Managing Elk in The Great Yellowstone Ecosystem

Saw this article in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2009/05/20/news/000brucellosis.txt

Some interesting words here from USFWS Head, Tom Roffe.
Feed grounds will continue to be a contentious issue in the management of elk. And unfortunately I don't see a resolution to the problem in the near future.

May 18th: Scouting for Montana's Elk Season

This is the time of year that I find my self pouring over maps and spending too much time with Google Earth. And now that I'm done with school for the semester I have managed to find some time to put into preparing for hunting season. I started the weekend shed hunting, attended a 3d shoot on Sunday, and Monday I selected as a day to get out and stretch the legs.

Right out of the car I encountered a hillside overflowing with Heartleaf Arnica.

I have a post about bowhunting for elk in this area that you can read here. I covered about seven miles with about five of them being off trail. Monday was our first real day of warm temps here in Montana. The morning started off rather muggy and temps climbed quickly. Finn and I were not used to the heat, and spent the morning sweating as we gained elevation. Aside from the warm temps the bush-whacking had us covered in ticks. I spent many moments through out the day pulling them off of us.

Here are a couple shots of Highwood peak. On the way to the summit of Mcleod Mountain, I found this hillside covered with Glacier Lilies.

The brown foliage in the bottom of this picture is last years Yarrow bloom. I can only imagine what it looks like in full bloom.

Here are some nice shooting stars. This ridge line is a good example of why I found elk here last year. These south facing slopes can be feed on at night and then it is and easy escape (for an elk) to the safety of steep north facing slopes.

And finally I had to put this in here. Driving around this morning doing some more scouting ( I was foiled by a road that the Subaru couldn't handle) I found these toms with a few hens, two days after the season and of course in a district where turkey hunting is not allowed.

May 15th: Shed hunting on Montana's Wildlife Managment Areas

April brings easter egg hunts, but here in Montana May 1st & 15th are the days for a differenct kind of hunt for hidden treasures. These dates are when many of Montana's FWP managed Game Management Areas open to the public. These WMAs provide crucial winter range to many elk and deer through out the state. Given all of the wintering elk and deer, the shed hunting can be rather productive, so its no suprise to find many adults traipsing through these areas come their opening morning with and ear to ear grin found on a seven year old on Easter Sunday Morning.

It wasn't a productive day for me shed hunting, but wildlife, flowers and beauty abound. As I drove to the WMA, I encountered thick bank of fog. The fog started to lift soon after I started shed hunting. Not 20 minutes into hiking did I bump into these elk. I encountered three herds through out the day.

As usual I had Finn with me.

I took these shots to give folks a sense of the amazing winter range that has been set aside for wildlife.

This time of year grouse are in their mating mode. I spotted this male Blue Grouse and he put on a little show for me.

I didn't see as many wildflowers as I was expecting but found this nice Ballhead Waterleaf flower.

Me and Finn on a nice bench.

Some lovely bluebells

Great view from up high of the game range below.

Pasque flowers and elk poop. These are a few of my favorite things.

Finn cooling down.

Bowhunting Western Montana: 2009 Turkey Season, finally a day in the field

Sunday the 26th found me out in the field for an afternoon of turkey hunting. I have to say this is my first day turkey hunting ever. I wasn't able to make it out for the morning but snuck out for a few hours during the day.

It was a beautiful Spring day here in western Montana. The grass is greening up nicely and I couldn't resist snapping a few wildflower pics.

A nice bunch of arrow leaf balsam roots.

I managed to see a turkey strutting in someones backyard while driving into the area that I would be hunting. I setup as close as I could to the property where I saw the turkey. Like I said I don't have much turkey hunting experience but this bird was going nuts gobbling every few minutes at the very least. He seemed some what receptive to my calling, and came closer to my setup but never seemed to get close enough for me to see him. I pretty sure this is a back yard bird and is probably called to frequently so he knows not to cross the road and barb wire fence that separated us that afternoon.

A lovely example of a larkspur.

Some really great looking property to hunt. I think it gets hammered by other hunters but I'm trying not to let this deter me. After not having any luck with the gobbling backyard bird I scouted out the rest of the property, while I didn't see much sign or here any gobbles I'm pretty sure that plenty of birds are in the area and I just need to get down there and make things happen.

Prep Time: Bowhunting Turkeys in Montana 2009

Having every intention of wanting to hunt the opening weekend of turkey season, I found myself on the archery range on the second day of the season instead of in the field. A stomach bug and the crushing weight of school had not left much time for extra activities, including this blog. So needless to say I was using time that could be spent hunting, dialing in my setup. Luckily we have a long turkey season here in Montana so I weekend squandered wasn't the end of the world.





















My bow was shooting good, and the shooter behind the bow was coming along as well. It was good to set up my recently acquired ground blind and shoot from inside it.



























I like the blind but I'm concerned that driving it's stakes into the ground will require very soft dirt. Not always an option when hunting and setting up on the fly.

Wind appears to be a potential factor and the blind will have to be well staked out if it is the least bit windy and I hope to fool some birds.
With the school semester coming to a close I'm not certain how many days I will have to get into the field and after turkeys.

Elk Management in Montana

Slammed with school, I haven't had time to update my blog, nor have I been able to have any adventures worth blogging about.

If your interested if found this to be a very interesting article from the local paper in Helena.
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2009/04/26/top/55st_090426_elk.txt

More Turkey Scouting

Sunday afternoon found me out on the hunt for many things. Being spring I was hoping to find some sheds, turkeys, glass up some elk, and maybe some of springs first flowers.

I had returned to a ridge to which I had seen some turkeys last year, and had some luck glassing up some elk here last spring as well. I was pretty much skunked on all accounts of my scouting. No, elk, sheds, or turkeys.

Finn and the first buttercups of spring.