Montana Region 3 (more hunters than game?)

[MonteMontana]

There is a rumor that over the last few years the southwest corner of the state has been overrun with hunters. I have seen this myself, but have heard from a ton of disgruntled hunters that there is just an amazing amount of road hunters and people who drive into closed areas. Non-residents are abundant. I have watched this area for years and opening day of rifle is definitely a frenzy. Between the wolves and the hunters, the game habits and numbers have definately changed.

What are other people experiencing or hearing about this?

 

[completesportsman]

More hunters than game?

I call BS!

 

[Elk375]

I was down there yesterday with my brother and 85 year father. We went south down the Rudy Valley and into the Centennial Valley and over to Henry's Lake. Had dinner at the Sportsman's Lodge in Ennis and home to Bozeman. Very few people and huge country. My father has an antelope permit in 330 and I in 700.

I have been down there on opening day for the last 4 or 5 years. The country is huge with over 60% state and federal land and millions of acres of Block Management Land. The elk season is 5 weeks long and after opening day the elk are on private land or in heavy timber and only feeding at night. The elk will become very difficult to hunt until the snow forces them to move.

The wolves have changed the habits. Last year there was light snow on the ground in my "honey hole" and I hunted and hunted and no sign of elk or tracks. Finally, I spotted some fresh elk tracks ahead maybe 100 yards. I worked my way up to the tracks and there were not 5 minutes old and they were not elk tracks. They were wolf tracks. I moved into the Centennial Valley to my next honey hole for the afternoon hunt. I hiked in a half mile and came upon 5 day old horse track and notice that the cowboy had a huge, huge dog. That is funny, most cow dogs are small. Onward another quarter mile and the dog and cowboy went there separate ways. I followed the dog track a short ways and then there were 6 large dog tracks and not a sign of elk or deer until dark.

Is there to many hunters, yes and no. I have seem it at my second honey hole in the last few years not enough hunters due to road closures above which kept's the elk from moving. At my first honey hole there was a "no dak" North Dakotan happy as hell that he had his combo license after a year wait and one bonus point. He had hunted this place as many times as he had drawn and it did not matter that I was there first.

I think that Montana should open hunting season on Saturday instead of Sunday and not allow non residents to hunt until Monday, this would lesson the opening day crowds. Hey when I am in Alaska in some areas I can not hunt until 5 days into the season and the season extends for residents in some areas after it closes for non residents.

I the hunting area is huge with many opportunities for hunters and it has drawn both resident and non resident and will continue to.

 

[MonteMontana]

LAST EDITED ON Jul-28-09 AT 10:30AM (MST)[p]
To the gentleman that called B.S.
That was not meant to be literal. I was just saying that there seems to be a tremendous increase in hunters.

 

[MonteMontana]

Great Response! Thank you. I was trying to get different opinions from people who hunt there and you came through. Seeing wolves and wolf tracks was almost a daily occurence for me down there. I experienced more hunters probably because I was on the Blacktail. An outfitter I know hunts the Centenniel and he's been really dissapointed the last few years.

 

[completesportsman]

I hunted region 3 in 2006 & 2007 and had great hunts. I saw plenty of elk, very, very few hunters and no wolves or tracks. Lots of cat tracks but no wolf tracks. I know there were a few wolves around but we didn't see any sign of them. I just can't imagine its gotten that bad that fast.

Those two hunts were probably the best hunts I have ever been on.

 

[MonteMontana]

That's awesome. I know that the Lima area was a madhouse for a while in 2008 but maybe this year it will be different.
Seeing cat tracks a lot is interesting. I don't suppose you're a lion hunter?

 

[completesportsman]

Nope, not a lion hunter & I'm glad all we saw were tracks.

 

[lvelk]

I think the problem is more from the population growth in the region (wolves, cats, and people) than it is from nonresident hunters. Bozeman/Belgrade has exploded over the last 10-15 years (other towns to a lesser extent as well), and the increased wolf population is very well documented. I don't know when the NR tag #'s went up last, but that would be a legit comparison to the actual area population growth. This is where I should note that I have been in the NR category for the last 10 yrs, but was in the Res category for 25yrs before that.

I believe the DIY NR's have very little affect on the overall herd habits. Sure a DIY NR hunter can stumble into a honey hole but its more dumbluck than anything else. Remember the majority of NR's don't know the areas like a local or have the ability to preseason scout. There lucky to even see Elk if they don't get some sort of local intel.

Just a thought

 

[dsgfishn]

Not all NR's are road hunters that don't scout and enter the season hoping they will luck into a "honey hole". Some of us have hunted that awesome state for over twenty years. Through 3 generations. As far as letting res hunters start a couple days before nr's? With extended seasons for the last two years in an attempt to reduce elk numbers, it looks like your getting extra time to hunt, and it's usually when the weather is more condusive to hunting elk. If almost 2 months of hunting time between archery, rifle, and extentions isn't enough time to fill your tag, i highly doubt having a couple days at the start will help.

 

[ismith]

Seems like the wolves have really took a liking to the Gravellies the last couple of years. Normally, seeing a wolf would be fairly uncommon, this year my dad has seen them just about every trip hes made up there.

 

[MonteMontana]

Most of the tracks and 3 of the wolves I saw in the last year have been in the Snowcrest Range and lately there's been 2 running between the Sweetwater Range and the Snowcrests.

 

[mtdream]

IMHO, the elk have shifted their migration...I grew up hunting the Gallatin...there are no where near the elk there as when I was a kid...Additionally, the elk are migrating earlier in the year...

It used to be we could hunt for a week, and pretty much be assured of knocking down a few bulls in our group...the last few years we have all but given up on the gallatin for anything more than memories...

 

[MonteMontana]

We have experienced similar. People like to blame it on private landowners, but I don't buy that. It almost seems that the elk are not running in the big herds as much. I remember seeing over 1,000 elk in a herd in Beaverhead County 20 years ago. Maybe the wolves have got them more scattered and more mobile. I used to rifle hunt the Snowcrest Range but there is so many hunters in that area that the few resident elk that are in there just get slaughtered. Opening day last year they took 35 bulls and 2 cows in the Snowcrest that I know of. 1 bull was a decent 6x6 the rest were young bulls. That is not a large area, so if they took that many elk in one day, think about how many hunters would have been in there. There was even a helicopter at the East Fork campground.
Now the wolves are running in there and elk are scarce. I scouted the area for bowhunting and there is noticeably fewer elk than last year. Oh and I did see 2 wolves in there too. 1 black 1 gray.
I can understand why the elk head for private property. It's a way to escape the pressure.