Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting ultimate dissapointment while elk hunting

thats one reason some guys bring their older friends and wives that really don,t hunt much, but prefer to basically relax around camp, read and drink a few beers out in the mountains as it tends to add some camp security that tends to prevent things like that from happening.
I have a friend that booked a drop camp for elk hunting,in remote Colorado area near gunnison, he was 20 plus miles back from paved roads and came back to camp on opening day at dusk to find not only all his camping gear like the tent, coolers, generator, and sleeping bags gone, but the truck they rented had been parked near camp was up on fire wood stumps, and missing a battery , tires and radiator...it sucks but a few people are total scum, and we have to realize that!

no! they never caught the guys, and he spent much of the rest of his hunt talking to game department cops and rental car guys and freezing his butt off using a cheap sporting goods store sleeping bag and pup tent so he never got an elk, and would not have been able to do much with one if he had gotten one!

I'm pretty sure he was saying he'd be afraid someone would do that to him, not that he would shoot somebody.

I never leave my downed elk/deer in the woods or in camp unattended-ever.
I don't leave them for one second.

I usually kill my elk or deer about two miles from my home and drag them home whole--even if the hair gets skidded off the hide driving down a gravel road, I couldn't care less.

Humans are low creatures and I don't trust other hunters in the woods-never have and never will.
Have had enough cameras and treestands stolen to not trust a one.

A whole elk two miles? Are you using horses or steroids?

I don't think that's the ultimate dissapointment. I can think of lots of things that would be worse than that, but that would be dissapointing. What a cheap shot!

I've never left a whole skinned elk hanging in camp. They have always been quartered and bagged and the backstraps and tenderloins were in a cooler.

KC

At the trailhead we often use there are two outfitters we see there every year. One of them has been a great neighbor to us over the passing years.

During opening weekend that trailhead/basecamp is pretty empty the first few days with everyone out either hunting or residing in spike camps. As the week progresses the base camp sees more traffic with hunters resupplying or bringing out animals.

Some years ago our outfitter friend returned to find all of the tires flattened on one of his large horse trailers. Word of that spread quickly among the elk camps. The prime suspect became a vehicle that had been seen there from the local mountain college and seemed out of place up there. According to the witness, among the common stickers that block the rear windows of those small 4wd's (celebrate diversity, Save the Whales, Clinton/Gore) there were also some more activist ones like ELF and Greenpeace.

Most of us guess that they drove up there to engage in some other outdoor rectration, got angry because the area was loaded with hunters, and vented on the largest vehicle they could find there.

It is one thing to have some vandalism by some stupid college kids. Somehow it bugs me more when it occurs at the hands of ... I'll call them meat scavengers - because they don't deserve the title of hunters or sportsmen.

1) Lots of guys believe that leaving the meat on the bone, at least until rigor mortis sets in, results in more tender meat. Has to do with muscle fibers contracting if they're taken off the bone too soon.

2) Because you had another tag to fill, and assumed that people would stay the hell out of your camp.

To me the question should be, why on earth would you take the risk of sneaking into someone's camp and getting caught red-handed by people who are armed to the teeth and obviously good enough shots to have one hanging? Not to mention that you'd have to be pretty much a scum-sucking low-life to be able to enjoy eating meat gotten that way.

Having said that, I know a guy who had all his meat stolen from a trailhead, it was cut up and in coolers in the back of his truck. And I've had my gas tank siphoned at the trailhead while hunting, but like I said, stealing stuff from guys who are armed and could come down the trail at any moment is not the province of MENSA candidates.

killed a cow elk close to camp .had it gutted and taged went for help got back in about 1/2 hour some SOB got and pulled the ivory .george

My bro in law killed a big mule deer 4x4. He hung it in his FENCED backyard over night. It was gone the next day. He drove around town and saw it hanging in a tree in a guys backyard. He snuck in and stole it back that night. Pretty gutsy on both accounts, but it was a huge buck.

I have had a 2 point bull taken from me at gun point by three guys that needed it worse than I did. Two year later I had a 29 inch 4x4 buck taken from me at gun point by three guys. Scumbags are everywhere! Flinch

Dude, where the crap do you hunt that your kills are getting taken by gunpoint?

Mt Hood!

I could see gun play being involved in a hunting camp theivery. You have to defend yourself and your property, and a person willing to enter a camp and steal an elk is probably carrying weapons.

What a horrible scenario. What if they had returned to catch them in the act? I don't think any of us would just let them off, but would you want to come to blows over it? Then its not to far a jump to gun play. Its just a really bad situation.

I read a book where 1 in 20 people are sociopaths. Makes sense.

Why would anyone want game taken by someone else. Personally I'd have zero interest.

You must be one unlucky son of a buck, I have never heard of anybody being robbed of game at gun point, much less twice.

I wouldn't put anything past a Utard when it comes to hunting.

like i mentioned in a different post- new laws in Kaibab NF state you cannot have a vechile more than 30 ft from the rd.( unless recovering a downed animal) welcome to paralell parking in our national forest.

if you obey the law your elk/deer is basically hanging in the rd. u see camp empty -

it's easy when u can hear if any vechiles r comin - u have very easy access and escape

Flinch where do you hunt? I've hunted all over Utah, Wyoming, Idaho,Colorado and New Mexico and never had a problem.

I hunt all over the United States as well, but Utah is where both situations happened. I was deep in the bush when it happened. I guess they felt like there wouldn't be any witnesses and a lone hunter was easy prey. The one group was from California. They had shot 3 dink bucks and tagged out. When they saw the the 29" buck I killed, they HAD to have it.

The other group had a young punk kid in it. He claimed he shot the elk I was already on and killed (one bullet hole in it and I shot it at 10 yards...no question who killed it). His dad and brother rode up on horses, chambered rounds in their rifles and said, "We will take it from here, that is my son's bull!" I showed them the one bullet hole from the direction I killed it and the blood trail. They got REALLY upset and said, "We ain't kidding, get out of here!" I told them to choke on it and walked off. Flinch

Good on you for taking the high road.
I'm not sure I could control my temper under those same circumstances.