Montana September rifle hunt (HD 150)

[Huntmt28]

Nice job man fine bull!!

 

[POk3s]

Very cool! Congratulations on a fine bull and a great adventure. Bugling is up and down no matter what time of the year it is. I’ve had bulls going nuts on September 3rd and then nothing all through a late September weekend. You just never know.

If it gets hot, it seems to shut them down whereas a low pressure system also seems to shut them down. A hot cow or two might’ve been in estrus and then came out of estrus. You just never know. Also- there are no hard and fast rules. Storms USUALLY shut them down in my experience....but then sometimes they don’t. Also had bulls going nuts in the middle of the day in 80 degree temps.

 

[Irrelevant]

Maybe it’s something else that could’ve been playing a role, it went from 3 days of crazy bugling during archery to dead silence overnight. We were smelling elk almost daily but seeing them and hearing them was different.

I haven't figured that out either. For example we have quite a few elk around the house, zero wolves, zero hunting pressure, also zero bugles. But we hunted ID this year, with craps loads of hunters (2 and 4 legged) and heard bugles for hours and hours per day.

 

[Threedognight]

Very fine bull! One day I will get one.

 

[Flyfish4ever]

Got an email back from the biologist, she mentioned that Most of the elk that have collars in the bob are actually winter residents in region 2, she told me that it’s an ongoing project that with the help of RMEF, has helped them track movement of the elk herds to see how they are responding to hunting pressure, forage conditions, and migration routes.

it makes sense that they were winter residents in region 2 because where I saw the cow with the collar was only about 11 miles from region 2 with a fairly direct route.

I’ll be reaching out to her supervisor today and tell them what a stellar job their biologists are doing.

 

[Irrelevant]

I’ll be reaching out to her supervisor today and tell them what a stellar job their biologists are doing.

Now that's what I call opening a can of worms!

 

[SAJ-99]

Now that's what I call opening a can of worms!

Complimenting someone on a job well done is opening a can of worms? Help me out with this thought process please.

 

[Irrelevant]

Complimenting someone on a job well done is opening a can of worms? Help me out with this thought process please.

Seems like the only thing HT can agree on is that MT does a horrible job of managing elk... I view that as irony, but maybe that's an overs-simplification

 

[Sytes]

Maybe it’s something else that could’ve been playing a role, it went from 3 days of crazy bugling during archery to dead silence overnight. We were smelling elk almost daily but seeing them and hearing them was different.

I'd imagine your contacts with the outfitters would have a pretty good sense for their bugling / no bugling activity. Again, really enjoyable read - especially for one who put in the effort to see it through from developed work with the outfitter, etc. beats the hell out those, "Hey, I'm hunting X district where are y'er honeyholes?" type thread posters. Especially a Crimson Tide resident!

Great work - GREAT success. I've yet to pull an elk from the Bob. One day... Haha!

 

[EastTNHunter]

Good deal! Congrats!

 

[Flyfish4ever]

I'd imagine your contacts with the outfitters would have a pretty good sense for their bugling / no bugling activity. Again, really enjoyable read - especially for one who put in the effort to see it through from developed work with the outfitter, etc. beats the hell out those, "Hey, I'm hunting X district where are y'er honeyholes?" type thread posters. Especially a Crimson Tide resident!

Great work - GREAT success. I've yet to pull an elk from the Bob. One day... Haha!

I graduated undergrad in 19 and finished grad school this year. Next week I start my life of sitting behind a computer screen wishing I was in the Bob Marshall. My dad called me today and he made a deposit for him to go and hunt with the outfitter in 2022, my dad hasn’t hunted since he was in high school so that put a big smile on my face.

 

[SAJ-99]

Seems like the only thing HT can agree on is that MT does a horrible job of managing elk... I view that as irony, but maybe that's an overs-simplification

True, and the irony is not lost on me. I have changed my view to FWP managing our opportunity to hunt elk, not the elk themselves. Elk populations and amount public land are the primary inputs. The fact that the elk move to private where outfitters charge $6-8k for out of state hunters to be driven to the blind and shoot their elk is out of FWPs control, or at least out of the FWP biologists control. The few biologists I have talked to have been good people and more than willing to help.