Montana Antelope area 701

[The Hedgehog]

I'm surprised there's 200 head still being killed in the unit, even as big as it is. I think I've filled over 30 antelope tags in 701, 17 or so bucks. Been with at least that many other hunters who have taken antelope there also. Officially in mourning..

Will be looking elsewhere.

 

[Bambistew]

Those are some seriously sad numbers... The way MT FWP is headed, they will be able to drop the Wildlife and just manage fish and parks.

 

[mdunc8]

All this is why I'm focusing more and more time and energy into Wyoming for antelope. Will still hunt here but expectations aren't what they used to be.

 

[mdunc8]

Completely different issue, but I wonder what effects the 900 tags have had around some of the larger towns in the SW part of the state. Not nearly as many antelope running around the spots I used to hunt.

 

[NKQualtieri]

Wow. Where can you look at historic numbers? That is a crazy, crazy drop.

 

[Poke 'Em]

http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/planahunt/harvestReports.html

 

[Walkathon]

Made me go look back at the FWP harvest stats for area 701...

2004: 3843
2006: 3427
2009: 2482
2011: 610
2013: 208

Ugly ending to such an awesome place.

Can't believe that Montana isn't managing each individual unit. Talk about dismal

 

[Big Fin]

The drop between 2011 and 2013 is more depressing than anything.

Agreed, given that we knew the devastating winters preceding the 2011 hunting season had hammered antelope, especially the winter of 2010-11. Yet, total antelope tags issued for Region 7 later that fall were 6,500 buck tags and 250 doe tags, along with 5,600 either-sex archery-only tags, a large number of which were used in Region 7.

Many remember this pic in the Billings Gazette in early January 2011.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Looked in the '04 regs - the good ol days, there were 13000 either sex permits + unlimited archery and 8000 doefawn tags for the 700 antelope areas.

Flushed right down the crapper with no comeback possible under today's management.

I think it could have been salvaged with some simple changes starting in 2011.

 

[Poke 'Em]

Let's not pretend like overhunting caused the drop in numbers. 70-90% of the herd was killed in the winter of 2010-2011. I remember driving the highline in the spring of 2011 as the snow was starting to melt and seeing 5-10 dead antelope in every little draw where they had gotten stuck in a snow drift. The population is way, way down in western North Dakota as well.

Now, FWP should have been quicker to drop the license numbers as they still had 11,000 in 2011, as the regulations came out before it was apparent how much the herd had been decimated (they probably should have issued an emergency order to drop that - and maybe they did, I don't remember, but the regs show 11k), and 6500 in 2012, before dropping to 3000 in 2013-2015. The herds are definitely coming back, though some places are worse off than others. I really don't agree with managing Region 7 as one whole region instead of divvying tags up by district. Now, all that said, and while I think FWP certainly has room for improvement, let's not kid ourselves into thinking that hunting drove the population down.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Hunting is keeping it from ever coming back.

 

[shoots-straight]

Thinks about this. With the numbers where they are at today, F&G don't get many complaints about antelope depredation. Hunters are still issued some tags and it's easy peasy to deal with now that there are a lot less lopes.

Now what we have done for lopes we intend to do with ELk. The deer are taking care of themselves, with just the right amount of tags.

 

[BuzzH]

There is no hunting in Montana that is better now than in the 1990's.

Much of it is 100% due to over-hunting, in particular large numbers of doe fawn deer and pronghorn. I hunted the 500 antelope units a lot back in the day, I remember 1 weekend 6 of us shot 18, 17 of them on opening day. Those same units are a shell of what they used to be.

All you have to do is look at the number of license issued VS the number of animals...using elk as an example, they issue 170,000 elk license and the total population of elk (if you believe their exaggerated numbers) is 130,000. Whats more telling is that they want the elk down to 80K, and they will still give out 170,000 tags when the numbers are that low.

Montana is absolutely the worse managed state of any I have ever hunted. They fail to react to anything...and saying that "they didn't know" the winter of 2010-11 was going to kick the chit out of pronghorn is a flat fuggin' lie. There was pictures in every newspaper in Montana, and stories being written about the dire situation. The FWP acted at their usual glacial speed, managing for "opportunity" when there wasn't enough animals to justify a season.

Its pure crap, and I have no idea why MT hunters tolerate it.

I wouldn't trade a leftover pronghorn tag in the worse area in Wyoming for a tag in the "best" area in Montana right now.

It is a total shame what the FWP has done to big-game hunting in Montana, and even more shameful that residents have allowed it.

Greenhorn, I'm truly sorry about what happened to your pronghorn area...you had some incredible hunting there. It wont recover in your lifetime unless major changes are made.

 

[whiskeydog]

I remember fishing Fort Peck the summer after that 2011 winter kill. There were hundreds of dead antelope washed ashore. I suppose many died on the ice trying to get to the south side; several groups of them did make it, and i imagine many died in the spring trying to swim back to the north side.

We always used to hunt down near Baker with a pretty much guaranteed draw and success rate. Now we hunt elsewhere. I drive from Billings to ND 2x a week and never see more than 10-20 antelope all the way from Billings to the ND border...used to see hundreds.

 

[PJ0311]

I used to hunt there as well but 08 was the last year for me. For a couple of years I figured I'd end up hunting there again after the numbers rebounded but then I pretty much gave up on the idea of ever going back there. My step dad and brothers have gone out to our spot ( a little further NE of the green circle) a couple of times over the last few years and they've seen less lope each time they've gone out. Used to be unbelievable the number of antelope you could hunt. If you spent enough time and looked over enough lopes you would always find a big buck. It is sad what has happened to the population out there.

 

[Chucknduck]

The district I hunt also got hit with disease and bad winter. Fwp gave the option to buy two extra doe tags for two years after population drop. Now they give out 5 b tags.

 

[The Hedgehog]

It wont recover in your lifetime unless major changes are made.

Ha, major changes? Like shutting down the season for a decade, transplanting in thousands of antelope, and posting weekly in the Wednesday Word section for annual early frost and mild winters, AND management of the antelope based on smaller areas?

Ain't gonna happen in my life or my kids, grandkids, etc. Done, gonzo. I remember a FWP veteran telling me "you'd be surprised at how fast they come back." Stupidity.

 

[The Hedgehog]

The district I hunt also got hit with disease and bad winter. Fwp gave the option to buy two extra doe tags for two years after population drop. Now they give out 5 b tags.

It would be a shame to not have at least an "opportunity" to kill the very last one.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Bottoms up to some fine days at the jersey and up north.. I will say the prairie dogs are doing quite well.

 

[Nameless Range]

Damn Greenhorn. Some really nice pronghorn, and what I am guessing is three generations of your family. Cool pictures. I've never hunted that HD, but I can imagine the connection you have with that area from your photos.

I suppose it is a function of how few tags there are and how sensitive recruitment is, but it would be nice to see an FWP willingness to shut down Elk, Deer, and Pronghorn districts with the same willingness they shut down Mountain Goat HDs. The pronghorn vs tag numbers discussed in this thread are a joke.