Elk arrived!!

[bigngreen]

I wait every year for the elk herds to show up on the winter range behind my house, they showed up this morning. When the snow gets deeper and the winds pick up it bears all the ridges of behind my house, used to be several thousand head, last year there was 110 with 6 brow tine bulls, this year this is all that showed up, 45 and one spike bull.

 

[adam32]

Where do you think the others are going?

 

[PNWGator]

I'm guessing the others have become part of the food chain....

 

[sp6x6]

Sad

 

[bigngreen]

Just found the larger North Blacktail herd on the other side of the valley, this used to be massive, 2000+ head. Looks like 250-300, they can get on to private for a lot of hunting season so they've faired a little better. You'll have to zoom in and you'll see them just above and through the fence.

 

[sp6x6]

Back in the good days we had a couple hundred in GNP,winter range.Was always some nice bull with occasional booner type.Hardly even elk sited there anymore.

 

[HARPERC]

Thanks for the pictures, and first person history.

 

[bigngreen]

Where do you think the others are going?

There are no others. Last year was totally out of control during hunting season, the orange wolf pack decimated the herds. I watched more than one herd completely wiped out this season, friends in FWP and NF hauled more elk to the food bank that were shot and left than ever before. One group of guys wiped out over 30 head in one herd and some of the guys didn't have licence's, shooting from the road. It was a sickening season!!
There are some small, small calves in these herds talking with some friends who have larger herds saw no bulls in large groups of cows that would have still been cycling, many are starting to think that the cows aren't breeding back as well or on the last cycle which puts calves too small going into winter and they can't handle being ran to death by hunters for three months.

 

[adam32]

There are no others. Last year was totally out of control during hunting season, the orange wolf pack decimated the herds. I watched more than one herd completely wiped out this season, friends in FWP and NF hauled more elk to the food bank that were shot and left than ever before. One group of guys wiped out over 30 head in one herd and some of the guys didn't have licence's, shooting from the road. It was a sickening season!!
There are some small, small calves in these herds talking with some friends who have larger herds saw no bulls in large groups of cows that would have still been cycling, many are starting to think that the cows aren't breeding back as well or on the last cycle which puts calves too small going into winter and they can't handle being ran to death by hunters for three months.

That's terrible! I figured wolves aren't helping but didn't want to assume.

 

[MtPockets]

It's really hard to see the numbers decline so dramatically, but especially when WE are the problem- not wolves, weather, etc.

I hope all those who contributed illegally to the decline will have many years to think about it before eligible to buy another tag.

 

[blackbrush1]

You have law enforcement on the case, right?

 

[jrsv2203]

You have law enforcement on the case, right?

Where was this, which state, etc.?

 

[blackbrush1]

Looks like MT. I doubt the herd was reduced by many hundreds by solely bullets. Fangs and claws surely. Development possibly slightly.

 

[bigngreen]

Law enforcement is over ran, many of those type of shootouts they are just trying to keep people safe, hard to prove who did what and guy no longer own what they did. If it we not for private land I'm convinced these guys would wipe out the elk and not give it a second though. MT is going to have to do something different, there is a huge push back from locals right now, bow season is as out of control as rifle, you see a lot of out of state guys come for a couple weeks of bow hunting then they come for rifle. Side by sides have completely changed how hunting is happening, it's now a race, surround them and gun them down.
Rocky Mountain elk foundation is a huge issue, they have unleashed a human kill machine on the elk, they buy atv and utv access into the only places the elk can get a breather where we once had to really work to get into and a guy could actually hunt now is nothing but elk being ran to death. MT is selling elk not a hunting experience and I believe that's at the core of the issue, they over sold the out of state tags by more than there are people in my county!! Most end up here because of access and groups like the Rocky Mountain elk foundation.