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MT opener

I hunted AZ elk this year. I've received 4 harvest survey request. Phone, Online, mail and even the game warden calling me. Such a taxing game management strategy. Sigh.

I hunted NM coues last year and AK Brown bears. Mandatory harvest reporting by a deadline or you're out of the draws. Sigh

Went to a CPW meeting this summer about game management and they told me they could never pull off mandatory harvest reporting........................Sigh

I do love how I'm taking a MT centric post, on a MT centric website and making it about Colorado.

Look at me, Look at me!
 
But the stats are the stats, and while admittedly questionable aren’t meaningless. Statistical methods are employed that give a large scale degree of confidence regardless.

2022 1st rifle: 5 days; 27,072 hunters; 25% success; 96,866 recreation days resulting in 3.6 days per hunter.

How many days per hunter for what kind of success in Montana? Therein lies the damning result…
 
27,000 elk hunters with rifles while they’re bugling and only 25%!? I’d think we’d beat it but we’re structured different. Seems an uneven argument. Seems even more so that folks sitting out the opener are pissy pants and the ones that did go out aren’t exactly crying about it
 
27,000 elk hunters with rifles while they’re bugling and only 25%!? I’d think we’d beat it but we’re structured different. Seems an uneven argument. Seems even more so that folks sitting out the opener are pissy pants and the ones that did go out aren’t exactly crying about it

The idea is to even it out by looking at days per hunter.

6 weeks for 25% or 5 days to get 25%? One indicates higher quality.

But I’m not sitting here claiming mega high quality down here lol
 
I sat it out again. Have several years in a row now. I actually bought a curling iron at target today for my wife while she took the kids with a family friend to a pumpkin patch. No regrets. I’ll start Monday. Best of luck!!
 
From the sounds of this thread it seems no one is hunting montana this year.
 
As chitty as both states elk management policies are, I still have to think Montana has a better total inch of bone score over Colorado. And I'm 0 for 3 in Montana.

Quality is many, many things besides size. And it’s subjective.
 
Man, I wish I saw as many elk as I did hunters. Heck, I'd be happy with 25%. Scratch that spot off the list. I even climbed a couple thousand feet to try to get away. That's pretty good for this 57 year old 😀

Still good fun. I'm enjoying the journey of trying to piece the puzzle together. I will get there.
 
I didn’t see any people daylight to dark. No elk either. Just old bear tracks, a tiny muley buck and a lot of wolf tracks. Had to walk out, apparently I’m packing out a moose quarter tomorrow.

Now all I’m waiting for is a picture of the moose
 
Lots of people, three forkies, a coyote, lots of grouse, a moose and maybe an elk that ran by me in the dark. Pretty day to be in the mountains though.
 

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