Odd Encounters...

Labs

Labs

Well-known member
I'm curious of others get approached by random strangers in the field, requesting to hunt with you. I've had this happen twice in the last two seasons and am not sure what to make of it. The most recent was ND resident opening day. My wife, two of our labs, and I were first truck at a PLOTS a few minutes from the house waiting for shooting light. Just before, a convoy of three trucks pull up to us and one guy approaches. He says they're from town, don't have dogs, and requested to hunt with us. I was taken aback by that. I told him no (for safety I don't hunt with people I don't know and even then NMT 4 total). He then asked if I minded if his group posted at the other end of the PLOTS. I told him I had no right to tell him not to (one of my pet peeves is people that do this, but it was public land). This guy seemed just an average Joe, but last year we had a lone guy approach and ask us the same thing, who had an entirely different vibe. I'm retired LE and everything about that dude put my old cop instincts on alert...
 
I've had it happen 3 times, accepted the offer once. The first time I was a new hunter, only my 2nd year going. Pulled by a spot at a complex and talked to some other hunters who were at their vehicles. 3 guys, all very nice and new to hunting as well. They invited me to hunt with them, and I politely declined because I thought it'd be easier for me and the dog to learn hunting by ourselves. A second time there were three of us in a truck and two dogs, waiting on 9 am in MN the weekend after thanksgiving. Guy pulls into the lot with us, rolls down window and starts small talking us. Says his buddy should pull up any minute. 20 minutes later his buddy never shows, this guy doesn't have a dog, and asks to tag along. We declined. The last time was MN opener 2 years ago. I got to a spot really early, then a guy rolls up 15 minutes before the bell. He said all his other spots were taken and asked to hunt with me. He had his own dog. I said that's fine, it's a big enough spot, and we agreed to cut the field in half.
 
What struck me about the most recent situation is it seemed like SOP for that guy/group. No preamble or small talk, just straight to can we hunt over your dogs. Not at all like a couple guys at a parking area talking over who was going where on a PLOTS so as not to step on each other's hunts. That guy last year, everything about him put me in alert...
 
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I'd be very skeptical of a random other hunter's safety, not to mention their dog's ability/training too. There's a lot of nutjobs out there and when there's firearms involved, safety is more important to me than anything else.

That being said, in the rare event I encounter another hunter, I go somewhere else and I would expect the same in return.
 
Standard answer is no but there was this time a couple high school kids were hunting a field we got permission for. For some reason we ended up hunting together then we went to their grand parents property. They were really solid kids and we saw them once the next year but lost track. I just mentioned this weekend how I hoped they were doing well.
 
About 10 or so years ago, my wife & I ran into a
group of 6 guys from Wisconsin - they were really struggling & asked if they could hunt with us - not convenient for us, but we could tell they were demoralized - so we said sure & told them the public spot to meet us at the next morning it turned out great! I think they all ended up getting a bird - they were so thankful - a very rewarding experience with a nice group of guys - we’ve had a few singles join us over the years, unexpectedly, but went well. We ran into a couple guys last year, in the field - one of them lives about 5 miles from us - now that was a first!
 
Hasn't really happened in years & years. That said, at certain times of the season, I'm known to hunt ditches somewhat regularly. Well, in one area, there's this guy who drives around with his lab all the time (mostly road hunting I think), whom I've run into several times while I'm hunting a ditch & he happens to drive by (unless he's stalking me). Well last year once, he stopped to chat as I was hunting a ditch. He said he had permission on the ground right across the road & offered to let me & Ace hunt a little draw with him, maybe a 15-20 minute little jaunt. He's a nice guy & seemed excited to have someone to hunt with, so the draw could be pinched properly. So we did it. We saw about 5 hens, I got a rooster, & nobody got shot, so it was worth it. That said, if he wanted to hunt a larger public spot with me, I'd probably let him have it & go find my own.
 
Seems like for the last few years, at least once a year someone’s dog wants to hunt with the amigos and myself. Typically it’s on a large piece of public land with its owner screaming for it to return. Dispute my encouragement to return to their owners, they always stick with my pack. Not sure if they enjoy hunting with us better or if they feel I need all of the support I can get. The last three encounters they have loaded in the truck with the amigos and required a ride around to the other end of the section to the return of their owners.
 
If they share the same county license plate number I usually don't have a problem having a tag along. Although last summer I had 2 sketchy looking guys come up and ask to shoot my shotguns while I was shooting clay at north point rec area. That was a hard no response
 
That1uncle1776 said:
If they share the same county license plate number I usually don't have a problem having a tag along. Although last summer I had 2 sketchy looking guys come up and ask to shoot my shotguns while I was shooting clay at north point rec area. That was a hard no response
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People are weird. I may stop and watch someone shooting in a public area but who walks up and asks to shoot your gun?
 
I’ve offered to hunt with lone hunters on several occasions. One was a dentist stationed at Offit air force base in Nebraska. He was alone without a dog and I had a talented Springer. We saw some birds and got some shooting in. He was thrilled and I offered to hunt with him again. 15 years later I got an email from him commenting on how much he enjoyed those hunts. He’s in Montana now. I met another guy hunting alone with his Springer and suggested we team up. We ended up hunting with each other for a number of years. I prefer hunting alone with my dog and occasionally will add one hunter.
 
15 or so years ago my wife and I were hunting public land out of state. We had shot several roosters that day and stopped for dinner in a steakhouse. My wife, who is not shy struck up a conversation with another hunter having dinner. He said he had been hunting a couple days and hadn’t had much luck and without asking me invited him to hunt with us the next day. He kept kissing his fingers and moving his hand away from his mouth when he described his dog, a GSP said said “primo” many times. I gave my wife hell for inviting him when we left the restaurant.
We met up with him the next morning and he followed us to an area I had scouted previously. I wanted to hunt it a specific way and he started to argue about how we should hunt the area, so I told him I was going to hunt it my way and he could accompany us or go find another place to hunt. My wife punched me in the ribs and told me to be nice! On our walk in his GSP ran past a clump of grass and my dog walked up and pointed. I asked him if he wanted to take the point and he told me there was nothing there because his dog had ran by. I walked up and shot a rooster from my dog’s point.
We got to the area we were hunting, CRP in a valley about 400 yards wide with a ditch in the middle. My plan was to hunt one side down and the other side back. His dog took off on a dead run and he screamed “here, here, here” without effect. Pheasants were busting all of the way down the valley but we hunted down to the end anyway. Down at the end we found a covey of quail that my dogs pointed and I let him shoot and I think he shot 12 or 14 times without so much as a single quail. After that I made some flimsy excuse so my wife and I could leave him and his primo dog.
She has never invited anyone without discussing it with me since then!
 
My long-standing policy is that I'll fish with anyone, but I'll only hunt with people I know really, really well. There's too much at stake and I'm too old to take chances like that anymore. (Before adopting this policy I saw/experienced some very bad situations, including one that was tragic for a dog.)
 
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The worst thing that could happen is to have some dogless rando you're being nice to by letting him hunt with you shoot your dog. That would be a memory hard to live with and would never go away.
 
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