What to do with 13 Resident points in Montana

[golfer]

Thanks for the responses. I could imagine in 313 the bull quality has declined due to predation. However I just don't understand why the quality of bulls in the breaks has decreased as the FWP says elk numbers out there are at all-time highs?

They say numbers are high, yes there may be the occasional big bull but the numbers of big bulls is no where what it used to be. More pressure on accessible elk and every hunter seems to be fine with shooting the first 300” bull they see. Can’t grow big if they don’t get the chance to grow older.

 

[MTGomer]

Apply for the 310 buffer tag and in 10 years you’ll have 23 points!

 

[Nameless Range]

I drew a 380 tag last year with 8 points. I shot a bull that most guys on here would pass on in a general unit every year. I had an incredible time and in many ways the time of my life. I am a poor elk hunter, but my takeaway on 380 was that if you are looking for a "book" elk, I don't know what to tell you because that is an arbitrary endeavor detached from me, but if you are looking to spend September surrounded by bull elk all day most days, I don't know if a better public land area exists in Montana.

I'm gonna start over chucking my hat in the ring again, and not stress about it because there are so many places I have yet to hunt that I want to, and those are places I can hunt every year on a general tag. 7 years ago, I drew a moose tag in an area with odds as low as the Elkhorns, and I had zero points. Ya can't win if you don't play.

 

[406dn]

313 has gone seriously downhill the last couple of years for mature bulls. I mean, scary. Could possibly change with the right weather but the consensus of the people I know is that it is over for at least a while. The situation that FWP warned of a few years ago when they went to permits has come to fruition. My opinion, no science.

I thought we had the right weather the last four days of the season. We got fresh snow and cold nights every day. While we got into cows most mornings, there was nothing but spikes for bulls. When glassing into the park in the afternoon, there might be one bull to a hundred or so cows. Most of them were not very big at all.

I visited with the warden midday on Thanksgiving. One thing he said was that he had not checked a 300+ bull all season. He thought we were going to see elk the last few days. We did, cows and spikes.

IMO they need to go entirely to permits down there for a while. There are enough cows to let out a few tags for them, but allowing a general season on brow tined bulls the first three weeks, has hit the bulls really hard.

 

[406dn]

The bull quality has declined due to every single bull, 6-point, raghorn, etc. getting mowed down on Deckard Flats, every single morning of the season. It’s a joke and the outfitter is the biggest culprit, but yet the most vocal whiner regarding the shortened general season and the predators.

I wasn't going to call him out,,,,,but since you did.

I went down there to hunt several days before my permit kicked in. The outfitter was getting bulls for clients most mornings. None that I saw were worth killing.

Another hunter with a permit was convinced that one reason no one was seeing bulls, after the permit only hunting kicked in, was that the bull elk were being harassed back into the park by the outfitter. That I do not know. I do know they kept an eye on what the hunters were up to.

 

[MTGomer]

313 is in a tough spot. Maybe elk and wolves shouldn’t be managed using social science.

 

[HSi-ESi]

I would say pick a place you want to hunt and keep putting in there. Not for Bull quality but for hunt quality.

I used my 10ish points a few years back on a "lesser" quality tag. I had an awesome hunt with my Dad, something I won't be able to repeat. Bull wasn't huge, but it's mounted to remind me of the time we had.

 

[Griztrax]

With each passing year and each added bonus point, your chances of drawing 380 go up......stick to the plan and you will draw the tag eventually. The experience is like no other during archery and you won't regret holding out for that golden ticket when it finally shows up. Good luck this year!

 

[8andcounting]

I wasn't going to call him out,,,,,but since you did.

I went down there to hunt several days before my permit kicked in. The outfitter was getting bulls for clients most mornings. None that I saw were worth killing.

Another hunter with a permit was convinced that one reason no one was seeing bulls, after the permit only hunting kicked in, was that the bull elk were being harassed back into the park by the outfitter. That I do not know. I do know they kept an eye on what the hunters were up to.

So where is said outfitter killing all these bulls ? Do the outfitters just sit in deckard flats and wait for bulls ? Sounds like a lot of fun .... not

 

[8andcounting]

I looked at 2019 stats for 313-45 last two weeks of season bull permit and 21 Montana residents blew 10 or more bonus points on this tag ..... 3 of them had 16 that they spent on this tag....., good grief

 

[el unit]

I drew a 380 tag last year with 8 points. I shot a bull that most guys on here would pass on in a general unit every year. I had an incredible time and in many ways the time of my life. I am a poor elk hunter, but my takeaway on 380 was that if you are looking for a "book" elk, I don't know what to tell you because that is an arbitrary endeavor detached from me, but if you are looking to spend September surrounded by bull elk all day most days, I don't know if a better public land area exists in Montana.

I'm gonna start over chucking my hat in the ring again, and not stress about it because there are so many places I have yet to hunt that I want to, and those are places I can hunt every year on a general tag. 7 years ago, I drew a moose tag in an area with odds as low as the Elkhorns, and I had zero points. Ya can't win if you don't play.

This post makes me think I still have a chance at a limited elk and/or moose tag.
Thank you Nameless Range for posting!

 

[JMG]

Thanks for the responses. I could imagine in 313 the bull quality has declined due to predation. However I just don't understand why the quality of bulls in the breaks has decreased as the FWP says elk numbers out there are at all-time highs?

Another spin on bull quality is that of all the bull elk taken in the Breaks every year … a large percentage are taken during the archery season. The archery hunters are having an effect.

 

[406dn]

So where is said outfitter killing all these bulls ? Do the outfitters just sit in deckard flats and wait for bulls ? Sounds like a lot of fun .... not

I did watch them herd a bull toward a hunter one morning down in the Bear creek canyon. Most mornings before the permit only hunting kicked in they had one group ride up from maybe the Jardine road and another group leaving from higher up in Eagle creek. I'm sure they had another group or two other drainages.