I received a call from the Montana FWP yesterday informing me that I was "drawn" for a late season antlerless elk damage hunt. I've heard mixed reviews about one of these hunts that usually takes place every winter down the Madison Valley, and I am not interested in dodging hot lead just to get a cow.

Any members have any experience (good or bad) with these management/damage hunts? I was told it will take place on a private ranch in unit 393 from Sat-Mon, I'm guessing near the Bridger foothills or Bangtails area. I did not harvest an elk during the regular season, so a young cow would really help the freezer situation!

I used to drive by big herds of elk on private land (next to the highway/Madison River) to hunt the publicly-owned land in "the hills." You could go to the ranchers and pay them to kill one of the many elk there, or you could climb the mountains to try your luck on the public land. I had a lot of fun hunting the public land, but I thought it was weird to drive by so many nice elk right there next to the highway, standing around, looking at us cars drive by. I think your hunt would be a matter of going to a ranch and shooting whatever is legal. They probably taste much like the public land elk.

That's about 100 miles from the Madison Valley.

From what I understand of this "hunt" is that you're right about it being on a ranch on the West side of the Bridger's or in Bridger Canyon. A friend was drawn for one of these tags a few years ago, and told me that he went to a certain ranch, and shot a cow from a herd that was eating the rancher's haystack.

No dodging bullets from other hunters, probably just you, maybe another hunter or two, the rancher, and maybe a game warden. Shoot straight, and your freezer will be full.

I put in for that same tag, but I guess my name is too far down the list. I forgot about the whole thing.

I am well aware of of the where the Madison Valley is ;), I was only using as reference because I have heard of a large ranch that oftens holds damage hunts in that unit.

I sorta forgot about it myself, I remembered putting in for the deer damage hunts, but an elk will work too!

The list of names for the damage,(from MFWP), hunt is made available to ranch managers for the damage hunt.
The ranch managers usually call you.
Here in the upper Madison, it has been so mild most all of the elk have remained in the hills, up high.
So no elk lower on the ranches, damaging anything, and so no real damage hunt.
And there is not a crowd harvesting those damaging elk, usually just a couple of shooters each day.

Montana PH
I have ben with a friend on one of those control hunts and the one I was on was very well managed. It's certainly not a wilderness hunt in the Bob Marshall, but it's an ethical, legal and fun way of getting an elk in the freezer. I'd damn sure go if I were you.

Fred Royce

IMO the game damage hunts in the Madison have gotten mucho better in the last couple of years. In terms of how much of a rodeo it can be. Now when they had the extended hunts there was a lot of rodeoing going on on the flats (and that emcompassed quite a few ranches and not so much the big one that just got sold by the way).

The state land down that way has been a real joke as well IMO..

It sounds like your hunt is north of Boze and I think it'll be a lot better and fairly controlled. I know quite a few ranchers in that area and think you'll have a good trip and should fill the freezer.

Dober

The "Rodeo" as Dober calls it, is sort of what I have heard about in the past when the elk come off the Madison range.

I am waiting for the contact call or info in the mail today or tom. Hopefully it will be a more low-key harvest, I'd love to take along my wife(she's not really the backcountry type...yet ).

So, Dober, did you sell the Sun Ranch this time? Last I heard, the asking price was $42 million--probably a pretty good commission there...

MontantPH, I wasn't trying to imply that you didn't know where the Madison Valley is. I wrote that mainly to show others here on the forum that your hunt area was not near the Madison Valley.

Also, my mistake about your hunt happening on the west side of the Bridgers. That's area 312 where I applied. I've hunted a friend's land in the north end of 393, and when I first read your post, I was thinking that 393 was west of the Bridger Canyon Road.

Shoot a good one.