Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game How many Elk Hunters in Montana last year total?

Does anyone know the number total number of elk tags were sold in Montana last year?

How do the western states compare as to number of elk vs. number of tags sold etc.

A typical Oregon tag is good for 5 days in October, roughly. Yet in Montana the tags are good for all of bow season and through the rifle season. Hunt days per tag is great for them.

Just curious as to how the western states stack up.

Mark

No idea, but new for this year is shoulder seasons for elk covering 40+ areas. This makes for a very long elk season.

MarlinMark: I have lived in Montana since 1997 and Hunted here since 1968.
If you are interested in Hunting Elk I would advise you to research New Mexico, Arizona or Colorado!
The reason being - the Elk here in Montana have been affected by an over-population of transplanted Canadian Wolves.
The Elk are learning though - they are spending more and more time on private ranches and in larger and larger herds thereon.
If you don't have access to private lands/ranches in Montana then I think you would be better off Hunting in New Mexico, Arizona or Colorado (no over-population of transplanted Canadian Wolves there yet!).
Sad that.
I could have killed numerous Bull Elk on a huge ranch here in SW Montana that I have permission to Hunt on.
I Hunt Whitetails there and Hunting Whitey's there in the willows and thickets and such IS very sporting - the poor Elk thereon just bump around on the ranch in large herds and out in the open constantly richocheting from fence to fence when trucks/tractors come near.
Not my idea of sporting this - so I don't participate.
And I LOVE Elk meat!
By the way the elderly owner of this ranch was born on it and his grandparents, parents, nor him have ever had Elk "herded up" on their ranch like is happening now with the Canadian Wolf over-population.
Many of my local Elk Hunting friends are spending the money and time and other expenses to go down and Hunt New Mexico where the Wolves have not interrupted/decimated/changed the Elk and their habits/haunts.
Best of luck to you if you are interested in Hunting Elk in the Rockies.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VG - that story sounds familiar. Here is So. Idaho wolves have had a huge affect on the elk. Big herds now live in towns and on private farms and ranches where the wolves have not dared to stay. The elk that are around are spooky and do not act like they used to. Sad indeed. I think reintroduction of wolves should be made to Central Park and the White House grounds, see how they like wolves when they are in their back yards.

Not even close to accurate VG see the Oregon wolf thread.

VG you have your own personal stalker!

Very accurate description.

A good wolf is a dead one.

Sage advice to look elsewhere. My neighbors bro-n-law runs a guiding business near Gardner,MT. They've virtually gone under due to the wolves. Once a thriving business that supported many families is now a thing of the past. Although still in business, it barely supports he and his wife.

There are a lot of trophy elk in AZ & NM. Pricey to hunt the big trophy's in the 400 class. But well worth the money.

If you just want to harvest an Elk on the cheaper side, you could try Colorado. Although I'm not a fan of their local laws and politics... lots of tags avail for not a lot of money.

No even close, just can't stand the spread of misinformation.

callnum,

Do you believe that VG is lying about the ranch he has permission to hunt on? That 3 generations of Montanans have never seen it like this before?

Please elaborate on his "misinformation." Because I am hearing the same thing from my uncle ins SW MT and he has hunted there for 50+years.

Mark

But what I was really after is shear numbers...the original question.

I thought maybe someone whom is savvy with the MT website etc might have found this data before.

Mark

VG isn't lying, he just doesn't know. He doesn't know much about elk or elk management. Make that big game management. He also doesn't understand what is happening in Montana with FWP, the legislature and game management. There is way more to the harboring issue then a few wolves. But then all this does not pertain to your original question.

Callnum is right. And if you can't kill an elk in Montana, might be time to give it up. mtmuley

Elk were originally flatlanders. Lewis & Clark ate elk all across the great plains but nearly starved in the mountains. As the west was settled, the elk were forced into the mountains. Now the introduced wolves have put the elk in pincers where they're forced to choose between wolves and man. They seem to prefer men and are moving back to the flatter land.

For Idaho, the 2015 figures aren't posted yet but in '14, they sold 76k elk tags and there was a 16% success rate (this includes rifle, ML, & archery). The huge majority are taken on public land. The seasons range from 5 days to a month or more but 3 weeks is the norm. In general, elk season opens Oct 15 and ends on either Oct 31 or Nov 9 depending on the unit. Some units will have private land hunts that open in August to allow ranchers to let hunters haze the elk out of their fields.

Idaho has an unusual trespass law. We have huge areas of private rangeland that can't be differentiated from public land. The law is that if the private land isn't irrigated or cultivated, it must be posted or it's open for hunting without permission. Many ranchers don't bother to post it so it adds a lot of huntable land.

Well this thread was worthless...

http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/planahunt/drawingStatistics/elk.html