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I know what you mean... but I figure most of us hikers are
interlopers on the local ranches, and despite whatever common sense
we might have, most of us haven't worked a ranch, so who knows. Try
telling a cowboy that you know more about anything having to do with
their job/life and see how that goes. Personally, I think a lot of
these things are exceptions that become the rule - i.e. one time a
mother abandoned its calf because it got spooked, so therefore,
never spook a cow or else... (similarly, one time a hiker bathed in
a stock pond, therefore all hikers apparently bathe in stock ponds).
It's just human nature for these kinds of things to take hold, and
fighting it will just keep one frustrated. <br>
<br>
I figure it's a pretty small inconvenience to at least try one's
best to conform to the local customs. And that's kind of how I see
these things - as customs... there are all kinds of seemingly odd
customs throughout the world - based on who knows what, but as a
traveler, you just have to suck it up and play nice to avoid
offending the locals. <br>
<br>
Anyway, the comment was mostly intended for a stretch of route where
you're headed on a quasi-public road (aka a public road) through
private land. I have another note on another map in that area with
some information from the BLM about what your rights are on BLM
land... basically, that the people grazing cattle on public lands
don't own the land even if they act like they do. <br>
<br>
-Jonathan<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 7/19/2012 1:28 PM, Brett wrote:<br>
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<td style="font: inherit;" valign="top">I realize this on a
tangent, but I've never found a way to remediate cows with
a propensity to "spook." Not all of them do, of course,
and bless their bovine hearts, but certain groups with
that tendency are generally incorrigible. And frankly I
don't feel remediation is my job out there, as an
individual quietly recreating on my public lands. Give us
hikers a fair break, dear rancher. The idea of a mother
permanently abandoning its calf because a hiker came along
and failed to leave the trail and walk a wide, stealthy
circle sounds like a red herring to me, based on a certain
bias that probably needs no introduction. And yes, that
bias can run both ways. But of course it shouldn't,
because we've both camps have had a history of coexisting
for years, flourishing finely, and hikers - at least those
who avoid bathing in stock ponds, trespassing on private
ranches, and so forth - are, I think, demonstrably easy
for the livestock industry to live with.<br>
<br>
At the end of the day, hiker-rancher conflicts are
generally nothing that a campfire and a little cowboy
coffee can't mend. Any fence that can't be mended sounds
like a design flaw to me. Possibly a fence laid out by a
bogeyman.<br>
<br>
- blisterfree<br>
<br>
------------------------<br>
<br>
The big concern is that hikers may spook <br>
cattle. One rancher has this advice/comment: Hikers on
foot can spook <br>
cattle simply by their presence. Heifers will sometimes
leave their <br>
calves causing additional labor for the rancher in getting
them to <br>
"mother back up". I try to educate the hikers and
recreationalists to <br>
walk a wide circle around cattle so as not to spook them.
Cattle see <br>
ranchers on horseback and when something out of the norm
comes along <br>
they will flee. Sometimes if a hiker will stop when they
spook cattle, <br>
the cattle will turn around and look, and then be allright
with their <br>
presence, at which time the hiker may continue without any
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