Gotta love the shoulder season

[HuntMT16]

First thing first, I'm not trying to start a hot debate about the Montana Shoulder season. Second, I understand elk are over objective in some areas and it needs to be dealt with. At least FWP is allowing hunters to harvest the elk and put it in the freezer BUT, the way I see it, the shoulder season does nothing to help the average blue collar hunter that hunts to put meat in the freezer instead of paying a fortune for beef at the store.

The shoulder season does of course help the land owners in several ways. One way is putting more money in the pockets of the big land owners. A classic example is this little fella:

http://bozeman.craigslist.org/spo/5831183728.html


Maybe I have a bad attitude towards the shoulder season and big land owners, but charging people $500 to shoot an elk that the land owner wants gone just seems like total B.S. to me. I'm not anti FWP, they do a good job and do the best they can, but this shoulder season crap needs to go away. If the land owners want elk off their land, open it up to the general public (BMA or conservation easements, both put money in the land owners pocket) and hunters fill bring the elk population down to objective, put meat in the freezer, and minimize crop damage all at the same time.

End rant..

 

[8andcounting]

Wow just wow . Agree with u 100%

 

[katqanna]

I went to our Region 3 CAC meeting the other night. The Shoulder Seasons were part of the discussion, including that guy near Drummond with those ads all over the state selling access. At one point, Howard Burt, our chief wildlife biologist giving the shoulders season debate, brought up a case here in Region 3, said that it helped the landowners, like this one private landowner who had elk coming down into his alfalfa fields at the beginning of he shoulder season, they were able to remove a number of them. I brought up that is Game Damage, which requires public hunter access. He had not mentioned anything about objective numbers and populations in relation to that case, just the bloody alfalfa fields.

I stated this in my comments on shoulder seasons from the very beginning, that landowners were going to use this as end run around, like they were doing in Region 3 with elk brucellosis measure, where there were previously, for years, very few game damage complaints and I had the stats for it.

HuntMT16, thanks for the post, I got a screen shot for the file.

 

[HuntMT16]

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks the whole thing is B.S. One question I have for you guys. I thought I read a post here a while back that it was against regulations that land owners were not allowed to sell access rights during the shoulder season. Is that correct, or am I completely off base with that?

 

[FAIR CHASE]

It's a broken system and I thank those trying to right the ship.

 

[RobG]

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks the whole thing is B.S. One question I have for you guys. I thought I read a post here a while back that it was against regulations that land owners were not allowed to sell access rights during the shoulder season. Is that correct, or am I completely off base with that?

There is nothing that can stop people from advertising and charging a trespass fee to hunt their land. The criteria they set in place at the start of the season attempts to keep most of the ranches focused on reducing herds, and not commercializing them. If it doesn't work the seasons could be stopped. I was told by a commissioner that if Gianforte is elected the criteria will disappear in a red mist.

 

[mountain monster]

Great post, I totally against it also. At least the way it's run now.

 

[MTlionchaser]

I sure hope they are lisc outfitters as they are advertising guided hunts.

 

[BuzzH]

This comes as no shock...it's exactly what many knew was going to happen.

The only thing I disagree with is that the fwp does a good job...no they don't. They are as culpable as the landowners who are taking advantage. They have no clue how many elk they have, how many they kill, and their own statistics make no sense. There is no management of elk in Montana....6 month seasons, 11 weeks+ for bull elk, single digit bull to cow ratios, etc....that isn't management. Its warfare on elk, that simple.

The fwp is a joke...a sad joke.

 

[8andcounting]

This comes as no shock...it's exactly what many knew was going to happen.

The only thing I disagree with is that the fwp does a good job...no they don't. They are as culpable as the landowners who are taking advantage. They have no clue how many elk they have, how many they kill, and their own statistics make no sense. There is no management of elk in Montana....6 month seasons, 11 weeks+ for bull elk, single digit bull to cow ratios, etc....that isn't management. Its warfare on elk, that simple.

The fwp is a joke...a sad joke.

Bingo

 

[Gr8bawana]

I think if landowners really wanted the elk "just gone" they would have no problem hazing the elk off of their property or letting a controlled number of hunters to hunt on the property at no charge.