Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Predator/Prey study in the blues..

Blue mountains, SE Washington, was once one of the premiere elk units ever, anywhere. Anyhow, while spring bear hunting down there last spring, wdfw were collaring elk calves, to gain info on the fast declining elk herd in there. Here are some results I poached from another site.. pretty interesting. Just remember, hound hunting, weather you like it or not is a very important part of game management….

That’s interesting to see the low bear numbers. There was a couple studies in NM that showed bears were pretty hard on calves.

Unfortunately, houndsman are on the hit list everywhere.

Brother SLM, lotsa bear in the blues. Hounds were voted out in 96 I believe.

Here is one of the studies that show bears were the highest % of predation on calves in Northern NM.

https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/handle/2346/72374?show=full

I’m guessing it’s just a matter of time before they come after the houndsman here.

Stoners! Good damn Stoners!

Haha you fuucker!! Shoulda shot everyone we saw, then Fred would a really cried!!! 😂

You guys stoned??? ,haha

Found lotsa fawns slicked up over the years here on Westside by bears, no wolves over here yet.

I am sure that pressure on lion populations by hound hunters where legal does have at least something to do with it.
Several of the elk calf studies I have been involved with, whether directly or in passing, reflected what that NM study concludes....that being bears caused the biggest mortality in elk calves. More so than lions and wolves, at least in the spring. These studies were in ID and MT though, where hound hunting for lions is still really common. 10 or so years ago Montana substantially lowered their lion quota in many of their western units so it basically is catch and release there anymore, and I have not been involved in nor seen any similar studies there since the lion quota was dropped so much, so I can't really make a judgment about it. I should note that bears can be both baited and chased by hounds in Idaho, and Montana just now allowed hounds for bears too, so there's that angle to consider.

Since Washington doesn't allow hounds nor bait for either predator which I am sure results in lower harvest rates of them, it makes a guy ponder...

Ted I woulda figured bears to be the main culprit too. Just about impossible to keep lions in check without dogs...

Retired now, moving to Idaho, west central area just across the Snake from the Blues. Going to hunt ML, Bears, wolves, all predators 24/7 where legal.

Buying a small dual sport motorcycle and small snowmobile, going to build a camper built like a house, woodstove etc. and spend my days afield. Hunting, trapping, might take a day off here and there and fish.

I would think more people would go out of their way to lower the number of predators that are depleting our ungulate herds, too busy hunting horns I guess.

Gonna be living in the Clearwater mike? Come on over, you can buy 2 lion tags, get after em!! Blues are a super cool place.

Damn. Bobcat? How big is an elk calf for a bob to take one?

Not to short other predators, and certainly not mountain lions....

But the wolftards have their fangs in deep to play the narrative that woofs are peaceful little lap dogs. All cute and cuddly.

Judman,

Further south Grangeville/Riggins/McCall , just have to take what you can find these days, Apartment that is.
Gave up on buying land until the craziness slows, Realtor in McCall told me how prices have been jacked way up since the introduction of the covid scam.
People charging [and getting] $1000 month for a spot of land to park a camper on makes that land quite valuable. LAF

Haven't did much research on the Blues in Washington state, Oregon basically has year-round ML hunting in the Blue Mtns.
Based in Idaho, I can hunt wolves the majority of the year, year-round in the northern part of the state. ML's until quotas are met, although rarely ever met.

Copy that, all good country, love all 3 locations. 👍

30ish pounds is about the average weight of a newborn elk calf. A one year old bobcat could easily take a calf.
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Had a friend met on Longrange Hunting site from Pendleton, Oregon [flybuster] come over and met up to do some calling, we got stuck and his friend Joe came down and rescued us.

Another guy was doing some mining stuff in the Blue Mtns., Oregon, walked up on a HUGE ML, it ran off and into a cave/mine. He called Joe to invited him to go into the cave after the huge ML [great friend ]
so they go in with flashlights and firearms, don't remember exact firearms long guns and pistols.
The ML had got deep into the Mine, there was a straight down hole into the abyss dangerous place, they shot and killed the ML and risked life and limb getting it out. Joe was 6'-2-3'', 210=220 going off memory.
He posed with the huge Tom in typical ''bear-hug'' fashion, hard not to think it was fake it was so big. Head up higher than Joe's head legs touching the ground tail out of the picture it was so long.
Said it weighed 200lbs.and I believe it.
I kept the picture in LRHunting website but it disappeared after a website update, bummer..

Yep!

Interesting post. What's the source of info in the OP?
I know bears hammer the calves hard but, as rockinbbar intimated, the pro-wolf sentiment runs deep here in Oregon Dept of Fish and Wildlife and it wouldn't surprise me at all if data is skewed intentionally. I've spent considerable time in the Wenaha over the years. I've hiked the length of the river as well as hiking down to it from the WA side, etc etc. I'd have to say it looks like elk numbers are dropping over the years while wolf numbers go up. Further, we had a nice small but growing population of moose in that part of the State, though they too have been hit very hard by the wolves.
To your point, the last time I floated the GR River I saw 8 bears, all but three nice cinnamon coats.

Dan info collected was from wdfw. I also wish they had a way of collecting data from the nez pierce tribe from Idaho and how how many bulls they come over and kill. The last 10 years, I bet we have 1/3 the elk numbers. Place used to be unbelievable in September/early October.

Jud, I hear ya. I've heard some absolutely crazy stories from a warden re game slaughter care of the rez population, just really disheartening