RAD Cast Outdoors Episode #54: Hunting and Fishing Etiquette in the Field and on the Water

Photo from David Merrill

David Merrill and Patrick Edwards go over some of the biggest fishing and hunting etiquette considerations for your next fishing or hunting trip. Outdoorsmen have experienced improper etiquette while out in the field and both Patrick and David provide some ideas on how to avoid some of these issues. For both hunting and fishing, there are crossover rules that everyone should abide by to respect other people in the outdoors. Number one: remember to follow the local laws and ethics for whatever activity you are pursuing. Number two: keep a buffer in the field or on the water from other folks so that you aren't interfering with their adventure. For more ideas, check out the episode! 

This episode of RadCast Outdoors Podcast is sponsored by PK Lures, Hi Mountain Seasonings, and Bow Spider. Please go visit our sponsors and thank them for sponsoring RadCast Outdoors by giving them your business.

Hunting and Fishing Etiquette in the Field and on the Water
[00:00:00] Patrick Edwards: This episode of RAD Cast outdoors is brought to you by PK Lures , Bow spider and high mountain seasoning.
David Merrill: Sean. Hey, rad cast is on hunting, fishing and everything in between. This is rad cast outdoor. Here are David Merrill and Patrick
Music: Edwards.
Patrick Edwards: Well, hello everybody. And welcome to another episode of Rad cast outdoors. I'm Patrick. No, I'm David Morrell and we're here in the rad cast studio powered by bow spider, bringing you another episode. And, uh, just want to just say a quick shout out to David and all the work he's been doing here. Uh, the studios coming along, it looks good, man.
It's been,
David Merrill: you know, it's been a task. We poured the concrete a year ago today, and now we're actually in here and it's our own space. [00:01:00] We don't have to schedule it. We don't have to ask for permission and. And on one of these days, we'll have it a hundred percent finished and we'll post some photos up. But yeah, it's, it's cool to have our own space.
Patrick Edwards: That's very cool. And both spiders been going nuts, you guys have been shipping and doing a lot of things. So why don't you give us a quick update on that?
David Merrill: Oh yeah. No, we've, uh, we've struggled really hard to keep it in stock for the last year. We just keep doubling and tripling order volumes and we're, we're hiring staff and training people and it's, it's cool.
It's neat to see. That the problem I had is now a solution for everyone, right. When I couldn't get my bow, now everybody else can get theirs. And it's, it's, it's a little bigger than I ever wanted it to be Patrick, really? I mean, I think we got between part-time and full-time, there's 11 people that report to me and that's, you know, as you know, that's a little scary to be.
Making decisions for 11 people every day. So
Patrick Edwards: well, and I remember a few years ago, when you were talking about doing [00:02:00] this, that, you know, we talked about, it's going to go nuts. One of these days, I told you it would do that and now it's doing it. But when
David Merrill: we were talking about it, I was working a graveyard shift job, taking care of my kid during the day, going to school and, and in my free time, which there wasn't much.
Working on this harebrained idea that now I get to do every day. So I am very thankful. Very blessed. Yes. Yep. And
Patrick Edwards: I want solid base. They're in stock right now. So if you want to get one, you better hurry up. Um, they've got dealer orders coming in, so those are sucking up the inventory. So if you want to buy one directly from Bow spider, he better get on the website and get it done.
David Merrill: We are, we we're, you know, elbows deep and getting it done as quick as we can. So I understand the frustration when I want to get something they're not in stock. We're trying, but yeah, with hunting season coming, you better start thinking about if you wanted to get one of these, you want to try one. You know, wait until August 30th and saying, Hey, I have a September hunt on the sixth September.
Can I get one? [00:03:00] Probably not going to happen, guys, we're trying, but I, it with just with machining lead times, we're having to forecast now for October, November, and it's.
Patrick Edwards: Yep. So get on it. If you want to get them, go to boast butter.com, get your order placed to get that done. Um, it would pay off if you do it now, as opposed to, uh, August, believe me, this podcast is going to be dedicated to all of you about some of the etiquette things you should be thinking about in the field.
On the stream, wherever you're going to be. So David and I are going to jump into that and we're going to start off with hunting. So David, tell me what are some of the do's and don'ts especially the don'ts for hunting.
David Merrill: The biggest one is, you know, everybody wants to scout and scouting is vital to success.
I mean, you need to know where you're at, where you're, you know, especially with elk hunting, the more years you're in the same area, the more knowledge you gain as far as, Hey, these elk are normally here. If they're not here, they go here. You know, you find [00:04:00] those interception points. I remember reading. Uh, study a long time ago about the Starkey starker experimental forest in Oregon.
It's a 40,000 or 60,000 acres of high fence game preserve. They call her the elk and make the guys wear trackers, and they just have done 20 or 30 years worth of research in there as really cool. One little tech tip I picked up is a person walking scares elk at like 300 yards. A truck scares elk at about an eighth or a 16th of a mile and a ATV four-wheeler scares elk at about half for three quarters of a mile.
Right? So, and that's scientific, proven data of, Hey, this elk is right here as a human got closer and closer and closer, depending on their mode of travel is when the elk spooked. So in all that leads me into scouting. And this is why I brought that up. And why, you know, I think scouting is important. I do, but.
You know, if you've got a tag [00:05:00] for X and a season is open for Y, especially if, you know, if you're going elk scouting, you know? Yes. Elker or moving morning and evening. And that's quote unquote, when you want to be looking for them. But if there's an open mule deer, archery season out, Or an open antelope season and you're just zooming right through the prime habitat, scaring all the animals away while somebody is running around with a bow instead of a rifle that that's probably one of my biggest pet peeves is I'm out there putting a stock on trying to do my hunt.
And here comes somebody while I'm, uh, I'm a week early. I'm just going to be out here, scout and scaring all the game for me. That's not right.
Patrick Edwards: So, especially for you being a bow hunter, I mean, that's gotta be really difficult. You know, you're working animals, you're working in an area and then all of a sudden.
A truck drives down the highway and scares everything out of the way. Is that what you're
David Merrill: talking about? Yeah. I mean it, a blatant, blatant one is, you know, you have anti hunters who see somebody pursuing a game and stop and honk their horn and yell and [00:06:00] scream and right. And that's actually illegal, you know, interrupting a lawful hunter in the field, lawfully pursuing.
Disturbing that is against the law. So don't, don't be doing that, but it's just as simple as, you know, you park, you're walking out wherever and somebody comes up behind you and is just being inconsiderate in. And so if you are going to scout, one of the biggest tips I have is yes, I told you in the beginning of this is scouting is important, but if you're scouting for a rifle season in two weeks, move around mid day and just go.
You know, you you're welcomed to be out there. It's public land. I'm not saying don't be there. I'm saying don't be scaring elk intentionally. If you've, if you come across elk and you know, there's other hunters in the area, don't be scared.
Patrick Edwards: Well, it's kind of like that, you know, put the other person's shoes on your feet for a little bit mark and their shoes.
Cause I mean, if you're that guy who's going out scouting and you see that there's someone hunting that area or you know that it's prime time for both. [00:07:00] You should probably just stay away. I mean, there's just no point and going in and spoiling that. The other thing too, it's like you don't check and see what's open.
If the bow season is open, don't be doing it early in the morning, late in the evening, you know, let people do what they
David Merrill: gotta do. Go pre scout, definitely midday. I'm going to go hike in and check. Are they using this wall and know where they're at? That leads me to kind of the next one. And there's this meme that circled around.
Puts a puts a perfect picture on it, but there's, there's like a stadium bathroom with like 20 urinals lined up. Right. And there's a guy in there talking about using the urinal and they, they put different states above it, but they put opening morning and literally some com somebody comes up and use the urinal right next to the guy.
There's 10 on either side of him he could use, but I'm going to use the one right next to you. Right? That's public land hunting is I've got up early. I've hiked out I'm up on this Ridge. Maybe I'm taking a youth or my wife, or we're going to go later this fall. Right. And we're standing there. We've, we've parked, we've hiked out on a Ridge and somebody [00:08:00] walks upstairs right now.
So you're anything yet. It's like you saw her tracks in the snow, you know, we're on this. Why couldn't you go half a mile down and go stand on the next rage. Right? Why are you 20 yards from behind me talking to me? Like, everything's like, we're a day in the park taking our kids for a stroll. So, and what do you, what, what does it mean.
Don't buddy up to me. Don't crowd me. You know, what? If we're bow hunting, I want a several hundred yard distance between you and me. If we're rifle hunting, not two or 300 yards, I want about a thousand yards, right? Depending on weapons and capability, I can shoot three to 500 yards. I don't need you standing a hundred yards away from me.
Patrick Edwards: Now, if you're at the Trailhead and you're at the truck. But if you're actively
David Merrill: pursuing game, when I'm a mile off of any road or trail and I'm up, I'll post it on a Ridge. It's kind of now it's public land. It's not my Ridge, but there's another Ridge a mile either side of me go to that one. Well,
Patrick Edwards: and that transcends [00:09:00] hunting into fishing.
And we'll talk about that a little bit, but why, so, you know, I guess this just kind of leave off on that one. It's like, you know, a lot of us go the outdoors to kind of have a buffer from people anyway. And so it's a good idea that you don't just go explore, go be, go be out there. You don't have to be right next to the other hunters.
David Merrill: And I mean, by all means. What I do a lot of the times is I just pick a point on the compass, let let's talk pheasant hunting for a little bit, right? If all I do pheasant hunting like ocean lake, if anybody listened to this, we could look at a map. They, they release birds on ocean lake and there's on Wednesdays and Saturdays, every parking place has 10 trucks out there.
You can't not get past people. Right. And you can go out there in the afternoon after it hits it and still kill birds because people pass birds up. But I just pretty much pick up. I'm going to walk this patch from Inno north to south and just stay on that compass. And I'm headed that direction. If [00:10:00] somebody is coming east to west and we're like going to train wreck in each other, I just hold up, let them hunt through in front of me.
Right. Cause if I just keep changing direction, every time I run into somebody figure eights out there pretty quick. So, and the same thing works for big game hunting. If I'm just still hunting through patch of woods and definitely. You know, if somebody doesn't know you're there, get their attention a little bit just, and I don't have, you know, I don't have to walk up to you if I'm 300 yards away and talk to you and tell you what I'm doing.
If I'm standing there facing north and glassing north, don't hike up from the south behind me, hike over and then just start hiking through there. Right? If we're big game hunting. Actively hunting and area, but at the same point in time, if I come up behind somebody else, that's maybe sitting on a rock, just glass in there.
Maybe they fallen asleep. I give them a couple little whistles and some hand signals and I just, you know, give me that. I'm go on this way. Have fun. I don't need to come interrupt your hunt. Right. I'm I see you there. I know you're there. I'm going to go completely different direction. And [00:11:00] go a thousand yards up to drainage or 500 yards down the drainage and look off to a place.
They can't see you. Right? So, and sometimes you need to just go converse and say, Hey, I mean, I'm going to bow hunt, this drainage, where are you going to bow hunt this evening? Well, if you're going to go hunt this drainage, I'll go over. And most time Patrick I'm in the wilderness. I go there. Cause I don't want to see people.
If I see boot tracks, we've talked about this. I'm just automatically going to a different. And that's a
Patrick Edwards: good thing. Get some time off.
David Merrill: Oh, I, you know, I'm I don't want to beat the dead horse. Uh, yeah, it's great. It's great to get up there and I want to just be immersed in nature and I'm okay. Sharing. But at the same point in time, I don't need you sitting next to me.
Right? Exactly. Now I did meet one of my best hunting buddies, one of my other buddies, and I were sitting on a wall. Middle of the day. And he came through scouting two or three days before seasoned a solo. And I was like, well, you know where we can pal [00:12:00] around together for a couple days. And just because here's a guy, a couple of miles in the wilderness scouting, checking out Meadows.
I'm like, here's a guy, that's go get her getting after it. And I mean, it's turned into, I loved hunting with that guy. So I think it comes
Patrick Edwards: back to the value of permission. Right? Like you think about it with fishing and with hunter. When you're going to share Intel, or you're going to share spots and you're going to work together, there's a big part of gaining that trust and getting that permission to kind of work together right.
And being on the same page.
David Merrill: Well, another one on the same page is just step back for a moment. We'll get heated and get in arguments and whether it's parking spot or who's got right away or who should have this. You know, if we just step back a little bit first, realize everybody's out there to enjoy it.
And yeah, there's some jerks out there. I don't recommend you be one, but you know, I think about when I'm going up and down to some of these trail heads with my horse trailer and truck, if you're running up there and you're side by side [00:13:00] etiquette is you find a spot to pull over and the one loaded backs up, right?
Yep. The one loaded going downhill has right away over the one loaded going up hill. Right? It's. I got no brakes. I'm going downhill with a horse trailer and four horses get out of my way please. Right. You know? And so I did hit a truck head on, on my dirt bike out in the woods on a little gravel road, just flying up the road.
Didn't give the truck right away. Couldn't get out of the road in time. Probably shouldn't have been riding the speed. I was on a busy gravel road. I was 18. Yeah, you learned I'm lucky. I'm still alive. But yeah, that, that is definitely one kind of that golden rule. Really treat others how you want to be treated, but also step back and just kind of analyze the situation of like, I've talked on that earlier podcast of, we rolled into a lake, taking the youth camping.
I was permitted with the forest service to camp out that lake in that spot. I'm not going to be able [00:14:00] to move 500 yards around the other side of lake legally. I you're now asking me to break the law when you have two small tents and you could do that. So that's one of the big ones is just. Analyze it, you know, how would you feel if you're standing on that Ridge waiting for daylight and somebody comes over.
Right at daylight, right? Yep. And shoots a buck out from underneath you that maybe you didn't even see. And sometimes what happens. One group of hunters doesn't see the other, if I come hiking through and I'm just more focused on hunting and I just don't see ya. Especially archery hunting. If you're standing still on Campbell.
I may not know you're there. It may not be intentional. Sometimes it is get into more of those crowded units and it's, I mean, the difference of Alaska fishing on the Kenai bank versus fishing on the bank on Boysen right. I mean, it's pretty much nomenclature that if I'm fishing on the bank on Boysen, you don't come stand six feet from me.
Now, if you want to be 80, 90 yards down the. [00:15:00] And we parked in the same area and you walk out okay. And after 20, 30 minutes of fishing, if you want to come converse with me for a minute and say, Hey, can I come fish next to you? Or, you know what, Hey, I'm just going to go on the other side of you. Is that all right?
And sometimes you get told yes. Sometimes you get told no, and it's public land. Nobody has the right to block access to anybody. And I'm not talking about private land. I mean, the, the biggest 2 cents I have on private land, as far as the tip and whatever. As a private land owner. I'm not w we have 16 acres here and I usually raise three pheasants.
They're not my pheasants, but we usually harvest one of them leave to, to, to breed and have more visits. Right. I've caught a couple of people on my little 16 acres walking my fence line and shooting my pheasants. Right. And yeah, I get it. They've either got permission from a neighbor or whatever, but they're not really paying attention.
And that into my property is not posted really well. Well in the state, [00:16:00] it doesn't have to be. Yup. Right. So, and dependent check your local laws. Don't be breaking the law out there. That's the, one of the biggest ones and, you know, ignorance to the law is no excuse. Yeah.
Patrick Edwards: And I think on hunting etiquette too, is remember what you learned in hunter safety?
I mean, you know, fair chase, those kinds of things. Cause that's one of the things I see out in the field or people are just. Wink, you know, ripping off shots that they shouldn't be taking for one,
David Merrill: I've seen it where you're standing at no joke standing about 700 yards with a youth going, you know what?
We'll just wait and get a little closer. And somebody literally 1100 yards behind you start shooting over the top of you at those elk and you turn around and you're like, they're 400 yards behind you. Like you can see us here and you're now shooting over us at those same elk, higher up the mountain.
It's like this competition for. That resources, it can turn ugly as we've seen more than once or twice. So yeah, just we're out there to have [00:17:00] fun
Patrick Edwards: and to get meat, but safety is the number one thing, especially in hunting because a lot can go wrong really fast. And so I don't know if you want to speak more to that.
I mean, as a bow hunter, especially, you know, in the field, the safety aspect is huge.
David Merrill: It is. And I mean, there's a story I heard when I was a youth of guy snuck in on an elk and some guys shot from above the elk at 70, 80 yards. And he was like 40 yards below him waiting for a good shot. They missed. And they stuck a broad head in his calf.
He starts screaming like seven miles in the wilderness and they thought they were, he was mad at him. So they took off and the guy. It had to tourniquet his leg damn near bled to death and had to crawl, crawl with a broad head sticking through his leg. So, you know, that know your target and what's behind it back to the basics of hunter safety.
We all, you know, shooting at a skyline animal. Just, just don't do it. Don't do it. Another one that just talk about etiquette [00:18:00] and oh Patrick, the beer cans. Uh, I'm sorry, you're up there. You're going to have a few and drive around side by side. I'm not, I'm not one to, to tell you yay or nay. Right. Um, if you're going to go camping for the weekend and have a few, but pick them up.
Yeah. Just that I can go in the woods and almost every time, bring a trash sack back out on the back of my four Wheeler. I've just riding down the road. About every quarter mile. Somebody decided to toss their next beer can out. And it, I don't know who's doing it. You know the same thing with shooting signs.
You know what, the time we've talked about this and I've beat this dead horse, no, your rifle know your equipment, go to the range, be dialed in and be ethical and lethal with it. We talked about it. How many times going to the mountain and being, oh, I haven't signed my rifle and here's a nice, you know, road curves line.
And I'm just going to sit in my truck and lean over the mirror and make sure my guns on, you know, driving up and down the road. Hoping I see something that you're given hunting and [00:19:00] Hunter's a bat. If that's you or that you've been taught that way, that's not driving up and down the road in a pickup, drinking beer with a loaded firearm is just not, not conducive to safety, not conducive to giving us a good image.
So, you know, whoever shooting the signs, I'll, I'll buy you some, some paper plates and some cardboard boxes, right? Go shoot them, pick them up, take them back to camp it, same thing. Like when we go shoot. We pick up all our empty shells. We pick up the boxes. No, I don't condone, picking up the clay pigeons, but the clay pigeon box, the big cardboard box.
Yeah. We take that with us, of course. And so, yeah, it's that pack it in, pack it out. I'll pack it in pack. It it's that simple, but eat every year. And in fishing too. I mean, what, what do I joke about when we go the starter pack of eyelid or the fishing spots as a can of energy drink, usually red bull or monster, a warm container and a cigarette [00:20:00] Marlboro package every, every time.
So, I mean, it trends, it transitions from. Big game, hunting, fishing, whatever you're doing. One that's specific to hunting is field dressing, right? And you know, the biggest two things I can say is not everybody appreciates that. And there's nothing wrong with shooting a nice mule deer right off the pack trail.
You know, you're, you're hiking down the pack trail in the wilderness and here's a meal there and you shoot him. Great kick the gut pile a hundred, 200 yards down the hill, off the trail, leaving it two feet off the side of the trail. As a marker of your territory. Awesome. I'm glad you got one, but the next people from pick a state that are just going to go hike, that peak are not going to appreciate that.
And so, you know, having, having a gut pile that you dispose of properly, and whether that's, maybe you go out here right around home and you shoot an antelope, you know, taken a dump. And the carcass [00:21:00] off the side of the road as not a great spot either, you know, get it a couple hundred, just get it out of sight.
It doesn't need to be blatant in everybody's face. I'm not saying try to hide what we do or, or discourage, or, or that we're doing anything wrong. I'm just saying, you know what, your dirty laundry goes in the washing machine, not on Facebook, right? Sure. Yeah. So that, that is one unique to hunting is trying and I do the, the gutless method.
And so it does look a little. It looks like there's waste left there, but if you research it and Google it, you can get the tenderloins of the backstraps all the quarters, all the neck meat. And there's, I mean, yes, there's some real meat on a big bull elk. Uh, it's a, it's less than a gallon Ziploc bag. And when it's seven miles in and, and why check you're late.
Some states, some states you're not allowed to even feel dressed, you know, and Alaska that red meat has to come out and I take it out. We took it out. Sheep hunting. When I'm backpacking horseback that I'm sorry, but the elk rib. [00:22:00] It, it doesn't make crate burger it just now, if you can get an elk out whole at home, I put those ribs, I cut them with the sawzall, put them on the barbecue.
They're great. But there's a difference between trying to cut them and backpack them out or spec and having a whole cow elk, you know? Yeah. So, you know, definitely that one is. Clean up after yourself, quit shooting signs and I'll pick up, just leave the campsites. I don't care if you're tent, camping, RV, camping, horse, camping, leave that campsite cleaner than when you found it.
And it doesn't take, but you know, when we load up, whether we're loading up on horses in backpacks or in vehicles, take five minutes, have everybody there just walk around, have a little trash bag and do a 52 pickup of every little thing. That's not nature. Yep.
Patrick Edwards: Yeah. And unfortunately, you know, if you talk to the state parks guys, they deal with that a lot.
You know, where people just leave a ton of stuff on the ground when they leave the campsite. It's like, it's not that hard to pick it up. You know, you're probably [00:23:00] taking trash bags, throw away your trash. At least I hope you are. So just pick them up. It's not that big
David Merrill: of a deal. You know, finally we talked about respecting one way, traffic on roads as a horse guy, when I'm going up and down the trail, especially if I've got.
My kid and my wife and some loaded pack horses behind me, you know, give us some space and kind of the same rule, the one Lotus, the heaviest and the one loaded going downhill heavy has right away. Right? Tupac, trains come coming against each other. It is not fun. Especially get on those mountains, switchback trails, but you know, stepping one step off, I got a pack horse.
That's got 16 inch or 20 inch bags hanging off each. You know, and llamas, that is probably my I've used llamas. Llamas are great. If you're just new into this and you want to get into some wilderness backpacking and you know, not. Not have a ton of experience in horses, or there are different levels as we've talked about.
And, you know, [00:24:00] Lamas come with little Panyard little bags, they buckle on like a backpack, like a person, and they have a leash like a dog and they eat everything and they need water every two days. Lamas are, and there's a bunch of places. You can pull a little two, two stall horse trailer behind your midsize SUV, rent two llamas, and then carry about 70 pounds all day long.
And you can get up to 90 pounds for a short distance. You can, with three lumps, you can pack a whole elk out. So Lamas are good. A good option, horses, hate llamas. And when I've got loaded horses and kids and get those llamas a hundred yards off the trail, I don't want to see him smell them here. Um, but that's, it's just my 2 cents.
I'm not trying to harp on anybody, but this is things, you know, if you're hiking up the trail and you don't know, and here comes a guy with horses with I've had as many as 30 behind me, but if I got 10 horses and you got two llamas, you're getting out of the way, right. Same thing, backpack. And if there's a group of 10 backpackers coming towards you and you.
Don't [00:25:00] stand a mill trail, get off trail, let them pass, and then you can move on. So, yep. Well, we can kind of transition to fishing. I think that's, you know, and back to the golden rule on the hunting, just to wrap it all up, go back to hunter safety, check those things. Definitely don't be the, the beer can sign shooter, but just if it comes to an ethics situation of, should I shoot this animal and somebody else's standard.
Just put yourself in their shoes. Right. And maybe they can't see the animal and that's fine, but if they're scoping up and they're getting ready and you look at them and say, oh, they're seeing something, then you look or there's deer and you shoot it. Well, I think that's, they've already spotted it.
They're already on it. Right. And so finally it does happen occasionally if two people shot the elk. Usually the rule of thumb is the one that put the vital shot. Sometimes it's the one that made the first shot, but [00:26:00] typically I kind of go with, you know, and there's two situations here. One is we've got a bedded mule deer buck.
I spotted. And we're, we're now talking more rifle, not archery, but if there's two arrows in it, there's two arrows. And the one closer to the best kill is, is the Victor. Right? And if that Beck buck is bedded and I shoot, and somebody else shoots when he stands up, it's kind of hard to tell. That's a really tough situation.
And that's where guys get in arguments. The other one is I'm Cal elk hunting, and I shoot at a cow elk on her, out on a herd. The herd runs over. One of the Cal stop stopping somebody on their side, shoots the cow elk that stand in there cause it's wounded right. And falls over. That's a little bit harder to say who hit it where and who's elk is it right?
Cause they didn't know on the other side of the hill, but you know, it's, I can't say this is the definite rule it's situation by situation based, but it's definitely, it's not worth getting enough of a screaming match or, or shooting each other over [00:27:00] it. Right. So definitely. And AOE shootable elk and it goes running down the Ridge and somebody else's there and shoots it again.
It happens, but typically the guy that put the, either the first or the lethal shot in it, it's really situation dependent. And I can't sit here and say a hundred percent of time. This is, and even in our own party, a couple of times, the guy out front is shot an elk and it's run back and stood next to the color and the collar shot him again.
And it's like, no, you made the first shot on him. It was a lethal shot. He would have expired. But he was standing there. He presented a shot opportunity. I took it and right wrong or indifferent, you know, maybe. And sometimes you don't know when you're archery hunting. If that first guy, especially the way we elk hunt, we don't get very far from each other cause of grizzly bears.
But a lot of times I can't see the guy in front of me. You don't always know if that Oaks hit or not. Sometimes it's just an outcomes run in any Cal call and stop it. And it's like, why'd you shoot my elk already shot. It's like, well, I didn't know. Right. I heard your [00:28:00] BOGO go off, but I didn't see the elk.
I didn't see you didn't see the shot here was an elk to present it a shot. And so, but kind of in our own party, we've already figured it out together. That shot first. It's kind of his elk. We shot and missed. That's a different story. Right? Complicated. There's complicated levels. So tell me. Fishing etiquette.
Patrick Edwards: Yeah. So the number one thing in my book, and everybody who's fished with me will know this. They'll be like, yeah, that's definitely Patrick, right. There is, you know, when you're on a body of water, it can be a reservoir. It can be a lake, it can be a stream or river, whatever it is, give people room. And we talked about it.
You know, you talked about the meme, what the urinal it's totally that way. Growing up in Cheyenne, one of the best fisheries that was close with Glendo reservoir. And anybody from Wyoming that knows Quando reservoir knows it is overrun with people from other states. I'm not going to say who I'm under the bucket on you guys, I'm picking on you guys, but no.
Anyway, one of the things that used to drive me crazy there is that, [00:29:00] you know, I catch a wall I off of a point and
David Merrill: I'm, there's eight boats out on the lake, all fishing, you know, 500 yards from each other.
Patrick Edwards: A mile away. And I don't know if they have binoculars or what they're doing. Fish, my fish radar, all of a sudden, we've got 30 boats sitting right next to you.
So one of the things that I tell people is, you know, if you're on a body of water, you want to fish a spot. If you're not the first one, there that's too bad for you. You know, you can wait or you can go fish another spot. And the nice thing about most bodies of water is there's other spots. So you don't have to sit there 10 feet from somebody.
This happened to us not long ago. Or we're fishing a spot. So my wife and I went to keyhole, we're fishing a spot. This boat pulls up. What's the word we're on the shoreline. This boat pulls up because we're catching croppy right. Like literally got 15 feet away from me, like where you're casting. Yeah. And I'm like, really guys really like there's crappy all up and down this area, like, [00:30:00] come on, you know, like we had to hike.
You know, over a quarter of a mile up this Rocky embankment and then down it to get to this spot and you're fishing right in our, in our space. So one of the things I will tell all of our listeners is be cognizant of giving people space. And that's also with your boat. You know, if you're driving, you know, full speed down the reservoir, don't go right next to somebody.
Trolling or who is parked on the reservoir somewhere, tubing be safe. You know, it goes back to the knowing the rules, regulations, like we were talking about with hunter safety.
David Merrill: Yeah. It's public. I mean, it's a public lake if I want to be out there tubing. Great. But if somebody's sitting here actually actively Jibo jigging.
Don't pull up. I mean, I'm Patrick, I got a water ski boat and I like to wake board. Right. I love to slalom the kids like to too. But if somebody is over there fishing, we go to the other side of the lake because we just need some open water. We don't need one.
Patrick Edwards: And that's why I told somebody this week. They were joking about their jet skis.
They're like, yeah, I'm going to [00:31:00] be looking for you while you're fishing. I'm going to come harass you. I'm like, well, you know, I keep musky baits on the boat just for that. So when you go by, I can catch you
David Merrill: as you go by. Yeah. Tell him David likes to cast and blast for you. What comes to mind is when I was a kid doing that.
The south Santiam, drift boat fishing for steelhead on the, in Oregon, there'd be a ton of bank. He's right. And we can get into bank fishing, but real quick with the drift boat is, you know, don't anchor up in the hole that 10 guys are bank fishing, fish through it. And the next hole down has nobody in it.
Right? Fish. There it's there. They can't move around. But at the same time, the bank fishermen, every time, if there's like a line of 15 bank fishermen, every time a drift boat comes through, you'll watch one of those bank fishermen hooks. Because the boat moved the fish around and moved efficient to a place where he's susceptible.
We got, and that, that, that is fact not fiction.
Patrick Edwards: So then you can say, thank
David Merrill: you. I go by, um, but we cast and blasted that river. I always had the shotgun in the little, a [00:32:00] fish rod holder on the front and they quit throwing their lures and hitting the boat. Once I started back in the 12th.
Patrick Edwards: Well, the biggest thing with that is just be respectful.
Like I said before, puts yourself in that other person's shoes. I've been a fear if you're on a spot and you're catching fish, you know, it's like, you don't want people crowding you. So if you see somebody catching fish, you shouldn't just rush over with your boat and get within 10 feet and be like, Hey, how's it going?
You know, they're, they're not going to be too receptive to that. And neither would you so well
David Merrill: on the Kenai, that's a little different story, but they're still at a kit, you know, when you're, when you're combat fishing. Th the guy upstream of you, you know, the guy downstream, CAS, and then the guy upstream of him casts and then the guy upstream, and then you all drift down together and you kind of reel up and wait for that guy at the bottom of the line to cast, and then nobody's casting over each other.
Don't be the guy that comes in. I mean, you'll have, you'll see. 50 people standing, and they're all kind of casting and unison and floating down and casting and unison and [00:33:00] floating down. And then you get one guy in the middle that comes up and he's like, I don't need to do dance to this rhythm. Right. And then he's cast it wherever and tangling up.
And, oh, it's as same thing on boats on that river. It's catch a king and it's like 10 boats. No, I
Patrick Edwards: know. So that would be my number one thing. Just be respectful of space, give people room, let people do what they need to do. The second thing. And this is everyone who's listening, who knows me is going to be like, oh, that's totally, Patrick is be respectful of people with their spots because in fishing spots and information is very important.
What's the
David Merrill: first rule of fishing with Patrick. The
Patrick Edwards: first rule of fight club is we don't talk about fight club. Okay guys, but no seriously, like when you take somebody fishing and. You know, like, I guess if you're invited along and a good fisherman takes you and they say, Hey, this is one of my special spots.
That's not something you throw up on Facebook and Instagram. It's not something you go, go
David Merrill: back to next weekend [00:34:00] with, without your buddy.
Patrick Edwards: Exactly. So, yeah, again, that whole permission piece, I think, is important. Having an understanding before you go, because I have spots. Patterns that I don't show everybody why.
Well, because I've been burned before, you know, and it's not cool. Like you want to show people that you want to share it with and you know, we're going to be respectful of that, but there are people who will just ruin a resource. And so that leads into this next piece is that. There are people who will absolutely destroy a fishery.
Yeah. If you, if you get certain times a year and everybody knows this certain species, they'll be grouped up really tight. They're very susceptible to being caught. And there are people who are not ethical and who will keep every single fish that they catch and they will wear out a spot. They will wear out a pattern.
They will wear out a species. Don't be those people, those people are the worst of the worst, in my opinion. And the fishing industry. People like that just need to find another hobby [00:35:00] because it's very disrespectful to all the other anglers it's disrespectful to the fisheries managers. It's disrespectful to all the people that live in that area.
You know, those resources are there. They should be enjoyed, but they should be enjoyed within the parameters that have been set by that fisheries management, you know, like game and fish.
David Merrill: We all want to go out and get a bag limit. Right. And it's cool to be able to do that. But if you're the guy that's going out day after day after day, the same spot, same spot, same spot and bag limit after bag, like pretty soon.
Guess what's going to happen to everybody. The bag limits going now. And I know I harped the big game thing. Right. But what came to mind while you were talking about that is waterfalling right. Or even pheasant. I take you to one of my pheasant spots or I take you one of my waterfowl spots or I take you on my big game spots, elk.
You better not be back in there the next weekend with your buddy saying, oh yeah, we killed a big bull right here. Or you or we got eliminated ducks right here. That's that respect piece, right? Patrick, if you, if you have enough confidence in me to take me fishing to one of your spots and [00:36:00] you've spent.
Days and hours and years on that lake learning that fishery, you know, keep that information kind of privileged. Yep.
Patrick Edwards: I've had, and I'll, I'll say this, I am not the best angler out there. I don't even pretend to be. There are guys in this community right here in Riverton that could kick my butt up one side and down the other fishing.
They're really good. They've been doing it for 30, 40 years. They've got tons of knowledge. And if they invite me to go fishing, guess how much I talk about. Zip it's like, and why is that? Well it's because I respect the fact that those guys have spent decades, decades figuring this out. And they were nice enough to take me along and show me a couple of things, you know, that I could use and show me some, you know, whether it be a new rig that they use a new cadence that they use when they reel it in maybe a shelf that I didn't know was there or gravel pile.
But that is not something that you go be like, Hey, I'm going to impress all my friends on Facebook and I'm [00:37:00] going to ride it. You know, I'm going to write this long article on where this is at and give out GPS locations. Like that's not what it's about. Um, you know, and sometimes I will ask people, I'll be like, Hey, if, if you're willing and if you're not that's okay, would you mind helping me find X species?
You know? And sometimes people are in, sometimes they aren't and I don't lose respect for them if they don't share with them. You know, cause I get it. But if they do, I do reciprocate that, you know, it's like,
David Merrill: you've heard me tell the joke a couple of times, and I've heard you reciprocate this joke is, you know, when people ask me where I got an elk or when somebody asks you where you got a fish, you know, you always put your finger in the corner mouse.
I got them right here in the mouth, in the mouth. And I always, I always point right here by my shoulder and go got them right here. Right. Or I say, God, I'm in the woods. Or you could say, where'd you get that fish? Well, I caught him in the water. Yeah, exactly. And some people ask that question and they're just naive.
Right. They're just like, well, where, where do you? That's awesome. Where do you get one? I mean, and I honestly have [00:38:00] no problem sharing some spots or sharing some ideas or some tips. But there's also the group that's maliciously doing it. Where'd you get it so that I can go to that exact same spot. And I mean, it, in the hunting world, Patrick goes to, when you take a photo, they will geotag and look up the coordinates or look at the background.
And so sometimes some of my kill photos efficient, we have a really epic really scenic thing that I'm like, no we're into around. Take this and take it just out of the water. I don't want anybody. Which lake where it was at, what time of day, what time of year, we're just going to get a picture of a fish in the box.
Patrick Edwards: And I mean, I don't want this to come off wrong because I mean, you could listen to all that and be like, man, I'm, Patrick's a real jerk about this. No, there are people that I share a lot of information with because I trust them. Right. And that's something that's earned and you know, it takes time. I am happy to help, especially kids, you know, I'm happy to help them find a spot where they can catch fish and where they're going to produce.
The thing that I have a problem with [00:39:00] is I've had people in my life be like, Hey, where'd you catch that? And then next thing you know, guys taking home one or two limits a day and
David Merrill: you'd ask them, oh, well you told me. So I went there and there's, there are bodies of water and there are entire drainage's. In this state, just our state alone that are definitely under utilized.
And that's what makes it so alluring to go out and fish, you know, but it takes. I think of the high mountain lakes, you know, it takes hiking into two or three and camping overnight and fishing it to figure out this lake. This time of year with this fly is going to produce some awesome fishing. And if I am nice enough to share that confidence, Hey, go up, have a weekend at this.
Go enjoy it. Go have fun. I'm sharing public land with you, but don't come home. Put on Facebook that X lake in the wind river range is producing this golden trout and take this fly. And just because other people who aren't willing to put the effort and work out to find their own [00:40:00] spot, we'll find that information.
And like you said, they'll tell 20 people and the next time you go in that lake, it could be five years in a row. You go up there every weekend and enjoy it. Catch a few fish. You know, camp, fishing's always great. You know, you, I, I can think of a lake right now. You and you have taken me to, I'm not naming it.
It's, it's no name lake. We went and killed some nice fish and, and big fish and it was relatively easy fishing. And there wasn't hard there. I think there was one group of fishermen that walked past while we were there. Yep. And yeah, it was, and it was awesome. Right. But why is it awesome because it hasn't been blabbed on social media and people can't just drive up here and put an X on a map and not have to do any sort
Patrick Edwards: of lakes.
And we're not picking on any of the other states, not, not too bad. Anyway, as I know they pick on Wyoming too, you know
David Merrill: why it doesn't exist and we're okay
Patrick Edwards: with that. Wyoming doesn't exist at all. Um, another thing that is [00:41:00] really important about fishing is going back to something that David alluded to earlier, which is cleanliness.
One of the things that you see in fishing oftentimes is people are very disrespectful. As far as they throw a worm containers all across the bank. So bank fishermen pick up your phone. That used line that, you know, you got a snag and you have a hundred yards of line or 50 field line or whatever, you know what I do, you take it and you wrap it around your hand, you know, until you get a nice tight roll of it, stick it in your pocket, and then you can throw it away when you get home or take your
David Merrill: peanut butter and jelly sandwich bag.
And just put a little bit of trash in that bag after you ate your
Patrick Edwards: sandwich easy. Right. Or, you know, the other one I told you. It seems like more and more there's energy drink cans. And of course there's always beer cans and cigarettes, soda bottles and all that stuff. Just pick that stuff up. It doesn't take that long.
I was, I was on Boysen. It was a few weeks ago and there were tons of bottles floating down. Cause we have the runoff going right now. [00:42:00] Tons of bottles, different things. And it's like, this stuff is easy to fix. You know, sportsmen were responsible, just picked up. It's not that hard pick up after yourself.
The other one that is big is if you have kids and you've ever experienced, this is pick up your hooks. If you leave hooks land on the bank, or you find where someone got snagged up and you kind of toss it, haphazardly. Pick up those hooks, you know, you don't want a little kid stepping on it. You don't want to get snagged by it.
And it's, it just makes no sense to me. Why anyone would want to leave that place?
David Merrill: No, as a, as a more of a water sports enthusiast, and I'm out there barefoot trying to go ski in and wakeboard, and we're taking people on and off the beach glass bottles. Right. I'm going to throw my boss
Patrick Edwards: illegal by the way, here in Wyoming.
So yeah, don't take those out there. The state parks will definitely write you a ticket for that, um, because it will cut you up and it's a mess. [00:43:00] Now, the next one, cause I know we we've been going for about 40 minutes here, but the next one that's really important. Don't waste the resource. Now what I mean by that?
Is there a laws in certain states and there is one here in Wyoming about wants in waste. Okay. So just catching a fish, not giving a credit about it, throwing it up on the bank. Don't do that. There's no reason for it. You know, there's, you know, I know growing up, that was the big thing to do with carp.
Right? You didn't want the carp around, so you cut their throat, throw them up on the bank. Whatever. Now I learned my lesson with that one because when I was about, I don't know, 12 years old, something like that, I was swimming in Boysen and somebody had done that to a carp. And those of you who know carpenter anatomy know that they have a big Barb on their back.
Well, I happened to step on that thing and it lacerated my foot really bad. And it was under the water. I couldn't see it. Um, the water just come up from the runoff and I had this huge hole in my foot. Don't do that for one safety reasons, but two it's a [00:44:00] resource. Um, I know a lot of people hate carp, you know, but I will tell you they're great garden fertilizer.
They're great for, you know, if you find a farmer who has a bunch of pigs, they will eat them. I mean, there's, there's ways to, you know, deal with them if you do catch them. Cause you're probably not targeting them. I think they're cool. Cause they fight hard, but if you're not targeting them and you want to get them out of the body of water, cause like ocean lake right next to here, we need to get rid of a bunch of cars.
At least find a good use farm. Cause they do have some uses. There are some people that actually eat them. If you can find that person, hook them up with a big fish, because usually they're 10, 12 pounds, but don't just, you know, throw them up on the bank. I've also seen this with Northern pike. It's totally unacceptable to game fish.
They taste really good by the way. I don't know why anyone would do that. I've seen it with walleye. Can't figure that one out. And it's like the best fish in the world to eat. I've seen it with crappy. I've seen it with yellow perch. I've seen it. It makes no sense to me. Why would you [00:45:00] catch that fish and just waste it?
Like that is one of the most disrespectful things that you can do to a fishery and fisheries managers can't figure that out either. It's like, why, why are you doing that to the resource that's here? I mean, it just doesn't make any logical sense. So if you're one of those people stopped doing that and I don't want this to be like negative podcasts, but we really do need to bring an awareness to this.
If you see someone doing it, Tell him to stop. And in Wyoming, it is illegal to be throwing game fish up on the bank. Like it makes no sense whatsoever. And they can get a ticket for that and they should, you know, and you can call your game and fish department because that kind of behavior gives fishing a really bad name and anywhere they cheer out.
So, I mean, those are some of the biggest things. The other thing too, just as far as fishing etiquette goes is when you teach kids, teach them the right way. You know, I see a lot of people teaching kids, things that they probably shouldn't be. You know, case in point, go back to the things we just talked about.
Oh, it's just a little bit of trash. It's no big deal or all. Well, that's [00:46:00] just a little fish and we need to get the little fish out of here. Well, if you're not abiding by the regulations, not cleaning up after yourself, you're not setting a good example and
David Merrill: that it comes back to those regulations. Like I think about that Kenai river, just because, you know, they're, they want you to filet the fish and they want that biomass in the river.
But Hey, if you throw it on the bank, you're, you're baiting bears then. Yeah. And you know, the biggest thing is, is it needs to be thrown in fast with moving water and yeah, don't just, just filet the fish. I mean, what we, what we always did is we took clean nonsense, a trash bag. Took a knife down to the river.
15 minutes for the whole group is down fishing. Somebody big breaks out the knife. We filet them and put them in bags and then we'd go home and vacuum seal
Patrick Edwards: them. And we're good. Yep. And the nice thing about the Kenai is oftentimes depending on where you're fishing, they've got a table by the side there you can Flay on and you can just Chuck everything else under the water.
But no, I think that. To kind of get to the essence of what we want to accomplish this, [00:47:00] this podcast is really encouraging people to do it the right way and lead by example, you know, treat people with respect, number one, to respecting the resource and three respecting others, you know, and I mean, it really comes down to those basic principles.
And I think that we're going to be better off as a sports, you know, family, you know, whether it be hunting or fishing, if we do that, because if you show respect, people are going to show it back. If you come in with anger and animosity, it's going to get reciprocated. So just keep those things in mind.
Next time you're on the water. Next time you're out in the, in the mountains, on the Prairie, wherever you're at and just take good care
David Merrill: of each other. I mean, on an earlier podcast, I talked about taking that same group, young man, horseback camping, and we pull into the horse facilities and they're parked right on the Bridgeway that goes across.
Yeah. If you're on a backpack and you're a foot wide, you can get between two cars and they pulled in there and there was the last parking space at the trail head. Right? You had to park like maybe a quarter mile away. Well, [00:48:00] this one is just perfect for my Subaru and yes, it was a Subaru, uh, anyways, you know, it was, it was a struggle to get my pack string through there and I was not very happy.
You know, you wouldn't go to Walmart and park in the handicap spot up front and just run in arms, just going to be in real quick. Right. Right. And it's, well, at least I wouldn't, but there are people out there that for some reason, nobody else in the world exists and they're more important, so well, and I think
Patrick Edwards: you see the, unfortunately you see the, kind of the results of where society is going, you know, with shopping carts at Walmart and you see the same thing at the, at the river's edge, you know, it's like, Proactive enough and they're too lazy to pick up after themselves.
And it's like, well, you know, how do we change that? Well, it starts
David Merrill: with, starts with a 25 cent tax on monster energy drink and a $2 tax on Marlboro cigarettes and a $5 tax on worm containers.
Patrick Edwards: Well, hopefully it never
David Merrill: comes to that right now. Well, I don't. If we start doing it now and doing it [00:49:00] ourselves and self policing and self patrolling, it never will come to that.
But if everybody that buys a warm container goes out and just, if it's just littered, if poison is just littered with warm containers up and down, Yeah, it's going to come to hate that. I mean, we do a roadside cleanup every year and it's always the same trash and I think fast food restaurants and, and those energy drink and beer should pay a premium tax on cleaning that up.
So go enjoy the woods. Go have fun. We, we didn't want this to be negative. Just a few things to, to definitely if you're, if you're new or I'm don't to go do this, a few things. If you're going with a mentor, that's doing these things. Find a new mentor. Yeah.
Patrick Edwards: Be respectful, have fun out there. That's why we're out there and let's keep it clean and, and be respectful of all of our great resources.
I know in Wyoming, I want to preserve what we've got because we've got a heck of a good deal here. So anyway, uh, just want to talk real quick about our other sponsors. Cause we got, we got going and we just kind of blew [00:50:00] through there, but uh, PK Lures. I just want to say a big shout out to them. Uh, again, recently been using the spinach egg quite a bit, and a few of their other lures.
If you haven't tried them yet go to pklure.com. A lot of great options
David Merrill: for definitely have them in your tackle box while you're picking up those worm containers. That's right.
Patrick Edwards: Yeah. They're crank baits of friend of mine. He, he bought a few of those and has been using them on Boysen and trolling around and doing really well.
So great options. Get out there and use them. And then, you know, high mountain
David Merrill: seasonings, when you finally catch that fish, when you finally get that, that Docker, that pheasant or that elk, um, they have everything to make it just. There's no reason to leave it on the bank. None. They bring it home and sprinkles of my mountain seasoning and you'll be just enjoying that.
So here's your
Patrick Edwards: recipe of the week? This was actually last night. I pan seared some, some walleye. What I did was I put some butter in a cast. Iron skillet, took some walleyes, just put some of the Bayou bass seasoning on it. Pan-seared both sides. Threw him [00:51:00] in a taco with some coleslaw. Awesome. Awesome. Fish tacos.
You can make fish tacos really easily with that stuff. And I mean, it is to die for super good. So go to high mountain jerky.com or HII MTN, jerky.com. And if
David Merrill: you've never gone, gone and procured your own fish, there's a huge difference between walking into the grocery store and saying, oh, I'm going to have tilapia today and going out on the lake, maybe, maybe you can con somebody like Patrick and take you to this wall ice spot and get just a couple and you come home and make your own fish tacos there.
There's no comparison. One thing we used to always do, I never did. You know, deep sea tuna stuff, but we would go to the dock and we would buy up tuna and we go home and home can our own tuna fish. And the difference between the store-bought canned tuna and home Canas it's it's night and day
Patrick Edwards: and tuna steak.
Holy moly. Those are really good. So yeah, until next time, check us out on all [00:52:00] of our socials on Facebook and Instagram. And we'll be back with another show here soon. .