Montana shoulder seasons

[Mainewoods]

Since I was unsuccessful during archery, I still have an elk tag burning a hole in my pocket. Work and family commitments are keeping me from getting back out to MT this fall, but I'm wondering about the shoulder seasons that run into even mid-February for cows. Is it worth giving it a shot, or do you really need to private access to be successful?

Thanks for any info.

 

[Schaaf]

Head out in mid-February and get yourself a 2 for 1 and some elk veal to boot.

 

[Straight Arrow]

elk veal to boot.

Elk veal to fit in your boot.

 

[Mainewoods]

Head out in mid-February and get yourself a 2 for 1 and some elk veal to boot.

Yeah, that doesn't really get me too pumped up..

 

[jejack26]

You need private access, I would never spend time or money for shoulder season

 

[Mainewoods]

You need private access, I would never spend time or money for shoulder season

That's good to know. And unfortunately I don't have those connections.

 

[Cornbread]

I bought the elk-B tag hoping t get a cow on BMAs, but what a waste of money. Why in the world do they only allow you to shoot one on private land only? Those elk move quite a bit. What does it matter. Do they think they only park themselves on private land?

 

[samuel_284Win]

I would not invest in a big trip to just hunt the shoulder season in Jan or Feb. Seems to be very weather dependent and seems that you really need to know the "spot on the spot" as to which couple of ranches the elk have called home for the winter. The real wildcard is if anyone of those landowners allow access, and at what fee?

 

[beartoothhiker]

I bought the elk-B tag hoping t get a cow on BMAs, but what a waste of money. Why in the world do they only allow you to shoot one on private land only? Those elk move quite a bit. What does it matter. Do they think they only park themselves on private land?

As a note, the early season shoulder season on August (at least in the HD I'm familiar with) was for private land only; however the shoulder season from 11/28-2/15 specifies "not valid on National Forest" so state land, BLM, private land, etc., are all valid hunting.

 

[TheJason]

I bought the elk-B tag hoping t get a cow on BMAs, but what a waste of money. Why in the world do they only allow you to shoot one on private land only? Those elk move quite a bit. What does it matter. Do they think they only park themselves on private land?

Because if you continually hammer public land elk then you eventually don’t have any.

 

[Beignet]

I’m not at all a proponent of the late shoulder season, but worth mentioning that a good majority of the BMA’s over in western MT seem to close after the muzzleloader season. So that type of “private” is often off limits. Probably some exceptions in there, but I wouldn’t fuss with it. Not to mention the whole possibility of finding a well-developed fetus once the cow is down.

 

[Tlrussell]

Please don’t.

 

[noisy]

I bought the elk-B tag hoping t get a cow on BMAs, but what a waste of money. Why in the world do they only allow you to shoot one on private land only? Those elk move quite a bit. What does it matter. Do they think they only park themselves on private land?

You're right, it's stupid. The elk simply move off the huntable private land and go to public land during the shoulder seasons, or move onto unhuntable private land. Duh.

 

[Cornbread]

As a note, the early season shoulder season on August (at least in the HD I'm familiar with) was for private land only; however the shoulder season from 11/28-2/15 specifies "not valid on National Forest" so state land, BLM, private land, etc., are all valid hunting.

Where I was hunting, there was very limited BLM and state land

 

[MTLabrador]

I bought the elk-B tag hoping t get a cow on BMAs, but what a waste of money. Why in the world do they only allow you to shoot one on private land only? Those elk move quite a bit. What does it matter. Do they think they only park themselves on private land?

It’s the entire point that you only get to shoot shoulder season elk on private land, not national forest.

 

[MTGomer]

The elk simply move off the huntable private land and go to public land during the shoulder seasons, or move onto unhuntable private land. Duh.

That’s the point. To disperse elk off the property of people who are having them tear into their haystacks and don’t want them on their property.

 

[Raisin Bran]

The Shoulder Season is a another one of the many jokes in the face of the MT FWP. We call it the Landowner Friends & Family hunt. It’s a special season for just the land owners BFF’s!

 

[noisy]

That’s the point. To disperse elk off the property of people who are having them tear into their haystacks and don’t want them on their property.

Yeah. Doesn't do much to help the hunter though, which is what I was replying to. Does a great job of hazing elk.

 

[tjones]

Yeah. Doesn't do much to help the hunter though, which is what I was replying to. Does a great job of hazing elk.

Why does the hunter need help?

 

[noisy]

Why does the hunter need help?

I don't really know how to reply to such a dumb question. The point is that the elk simply move to public land during the shoulder seasons because they are safe there. Do you need further explanation?