Hunting Partners.

[Greg Duerr]

I need your opinion


I was hunting last year in Eastern Nevada with a friend. . We camped at the base of the East Humboldt Mts. There were a lot of other hunters there so since we got there a few days early I did a little hiking and found a really nice bowl with two big saddles. The ridge ran right up to Chimney Rock and thought this would be a great place to be before light on opening day. Sure enough I was up there at dark sitting under a Pine tree with a perfect view of the bowl. At first light I heard some shots below in the Aspens and after about 5 -10 minutes here comes six big bucks. They stopped and looked back down the canyon and I shot a really nice 4x4 28" That Evening my Hunting buddy chewed me out and told me how unfair I was for using other hunters in the area to push those bucks up to where I was sitting. He said he was embarrased and ashamed of what I had done.

He said he would never hunt with me again because of my poor hunting ethics.

 

[ShootnMathews]

Wow. I don't know what to say. Sounds to me like you did a textbook hunt. I think he was only jealous that you came out better than him. If it were me, I'd really never hunt with him again.

 

[william mul]

Sounds Like You're A lot Better Hunter Than Your Freind.. IMO You Did Nothing Wrong,Cong, On Getting The Job Done. I Be leave I'd Find My Self A New Hunting Pard..

 

[marioq]

Agree 100%. Do your thing and let him have tag soup.

 

[Red Sparky]

I agree you did the right thing. So all the deer drives back east are wrong? Get rid of that hunting partner. These days on public land there are going to be other hunters all over the place, the smart hunter uses that to his advantage.

 

[Marble]

You are afine hunter greg. That other guy is an idiot.

 

[kcebcj]

I hunt with three people two of them sense high school and the other is my son. Went on a 18 day horseback spike camp hunt and took one fella who we did not know well. What a friggin mistake that was. Kind of the same attitude as your buddy. Everyone filled their tags except him.

I have never hunted with that fella sense (1976) and you should do the same.

 

[Greg Duerr]

I learned two things that day, well three. One was Hunting Smarter is better than Hunting harder, choose your hunting buddies wisely, and third was know your rifle better. You see that Morning before I shot my buck I glassed a HUGE Buck that was beded right up against Chimney Rock. I have never seen in the wild a buck this big I glassed him for 20 minutes and Ranged him at 618 yds. I would guess that his outside spread was 36" Perfect Huge 4x4 with big Eye guards. This is one of the Reasons I really started looking into LRH. For most of you guys that shot would have been easy for you, I was not going to guess on how high to hold over him. That picture will be branded in my memory for a long time. At that time I sighted in my rifle 3" high at 100yds so I would be close to dead on at 350 shooting my 7mm-08.
I just want the odds to be in my favor again when an opportunity like that comes my way................and I'm still looking for a good Hunting Partner.
Two years ago I invited a friend to come Antelope hunting with me, we had Chukar hunted together several times and Pheasant hunting in ND. He brought along his Quad. I had scouted the area and Had a really nice Buck picked out that held high in a Sage bowl above a Spring. My friend drove his Quad up into the bowl after I asked him not to go up into there so you don't get him all spooked. Next morning before Opening day there he was back in the bowl, said he wanted to look him over again. This time I got very direct with him and told him a second time STAY OUT of there. ..............this time I wanted to kick him out of Camp, tried to hold back my anger and took a walk for an hour to calm down. I told him again don't go up. He informed me that the buck was not spooked at all and told me to get over it. That evening there he was again................the next morning and the next four day I hunted that bowl and never saw him again......................I waited 9 years for that area. Even today after almost 3 years Im so ****ed off at him.................I will never hunt with him again.

 

[valleyshooter]

I have read a lot of magazine articles that promote exactly what you did. I would and have done what you did.

 

[Dosh]

Greg, your actions were right on all instances. It's unfortunate we all have found imbeciles we thought were OK to hunt with. I have two I will never hunt with again and one moron I discovered luckily ahead if time. Perhaps it's my advancing age or maybe just more idiots out there. Good luck with your future hunts.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Good hunting partners are hard to find. Hopefully you will find one.

Steve

 

[MasonG]

You really got a raw deal on your hunting partner there. He was out of line. What you did was basically textbook. I've been instructed many times by my hunting mentors to get in a spot so that the other hunters push the deer towards you. He must've just been mad that he didn't think of it/fill his tag. Keep doing what you're doing!

 

[JOHNNIE WALKER]

I fully understand your problem. The first couple times we went elk hunting was with a group of people we had known for years. I was a teenager and these were family friends. We had a rule-"if somebody gets an elk everything stops so the work can get done." Everybody agreed on this. The first year we went me and the other younger guy both shot cows and everybody helped but one guy. The next year when I shot one the guy was no where to be found. He said he had no idea where we were but we all knew he did. The third year the same thing happened, so my dad cornered him over it and we all found out that the guy was a real *****. That's been about 16years ago and I can probably count on my hand how many times we've spoken since. Even his family thinks he's a *****. I still shoot with his brother. I've had similar things like that happen since then. One time I drove across 3 states to me a guy at a camp who never showed up. The bad thing was he wouldn't answer his phone to give drirections to the other guy that was suppose to be there either. I was up in the mountains with no service and just thought I got screwed so I had a nice solo hunt for a few days and found out later what happened. Haven't spoke to him in a while either. Good hunting buddies are hard to find. The best one I ever had was my ol'man. We looked alike, talked alike, and thought alike. It was great. Me and him and a truck full of gear ment for some serious hunting. Regardless of weather or breakdowns we hunted hard and we usually did pretty good. But now that he's gone I just hunt alone. People are crazy.

 

[Unofficial Gun Addict (UGA)]

Big bucks tend to want to get to high ground when pressured. My buddy and I always hike up as high as we can when open hunting because of all the road hunters and people that really don't want to put a lot of effort into getting their deer. Every year, it's the same thing. We see the lights start coming down the roads... Hear gunshots scattered here and there, and then up come the bucks. I think your methods are sound and show intelligence. I just think you need to find a smarter and more like minded hunting partner... you'd sure as he'll have more fun. I personally don't mind carrying meat downhill.