Free: Contests & Raffles.
They move them around constantly and out of the deep dark holes where they escaped hunters, so hunters see them and think "WOW!, ID/MT Elk hunting is fine, better than fine it's GRRRRRREAAT!" (my Tony the tiger impression)meanwhile the overall Elk numbers are tanking.
Guides that used to have good/great success are going under because they knew where the herd escaped the bulk of the hunters and horsed them into drop camps. Now the Elk are no longer reliably on their permitted areas of operation having been dispersed by wolves.
Just keep on telling everyone that wolves have little impact.
“From a wildlife perspective, there’s no question that this growing wolf population has had a devastating impact on our elk populations and our moose populations,” he said. “Our scientists’ and biologists’ studies on all these collared packs indicate that each wolf eats an average of 16 elk per year, so if you do the math and are being conservative, our 1,000 wolves are eating 16,000 elk per year.” He said 295 sheep, 76 cattle and 14 dogs were also confirmed to have been killed by wolves in 2009. Budge said the state’s biggest and historically most stable elk herd in the Lolo Pass area has gone from 11,000-13,000 elk to under 2,000 since wolves began to inhabit the area. “Put wolves into the equation, it tipped the balance,” he said. This impact resonates beyond Idaho’s borders, according to Budge. “Our out-of-state hunting numbers were down 25 percent in 2008, 31 percent in 2009,” he said. Fish and Game polled previous visitors to the state to find out if the economy was the culprit or if it was some other reason. “The No. 1 reason listed for not coming to Idaho was, ‘You haven’t taken care of your wolves and your wild animal populations are down,’” Budge recounted, “and the No. 2 reason was, ‘Your license fees are unfair.”
Quote from: KFhunter on January 26, 2014, 10:51:52 PM So, bottom line, all these sob stories about guides going under...just not real high on my list of concerns...its too bad for them, but no different than the other millions of hard working Americans who lose jobs or are out of work.
Idaho offers some of the best elk hunting in the country and Bearpaw Outfitters have several excellent elk hunting options in Southeast Idaho - BEARPAW OUTFITTERSTHIS IS A DIRECT QUOTE FROM YOUR WEBPAGE Sounds like you would actually agree with my assessment??
Quote from: bearpaw on January 27, 2014, 08:57:55 AMJust keep on telling everyone that wolves have little impact. Just keep telling everyone there are only a few elk left in Idaho It will leave more for me.