Bovine cattle are in my Elk area!!!
11-12-2017, 06:33 PM
#11
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 6,357
You could try to pressure federal authorities to restrict bovine use to a different period. Maybe have cattle removed by end of August. Point to value provided to local economy from hunters. Federal lands are supposed to be multiple use. If cattle graze off grass so elk are not present, that isn't multiple use.
11-13-2017, 04:26 PM
#12
Fork Horn
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Up on the Milk River
Posts: 459
Just got back yesterday from a few days hunting....shot a cow elk that was feeding 300 yards from cattle, along with about 7 mulies in the local area, saw many deer feeding within cattle, there were about 15 head with cow, including a small 5 pt.
12-11-2017, 08:14 PM
#13
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: N. Illinois
Posts: 527
03-12-2018, 05:50 PM
#14
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 130
In my experience, you're gonna need to go higher, away from the lowland water which I'm guessing has trails with the most cowpies. As OT, says you'll need to be looking down! OR try the legal arguments but that's like David versus Goliath without any slingshot involved.
It does "chew the root" but if you're gonna be hunting the same general area, that's my only advice. Decent topography maps may help you out by studying some areas and then looking at the most recent imagery you can find online.
REM7600
PS: I've found Whitetails or Moose NOT to be as finicky, generally speaking... the Mulies stay high till later in the year anyway.
It does "chew the root" but if you're gonna be hunting the same general area, that's my only advice. Decent topography maps may help you out by studying some areas and then looking at the most recent imagery you can find online.
REM7600
PS: I've found Whitetails or Moose NOT to be as finicky, generally speaking... the Mulies stay high till later in the year anyway.
Last edited by REM_7600; 03-12-2018 at 05:54 PM.
03-13-2018, 08:41 AM
#15
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW Montana
Posts: 550
I have often seen elk and cattle in close proximity to each other.
For the past 10 or more year I have watched a herd of up to 150 elk summer in the fields below my house. The elk are usually in fields without cattle, but sometimes they are in the same field.
One time I was bow hunting in the oak brush of NW Colorado. I could hear large animals feeding in the brush ahead of me. When I finally got into an opening where I could see that they were cattle, I stood erect and said something like "Oh, stupid cattle" and a dozen elk broke from the brush around me and ran off.
A friend of mine used to be the Montana F&G biologist for the Wall Creek elk management area south of Ennis, MT. He once told me that he found that if they put cattle on the range early for a month or so, it would actually improve the feed for the elk later in the year.
For the past 10 or more year I have watched a herd of up to 150 elk summer in the fields below my house. The elk are usually in fields without cattle, but sometimes they are in the same field.
One time I was bow hunting in the oak brush of NW Colorado. I could hear large animals feeding in the brush ahead of me. When I finally got into an opening where I could see that they were cattle, I stood erect and said something like "Oh, stupid cattle" and a dozen elk broke from the brush around me and ran off.
A friend of mine used to be the Montana F&G biologist for the Wall Creek elk management area south of Ennis, MT. He once told me that he found that if they put cattle on the range early for a month or so, it would actually improve the feed for the elk later in the year.
04-05-2018, 10:55 AM
#17
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: On an Island in Vermont
Posts: 22,593
I don't like cows period. Must come from being chased by heifers while crossing the farmers field trying to get to the river to fish when I was 12. I ran and they chased...or they chased and I ran. It all is one big mystery to me.
