how do they know? - 11/24/20
Where the private land boundaries are? Yesterday we sat on a ridge watching at least 300 cows on a private land hillside with no access. About sundown, they lined out and started moving toward some hay fields below, all on private land, of course. Even if we could have got permission, there was no way to approach them other than belly crawling a half mile in a gillie suit.
It all comes down to the lead cow. She got her job by being the meanest, raunchiest old bitch in the herd. At the same time, she's also about the smartest one in the herd. She decides when and where to move or bed down. At some time in past years, she learned that if she takes the herd to a particular spot, they won't be bothered by hunters. Since private land often fills that bill, that's where she will return to, year after year. When she dies and is replaced by a younger cow, that cow will have learned the same things. They can't read regulations or no hunting signs. They just know where they've been undisturbed in years past.
I don't know about other states, but in Idaho the F&G is required to pay restitution to ranchers who have losses to these large herds of elk. At the same time, those who get restituted are often the ones who post their land. Hunters are often the most effective method of keeping elk off of those lands but they're the ones who are shut out. In my opinion, land owners who want restitution should be required to allow hunting. There is a problem with herds that move some distance to night time feeding grounds on private land. Sometimes they bed on public land during the day and only move onto ranch land to feed at night. The F&G has used their own people to shoot some of them to push the elk out. Of course hunters scream that we should get 1st shot at that but state law prevents hunting at night except for F&G sharpshooters. It would take an act by the legislature to allow night time hunting and that's not likely to happen.
It all comes down to the lead cow. She got her job by being the meanest, raunchiest old bitch in the herd. At the same time, she's also about the smartest one in the herd. She decides when and where to move or bed down. At some time in past years, she learned that if she takes the herd to a particular spot, they won't be bothered by hunters. Since private land often fills that bill, that's where she will return to, year after year. When she dies and is replaced by a younger cow, that cow will have learned the same things. They can't read regulations or no hunting signs. They just know where they've been undisturbed in years past.
I don't know about other states, but in Idaho the F&G is required to pay restitution to ranchers who have losses to these large herds of elk. At the same time, those who get restituted are often the ones who post their land. Hunters are often the most effective method of keeping elk off of those lands but they're the ones who are shut out. In my opinion, land owners who want restitution should be required to allow hunting. There is a problem with herds that move some distance to night time feeding grounds on private land. Sometimes they bed on public land during the day and only move onto ranch land to feed at night. The F&G has used their own people to shoot some of them to push the elk out. Of course hunters scream that we should get 1st shot at that but state law prevents hunting at night except for F&G sharpshooters. It would take an act by the legislature to allow night time hunting and that's not likely to happen.