Ever Had a TV hunter in your Hunting Area?

[Duck-Slayer]

Negative.... tried to get Randy here to Idaho the last 10 years...
Matt

 

[EYJONAS!]

What a double edged sword this could be

 

[EYJONAS!]

It's not too hard to see what @timmy is saying with people going southeast Montana on Mule Deer. A bunch of folks have done private land hunts over the years and the credits come up after the show and name specific outfitters in the area. Don't think that hasnt rung a few bells over the years its easy advertising for them.

 

[TheJason]

What a double edged sword this could be

Yes. Unintended consequences can be a real bitch sometimes.

 

[TheJason]

I was watching a Born and a Raised elk hunt, and immediately recognized the specific drainage they were in, and could walk you within a couple hundred yards of where they ended up killing a bull. Doesn’t help the hunting quality, but it is what is is.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I was watching a Born and a Raised elk hunt, and immediately recognized the specific drainage they were in, and could walk you within a couple hundred yards of where they ended up killing a bull. Doesn’t help the hunting quality, but it is what is is.

I was watching a B&R episode where I recognized the exact drainage they were hunting. They didn’t kill anything in that area. Probably because we killed two 6x6’s there three weeks earlier. .
I know you know where that is because you have posted a pic of the exact rock I have sat on to rest.

In another instance, my boys and I ended up hunting with Randy in SE MT. The following spring we were hunting turkeys in a spot a couple miles from my house. We pulled in to the area just in time to see another hunter coming out. We stopped to talk and he got a funny look on his face as he asked,”Are these the boys of Fresh Tracks fame?”
Turns out he was one of Randy’s neighbors!

It’s a small world out there.

 

[runningmt]

Randy Newberg is regularly hunting and filming one of my go-to spots on his shows. It's fun to see how he hunts it versus how i have hunted it over the last couple decades. I can see how some may get upset about it, but everybody's strategy, patience, schedule and ability are different, creating different success stories and opportunities. I have found success in this specific area many times, and often when it felt like people were "invading" my area. Some of my biggest success stories hinged on someone else being around, whether they pushed game to me, or forced me to take a different approach rather than just doing what I've always done.

 

[antlerradar]

The number of filmed hunts in SE Montana are too numerous to mention. Most are done with outfitted hunts farther east than I usually hunt. Some have hit a little closer to home.

Randy shot a whitetail buck in a saddle I have hunted several times.

Another time I hiked up to the top of a great buck hill with good glassing points. In a little valley on the hill was the remnants of a hunting camp. My first thought was "who was the fool that camped where they need to be hunting" I guess they wanted to wake up with deer in camp. My second thought was " They should have done a better job of picking up their trash". I had no idea who camped there until I saw them on the TV.

Quit a few years back a TV personalty hunted with the outfitter on a neighboring ranch. I watched the show and laughed just about constantly. The hunters talk about hiking in and hunting hard. Looked like a lot of truck hunting to me. Best of all when the TV personality did his promotion of the outfitter they filmed from my land overlooking more of my land. I am sure that they did it because of the great background and that you didn't have to walk to get the shot.

 

[mtmuley]

I've never run into any TV people, but I've encountered several guides from some high profile out of state outfitters. mtmuley

 

[the nikster]

I hunted caribou in Alaska near a bunch of long range bombers from tv. Talked to them while we waited for the transporter we both were using. Nice enough guys, closed the area to caribou the following year, no correlation.
I got a nice caribou on another hunt in another area using another transporter. I see TV and internet guys hunting from the same ridge frequently. It’s a dang good place.
a bunch of years ago I put everything I needed to survive for 2 weeks in a pack and left the road system. I packed in over 6 miles. I set up camp and this bozo archery hunter comes wandering by on his way out. We ate dinner together and talked for about 90 minutes. Great, great guy. I see him on tv all time. I wonder if he ever thinks about me?

 

[dgc1963]

Had a tv hunter in a whitetail camp the week before me the outfitter didnt like the way he had all his crew walking all over the area after the kill he said it will mess up the farm for weeks with human stink
and said the guy was a deva wanted waited on hand and foot

 

[runningmt]

I met up with Janis Putelis in 2015 at a trailhead in SW Montana, I arrived first, and he politely asked which way I was going. He decided to go the other way, even after I invited him along in the direction i was headed.
I had never seen an episode of Meateater at that time, but knew of the show. I am now a big fan, having seen every episode.

After we wished each other luck, i hiked in and shot a cow elk in the time between legal sunrise and actual sunrise.......there were three other elk with them. I often wish he had come with me that day. By the time i got the first load back to the truck, the trailhead was empty.

I'm glad I met him, i wonder if he remembers this encounter?

 

[buffybr]

Both Randy Newberg and Jason Matzinger live in the same city as I do, and I've known them from before they started their TV shows. I've never seen either of them out hunting, but often I recognize where they are hunting. Occasionally I'll see Randy out at our rifle range and we'll catch up on some of our latest hunts.

We all hate to see our favorite hunting areas shown on TV, but it seems like all good things must end, and Montana is being overrun with people with or without Randy's and Jason's TV shows.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

No not at all but I disagreed with the message instead of saying come to Montana to hunt, it named specifics. Don’t get me wrong it was headed in a bad direction that wasn’t going to change. It did congregate hunters though. It made a difference in the amount of hunters that you saw.

Non resident hunting in SE MT is actually close to where it was in '04 according to the harvest statistics, IMHO the market crashed and residents had a couple seasons of very few NR, then the market recovered and they came back, in about the same numbers and this created the perception there were way more NR than before. The first OYOA episode was 09' (I believe).

Did Randy out a spot or was that spot just the largest piece of public land in the unit and therefore the most obvious place for a NR to pick. Given all the other factors I just really have a hard time believing a TV show is a statistically significant factor.

Region 704 is 3.5 Million acres... for comparison the entire Grand Mesa in CO another big mule deer mecca is 1.5 million and CPW breaks it up into 6 units so they can manage the herds better.

Even if, and I think it's a huge if Randy did make SE MT more popular it's still the states fault for not managing it, if crowding is an issue the state could cut region 7 into a bunch of units and make each unit a permit draw to spread people out.

The buck stops entirely with MFWP and Montana residents not showing up and demanding better management from their agency.



MFWPs lazaire fair management strategy always boggled my mind.

Region 7 -OTC tags, entire region shares a tag quotas, only 6 sub units


Western CO ~ 60+ units, No OTC tags, specific quotas for units and group of units.

 

[timmy]

Non resident hunting in SE MT is actually close to where it was in '04 according to the harvest statistics, IMHO the market crashed and residents had a couple seasons of very few NR, then the market recovered and they came back, in about the same numbers and this created the perception there were way more NR than before. The first OYOA episode was 09' (I believe).

Did Randy out a spot or that spot just the largest piece of public land in the unit and therefore the most obvious place for a NR to pick. Given all the other factors I just really have a hard time believing a TV show is a statistically significant factor.

Region 704 is 3.5 Million acres... for comparison the entire Grand Mesa in CO another big mule deer mecca is 1.5 million and CPW breaks it up into 6 units so they can manage the herds better.

Even if, and I think it's a huge if Randy did make SE MT more popular it's still the states fault for not managing it, if crowding is an issue the state could cut region 7 into a bunch of units and make each unit a permit draw to spread people out.

The buck stops entirely with MFWP and Montana residents not showing up and demanding better management from their agency.

View attachment 134629

MFWPs lazaire fair management strategy always boggled my mind.

Region 7 -OTC tags, entire region shares a tag quotas, on 6 sub units
View attachment 134630

Western CO ~ 60+ unit, No OTC tags, specific quotas of units and group of units.
View attachment 134631

We are on the same page. The answer to the original question of can it change a hunting area imo is yes. Management is no doubt the bigger issue.

 

[geetar]

Hunter Specialties filmed a youth hunt on a private deer spot I had. In fact they used the same box stand I sometimes did. I know longer have access to that one but it was always good.

 

[AggieHunter]

I think in one of his videos a few years ago when hunting SE Montana he mentions the national Forrest in which he was hunting and put up some maps.

 

[AggieHunter]

I had one tell me they would reverse the scenery shots to confuse folks looking for landmarks.

Was talking to South Cox and he ran into a couple bowhunters when he was working for Eastmans. They stalked him from an episode on tv on google earth, and they even told him so.

Saw one today that showed the hunter's home address and the unit on the tag. ooooffff!

I can definitely plead guilty to doing this a little when I first started watching hunting videos. I would hear towns or other places and try to find them, but figured out pretty quickly it would be just as easy to find my own spots.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I think in one of his videos a few years ago when hunting SE Montana he mentions the national Forrest in which he was hunting and put up some maps.

Considering that the Custer- Gallatin is the only national forest in the area and covers the area from Bozeman to the eastern boundary of MT, it’s not a big deal to “spill the beans” with that info.

Also, considering that most hunters want a base of operations with motels and gas stations and restaurants, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which town in the area offers that in close proximity to some public land.

From there OnX maps is the game changer that allows someone unfamiliar with the area to figure out the complexity of private/ public boundaries.

After that it’s just a matter of how much effort people are willing to put out and how lucky they are.

Hunting is constantly changing and a successful hunter is willing to change to accommodate that reality. Sometimes that means raising a big enough stink to cause FWP to address the management decisions that are allowing/causing a decline in quality and opportunity.

Unfortunately most hunters want to find a scapegoat to blame rather than fix a problem. MT’s FWP seems to take their cues from hunters who refuse to change and in turn are happy to continue with 1960’s management plans.

 

[madtom]

One time when I still lived in Iowa, I saw Don and Kandy Kisky in the WalMart checkout in Osceola. Didn’t seem to affect the quality of my hunting for deli meats.