Ethics regarding spot "sleuthing" - what's your take?

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
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I shot a cow elk and gave the coordinates to my brother over the radio. Two hours later, a guy walks right to us across a big meadow. Lesson learned!
That was nice of the guy to come help with the pack out.

I don't watch many video's but I've seen pics posted in magazines and even on here that I immediately recognized, as I've hunted those same areas as well.
 

Bighorse

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There is no reasonable expectation of privacy on social media, so no, I would have no problem using public information to my advantage. If they wanted it to be private they should have resisted the urge to engage in self promotion.
I’m not asking you to self promote but curious how many times you have successfully used this tactic? Im willing to admit that in the lower 48 there’s opportunity to be found after cross referencing land use issues and sub unit game regulations and parking/trailhead concerns.
 

Marbles

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I’m not asking you to self promote but curious how many times you have successfully used this tactic? Im willing to admit that in the lower 48 there’s opportunity to be found after cross referencing land use issues and sub unit game regulations and parking/trailhead concerns.
Never. I don't consume enough social media. Nor have I tried to use it.

Well, I have gotten ideas from Rokslide, but that is not dranage specific, more along the lines of "there are a lot of bears around Hope, AK."
 

ODB

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I have a follow up question for everyone. Who has actually done this and how did the hunt turn out?

Have only scouted an area. It was a place Ryan Callaghan hunted. I recognized it immediately as I’d been close to the area many times. Didn’t see anything.
 

hh76

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I have a follow up question for everyone. Who has actually done this and how did the hunt turn out?
Not exactly, but close. Years ago a bigger buck was shot in a nearby public area. I ran into a friend of a friend who spends a lot of time in the area, and he told me where he thought it was shot. I added the spot to my mental list of areas to scout, and when I had time, I walked through. I didn't go there specifically because someone told me there would be big deer, but because someone told me about what they thought was a decent area. I didn't end up hunting the exact area, but my scouting did add a couple of places for possible hunts.
 
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My assumption is that many people talk about knowing where a location is, but really only because they have been there before. I doubt too many people are getting their locations from YouTube and searching for those locations, to actively hunt there. I can see it being a fun game to try and find out where a location is, just don't think too many people are actually following up on it. But I could be wrong.
 

Bighorse

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I guess, I’ve used it too for intel but more broad too
Like… oh look the Koyukuk continues to produce big bulls
Or wow Etolin is still rocky
Or fun… DCuA is putting out fine rams
Or damn! Kodiak bears are still big
Then like others I’m looking at minute details of habitats
 

ODB

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My assumption is that many people talk about knowing where a location is, but really only because they have been there before. I doubt too many people are getting their locations from YouTube and searching for those locations, to actively hunt there. I can see it being a fun game to try and find out where a location is, just don't think too many people are actually following up on it. But I could be wrong.
Kind of. Out of curiosity and boredom I have located many spots from the meateater shows in states I’ve never hunted. I literally have the lat/longs to them in my Onx.

would I take the time to plan a hunt there? Hell yes. But time is harder to find sometimes than great places to hunt. So I’ll stick where I am for the moment - that being Idaho, it ain’t all that bad.

I will say that even rinella has said he’s a phone call away from good spots. The ranch hunts are an example - you and I ain’t rolling up on one and shooting an antelope/elk, etc. he can do it in an instant.

Now, which is more or less “ethical”? Neither. But calling a friend for a hot spot is a hell of a lot less work than ferreting out and then scouting an area found on some show as a starting point.
 

WCB

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I have a follow up question for everyone. Who has actually done this and how did the hunt turn out?
The instance I mentioned above about "overhearing" a guy at the Cafe and him flashing his ONX for the world to see to some local ranchers....Went in there 2 days later and played cat and mouse with 3 bull elk all day. Had everyone inside 50 yards but no shot opportunities. Ran into 1 other guy not related to the guy in the Cafe that day and some locals the next day...again no relation to loud mouth in cafe.

I also saw a hunt on the Tube from an area I had a tag for. The hunt on the Tube was an Antelope hunt and I had a deer tag. They showed and mentioned seeing some good Mule Deer bucks in it while hunting goats. There was a 10 second clip of them showing there phone with ONX on it. I had that spot pin pointed in 10 minutes just from the shape of the public. I hunted it for deer and came up empty handed.
 
OP
J
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My assumption is that many people talk about knowing where a location is, but really only because they have been there before. I doubt too many people are getting their locations from YouTube and searching for those locations, to actively hunt there. I can see it being a fun game to try and find out where a location is, just don't think too many people are actually following up on it. But I could be wrong.
My criteria is that I have to at least recognize the country. In the case of my video it’s pretty unique looking, there’s only a handful of places like that. Then I seen the landscape shot and it was like oh yep I’m pretty sure that’s notellum peak… a Google earth visit revealed not only the area in question but because of the angle of the shot it revealed exactly the knob they were perched on too.

I have found some guys(Randy Newberg) spring bear hunting spot just for fun. They talk about it being DIY and how you can do it too but the area they were hunting was all private… imagine that! “You can do this too, all you gotta do is know the landowner and get permission and you can have a hunt like this!”
 

GSPHUNTER

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Never had the occasion to use tactic because I have never seen any pictures which showed any real location land marks. If it's a general picture with random back ground, well, most hills and trees look all the same. Now if it's a picture of a place I hunt called, "hole in the rock", now that would be a dead give away to anyone familiar with that area, but once again it would need to show that specific land mark, not just surrounding area.
 
OP
J
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Never had the occasion to use tactic because I have never seen any pictures which showed any real location land marks. If it's a general picture with random back ground, well, most hills and trees look all the same. Now if it's a picture of a place I hunt called, "hole in the rock", now that would be a dead give away to anyone familiar with that area, but once again it would need to show that specific land mark, not just surrounding area.
Damn now I gotta start furiously googling “hole in the rock”

see you there next season buddy! 😂😂😂
 

GSPHUNTER

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Damn now I gotta start furiously googling “hole in the rock”

see you there next season buddy! 😂😂😂
Good Chukar area. You won't find me there these days, my Chukar hunting days are behind my old ass. Devil bird. It is one of those exact spots in the "hole in the wall" area which is kind of hard to find but when you find a hole, in A big boulder, you are there. Hence the name.
 

TX_Diver

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I have been fishing off the cost of Cal. When we are near one of the islands and we always make sure any pictures we plan on posting online do not have islands in back ground.

Everyone I know always fished at ship rock lol...
 

Doc Holliday

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I’ve been saying this for awhile too -

people who ask for handout spots who have no idea what they’re doing aren’t gonna magically become good hunters. If you don’t know how to hunt said animal in the first place it doesn’t matter how good of a spot you’ve got - odds are you’ll end up pushing the animals out and you’re right back to square one!
Bingo. I live in Florida and people who had enough money to buy a boat but don't know how to fish or use the boat post up on forums asking for numbers and even offering to pay. Numbers don't matter if you don't know how to fish.
 

TX_Diver

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At the west end of the Island of no fish. Too much boat traffic.

I know a few people who actually dove it... but otherwise I think that's why it was always the spot posted in every report.

Few guys I knew actually stopped there to take their pics in front of it on a trip once... :ROFLMAO:
 

ScottR_EHJ

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I'll bite on this and hopefully because of some of the experiences that I/we here have had it helps. First and foremost, if you post a picture with distinguishable features, somebody will try to "sleuth" it. For that reason we started cutting out ridges in the journals years ago.

Rule number one, do your best not to show specific ridgelines. I hunt public for many hunts I have been involved in filming. My goal is to "do no harm" so to speak and not screw it up for the others who have also hunted there for years. I have intentionally not hunted the same areas for that reason, move around often and you will keep people guessing. The more people who know your spot over time the more easy it is for people to "sleuth" as well. I've always called it chasing other people's ghosts.

The sentiment on here that guys who chase other people's spots tend to not be great hunters, well that is probably true in the case of resident hunters. Non-Residents, well that can be a different story as they won't be able to hot spot every year hoping to stumble on a buck. They tend to work hard to capitalize and will stay in a spot longer to get it done. Whether they went in themselves and found the spot or found it on the latest episode of something on YouTube.

That said, easiest way to stop worrying about that is don't post pics with ridgelines and hunt multiple locations. If the "sleuth" army invades your spot go to the next hole because you know that you scouted it yourself. I spend as much time scouting bucks as I do actually hunting them and NEVER have all of my eggs in one basket. I packed up and moved my entire camp multiple times in the 2020 season to end up with the buck I did. One basin had PLENTY of people, others not so much.

If there are a bunch of people in one area chances are there are spots they left that don't have much pressure. If there are too many people in one spot, the next year there will be likely be fewer as more people look for new locations. And it goes on and on and on...find your spots, find your backups and out hunt the guys that are chasing other people's spots rather than the animals themselves.
 
OP
J
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I think if I were going to actually use that kind of information directly to my advantage(I.e. I’m gonna go to the same area) I’d probably hop a drainage or two over.

While it’s public land, and they’ve essentially outed their spot, it’s still a spot they busted their ass finding… and everyone else who recognizes it/finds it will be on those same rocks anyway.
 
Joined
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I love the argument the guys who actively ruin spots on social media use to justify it.
"Yeah it's hard to get into! If they want to do it then more power to them. It's public land."

There's always going to be someone more determined and "hardcore" than you.
They will go into your spots. They will outwork you.

Then there's no one to blame, but you when you start seeing those dudes in your favorite spot that you used to farm validation on social media with.

Other people will then open the spots even more. They'll cut trail, they'll cut roads. They don't give a shit.
They want an easy button.
Then they'll bitch about how "there used to be no one in these spots".

This one's good too..
"It's public land, man" a shit tier guide says as he gets paid minimum wage to teach people who will never need to hire him again how to hunt public spots that he was taught by the last outfitter who fired him, or friends who trust them not to whore out their areas.
Then brags online about it to sate his ego.

That said..
**** yeah I'm going to use your trail camera photos with all those hashtags to scout for me. Less time checking cameras for me, I can scout other spots while you do the work for me in those spots.
**** yeah I'm going to add your spot to my list of plans to kill shit in if needed.

Loose lips sink ships.

Take the time to crop photos. Take the time to adjust angles of the photos. Some shit doesn't need to go online.
 
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