Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Montana shoulder season ,poorly run

So Montana has a shoulder season that starts August 15 th runs thru part of next year. how would you as I have to do as a bowhunter sitting in the mountains trying to tag a legal bull or cow and all`s you hear and see is a pickup or two pull up on private ground near a rancher`s alfalfa field,chasin elk with truck, people jump out start shooting their rifles at a herd of elk ,maybe kill a cow or calf ,oh by the way some locals buy more than one tag and that is legal too,have even seen a bull limbed off too. these locals call themselves`s hunters what a joke. its not a shoulder season its a slaughter season for the locals ! this is just wrong and way to early and way to many elk killed too ! but oh boy anyone with a real disability can not use a x-bow in Montana either but its ok to kill up to 3 cow elk per person in August in Montana on private land with your rifle. common sense ? really ? shame on Montana

MT FWP is run by landowners and the politicians that cater to them, not by science/biologists...

What the heck does shoulder season mean?

Two points.

1. If a shoulder season in held on private land, wouldn't it encourage elk 2!stay on public land?

2. Brucellosis has reared its ugly head in Montana,.............elk numbers have got 2 drop.

The shoulder season closes during archery season. I wish they would not start it until after gun season closes instead of Aug. 15 and cut it off around Jan. 1st. Has changed the elk movement completely in 393. Between the wolves, shoulder seasons and outfitters, The hunting in 393 is worthless.

You can only shoot 'em in the "front shoulder."

yep this is true and terrible for all real hunters !

Yes, and you must include the activists from both sides of the time clock.

Oh no silly rabbit.....

Front shoulder....middle shoulder.....top shoulder.....low shoulder.....back shoulder.....all possible shoulders???????????????

Except NOT from the road shoulder!

“A shoulder season is a firearms season that occurs outside the 5-week general firearms and archery seasons. While most shoulder seasons focus on antlerless elk harvest on private land and are not intended to replace or reduce harvest during the existing archery or 5-week general firearms seasons, a few are meant to address problematic distribution of elk.”

Dumb name for a season

Two Points:

1). Yes, the shoulder season is on private land http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/seasons/elkShoulder/

"While most shoulder seasons focus on antlerless elk harvest on private land and are not intended to replace or reduce harvest during the existing archery or 5-week general firearms seasons, a few are meant to address problematic distribution of elk."

2). The shoulder season extends geographically far beyond the GYES where brucellosis is generally concentrated. The "brucellosis threat" is a massively overblown red herring used to pressure FWP. Brucellosis monitoring and management is extraordinarily thorough.

The stressing and harassment of elk when they are most vulnerable (winter) directly on the heels of our lengthy 3 mo's archery and firearms seasons is unconscionable.

Totally

don`t forget these ranchers have all there cows in the mountains all summer long so all the grass is gone so elk have to come down to feed on private land , its a very bad cycle and the elk are the ones that suffer. its time to get all beef out of the mountains all year long, so elk have grass to eat in the mountains

So you need science to qualify as a correct model for game management. That is only part of the picture. If you go to any of the meetings held by FWP on any management issues, you don't see many biologists and scientists, you see sportsmen that want to modify the seasons to enhance hunting opportunities. I'm not saying that is wrong, it is just how things are done.

So when a landowner complains to the FWP about elk populations, why does it have to be done in accordance with science anymore than other forms of input? I shoot gophers on plenty of ranches that don't summer cattle on public ground. I have spent days rebuilding fences that elk have knocked down on those ranches and FWP isn't funding or sending anyone there to help. So when people complain about shoulder seasons and blame ranchers for screwing up the hunting season, it isn't really a complete picture of the elk or elk management practices...

so why allow beef cows in the public mountains and all public land ? these ranchers beef cows have eaten and destroyed the grass for years and now these ranchers want to complain about the elk ? really? lets take those beef cows off and out of all public lands permanently and see in 10 years if I am wrong. lets also make residents pay more for a elk tag too seems wrong residents pay less than $40.00 for a elk license and a non-resident pays around $900.00 . then non-residents come out to Montana and ranchers have most of the public elk on there land and want a fee or won`t let you hunt on their land,but its ok to have beef cows eat and destroy public land every year. that`s just all wrong ! some day this will change and those beef cows will be fenced on ranchers land and the ranchers won`t be using public grass land no more ,so these ranchers better stop whinning so much.

I never said ranchers/farmers were the entirety of the reason for the shoulder season, but they are the primary reason. They wield the most power and influence.



YES... unless you live in the middle ages.



You ranch in elk country, that's what you get. News Flash: Elk create incredible value for those ranches, and give them a value far beyond ag prices. Most of those ranchers beoching about elk are multi-millionaires (at least on paper) because of those elk.

You and people like come from somewhere else for the grandeur of “Big Sky Country” and don’t realize that Montana used to be the “Treasure State” due to the industry of livestock and natural resources. Water rights and grazing permits predate Montana statehood and that is the industry that newcomers like you don’t like because it interferes with your selfish views of what is left.

You eat meat, live in a house that was built with lumber, wear leather shoes and want to be left alone in the wilderness. Montana used to be in the top 10% of states that were self sufficient through the industries that are now fragile and supported by government programs because the agricultural community has been strangled by people like you and you piss and moan about that.

There are all sorts of highways leading out of Montana, if you don’t like it here get on one and leave...

So typical...

I understand a little something about the Treasure State. My father was here flying lease-hounds around Montana before you were born. The mineral wealth in the state was/is staggering, but is also why Montana has some serious Superfund sites, including the Berkley Pit. The fact that Montana has moved past an extraction economy isn't a good thing?

There are intelligent ways to manage natural resources and stupid ways...

But of course defacing natural wonders with regard to no one but yourself seems right up your alley...

https://onyourownadventures.com/hunttalk/showthread.php?285848-Does-Anyone-Remember-Larry-Altimus

no I will still come to Montana its part of America and free in a way to drive any place in America,but the rule/law of cattle in the mountains needs to change on Federal land , so since ranchers whine about elk, many of us will whine to our congress men and we out number you and ranchers and we the people will make a huge change permantly, don`t forget federal land belongs to all the people of America not just ranchers or you we all are part of America ,maybe the native Americans should have a say on where beef cattle should be allowed ,we were here first and my other ancestor part Viking heritage discovered America,just because you live in Montana does not give you or anyone else anymore more rights on Federal land >America is one country a vote can change the law !