Other hunters hunting the same ground at the same time.

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dirtytough

Active member
I had read 1trkyhntr’s post about the death in VA earlier this week. Hardly ever have I ran into anyone while night hunting. I went out last night and first stand someone else started calling it after I was setup calling.

I was setup on a long gradual finger ridge about 425 yards from the road. I was barely off the south side facing east.

I heard weird echoes after a few minutes and shut off my call. It ended up being another caller. I had seen two heat signatures I thought might have been deer facing me at about my 7 o’clock. I wasn’t sure though cause I was kinda looking through the grass at the top of the little finger ridge. Ended up being them.

Once I realized it was two other hunters the VA tragedy popped into my head. Here I am occasionally visible in the tall grass. A lot of people only use a weapon mounted thermal to scan with. And lots can’t afford 640 or better thermals.

It freaked me out. Not going to lie. I ended up laying down, rolling over and dragging my stuff further off the south edge of the finger ridge. I walked the little valley back.

When I got in my truck I drove up and they were in their truck already. They had seen my truck but decided to call it anyway he said. He didn’t know if it was a hunter or what.

I don’t know how many times different scenarios of me getting shot ran through my head while I sat there and decided what to do. It was a lot though.

Anyone else deal with other hunters rolling up and hunting the same section?
 
I started night hunting around 2019, since then I've had one instance where I went to pull into a property to hunt and like always I scanned the feild with my monocular from the road edge and noticed a vehicle parked back the lane, further investigation i noticed 3 people standing with guns all on tripods on the feild edge that was all looking back at me as well lol so I eased back out and continued to my next hunting spot.. the following day I contacted land owner to see who else had permission to be hunting, they said I was the only one that should have been back there... other than that I've only ever had 1 sheriff that pulled back to my truck and ruined a good setup because a neighbor from across the road reported a suspicious vehicle pulled into the feild and turned it headlights off once I got off the road but he said once his headlights hit my truck and he seen the magnetic sign on tailgate that said "coyote hunter" along with my name & hunter ID # that he really hated to disturb me after I packed up and walked back to my truck to see what was going on but he had to do his job when they made the report. Said he would explain to the neighbor that I was legally hunting with landowner permission and most likely would see me back again at somepoint, he apologized once again and said good luck hunting the rest of the night
 
That's one big advantage of leases. You know if and whom might be on the property at any given time. The ranches I hunt have gate guards and I always ask if anyone else logged in when arriving at gate. Not a lot of turnover year to year and we pretty well know each others' MO. ETA: Back when I did some night hunting, I was the only one w/permission to do so, but day or night, it is great knowing with whom you share a pasture.
 
Where I am, I've never encountered another coyote hunter. But, I have a concern about people poaching deer at night here. It is legal to shine lights after 11 P.M. until 1/2 hour before sunrise. This usually only occurs from early September to about Thanksgiving even though the season for deer runs until Jan.1. When a vehicle stops at night to scan a field that I'm in, I immediately turn on my helmet mounted light as bright as it will go and shine it directly at them. You never know if they are just looking for deer or intending to poach. I've never encountered anyone that I could tell was poaching, but the possibility does exist. For that reason, we try to stay away from easily accessible fields bordering roadways during those months and hunt in more remote locations.

We once setup on a field and looked back and blue lights were all around our truck located about half a mile away. We rode back to the deputies who were thinking we might be involved in drug trafficking they had been trying to catch going on in that field. When we rode up on our electric bikes we notified them we were coming in. When they looked at our gear, their reply was "You guys have got us outgunned." We all had a good laugh, but after that I would always call the sheriff and let him know when we intended to call that particular field.
 
While the ranches I night hunted on were very large and almost no chance anyone would call in, I always gave the game warden a courtesy call the day before and told him I would be hunting coyotes and where. Never had any issues that way, but hunting behind locked gates didn't hurt anything, either.
 
I used to run into other predator hunters in central WA all the time. Only a few weeks in the rest of my travels. I only hunt days.
 
So I’m not sure if I ran into another hunter a few weeks back but I was about an half mile off a road and just got set up. Scanned before running the call and there was a human figure walking around out in the distance (even further from the road than me). No light or anything but definitely a human.

This spots about 20 miles from the nearest town. No vehicle in the area and no nearby farm.

I picked up the call and got out of there quick. Never heard a call or shots but it freaked me out too.
 
Duhhh said:
So I’m not sure if I ran into another hunter a few weeks back but I was about an half mile off a road and just got set up. Scanned before running the call and there was a human figure walking around out in the distance (even further from the road than me). No light or anything but definitely a human.

This spots about 20 miles from the nearest town. No vehicle in the area and no nearby farm.

I picked up the call and got out of there quick. Never heard a call or shots but it freaked me out too.
Click to expand...
Looking for a downed coyote maybe?
 
Hasn't happened yet at night, but it's bound to sooner or later. I've heard several other shots at night this year for the first time.
When it does I'll be like DoubleUp and turn the helmet light on and shine they're way.
Daytime out-of-state rifle deer hunters, whole different story!
 
Glad I hunt private property. That reduces the chances of running into other people but it's not 100%... I've arrested quite a few night poachers over the years... it pays to be a Deputy in the county where I hunt.

No way in hell I'd step foot on public property with thermal being as available as it is today. At least with NV you can wear a beacon... but thermal, it's just a heat signature at times partially obstructed by trees, brush, etc., and we see what that brings.
 
dirtytough said:
Looking for a downed coyote maybe?
Click to expand...
Maybe. No clue where else they could have got into that portion of land, besides where I parked. At the time, the wuss in me was thinking a ghost lol. That’s the first “person” I’ve run into while coyote hunting across 5 states now.

But on a real note, one of the first times I went out with the thermal. I was in a plot of land with horses. Had a horse pop just its head over a hill. It was skylined and it looked like a coyote sitting at a quick glance. Was a bit over 300 yards. Once I realized it was a horse, it really drove home the fact of needing positive ID.
 
Duhhh said:
So I’m not sure if I ran into another hunter a few weeks back but I was about an half mile off a road and just got set up. Scanned before running the call and there was a human figure walking around out in the distance (even further from the road than me). No light or anything but definitely a human.

This spots about 20 miles from the nearest town. No vehicle in the area and no nearby farm.

I picked up the call and got out of there quick. Never heard a call or shots but it freaked me out too.
Click to expand...
Bigfoot?
 
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