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Gated roads

When it comes to gated roads, I've always figured if someone was parked at one, then I just found somewhere else to hunt. I've had a few people follow me in when I was parked, but usually people are good and follow this unwritten rule. What about when someone is camped at a gate? I find that kind of annoying, but I still just let it go and hunt elsewhere. However, what I've noticed when driving past these gated roads is that the people who are camped there are often hunting elsewhere, driving off in their trucks before daylight. In the future I think I should treat parked at the gate to mean someone is hunting and I go elsewhere, but camped at the road doesn't mean anything, and that it's just someones annoying effort at tying up an area. I'm curious what other people's opinions are on this.

just off hand I would say if they are camped there and have driven off to hunt else where It should be open to hunt, one thing that you might want to keep in mind is maybe they have already spooked everything out of that area,,but things move around and maybe after a few days left alone it could be good once again ?????

That is an unwritten rule and my passion about that increases the further I get off the main road system. If I plan to hunt elk in a certain spot close to town and there is a truck there, I park beside them. If I plan to hunt more remote, and there is a truck at the gate I keep going and find another spot. I prefer to hunt remote and avoid people.

oz

I generally find a lot more game if I avoid hunting where others have disturbed things by their own hunting. This is especially true for elk.

I also most often hunt remote, but especially in areas of southwest & northwest MT, even if another person is parked/camped at a gate, my attitude is it's public land, and if I have a destination in mind, I often stick to it. If the person is there to talk with to see where they're going/have been going, great. Otherwise, more often than not my destination is beyond where that person is hunting or has been hunting, so there's no issue. If they're camped there they've probably hunted the area, or may be driving somewhere else to start, but may be ending their hunt there. Don't let it bother you - it's public land and I operate under the assumption you will see some people, especially at trailheads. Enough people hunt anymore that there nearly always someone in the vicinity. I've seen this deep in the wilderness, and other more accessible areas throughout eastern MT.

I'm generally with you guys on this. However, I have a couple spots I hunt where we park at a closed gated road but walk across the main road and hunt the otherside away from the closed gate. There is no where else to park. We always joke that we are blocking people from hunting that other spot ( there are elk there). Basically it looks like someone is parked and hunting that road but no one is in there. So you never know. The other point I would make is this. Some of the spots I hunt close to town......if I am only going to go in where no one is parked....I'll never to get to hunt. You just gotta go for it, be polite and work with people. We are all out there for the same reason.

I do agree that there are certain areas with high hunter pressure that you are never going to get to hunt by yourself. However, when you are in an area with few people and lots of opportunities it is annoying when someone follows you in. What I was really getting at in this thread is the people who park their camper at a gate for weeks, basically trying to lock up the area for themselves, which in itself is annoying enough, but especially when they leave there and hunt other areas also. So my point was, from now on, car parked at gate means something to me and I'll move on to elsewhere, camper parked at gate and I'll still hunt there if I feel like it, because I really don't know what their intentions are.

100% agreed Irishman.

You should see the clowns around bozeman, I've had other hunters hunt right in behind me and others ask if they can join or where I'm going. I've gotten in confrontations with dudes at the trailhead asking me not to hike in in the dark. Public land hunting is always a crap shoot. I hunt where I'm planning on hunting, regardless of others. I grew up here in MT, most of these other dipshits are from out of state. They know nothing about hunting elk. There's a ton of outdoorsy people moving to Montana that know nothing of hunting ethics or common decency. So #$%$ 'em, do you. If there was a vehicle or two parked at the only spot, it would depend on how big the area/ what the terrain is like on whether i would go in. Most times I go elsewhere.

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