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What A Year For Elk

So do you just take anyone?
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The ranch I hunt on isn’t like what they complain about, they want those elk shot. I have been taking a few people out there to shoot cows. The crop damage and fences they wreck takes a real toll on the ranch. They give permission to hunt the lower ranch almost every day during the hunting season and through the shoulder season.

It is a great opportunity to get a cow elk if you want a meat elk. I guess it doesn’t please some people because you don’t hike 12 miles to get them. I suppose a person could walk several miles around the property before they shot one if it makes them feel better…
 
I don't see how pointing out how elk hunting has changed and gone to shit on public land in Montana is taking anger out on anyone. If you have private access, great, but that doesn't tell the story about elk hunting for everyone and everywhere else.

Also fair to note that most everyone you're accusing of being "juvenile" has been attending meetings, fighting crap legislation, and actively working to make things better with public land elk hunting in Montana for a decade or two. I think when a handful of private land elk hunters make sweeping comments about how "great" elk hunting in Montana is, they have some pretty dark rose colored glasses strapped on. Many don't lift a finger to address the issues plaguing a vast majority of Montana's elk management problems.

It's just simple facts, not sure why that would sore anyone up? Read the harvest statistics, read the population reports. Talk to anyone that's hunted elk in Montana for a couple three, four decades.

For the record, when what's happened with elk in Montana is pointed out with the facts, those that have private access tell everyone else they're wrong.
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The ranch I hunt on isn’t like what they complain about, they want those elk shot. I have been taking a few people out there to shoot cows. The crop damage and fences they wreck takes a real toll on the ranch. They give permission to hunt the lower ranch almost every day during the hunting season and through the shoulder season.

It is a great opportunity to get a cow elk if you want a meat elk. I guess it doesn’t please some people because you don’t hike 12 miles to get them. I suppose a person could walk several miles around the property before they shot one if it makes them feel better…
I’ve never hunted elk before…I was planning on it, but an injury sidelined those plans for this year. I’ll hopefully be back on track next year.
I was trying to put a little humor into a post that seemed to go in a different direction than you intended.
Everyone knows that private land is better than public. It is what it is. Deer hunting in MS is the same way. I have friends and family that kill trophy bucks every year on private land that they pay to hunt on. I’m a public land guy and I manage to kill a good one every few years on public, but I keep my freezer full. As long as I’m hunting and outside I’m good. Shot a doe Saturday that tasted great on the grill tonight!
Congratulations on your success. It looked like a hell of a season! I know your family will eat good this winter. That’s all that really matters.
 
Truthful is the new salty I guess?

If you want "salty" I told Montana to poke their idea of elk management in their ear hole about 8 years ago. Quit buying the $200 native nr elk tag, not going to contribute or participate in destruction of public land elk mismanagement.

Just because I know I can kill a bull every year on public land in Montana doesn't mean I should (population and low bull to cow ratios say nobody should be). You also won't find me crowing about how "great" Montana elk hunting is on public land because I know I can either.

I got sick of feeling guilty for killing a bull in areas that it wasn't justified biologically, scientifically, or really ethically to do so. That is the case in large portions of Montana...not anything "great" about it. Like I said read the data, hike the hills, and talk to folks who have been hunting public land for elk for a few decades. Story doesn't change.
 
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Things change. I grew up hunting in North Idaho. The biggest “herd” I saw, back in the day, was about 50 and that was in late winter, well after hunting season, when they were herded up. I was amazed because I was used to seeing no more than a dozen or so elk together. Last year, while my brother was in the blind with my daughter deer hunting, I walked to the property line and saw a herd of at least 90 in his neighbor’s field.

Shooting an elk in a cultivated field isn’t my idea of a classic elk hunt but it reminded me of a guy my dad used to tell me about. In “the mountains,” near the camp my dad used to hunt from with my grandfather, lived an old guy named Tyson (probably too old to be @T Bone). They used to ask Tyson when the best time to shoot a deer was. His answer was always, “I shoots ‘em when I sees ‘em.” If I am asked where the the best place is to shoot an elk, my answer, assuming I have lawful access to the area, is going to be, “I shoots ‘em where I sees ‘em.”

So, @shrapnel, you, your family, and your friends have done well. Congrats!
 
Truthful is the new salty I guess?

If you want "salty" I told Montana to poke their idea of elk management in their ear hole about 8 years ago. Quit buying the $200 native nr elk tag, not going to contribute or participate in destruction of public land elk mismanagement.

Just because I know I can kill a bull every year on public land in Montana doesn't mean I should (population and low bull to cow ratios say nobody should be). You also won't find me crowing about how "great" Montana elk hunting is on public land because I know I can either.

I got sick of feeling guilty for killing a bull in areas that it wasn't justified biologically, scientifically, or really ethically to do so. That is the case in large portions of Montana...not anything "great" about it. Like I said read the data, hike the hills, and talk to folks who have been hunting public land for elk for a few decades. Story doesn't change.
80CE3B27-D393-4598-9DD5-7A3BB1395A95.jpeg
 
I don't see how pointing out how elk hunting has changed and gone to shit on public land in Montana is taking anger out on anyone. If you have private access, great, but that doesn't tell the story about elk hunting for everyone and everywhere else.

Also fair to note that most everyone you're accusing of being "juvenile" has been attending meetings, fighting crap legislation, and actively working to make things better with public land elk hunting in Montana for a decade or two. I think when a handful of private land elk hunters make sweeping comments about how "great" elk hunting in Montana is, they have some pretty dark rose colored glasses strapped on. Many don't lift a finger to address the issues plaguing a vast majority of Montana's elk management problems.

It's just simple facts, not sure why that would sore anyone up? Read the harvest statistics, read the population reports. Talk to anyone that's hunted elk in Montana for a couple three, four decades.

For the record, when what's happened with elk in Montana is pointed out with the facts, those that have private access tell everyone else they're wrong.
No one said he's telling the story for all of Montana. He's sharing his season. Did you even read the original post??? It has nothing to do with public land issues in MT. It's titled "what a year for elk" not "what are your thoughts on public land elk in MT" create your own thread if you want to talk about that.

I'm glad all the people I referred to as "juvenile" are fighting the good fight for the elk. ButnI referred to their comments as juvenile. And regardless of what they're doing, no need to be a crabass on a hunting form because someone shared hunting photos and stories.
 
No one said he's telling the story for all of Montana. He's sharing his season. Did you even read the original post??? It has nothing to do with public land issues in MT. It's titled "what a year for elk" not "what are your thoughts on public land elk in MT" create your own thread if you want to talk about that.

I'm glad all the people I referred to as "juvenile" are fighting the good fight for the elk. ButnI referred to their comments as juvenile. And regardless of what they're doing, no need to be a crabass on a hunting form because someone shared hunting photos and stories.
I ❤️Shrapnel pics & am glad he and his friends and family put the sledge hammer down on some elk. I also want to know his address so I can burglarize his gun and reloading belongings. And also..

 
I ❤️Shrapnel pics & am glad he and his friends and family put the sledge hammer down on some elk. I also want to know his address so I can burglarize his gun and reloading belongings. And also..

So that's what caused Big Fin had to come here and quiet everyone down? Didnt even know that was a thing until your new thread 🤣
 
When I started hunting Montana in 1979, if you would have told me that elk hunting in Montana would be reduced to playing border patrol on small pieces of public land, hunting wheat stubble, begging/paying for private access, and a legislature bent on privatizing public wildlife in 2022...I would have just laughed and said "no way".

Sorry to say I was wrong, just never felt like Montana hunters would allow this to happen...was wrong about that too. I also wrongly had more faith in the "professionals" that we paid our license dollars to (FWP) for proper management, they've let the wildlife and hunting down too. The one thing I wasn't wrong about is the Montana legislature and their agenda of privatizing wildlife, that has been obvious since Judy Martz was Governor.

Sad...and nothing "great" about any of it.
 
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