BareBack Jack

After reading post apon post of gear,guns,and bows I'm getting a little burned out.Don't get me wrong I enjoy the arguments and the opions but last night as I was laying bed,I was thinking of hunting and the mighty bull that has been running my dreams and I thought is this the decade or the era of the Big Bull elk?As some remeber the big mule deer of the 60's 70's and 80's,they were once as thick as flies,any man worth his weight could drive any road and shoot a good decent mule deer buck 28-30 inch 4 point.Now days a guy has to hunt his butt off to find a good buck.Is this is what in store for the Bull Elk?With every hunting show that gose by I see more and more,guys pushing for this "TROPHY".In 20 or 10 years are we going to be hunting harder to find the small bull of this time instead of the big Bulls of the past.
Whats you guys/gals opinon,is management the key,more habitat what?What is it going to take to keep the quality of bulls on the up?
Some thoughts to ponder.
BBJ

manboy

i hope thats not the case[:@]... i don't no whats the answer for keeping elk herd up in an area. i think 1 big thing thats going in the right dirrection, is the fact that states can control the tags. i hope that there will always be draws, and limited amounts of tags.

i know i would rather hunt elk every couple years for a mature bull than every year and only see small rags![:'(]

just hope the craze for elk doesn't get as bad as the trophy whitetail craze! there is just not enough elk![&o]

121553

Bbj, I think as well as you, habitat and management play an important role, but I also think we keep pushing elk, deer, ect, further back in the bush as we homestead there territory, I see evidence of it around here where some city slicker comes out here and buys property in the bush and then complains about the bears? The concret jungle is like a cancer and if you don't believe me just look at the road kills. Also look how the animals have come in and started to inhabit city areas.
I think and know the big boys are there, its just that you got to work like an sob to get em. Bobby

James B

The cost of elk hunting at least for out of staters at one time might have limited the pressure on elk. However there is no end to the hunters who can and will pay whatever price it takes to harvest a tropht elk. There will have to be a limit to the amount of tags available. There is a lot I don't know about managing elk herds so there may be some better ways to look at this problem. One thing that might help is the high fence ranch hunts. This may not be our idea of true elk hunting but it may be good enough for some of the city slickers. I think the elk is a rather fragil resource and I for one would rather see limits to the oppertunities rather than a strain on the resource. We had years where I hunt where the Mule deer were thinned out and not many big bucks remained. The state did a good job managing the number of hunters and the type of permits available until now our herd in SD is very healthy indeed. Both in Numbers and in quality.

manboy

james b... what do think of the way S.D. is managing its elk herds?

James B

To be honest, I don't know to much about how they manage the Elk herd. I have been up here in ND for the last six years except for deer season. I own land in western SD where we go down to hunt Mule Deer every Fall. A friend of mine takes care of my place and harvests the alfalfa. I hunted Elk there once and am not allowed to apply again. It is ongoing as the herd grows. I see a lot of elk while deer hunting in the foothills of the Black Hills. I almost hit one on the road last fall down by Hot Springs Many years ago we could go out to Wyoming and buy elk and moose tags over the counter. The hunting was really good back then. I have a good friend who lives south Of Custer and has a little ranch there. He has elk all over his back yard just about every day. He has been trying to draw an archery tag for several years.

gotlost

Habitat , Access , Hunting pressure , feed Quality and to some extenet winters all have a affect on the quality of bulls we will see. Bulls need to be able to reach 6 or 7 years old to get to a trophy class. Good game management is the only way in this day and time for this to happen. In some areas the Elk have 40 or more days of hunting pressure and with the predator pressure from lions and in some cases wolves, it's surprising we have been seeing the big bulls we have. I sure in the future If we keep loseing winter range and and keep the current hunting pressure's we will see less and less of the bigger bulls.

muley69

I guess I'm more concerned about the wolves than anything, Gardiner, once a elK heaven, has had heards seriously reduced by wolves. Once they start gaining, whats to stop them?

idahoelkinstructor

I agree with that, I too worry about what the wolves will do to the elk herds in the long haul. Unless we can control the wolves they will have their way with the elk. This is already happening now as we speak, whether people want to believe it or not.

Elk2901

I too am worried about the elk. I hunt in NW CO and have seen how things are going there. With the increased price in tags, it has cut down on some out-of-state hunters. The elk are learning to migrate to private land when hunting season comes around and this is about the only place that some hunters say you can get a good bull.

Colorado does a good job of managing their elk hunting, although it may not be workable for someone that does not have the patience to keep applying in the really good bull GMUs.

I have seen quail hunting in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas come and go. I believe elk will do the same. Right now I am just going to enjoy it while it is good and hope that my grandsons will have the same opportunity.