With 17,000 non-resident elk tags being sold this year, it seems that the wolves aren’t even close to being the major consumer of Montana elk. Of course their right to eat doesn’t count for much because they don’t pay big $bucks for tags. Most of the time they don’t harvest the big trophy (breeding) bulls either.
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Last Year’s hunting season made me sick. I watched pickup after pickup leave this area with big herd bulls. Since hunting season I have not seen one 6 point bull in the 1000 or more elk that winter around here. I must say that though not many bulls are killed by wolves the same is not true for the calves in the spring. I am very worried about our elk herds in montana. I hope that the politics that make any change in the management of all our wildlife so frustratingly slow can be kept to a minimum.
Comment by Jim — April 5, 2011 @ 3:10 pm
I’m also concerned for the same reasons. There are many more elk in your area and hunters from here now go there to hunt. I have seen many of those pickups coming back from there, In the elk herds that I’ve seen here over the last few years, I have not seen any respectable bulls at all.
My other concern is the quality of the species. When the biggest and best bulls are continually harvested, the cows mate with lesser quality bulls and that will clearly degrade the bloodlines.
It seems that most of the issues concerning game management in Montana have degraded into political bickering, or have followed the channels of uninformed and narrow minded folks. We sure need to get out of that mode and start listening to real wildlife managers (if indeed we still have any) and get out of the knee-jerk “management by the loudest voice” that has pretty much ruined this years legislature as well.
I’d sure love to have some honest to goodness facts to look at.
I have had several people whom I trust and respect tell me that they have seen and heard wolves near here so I know they are here but I’m afraid that most of the wolves in this area have been seen late at night in the local bars and those people seem to be the most vocal.
I have also been concerned about the lack of large White-tail bucks. Recently I took a five mile hike from my house up through the lower mountain slopes above some large hay fields and counter over 200 White-tails on the hike. I saw no bucks at all and no sheds on the ground. That’s completely different than it used to be! Something is way out of balance.
Comment by montucky — April 5, 2011 @ 3:51 pm