for that matter, I will always treat the land and animals with the same respect I do my own. I strive to harvest only mature animals unless we are meat hunting for some females. It upsets me that people like to tell NR to go back home, I pay a significant amount of taxes and most of this land is federal land. No one tells westerners they aren't allowed to fish off the gulf because they aren't from Louisiana. I think everyone should be allowed to enjoy the land equally but as we all can agree respect selflessness has nearly become nonexistent and more times than not visitors don't treat it as well as the locals.
 
I used to agree with the idea that it brings revenue to the state but if you think about it its money NOT spent in another state so is it really benefiting the wildlife programs ect?
At the end of the day it comes down to idiots either local or non-resident. Laws can be enforced but stupidity and lack of etiquette are a tougher fix.
 
Start calling all of them in guys. My wife is with DNRC and says if we don't start doing that then we are as much to blame as them. Wish we could just pull valve stems on their outfits and walk away...but just do what we can to protect our land and wildlife. As for out of staters, just because I live in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean you can use my driveway as a **** basecamp, but thanks for the revenue you create for fwp and our small towns.
going to politely disagree about ranchers protecting the land, or even wildlife. I am die hard conservative and lots of family are farmers and ranchers in Neb. but having cattle in the dry western states is an environmental catastrophe,, I've been watching it happen for decades. I would rather have the non-residents throw beer cans around than have the cows. they are turning the ecosystem into a dustbowl as they walk miles a day looking for a bit of grass. probably do more damage than the wild horses. and then the alfalfa farmers sucking the ground water dry, wasting water by running their pivots when they shouldn't be,,,lowering the water table, all the springs are drying up in the mountains because of it, so now the native animals can't get any water,, not to mention what the cows and wild horses do to the still flowing springs. they wont' let any other animals in to drink and stomp the springs into mudholes or even stomp them into not flowing anymore. I am sure everyone on here can agree the wild horses are doing tremendous damage but very few can admit the cattle do even more damage.

i know one local mountain that used to be nice to hunt on but the cows have turned every sqare inch of it into powdery dust,, can't even walk around anymore. sorry for the reality check guys. I am curious if anyone can agree with me? open your eyes and mind and contemplate before responding.
 
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