Anyone hunting the MT shoulder season

Take it to the sportsman's issues forum. I'm just curious how the actual hunt is going.

'Haven't seen much yet regarding hunting results, but the article below discusses the strong interest in the current shoulder season and the prevalent attitude and expectation of an "easy elk hunt".

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/outdoors/2015/12/28/thing-called-elk-hunting/77716032/

ElkStalker said:

What's the difference? If the FWP takes them the meat goes to the needy.

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Exactly. What is the difference? Why pay government employees when the public will do it for free?

Here's another article http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyl...cle_2d0234c3-61f1-5118-9b02-da401843c084.html

FWP has stressed to callers that these are not “haystack hunts” where elk are grouped up in an open area and a kill is nearly guaranteed. The private lands and one Block Management Area are walk-in only. Off-road travel or retrieval in a vehicle is not allowed. That means dragging or backpacking out in pieces an animal that can weigh 500 pounds.


“Whenever we explain to them that this is real hunting in winter conditions, that makes some of them think twice,” said Ethan Lula, an FWP wildlife biologist in White Sulphur Springs. “A lot of guys asked, ‘Has the snow pushed the elk down to the bottom?’ It has, but the snow is knee deep for hunters, too.”


Lula was lucky enough to shoot a cow elk during the season on the south end of the Castle Mountains by going through McGuire, just like everyone else, to gain access to private land. He pulled the halved cow elk out 2.5 miles on a sled. That’s something not all hunters are willing to do.


“Some fellows go out and glass in the morning, then decide it isn’t worth the work,” Lula said, referring to hunters using spotting scopes and binoculars to scan the hillsides for elk. “We can send them to the property but we can’t make them walk if they don’t want to.”

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I've helped friends on 4 late season hunts. One was sick, similar to what ElkStalker imagines. The area was full of roads and at daybreak the hunters drove to where the elk were congregated and shot them as they were trying to escape over the fence (this happens during the regular season too).

One was a spot/stalk up a drainage in snow that required skill and stamina. You had to be quick because the elk left for the no-hunting property at shooting light. Once across the fence they'd graze peacefully knowing they were safe, and if you hadn't just been outwitted by them you would think they were pushovers if only you could hunt on that land.

The other two were grueling and required many miles of postholing through drifts in sub-zero weather and winds that would knock you over if weren't paying attention. The weather was so bad I had to wear ski goggles. The snow was waist deep in the wind shelters. The elk were wary because they were hunted. One of my friends didn't get one after several days of hard hunting.

So three out of four were fair chase, and two were far beyond what the average hunter would do. The sick one still bothers me. The most difficult one was in the same area the shoulder seasons are taking place.

One big complaint I heard about the hunt roster was the participants were expecting an easy hunt and didn't have the skill needed to harvest an elk. If these hunts were easy the HDs would probably be within "objective" because the hunt roster system would have been effective.

Reviving an old thread. Curious how folks are doing this year during the shoulder season? I've got a bum ankle for a few more weeks but hope to get out once it heels. Luckily there hasn't been much weather or snow, so I'm guess the herds really haven't started into the lowlands all that much.

What are you guys seeing in district 2?

I don't hunt the shoulder season areas. I do have an elk B tag. If one of them landscaping eating sumbitches come through my property, it's cut, wrapped and frozen. mtmuley

Out of curiosity, has anyone tried finding a shoulder hunt by knocking on doors or making phone calls? Or is all the access pretty much distributed through the hunt roster unless you know someone personally?

I'm trying to figure out if there's even a remote chance of finding a hunt the rest of the season.

There's a lot of places you can hunt, but most of the private land where many of the elk are is accessible only to those with connections, friends or family. Sure the average guy might have a chance knocking on doors but typically there's a reason most of the elk are already on that land.

The private land that allows hunting doesn't generally have much for elk. The shoulder season is a tool to keep pressure on the elk and keep them off their property. It's pretty effective as most of those places where you can hunt have people near every day. Sure you can get lucky and be at the right place and right time but the realistic odds are low.

Thanks for the tip. I might try heading out to knock on a door or two, but I don't think I'm going to invest too much time in it given what you said. Then it's back to chasing ducks.

MT FWP has regional coordinators for the shoulders seasons to try to get hunters and landowners together. I did the shoulder hunt up in Meagher County two years ago, and there was a considerable amount of private land some owners had opened up just for the shoulder cow hunts. I talked to the FWP coordinator who was working out of the USFS office in White Sulhpur and back then she was fielding around 600 calls per day!! If you were able to get on one of these it wasn't a bad hunt because the areas were large and hunting was usually limited to 2-3 parties per day. Lots of snow that year so I had fun going in on x-country skis.

Here's the MT FWP regional coordinators:
http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/seasons/elkShoulder/

Thanks for the help- I'll head over there and talk with them today. I can't believe I missed that- thought I had read everything on the FWP site.