Alpinecrick.
Most cows in the southern Rockies are pregnant by Oct 1st. Not all of them by any stretch. The peak of the rut is that last 10 days of Sept and probably first few days of Oct. There is always cows that don't get bred in their first estrus.
I am aware of that which is why I said that early pre rut is not when the breeding is done.
I agree that blackpowder is not as disruptive as the hordes of archers, but black powder does have a bigger impact per hunter because it's a firearm and can be used at greater distances than archery
Yes,the individual success may be higher, but the sheer numbers of archery tags given out far out weigh that.In addition,CPW, by design, makes the ML season in pre rut not in prime breeding times,where as part of archery season is.
As I remember the litigation against the NM DOW was aimed at the practice of the giving the big ranchers with outfitters the ability to have elk season all fall long while the regular hunter had two weeks back then. (Chama Land and Cattle Company w as one of them). This is about what CPW is doing with RFW program except making ranches give a few tags to the open public. Few is being generous to say the least.All under the idea that those ranches are practicing good conservation techniques for the wildlife .Don't even get me started on the vouchers given to ranchers under the pretense of crop damage etc,and the the rancher sells those vouchers for a tidy sum.
Kennyd has it figured out
Last edited by saddlesore; 11/25/18.
