There are nice guys out there too...

[BlindSquirrel]

After hearing and reading many negative hunting and fishing stories in the news -- I would like to submit a wonderful experience I had while out hunting buck deer near the town of Ukiah.

We have done slightly above average in this area, and even took two outstanding bucks that made the Oregon Record Book for typical mule deer in 2001. This year we couldn't seem to be in the right place at the right time. There was quite a bit of shooting opening day -- it just wasn't our party. Sometimes it seemed like there was a hunter on every rock/stump. After Sunday -- the crowds thinned.

The early part of the week was also uneventful for us -- with three days of no horns sighted. We were looking for new places to hunt, and I found a promising area, even if it was pretty steep. We made a plan to get in place first thing the next morning at legal shooting light, and make a mini-drive from the top to the bottom. My Dad would drive the truck around to the bottom so that it would only be about a 2 mile hunt for the stalkers.

We drove to the area to prepare for the hunt, got out, split up, and started up the side hill. As my brother and Dad are walking up the hill, it seems they started racing another person to get to the top and first chance at the clearing. As I get to the top -- I glance over and see a hunter in full camo at the crest. I think to myself -- oh boy -- another messed up hunt as two groups of hunters walk all over each other's hunt ! The area is big -- but unless you coordinate the hunt -- the deer will just run out ahead of the first people through the area. I call my brother on the frs radio to see what is going on and coordinate the hunt, and he says wait -- he is busy talking to an old time hunter of the area .

It turns out the guy he ran into has got to be one of the nicest guys all time, and was in the party of the other guy I saw too. The nicest guy of all time was named Bill, from St Helens, and Ervin (also a nice guy), a former long-time Oregonian transplanted to just across the border into California. These guys had both hunted the area for years, knew it extremely well, and we worked out a plan for a combined hunt for better coverage and efficiency. The hunt we worked out together would end up at their camp, and Bill promised a big meal for us all after the hunt! Bill had already tagged out and was just out for a walk and glassing before driving back to camp. My brother asked if Bill knew the GPS coordinates of their camp -- and Bill whips out a three page (double sided) printed list of his "important" GPS coordinates. It seems Bill had a problem once with accidentally deleting every waypoint once - D'oh. Not only did Bill give my brother the coordinates -- he also loaded them into my brother's GPS -- because my brother still hasn't learned how to enter coordinates yet! We just met these guys and they're loading their camp coordinates into my brother's GPS and inviting us for a deluxe meal!

We went through the hunt and saw about 6 does, no bucks. While we were hunting, Bill drove back around to their camp, got breakfast going, and guided my Dad (also driving) to their camp. Talk about courteous -- while preparing breakfast -- Bill asked my Dad if anyone had any special dietary needs. When we finished the hunt and arrived at their camp -- Bill had the full meal deal ready -- potatoes, venison sausage with fruit sauce, eggs cooked to preference (fried, over easy, scrambled, etc), fresh melon, orange or apple juice, coffee, cocoa -- and I'm probably forgetting something! It was a delight. My brother, Dad, and I wondered how we could get Bill to join our camp next year :grin: . Ervin joked that if he didn't already know Bill was married, he'd be the first to propose.

We heard many great stories over the meal, and got to know them a little better. Since Bill was already tagged out with a decent buck, he headed home that day. We hooked up with Ervin, and went on another hunt the next day -- again seeing only does.

You may read about the dirt bags in the paper or news -- but nearly every year out we have met some great people like Bill and Ervin.

Years from now, we may or may not remember that none of our party harvested a buck -- but I'm sure we will always remember meeting Bill and Ervin. Hopefully next time out we can plan a few more hunts together.

I left my business card and email address with Bill, who promised to send me an email with a few digital pictures. When I got back to check my email, I had over 200 messages -- with a good number of spam. Either I accidentally deleted Bill's message -- or he never sent it to me. I'd like to get ahold of him. Anybody know a Bill from St Helens, about late 50's or early 60's in age, that drives an older 4wd (beige?) Toyota pickup with an older canopy (with pop-out side windows)? He is in the construction business and used to be a St Helens high school science teacher. Please send a private message with any contact info you might have. I'd like to send him an email story from one of our previous year's hunt.


Pete (no, the other Pete)
aka Blind Squirrel

[nitrobass]

Nice! Its good to hear there are team players out there. I met some great people hunting around Ukiah this year also but that was during archery.

Long live Bill and Ervin!

[Mello-Yello]

Great story squirrel! Ya gotta believe there's a little bit of Bill in all of us, we just need to let him out more.

To being nice!

[skein]

I, too, met some great guys this year.

On one of my hunts I ran into a couple of guys who were just starting out. I told 'em I would go over to the next drainage, but they insisted I continue on and that we could decide where to go so as not to be in each other's way. Since I knew the area much better than they did, I told them where the water was and how the rimrock lay, and where this road went, etc. I also told them I would hunt back south while they went north and east.

I was up around the rim I wanted to hunt (wearing orange) and I saw one of them working to the east below me. He spotted me and turned away, hunting back to the west. He basically changed his hunt even though he was not going to interfere with mine at all.

The week before, while I was scouting, two young men came through camp to set up in the camp area below and past me. The slowed their rig down to a walk so as to not raise dust in my camp. Then they set up and went about their business more as neighbors than competitors. Since I wasn't going to camp there during the season, I let them know when I would be leaving and invited them to relocate their camp up by mine. Turned out they were from Sweet Home, my home town. That made it doubly nice.

All in all, I met and crossed paths with some real sportsmen and gentlemen. Ain't it great!

Skein

[chummer]

While I like to be kept current on the boneheads out there who are shooting each other and the skells who are stealing our natural resources, it sure would be nice every once in a while to read a story like the blind squirrel's. I think this would make for a great part to a human interest story about the pleasentries exchanged between hunting parties.
Bill Monroe... Jump on this, I'm sure there are a ton of stories out there that ifishers would love to share.

[Bait O' Eggs]

Blind Squirrel - nice story and positive news is always welcome on ifish. :smile:


As much as I like to BS on ifish, and enjoy the ifish get togethers to meet and talk to new people, when I am hunting I for the most part dont spend much time chatting with the others around my camp when hunting.

When I take the time to introduce myself, and have a quick chat with another camp I dont think I have ever regretted it and have made some pretty good friends. Cant for the life of me remember some of their real names, but "slim Jim" and "the Les Schwab employee with the honda 90" in the Ochoccos are both guys I readily chat with every year when we cross paths. Amazing how much information you can get in a 10 minute conversation. Bulls were killed here and here and here, big bulls spotted in this canyon and this canyon......

Met some guys in Idaho last year that would give you the shirt off their back. 5 guys from Longview who hunt every year where we went last year. There is "Jeep", "the guy with the beard", "guy who bathes every day" "U of O frat dude" and "the other guy"

I ran into a couple of them last year at the sportsman show, and look forward to talking to them again this year at Idaho. Taking a few extra beers along this time to share with them, they have been flying in there for years and still have no idea how many beers they need, as they always run out

There are some good people out there if you take the time to get to know them.