Help Protect Montana's Rocky Mountain Front

I saw this article on the Montana FWP's website and thought that I would post it here for others to read. The FWP is seeking comment on the proposed purchase of land along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front. I'm in favor of the FWP acquiring this land. The property abuts the "Sun River Wildlife Management Area", which provides winter range for one of the Nation's largest migratory elk herds. Montana's Rocky Mountain Front is a variable Serengeti, when it comes to wildlife, and is threatened by subdivision development and oil and gas leasing. Large blocks of undeveloped land along the Front provide excellent habitat, and important corridors for wild species, and help to improve the genetic diversity in one of the lower 48's last intact ecosystems.

Let the FWP know what you think.

Elk and brucellosis management in Montana

I just saw this article on the FWP's website. Recently that spotlight has been pointed towards elk in regards to brucellosis transmission in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Sportsmen and women must watch this management closely. Elk must be managed as a wild population, and brucellosis management applied to bison in the Park, could not and should not be applied to elk. With that being said it think that it is important to support the ranching communities effected by this issue. Ranching has a rich tradition in the West, and aside from being good stewards of the land, working ranches keep valuable property from being subdivided, or turned into amenity ranches which carry a whole different set of problems when it comes to managing wild elk populations.

Resolving this issue will not be easy and will take some time. Until then I think it is important to monitor the management of elk, by state and federal agencies.

Lessons learned from a season chasing elk in Western Montana

I thought that I would list of a few things that I learned this season while chasing elk with the bow. Bow hunting for elk is to say this least difficult and the learning curve is steep. I was fortunate this season to see and hear animals almost every time that I went out. And some day I hope to actually harvest an elk with my bow.

1. You can't be in too good of shape for elk hunting. This is 100 percent true. Glassing up animals and the sounds of the bugles will have you traipsing all over the country. And elk live for the most part in a steep rugged world. Expect to hear bugling elk on an opposite ridge, loose and gain large amounts of elevation getting to there, only to hear elk bugling the direction you just came from. Being able to keep pace all day long will greatly increase you enjoyment in the field.

2. Eat a good breakfast. This seems really common sense, but for some reason I can't always live by it. Whether it's the lack of appetite early in the morning or the need to get a move on, I don't always make time or enough time for breakfast. Once you get onto elk you may not be able to stop and eat for a while, so fueling up in the morning will help when you are on to animals, and will help you go strong all day long. Next season I plan on packing along some energy gels in the field. Something that I can access easily and not have to stop and eat. I found several times that after I got on elk it was for some time, and stopping to eat was not an option. However, after a while physical and mental fatigue set in. Once this season, I set my bow down and didn't realize it until a few vertical feet and minutes later. I spent some time and effort finding my bow, instead of hunting.

3. Try and get a good setup. I'm still learning about this one, and years in the field will only help this out. Still there is much to learn about this and there is more to it than just playing the wind, and be a good bugler and cow caller. For a good resource check out this podcast on Bowcast about this subject.

Remember these are just my thoughts and opinions. I have yet to harvest an elk with my bow and I am by know means and expert. Nonetheless, it is helpful to reflect on things that did or didn't help you out in the field, and these are things I will be changing in the future.

Help FWP nab poachers and get paid

I saw this on the FWP website today and thought I would post it for any one interested.
http://fwp.mt.gov/news/article_7581.aspx
It is a shame that stuff like this still happens, I can only hope that somehow they manage to catch these guys or guy.

New Year's Eve Venison Pasties

For New Year's Eve I decided to test out a recipe I found in a copy of the my local Rod and Gun Club's, newsletter. Pasty are of Irish, Cornish and Welsh decent ( don't quote me on that). They are popular throughout Western Montana, especially in Butte. Recently in the local paper there has been some heated debate about the traditional filling for these and whether they should be topped with gravy. I view gravy, like bacon, why not add some to anything you are eating. The filling is a mix of venison potatoes and onions and a little salt and pepper. This recipe is more like pasties found currently for sale around Montana, and I slathered

them in gravy.

They turned out pretty aside from the goof in the crust recipe thanks to me. I will be making them again in the future.

Montana Game Damage Hunt

Woo Hoo! On Wednesday the letter came in the mail that I had been waiting for. I received notification from the Montana FWP, that I had been selected to participate in an elk game damage hunt. I had been watching the FWP website for the last several weeks and had been seeing hunts continually listed and finally my district came up, on Tuesday. The hunt takes place on two ranches within the area. These hunts are designed to stop depredation of resources on private land owners property, and while this benefits the land owner, it is still very gracious of these private land owners to allow hunters on to their property. The hunt is a rifle hunt for antlerless elk, and I have been selected to hunt from Februrary 7th-13th. This is the last hunt period for the hunt, so I hope that animals are still present during my hunt, and haven't been completely run off by other hunters. While I had good success with the bow this season, and I would gladly call my season a complete at this point, it would be really nice to put an elk in the freezer. I will be in school during this period but, you can be sure I will be doing my best to go out and hunt as much as I can during my period.

December 26th, Bow Hunting Elk On Public Land in Western Montana

The morning after Christmas I headed out with my friend Ted, to do some late season bow hunting for elk. This particular district in Montana is open until Jan. 1st. We were going to be hunting on a FWP, block management area, and some adjacent US Fish Wildlife Service land.

I can't say enough good things about the FWP's block management program. The amount of access this allows hunters is phenominal and many areas only require that the hunter merely sign in before hunting the area. So if you are new to an area you can hit the ground running without having to orchestrate permission. That being said please check the regulations for each area that you plan to hunt before heading out.

The country that we hunted was a cool mix of sparse forest, glacial moraines, and wetlands intermixed with sage flats. The temps were in the teens and there was about 8-14 inches of snow on the ground. As we hiked through the country our noses were often filled with the pungent smell of crushed sage.

Let me say that before this hunt I was indifferent to mule deer hunting. But after spying many of the large mule deer out here, my opinion has changed. The open terrain here will make it difficult, but given the timber and moraines, spot and stalk could work out here.

We spent the morning glassing and hiking through the open terrain looking for elk. It took us a while but we finally spotted about four cows in some mixed timber. We put together a plan to move in on these elk. Unfortunately the wind was constantly switching. We finally caught up with two of these cows but they were bedded and we were only able to get within about 150 yards before they spooked. We were not sure their location having them bedded made it difficult to find. Subsequently these elk saw or heard us before we knew that they were there.

I think this can be a productive area, however we should have hunted it a bit earlier in the season.