Contributors to this thread:
So last year in Colorado I was hunting a otc unit next to a draw unit right by the trail head. It was on our way out of our last day of hunting we ran across some other hunters that just harvested a young bull. After talking awhile we found out that they where hunting on otc tags. After talking little while longer they told approximately where they were hunting, with that said I realized that they were about 2 1/2 miles in on the draw unit side. At that time I informed them that they were probably in the draw unit. They gave me that deer in the head lights look and said they didn’t know. A few more minutes of small talk and we were on our way out to our truck. At the trail head there just happened to be Colorado dnr officer. The Big question is what would you do????
Interesting handle you have there. Are you in law enforcement?
I'd have mentioned it to the CPW officer and let him figure out if a crime occurred.
Gotta say ... It'd have mattered what my impression of them was. Yep -- I'd "judge" them. I don't like to get involved in anything like that ... and would only if I thought they were intentionally disrespecting the border. And that's something I think I'd have been able to tell.
I was hiking out of a hunt in WY and ran into the one Hunter I saw afield all week. We chatted a while and I asked about a trail I had seen that appeared might shorten my hike into the Meadows I was hunting. The fellow confirmed indeed it would but that trail crossed a portion of a different (more restrictive) unit. I was skeptical but checked it out in camp that evening and indeed he was correct. I knew I was close to the other unit but thought never occurred to me. Thank goodness the guy filled me in. Had I proceeded and been contacted I would have taken my medicine. Kind of embarrassing. I wonder if they knowingly crossed the line or if it was a mistake. In your case I probably wouldn't have called them in but it would have been mentioned if I had run into a officer. Check those maps the lines can be confusing
Ucsdryder Me in law enforcement now that is funny! I started elk hunting about 5 years ago now and I’ve been working extremely hard at trying to harvest my first elk and when the conversation the other hunter happened my first thoughts were to run out and make a call, but that is just not who I am. Looking back at it I believe 100% that it was shot illegally and I also believe that they had no idea were the boundaries were. So in the end we let slide and said nothing. Maybe next year will be my year!
luckyleo X2! Their attitude was everything!
ElkNut/Paul
I wouldn`t say anything...."it`s not my yob mang" and has zip to do with me.
“Stay in your lane bro”
:@)
Nothing illegal about crossing a le unit or wilderness to get to your hunt area when in Wyoming.
Ignorance does not give them a pass. For those who think it doesn't effect or have anything to do with you...it might not effect you THIS time, but those hunters just learned that the rules are more like guidelines or not important at all. What if next time they shot it on your property and claimed they didn't know? What if they shot a Moose and claimed they didn't know? What if it was a record Bull taken illegally? I'm not walking around playing CSI or trying to taddle on every little mistake someone makes, but I'm not looking the other way, when it's right there in my face.
I nibble around the edge of a National Park, never close enough to be a problem when hunting, but unmarked backcountry. My tag is good for the unit the Park lies in. If you found out I sorta killed a bull 2.5 miles inside the Park, and you ran into a LEO, would you mention it?
I live with GAIA and DIY Hunting apps in the elk woods just to make sure I don't stray a couple miles. It's our responsibility.
climb.on x2. Big difference between crossing a limited quota area and killing an elk in one you don’t have a license for.
I’m with Lou as far as what my actions would be. No way I’d let it slide if I thought they’d illegally killed the elk in a LQ area.
Don’t know if it’s in Colorado regs as I read to many states to remember off hand. One of them I was reading last year says to make a note of your location of kill site. I know for my Co Mt goat I was required to show them on the map of course Mt goat is a manatory registration species.
Pretty tough for them fellas to show warden a non-existent kill site in their licensed unit if indeed they were accross the border in a different unit. There is no excuse you have the unit descriptions. First time here, nice guy with a great attitude sorry I made a wrong move that works on a date but not hunting.
“Read’em his rights Dano”
I hunt on National Forest land and some State land. I walk a fence line back in, on the south side it's National to the north its private. Once I get a mile back in the north side turns to State land. A few years back I shot a cow on the State and went looking for my buddy. I jumped the fence to get back on the trail on the National. I saw a few guys on the trail and headed in that direction thinking one might be my buddy. Long story short, they said I was on private. I thought for a second and then told them "Yeah it's my Dads land and I was looking for a trespasser". They told me he went to the west. Was I wrong for not telling them that it was State land? We as hunters should know where we are at all times. Haven't seen them since.
Maybe they knew exactly where they were and played you for a fool. I could see someone maybe erring a couple hundred yards into the other unit if they really were fuzzy on the boundary, but 2.5 miles? Come on now, there's no good excuse for that...I'd have let the warden sort it out.
I was thinking the same thing at first, but why would someone knowingly kill a bull in a LE unit with an OTC tag and then tell a perfect stranger about it?
Raghorn 2.5 miles in... tells me they were newer elk hunters and didn’t know.
I’m glad you pointed it out to them so that they didn’t keep going back to their “otc honey hole” year after year.
I was wondering why you would tell ANYONE where you killed a bull....that information is usually taken to the grave....or so it seems....lol
The problem I have with this "scenario" is nobody witnessed anything. How do you know they weren`t jerking your chain so you wouldn`t know where they really did kill their bull.
Personally I would need to SEE them breaking a game law with my own eyes before I would even consider any action.
I'm with Ike.
One time a few years ago, a buddy and I were fishing a local creek near Bozeman. There were a handful of other guys fishing down low. It was a little packed and no one was catching fish but you could see risers upstream. My buddy says, dude I'm gonna go up higher and check it out. He heads upstream and promptly starts hooking into fish. He's hollering for me to come up there and join him. As I'm walking by another fisherman he says " Your buddy doesn't know its closed to fishing above that bridge does he?" :) Nope. He was new to fishing and was finally having one of those days where every cast is a trout. Anyways, by the time I got up there and let him know he was illegal he had caught and released a few. I'm glad that guy didn't call a warden or rail on him. He just smiled and said, "you might want to let him know....after he lands one more, he seems to be having a good time."
Killing an elk is different then catching and releasing some fish for sure but sometimes it is an honest mistake and if I had made the same one I would be hopeful to be treated the same way. THere's no excuse for it, I agree, but like Ike said, he gave coordinates to an illegal kill along with the deer in the headlights look? I would have stayed out of it.
Snitches get stitches? Not here, criminals get shot.
I guess if your jealous that they killed a elk and you didn't,rat them out. It's not like they shot it at night or baited them in. Also , you said they were probably in a draw unit, you were not sure so why rat them out and cause them the trouble. Plus, how way Is it to get turned around when your pumped up chasing elk?
I think you probably handled it like I would. If I truly thought they were ingnorant I wouldn’t say anything. I know ignorance is no excuse as far as the law is concerned but I’m also not the law so ignorance is worth something to me.
It goes on a lot in 76. Guys go in without an care in the world. On guy last year posted pictures on Facebook with his bull in Creede. And we all know he didn't draw 76. Seems fish and game font really care. There videos on Facebook talking of hunting otc but they video the trail going over the divide into 76 from a known trail head. They showed video of the trailhead as they were getting ready and you can clearly see my truck and trailer. On other guy on Facebook talks of hunting the boundary from the east side, but he shows pictures of big bulls with certain areas that is plainly 76. You can turn then them, but they will just deny it. And Dow won't go that deep just to see the kill site.
I would make the assumption the officer is not there by chance. I would offer nothing unless asked. I will let the chips fall where they may when the other hunters arrive. If the poop hits the fan for them when they get to the trail head, it is for them to deal with. Most likely I will be called in to testify what I know if there is an investigation. If there is no investigation, then they get a free pass.
oz
Sounds like an honest mistake. I’d leave it at that and mind my own business. Because without being there, you don’t know if it even was illegal. If unintentional, what good comes from it? The elk doesn’t know the unit boundary.
They probably killed it 2.5 miles in the opposite direction of were they said they killed it. I would never tell another hunter I don't know where I am getting into elk. Maybe they just spur of the moment picked somewhere away from where they were hunting that happened to be draw to throw you off course so you would not go check out "their" spot somewhere in the future.
Gimme your backstraps or I'm callin the law!
Yes, I would have given the officer the information I had and let him follow up on it. If they did something illegal the officer can decide whether it was a mistake or not. It's part of a hunter's responsibility to understand where they are and what the rules are. I'll never understand the people who refuse to report game violations. Violators are stealing the public's resources and it is your business. Part of being a good conservationist.
Similar story this year on this very forum. Someone posted a spike on the Elk Meat Pole Thread claiming it was a CO kill. It was questioned whether it was legal to shoot a spike in CO and the legal units to shoot a spike (draw units) were posted. Somehow the photos of the spike disappeared...
Back in 2003 we killed 3 elk in one morning hunt - all within 200yds of each other - about 4+ miles deep.
On the way out we ran into some other hunters coming up the trail, and they asked if we seen anything.
"Nope not a thing" we said. Good thing our gloves covered up out bloody hands :)
Again. Shut the hell up. Or tell a fairy tale, which I think happened here.
Would anybody feel differently if it was a 370 bull killed 2.5 miles into a 20 point unit?
John, I'm constantly amazed at how many elk hunters will blab to a complete stranger about what they're seeing or hearing, where, where they killed something.
2.5 miles is way too far to be an honest mistake. It's true they could have been lying about the right kill site, that's fair play in elk hunting. But it's kinda stupid to make up a kill site in the wrong unit that is LE. Stupid hurts sometimes.
Stupid could be defined by asking a guy where he killed his elk too. That hurts goes both ways if you asked, were purposely led wrong and, did it without knowing. It could be all sorts of things. And, unless it was witnessed first hand, there is simply way to much probability that these guys did what most everyone would do in that situation. Try to protect the area they were hunting from other hunters. There were more hunters with the group that killed. If I was one of them and my buddies spouted off that precious info to complete strangers, I'd be pretty upset.
This brings up something a little off topic that I've wondered about for a while. In one of the Born and Raised videos, not sure if it was "Common Ground", "The Collection" or what but they were hunting in Colorado and they claimed it was an OTC unit. On one of the first days Ty Stubblefield makes a comment something like "maybe we'll just shoot a couple spikes". Later he shoots at a spike and shoots over it's back and misses. He looks back at the camera pretty pissed off and says "missed it!". I believe it was the same video where Kody shoots a big bull like 360" and then another huge bull comes walking in and Trent doesn't have his bow with and he says he's going to donkey punch Ty for telling him not to bring his bow. They had an awesome hunt and were into a lot of big bulls, especially for an OTC unit. Anyway as the video goes on it goes into the following year and they say they're on the same trail as last year and Treavor says "Colorado is a different year this year". They weren't having much action but Treavor did kill a bull and when he is tagging it you can pause the video and clearly see that the tag says "OTC" on it.
I reviewed the Colorado regs from those years and I believe there was only one OTC unit where you could shoot a spike and the terrain in that unit was nothing like where they were hunting. So did Ty shoot at a spike without knowing it was illegal. Were they really in a draw unit where you can shoot spikes but said it was OTC? Were they really in the same unit in back to back years because Treavor did tag his bull with an OTC tag? Maybe they hunted a draw unit the first year and an adjacent OTC unit the next year and accessed both from the same trailhead/trail? Why would they publish a video with Ty shooting at a spike if it was illegal? Maybe it's all a bunch of B.S....?
If they're hunting where we all think they hunt, everything around there is OTC, with antler restrictions. There is no possible way to reach a unit where spikes are allowed from that trailhead.
