The Montana Slaughter

[IrishRover]

One crappy cell phone field pic. I was packing lite, my camera is too big, need to get myself a new small field camera.

 

[Khunter]

No problem Kirby. I was lucky and had a good year. Here's a pic of my 2010 archery bull

I had seen that too. Awesome year you had. I burned my AZ points in unit 8 a couple years back.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Irish

How was that AZ hunt?

 

[IrishRover]

Arizona hunt was absolutely amazing. Passed 20-25 bulls as large or larger than the one I killed. Really wanted to notch the tag on one of three bulls I was after didn't make it happen but came close. Best hunt I've ever had.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Wow! Congrats!! I'm awaiting the chance to burn my AZ points sometime soon. I've got 13.

I dont' think you saw me in my truck hunting Saturday, but maybe Friday. I was only driving Friday and it's a silver Chevy.

 

[thecrittergitter]

Awesome bulls rover!! What a year for you! Got any other pics of your montana bull? You may have liked to load that bugger whole, but my hats off to you for hiking in to kill one rather than join the crowd.

As it sounds, i would have been half nervous walking out with that on my back too! It was quite a mullet fest in spots!

 

[IrishRover]

Greenhorn it probably was friday, would have said hello but you looked like you were on a mission. I had 13 points this year in Arizona, I drew the last non-resident tag. No other field pics of my Montana bull. Wish FWP would manage out trophy units like Arizona does or at least closer to Arizona. It was way after dark when I came out with that load so I wasn't too worried about getting shot.

 

[Horn Seeker]

The only prob with that Rover, is a lot of guys, including me, want to be able to hunt bulls every year instead of once ever 13 years. you take guys like Greenhorn and a few others, and they kill VERY respectable bulls on general tags every year...

I will not give up the chance to "hunt elk" every year to have a shot at a monster every 10 yrs... Hell, I do have a shot at a monster every ten years. In about 10 yrs now, I've killed one monster...

Anywho....that is my .02...

 

[Horn Seeker]

You know Rover... a few areas would be cool though. Hell, they already have 310 as a draw, make it a limited draw with like 25 tags... then throw in another couple units... maybe one in the Belts... Maybe 250 in the root... But leave us PLENTY of areas to go find an elk to shoot!

 

[drahthaar]

I think guys were scoring A LOT of tropy bulls BEFORE the snow came, a couple were at or near 400 too, even got to put my hands on one, but some guys don't advertise them on the internet. Didn't I just see guys whining on MM about how Utah didn't have as many 400 inch bulls this year? I think MT is just fine in the number of LE units. I actually like being able to have an elk tag in my pocket every year, and go hunt all the public land we have, it ain't all about record books. Much of the terrain we have makes these HDs LE just by the number of people that won't get out of their truck. One of my patients just moved here from AZ, and from the way he talks, no fricking way, AZ can keep their system. I'll take raghorn bulls, wolves and fewer game period over having to wait years to draw a flipping tag.

 

[IrishRover]

I only wish that our existing trophy units we managed a bit differently. I've not drawn any of these units but if we we're shooting so many spikes in units like the Elkhorns and 339 it seems like there would be alot more big bulls to offer more permits. I like to hunt big bulls every year, too, here in Montana and I usually manage to find a good one.View attachment dadaineelk.avatar.bmp

 

[The Hedgehog]

Montana kicks ass all over Arizona when it comes to elk hunting. I can hunt big bulls every year AND wait 15 years to draw a premium trophy elk permit, AND can hunt one of many premium elk areas on a 2nd choice archery about every year while keeping my bonus points for a 1st choice rifle hunt.

 

[Dinkshooter]

Montana kicks ass all over Arizona when it comes to elk hunting. I can hunt big bulls every year AND wait 15 years to draw a premium trophy elk permit.

Well then stop applying in AZ for a couple years and let me burn up my 13points

 

[wingman1]

Montana kicks ass all over Arizona when it comes to elk hunting. I can hunt big bulls every year AND wait 15 years to draw a premium trophy elk permit, AND can hunt one of many premium elk areas on a 2nd choice archery about every year while keeping my bonus points for a 1st choice rifle hunt.

Not for much longer greenhorn! I know of two guys who missed out on the 2nd choice arch this year, one was in the unit you hunt and one was in mine.

 

[IrishRover]

I think that most of us like Montana's season, trophy units, etc. basically the way they are. I just don't get the point of killing boat loads of spikes in some of the trophy managed units instead of letting them grow up to be trophy bulls and offering more bull tags instead. Some would never make to to trophy age anyway, but a lot more would if we didn't shoot so many spikes in these units.

 

[Drake4]

I read a pretty good study/article regarding the Elkhorns awhile back. If I remember right they were interviewing a biologist up there with regards to how the trophy management plan in the area was working out.

According to this guy, the genetics in that area are so strong that the trophy bulls are not spikes as yearlings, they are already small branch/rag bulls. His theory was that the spikes that get killed are the smaller/weaker genetic bulls in the area. The large 350+ bulls are never spikes, therefore you never put any pressure on the trophy bulls you are trying to produce.

No clue if any of that is justified, but it was a good read.

 

[thecrittergitter]

Not for much longer greenhorn! I know of two guys who missed out on the 2nd choice arch this year, one was in the unit you hunt and one was in mine.

Now you know of three..............FIrst time in 12 years i've not drawn.....

 

[mdunc8]

Generally, the fewer animals, whether it's fish, deer, elk, etc., the bigger the animals get. You can't have a unit saturated with elk and expect all of them to reach 400" regardless of hunting pressure. Although I think a lot of people would be willing to sacrifice the potential to see or shoot animals approaching 400" if it doubled or tripled their chance at drawing that tag and seeing more bulls in the 350-360 range. Not sure if that's how it works up there, but that would be my guess. I'd like to see how the average bull shot in Elkhorns compares to one in the Breaks or other limited units where more tags given out.

 

[PJ0311]

I heard there was a 400+ with a lot of points and a drop tine killed above daily

I usually hunt on a small piece of property above the lake. I'll have to ask the owner if he knows anything about a monster coming out of there this year.

 

[Khunter]

One crappy cell phone field pic. I was packing lite, my camera is too big, need to get myself a new small field camera.

Well yeah, if you are going to keep dropping whoppers like these!