Below average hunter numbers and harvest???

[SAJ-99]

Mid winter flights are a joke and the fwp ignores them if they don't find enough animals. They blame weather and that piece of shit helicopter for poor counts.

Any better ideas?

 

[longbow51]

What they should do, is recruit places, like bars, hardware stores, or any place that sells tags, to become game check stations, then make it mandatory to have game checked, that way they have accurate numbers unlike they do now.

That's a great idea. They could get an idea of how far away the deer was when shot, how hard the wind was blowing, and how the sun was in the hunter's eyes. Sorry, couldn't resist. Seriously, though, that's a good idea.

 

[Bigjay73]

That's a great idea. They could get an idea of how far away the deer was when shot, how hard the wind was blowing, and how the sun was in the hunter's eyes. Sorry, couldn't resist. Seriously, though, that's a good idea.

You forgot how many miles they hiked to get it

 

[theat]

The game check stations are a joke as far as I am concerned. Most of the time they are closed by the time I drive past. I stopped at the Bonner station twice this fall and pulled into the lane for hunters with game. Both times, when I told them that I had been hunting in central Montana, they told me to keep going. There are no other check stations between a massive chunk of central Montana and where I live, other than the Bonner station. I would have had to drive 120+ miles round trip out of my way to check my animals at the only station within the region that apparently is interested in what I shot. I'd like to see at a minimum mandatory reporting online or by phone. Seems like it would be pretty simple to set up a system like that.

 

[diamond hitch]

One year they (fwp) put up a random check station near my house. You know - a sign on the side of a county road and a warden. The results? 19 illegal cow elk and a poached hereford cow. I don't believe they ever did that again. The hereford caused some serious jurisdiction problems.

The last tough year my neighbor found the remains of one of his heifers in the barn where someone butchered her out and took prime beef home.

 

[BuzzH]

Any better ideas?

Yeah, don't waste money flying around pretending to count big game...pointless. Their counts mean zip when season structures haven't changed since the 1950's. When resident tags are otc for elk and deer...and the price of those tags hasn't changed much even.

Counting a resource you aren't going to do anything to change management of is pointless.

As to the check stations another joke. Drove through the bonner check station at 7 pm on weekends twice and they were closed. Let's see...legal shooting hours over at 5:30. Guess nobody shoots deer past noon...

 

[Hem]

I saw more elk than hunters. By far.

 

[Wildabeest]

I saw more elk than hunters. By far.

GPS coordinates or it didn’t happen.

 

[noisy]

I saw more moose than elk. By far.

 

[devon deer]

As an 'outsider' it has always been a mystery to me why it isn't compulsory to report your hunting success, or not, back to fish and game.
When I first hunted in Montana I thought I was breaking some regs by not reporting my success.
In the UK when we purchase a fishing rod licence for migratory fish (Salmon/Sea Trout) at the end of the season we have to make a return, be that by email or snail mail, if we don't there can be repercussions, it records days fished and success rates/size of fish/release rates.
Doesn't take much to send an email in does it?
Cheers
Richard

 

[MTGomer]

Just dropping in to say that NM has reporting online, which I believe is mandatory there.
I filled it out after my deer hunt, then I did the small game one too and the whole thing took under 5 minutes.
It was so easy.
No reason every state shouldn’t have this.

 

[MTTW]

I saw the same number of sasquatch and bucks over 160. 2 years in a row.

Either the sasquatch hunting is improving, or the mule deer hunting is deteriorating.
We need a study, but no money.

 

[SAJ-99]

Yeah, don't waste money flying around pretending to count big game...pointless. Their counts mean zip when season structures haven't changed since the 1950's. When resident tags are otc for elk and deer...and the price of those tags hasn't changed much even.

Counting a resource you aren't going to do anything to change management of is pointless.

As to the check stations another joke. Drove through the bonner check station at 7 pm on weekends twice and they were closed. Let's see...legal shooting hours over at 5:30. Guess nobody shoots deer past noon...

While I agree to the resulting problems, nothing here is a suggestion towards a solution. The you-can’t-count-every-elk-so-stop-counting approach will lead to other problems...and more complaining. I’m sure one of those complaints would be that they don’t even try to count elk.

 

[406dn]

My sense is that the check stations are more about collecting biological data than they are about game law enforcement. Using them, they can get data on age class and gender percentages of the harvest. They can also get an idea of the harvest numbers compared to past years.

The phone calls after the season refine the data on harvest size. The aerial counts are really the only way to get data on herd sizes on various winter ranges. Yes, there is a lot of slop in the count,, so would any other way of getting that data.

I do not see any need to know the harvest down to the last animal for elk, deer, or antelope. I can see it for moose, sheep, and black bear.

 

[brownbear932008]

What they should do, is recruit places, like bars, hardware stores, or any place that sells tags, to become game check stations, then make it mandatory to have game checked, that way they have accurate numbers unlike they do now.

Telecheck and online check should also be included here in today's world with technology. I haven't physically checked a deer in VA in several years now. I can usually stand there before gutting and echeck.

 

[JLS]

My sense is that the check stations are more about collecting biological data than they are about game law enforcement.

It’s not a sense, it’s fact. Last time I stopped at Bonner I went to show the guy my tag. He told me he didn’t need to see it. I told him I dropped a f$)%#ing grand on my tags, he was going to look at them.

 

[hcenvinc]

Saw this article today and it seems as though they try to equate the number of hunters to the total harvest. They base the number of hunters off those who stopped at the checkpoint, which seems problematic to me. While elk numbers may or may not be down due to management techniques, the experience of many on here in attempting to get tags this year does not comport with their conclusions.

Bad weather, fewer hunters lead to decade's smallest elk harvest along Rocky Mountain Front

A combination of unseasonable storms, low hunter turn out leads to smallest Montana elk harvest in decades.

www.greatfallstribune.com

See illogical. Lots of people not working and looking for something to do. I have heard hunter number are up