New direction! Too bad too!
11-11-2004, 05:30 PM
#12
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: McCall Idaho USA
Posts: 753
RE: New direction! Too bad too!
ekm---We have a great base camp, like mentioned for 14yrs in the exact spot. Although we rarely hunt out of camp, it's a basic elk hunting camp and a lot more!!!! It consist of a 16x20 -- and two 12x14 walltents, all with woodstoves. All the cooking gear is in the biggest tent along with 4 different cot-bed setups. I stay in one of the 12x14 tents, the one I stay in also has 4 cot-bed setups, the 3rd being mostly a utility type storing tent.
Three of us live within an hour to hour & half of Base camp! My brother in-law comes out of Boise which is aprox. 3-1/2 hrs away. Two others come from Florida, they usually hunt the last week of the bow season. It's common to have 2 or 3 differnt ones to show up a couple days and hunt here and there in addition to us. I can honestly say we all have a great time!! It's a sad time when camp has to be taken down for the year!! Thanks-ElkNut1
Three of us live within an hour to hour & half of Base camp! My brother in-law comes out of Boise which is aprox. 3-1/2 hrs away. Two others come from Florida, they usually hunt the last week of the bow season. It's common to have 2 or 3 differnt ones to show up a couple days and hunt here and there in addition to us. I can honestly say we all have a great time!! It's a sad time when camp has to be taken down for the year!! Thanks-ElkNut1
11-11-2004, 05:52 PM
#13
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location:
Posts: 2,555
RE: New direction! Too bad too!
I have heard the saying trying to find a hunting partner is more difficulilt than finding a wife. And that might be true. I understand where ELKampMaster and Wolf killer is comming from. I myself have been burned twice by friends, and yet I have found a good dependable hunting partner/friend since I have been burned. I still invite other people to hunt with me. My wife thinks that I am nuts and reminds me of my two friends that burned me. But I am a people person, and half the fun of hunting for me is shareing it with friends and family. I will also admit that my very best hunting partner is my wife. I also can't wait until my kids are old enough to hunt with me. One thing I hate is when someone is invited on our hunt, that they turn around invite their friends/family. Without asking me or someone else in our hunting party. That is a flat out rude and wrong IMO. It doesn't matter if we are hunting with horses in the backcountry, where there is not room for a unexpected guest, or guests. Or that base camp is a camp trailer and a white wall tent and room can be made. I will not let that happen and will ask who ever I invited that they need to please leave, and camp/hunt somewhere else with their friend. Mabe that is rude but its one of my rules, and I tell it to all of my hunting partners.
11-11-2004, 07:04 PM
#14
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Wall SD USA & Jamestown ND
Posts: 11,474
RE: New direction! Too bad too!
My wife is my top hunting partner. Has been for many years. I used to hunt with two of her brothers before we ever starting dating. I met my wife when She was six and I was nine. There are not many people I have known longer. Still nobody I would rather spend time with. Hunting, working and all the rest. I have just maybe three or four other hunting friends. Many of my old hunting friends have gone on to the happy hunting grounds. I was the youngest of the original bunch that I began hunting with.
11-11-2004, 09:39 PM
#15
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Rocky Mountains, Colorado
Posts: 1,964
RE: New direction! Too bad too!
elknut1,
Wow,
Sounds like the camp may be set up for a fairly long time and then people kinda come and go in a "staggered" fashion.
Is it on private property so you don't have to worry about your stuff?
I may not understand, but.... if you don't hunt out of a camp, then where do you hunt out of? --- do a woodsy overnight so you can hunt the "honey hole" with ease the next morning?
In terms of logistics....
Who sets it all up? Who tears it down, packs it up, and takes it home, cleans it up, makes repairs, and then stores it until the next year?
Just trying to understand a situation that appears to have been made "painless."
EKM
Wow,
Sounds like the camp may be set up for a fairly long time and then people kinda come and go in a "staggered" fashion.
Is it on private property so you don't have to worry about your stuff?
I may not understand, but.... if you don't hunt out of a camp, then where do you hunt out of? --- do a woodsy overnight so you can hunt the "honey hole" with ease the next morning?
In terms of logistics....
Who sets it all up? Who tears it down, packs it up, and takes it home, cleans it up, makes repairs, and then stores it until the next year?
Just trying to understand a situation that appears to have been made "painless."
EKM
11-11-2004, 09:44 PM
#16
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location:
Posts: 815
RE: New direction! Too bad too!
yeah it can suck. One year we took some peolpe with us (usually just family) elk hunting. Three to be exact. A couple and their 20ish son. It snowed pretty heavy and the parents decided to stay at the trailhead in their camper trailer and the kid rode w/ us for two days then left, while we spike camped and rode, hunted stalked, packed, walk, and hiked our butts off for two weeks. then, when we got 3 elk (me, my brother, and dad) they wanted 1/2 the meat as they had three of the six tags in camp!! My dad gave em about 50lbs of meat and told em that was all they got for sitting in a camper.
11-11-2004, 10:54 PM
#17
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: McCall Idaho USA
Posts: 753
RE: New direction! Too bad too!
ekm---No, we are not on private property, it's BLM land on public land, anyone can access it!! Yes we do set it up early, My son and I usually set the whole camp up everyear around Aug. 15th to Oct. 15th, sometimes a little later depending on a few friends that want to rifle hunt.
My son and I (Bowelkdown) go in around the 15th of Aug. and weed eat the entire camp area, about a 1/4 acre for tents and shootting lanes to practice with our bows out to 70yds, as the grasses can reach 3' in the area with ease. So yes, to retererate, my son and I set up the complete camp, and love doing it. As far as repairs, there are really nothing to speak of. We all contribute to getting wood and getting things stocked up!
My son and I take care and store the smaller tents and my brother in-law takes care of the 16x20 tent. It works out great. We all work together, some do more than others but that's human nature.
As far as where we hunt, we do it randomly. I pre-scout aprox. 15 different spots each year miles away from camp, so everyone knows about where they're going. We talk all this out nightly so who's ever in camp is not in the dark come morning. You have to remember that we hunt elk by vocialization, so it's easier to go out and locate and go from there. But hunting from camp is basically out of the question because of many other camps in the vicinity. Heh, but we have confidence in our abilities and it shows in our success.
Our camp is a little different than yours that I've seen here on the site, we don't cut meat up in camp, we hang it, and whoever harvests it, then it's theirs, we don't split up meat. It's never been a problem, so I'm sure it'll stay that way!! Thanks--Paul
My son and I (Bowelkdown) go in around the 15th of Aug. and weed eat the entire camp area, about a 1/4 acre for tents and shootting lanes to practice with our bows out to 70yds, as the grasses can reach 3' in the area with ease. So yes, to retererate, my son and I set up the complete camp, and love doing it. As far as repairs, there are really nothing to speak of. We all contribute to getting wood and getting things stocked up!
My son and I take care and store the smaller tents and my brother in-law takes care of the 16x20 tent. It works out great. We all work together, some do more than others but that's human nature.
As far as where we hunt, we do it randomly. I pre-scout aprox. 15 different spots each year miles away from camp, so everyone knows about where they're going. We talk all this out nightly so who's ever in camp is not in the dark come morning. You have to remember that we hunt elk by vocialization, so it's easier to go out and locate and go from there. But hunting from camp is basically out of the question because of many other camps in the vicinity. Heh, but we have confidence in our abilities and it shows in our success.
Our camp is a little different than yours that I've seen here on the site, we don't cut meat up in camp, we hang it, and whoever harvests it, then it's theirs, we don't split up meat. It's never been a problem, so I'm sure it'll stay that way!! Thanks--Paul
11-11-2004, 11:11 PM
#18
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Rocky Mountains, Colorado
Posts: 1,964
RE: New direction! Too bad too!
NVMIKE,
IMHO, your dad was MORE than generous!
Yep, that is the all-to-common cross section of what I've run into out there.
They talk a good game, then comes the whimpy, clueless behavior. First comes the "I'm waiting for you to keep me entertained" attitude, next is the "I'm tired and I hurt all over [doesn't everyone?] so I need an exemption", followed by "Oh by the way, we want a 'full share' (or more) for our trouble before we head home early" and then finally "Good luck packing up camp, we changed our mind about participating in that part, as I've had a million and one (B.S.) items come up back home that I have to get back to attend to." (I bet they'd find a way to "handle it" if they had paid $3,500 for a hunt with an outfitter!)
Most of that was before I wrote up how the set up, the camp, the hunt, the pack out, the butchering, the meat split and the tear down works and provide a copy in advance to everyone that goes and confirm with them that they understand it. Still run into too much of the "I'm special/different" B.S. and the "but, but, but ...."
(I guess illiteracy/selective memory must be more widespread than I thought.)
Ah well, problem solved, door closed, opportunity gone, adios, fin, nada....
As BeaverJack would say, "No more pink arsed mama's boys!" (PAMB's)
Close ranks.... Less is more.... Everyone competent and pulling their own weight, what a concept..... ahhhhh!
EKM
IMHO, your dad was MORE than generous!
Yep, that is the all-to-common cross section of what I've run into out there.
They talk a good game, then comes the whimpy, clueless behavior. First comes the "I'm waiting for you to keep me entertained" attitude, next is the "I'm tired and I hurt all over [doesn't everyone?] so I need an exemption", followed by "Oh by the way, we want a 'full share' (or more) for our trouble before we head home early" and then finally "Good luck packing up camp, we changed our mind about participating in that part, as I've had a million and one (B.S.) items come up back home that I have to get back to attend to." (I bet they'd find a way to "handle it" if they had paid $3,500 for a hunt with an outfitter!)
Most of that was before I wrote up how the set up, the camp, the hunt, the pack out, the butchering, the meat split and the tear down works and provide a copy in advance to everyone that goes and confirm with them that they understand it. Still run into too much of the "I'm special/different" B.S. and the "but, but, but ...."
(I guess illiteracy/selective memory must be more widespread than I thought.)
Ah well, problem solved, door closed, opportunity gone, adios, fin, nada....
As BeaverJack would say, "No more pink arsed mama's boys!" (PAMB's)
Close ranks.... Less is more.... Everyone competent and pulling their own weight, what a concept..... ahhhhh!
EKM
11-12-2004, 07:24 AM
#19
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Rocky Mountains, Colorado
Posts: 1,964
RE: New direction! Too bad too!
elknut1,
That is what my wife and I thought one year some time ago on the last day of a 5 day season when we were the last ones in camp and were looking at a couple thousand pounds of stuff to pack up. Finished hunting the 5th day. Had it packed up by 7 pm the next day, made it in to Craig at 9pm too tired to drive another mile, thank god Holiday Inn had one room left.
The rules stiffened up real quick after that hose job. Haven't had that problem since. I would posit that bowhunters are, on balance, a more hardy/industrious lot than rifle hunters. By comparison rifle hunting is an easy, low skill, high tech, "magic wand"/"anyone can do it" way of taking an elk and IMHO tends to attract a less hardy/more impatient/"I want it now or I'm out of here" following....
Ah well, we'll see how it goes hunting with just the "Marines" next year.
EKM
"..... some do more than others but that's human nature...."
The rules stiffened up real quick after that hose job. Haven't had that problem since. I would posit that bowhunters are, on balance, a more hardy/industrious lot than rifle hunters. By comparison rifle hunting is an easy, low skill, high tech, "magic wand"/"anyone can do it" way of taking an elk and IMHO tends to attract a less hardy/more impatient/"I want it now or I'm out of here" following....
Ah well, we'll see how it goes hunting with just the "Marines" next year.
EKM
11-12-2004, 07:31 AM
#20
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Elizabeth Colo. USA
Posts: 4,413
RE: New direction! Too bad too!
It's been my experience that the bad apples seem to weed themselves out. Where we hunt, we have to pack the animals back to camp, and this job alone will weed out the "weak links" pretty quick. We had a guy ride up from N.M. with my brother. This guy got lucky and killed a nice 5x5. We all helped, actually did most of, the pack job. After they got back to N.M., the guy invited my brother over for 1 elk supper, and that was it, he kept the rest of the meat. He never paid for any gas or anything. Needless to say, he got weeded out after just one trip.
On the flip side of the "horror" stories, my family did invite three new guys this year, and it worked out great. It really helped that the three new guys also brought along 2 mules and a horse, so packing meat became a "fun" part of the hunt, instead of the "hard" part of the hunt. Everyone killed this year, 7 for 7, so Needless to say, they will be invited back for as long as they want to come along. I almost would've given up my trip to AK to elk hunt if I'd known how things were going to turn out, NOT!
Sometimes you get lucky and find a few good apples in the bunch!
On the flip side of the "horror" stories, my family did invite three new guys this year, and it worked out great. It really helped that the three new guys also brought along 2 mules and a horse, so packing meat became a "fun" part of the hunt, instead of the "hard" part of the hunt. Everyone killed this year, 7 for 7, so Needless to say, they will be invited back for as long as they want to come along. I almost would've given up my trip to AK to elk hunt if I'd known how things were going to turn out, NOT!
Sometimes you get lucky and find a few good apples in the bunch!