My son burned max points to get the tag this year. I had it in 2019. We were there for the last five days, with him filling his tag yesterday.
Not sure if you have hunted or scouted this area before. It's a pretty easy area to figure out with a little research. And yeah, it was crowded as hell, given there was no snow, no migration to speak of, and it seemed many tag holders had multiple vehicles there. For folks hunting the boundary like you were, that puts a lot of people within a few miles of each other, all on BLM or State Trust Land.
As for you pitching a fit about us filming at mid-day, it was 1:00 pm when you started yelling, I don't even know for sure what you said, as you were far away and the wind was blowing. Marcus told me you were pissed about something. So, we packed up, I waved to you and yelled "Good luck."
We then drove up to another glassing knob way above your spot. It was then I could see your white truck tucked away on the south/west side of the rock ridge, of which we were filming down below 300' in elevation, on the north/east side. Your rig was not visible from the main road going down into Long Draw to that spot.
That area is a community spot that gets dozens and dozens of vehicles each day. Yeah, some deer cross there, but they have a better chance of getting run over, given this road down Long Draw is seldom without a vehicle driving on it. And this week, any deer crossing would have to navigate two camper trailers with a dog kennel. Your camp trailer parked near the head of the draw is a place a lot of other hunters normally glass from.
We are very careful about other hunters when we are out there. That is why we waited until mid-day to do our filming that was related to this herd, their migration, etc. Very unlikely to disturb things filming at a high traffic spot, at 1pm, in full sun, when it is 45F and deer are bedded. We always give other hunters the right of way. We have a rule with our crew that if folks set up next to us we go over and talk to them to sort out what their plan is. If they intend to stay, we move along, even if we were there first. Lots of land to hunt. That happened this trip and the guys were elk hunters. Lucky for them, Marcus had a good bull in his spotter when they walked up to us. We got to watch them make a stalk and get a shot. Usually things work out just fine.
From what Marcus said your language was, you were pissed. Did you yell at the white truck that was also down there when we pulled in there and the continuous string of other rigs driving up and down there? They stopped and talked to us for about a half hour.
I had to laugh the next morning when four other rigs were around you. Here's your white rig parked behind a rock pile. Did you say anything to that gray truck just southeast of you? Or the SxS down in the bottom of Long Draw at this same time? I took these from our glassing knob a few miles away that next morning. All of you were on that same section of BLM every day. And it was a steady stream until we left yesterday afternoon.
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Just to the left of that gray truck is another convoy in a wider shot below. I hope you didn't get mad and yell at the very polite 80+ year old hunter in the red truck that was below you that same day? Oh, BTW, we watched them shoot a nice buck yesterday about 300 yards from your camp trailer. What about the Moss Back guys who kept parking below you, did you yell at them?
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It's a tough tag to draw, requiring max points. I get that you might be frustrated that you drew in a warm year with no snow where the hunt doesn't meet the high expectations that come with this tag. I get the frustrations that come with feeling crowded by a few Governor's Tag holders that each have posses of 4-6 rigs running around to every knob. I get that you had a steady stream of rigs around you at all hours of the day. I get that having a ton of elk hunters might make this special tag feel less special. But, the reality is that this is public land. Those folks have every right to be there, just like you and me. And some years, under some conditions, a "Glory Tag" isn't the glorious hunt is could be in the best of years.
Like I yelled when we left upon discovering we were in your spot, "Good luck." I hope you get a good buck. Had I known you were there we never would have went down below you. Given the number of other hunters and people hunting the boundary like you were/are, it might require a good pair of track shoes if a deer crosses. Today is your last day. The forecast is a high of 50F, which is not conducive to migrations. Hope you get a good one.