I took my AR's to the range today.  Man I love these SEBR's!  The range that I go to is right at the base of a mountain and there was a big herd of deer on the mountain side behind and to the right of the Rifle Range.  

There was a guy there who didn't appear to be shooting at all, but he was checking out the deer with his binoculars.  After I'd been there a little while, he comes over and asks if he can use my spotting scope.  He said "There's two guys in camoflauge up above the herd of deer."  They were WAY up there.  It was all my 60X spotting scope could do to get a good view of them.

So I let him use my spotting scope, and he tells me to take a look to see if I can see if they had guns.  The guys were just sitting there, using binoculars to look at the herd.  The guy tells me that the land they are on is private property owned by Utah Power and Light.  He said that he had to leave, but suggests that I might want to keep an eye on them and I see them with rifles that there is a big reward for getting poachers busted.  He also said that at about this time last year some guys waited until dusk above a herd of deer in the same vicinity and poached a deer.

The guy left and shortly after the two guys in camo get up, sling their backpacks over their backs, and start moving.  No rifles, at least none that I could see.  They moved and I never did figure out where they went.   I don't know exactly what the guys were up to, but I suspect that they might be casing the herd.

Should I have called the Sheriff?  I don't want to waste LEO's time on something that is nothing, but I keep wondering if I should have done anything.

no

I don't see anything to report. They may have been scouting & had permission to be there for all you know.

Quoted: I don't see anything to report. They may have been scouting & had permission to be there for all you know.

Good point.  Thanks guys.

You did what you should have done.
Nothing.

Haven't you learned recently most people on AR15.com hate people who report questionable behavior to the police.  Check out all the threads they got locked recently.

Is it still hunting season where you are at?  If it is not then in my opinion you should report them.  If it is then people hunting power lines is very common.

My brother is a game warden.  It's his job to check on reports of poachers.  If the people are legit then they should have no problem being checked.  The game wardens will no better then everyone on AR15.com if they should act on the information.  So if the guys behavior seemed suspicious call it in.  Most likely nothing will happen with it anyway.  But if there is a string of poachers the state is looking for it could help them in catching them.

I feel it depends on why they were "poaching"?  I know a guy who takes 5-7 deer a year, only one being legal, but he has a very low paying job, and a family of four to feed.  He doesn't get welfare or foodstamps, most of what his family eats he kills or grows.  The state, IMHO, has no right to tell him he can't harvest deer to feed his family in season or not!  Others, just go to take trophies, and they are the lowest of the low!

Could they have been...................resting and watching the deer..................or.......................shooting them with one of those evil black cameras..........you know.....the kind that go off everytime you press the trigger......and have those sniper lenses?

If you see somebody poach a deer that's one thing. Watching a herd of deer is basicly legal as far as I know.

Nothing wrong with just looking.........even if you are licking your chops while doing so.

hunters becoming the hunted?