Overabundance of elk

[Tbar]

There will be significant harvest under the damage program because of the legislative mandate.

[idaho guy]

When I first started hunting W. Montana you could hardly hunt a draw in the mountains without bumping elk and you rarely saw them in the flats where the private property was. Now those same draws are virtually void of elk and the flats are overrun with them. They were forced down by the burgeoning wolf population. I wonder if this could be happening here.

I have seen this in Montana and even more so in Idaho-Funny thing is people that hunt next to town always say the wolves are not a problem I see elk all the time! They just don't know they all got pushed down there from the wolves ha ha kind of funny but not really

[CarbonHunter]

When I first started hunting W. Montana you could hardly hunt a draw in the mountains without bumping elk and you rarely saw them in the flats where the private property was. Now those same draws are virtually void of elk and the flats are overrun with them. They were forced down by the burgeoning wolf population. I wonder if this could be happening here.

Seen it in Idaho and Montana and we will soon see it on the east slopes of the cascades.


I have seen this in Montana and even more so in Idaho-Funny thing is people that hunt next to town always say the wolves are not a problem I see elk all the time! They just don't know they all got pushed down there from the wolves ha ha kind of funny but not really

[CAMPMEAT]

I know of a wolf consultant that got $425000 to help figure out the wolf problem, Why not waste another $425,000 on her, instead of extending the season and increasing the OTC tags there..? That's just too easy and simple and cost effective. 

[winshooter88]

According to the most recent numbers put out at the last GMAC meeting the Colockum herd numbers are more like 4300 animals. The elk are pushed to I-90 and beyond by people using the area between the current winter road closure and the freeway, the current winter closure still leaves a lot of area open for winter use.

[cryder]

Wwwhhheewww !!! ,,,, I think I just opened the cavern door in a unused part of my mind , now that you guys figgered all this out , can you pleases tell me where all these critters will be around September 12th , and try to be close to a opened parking space please. Anyways , gotta go look at a map , cryder out !

[Randysonia]

Ask the old timers! The ones who know what to do with the situation. This is Elk winter range and habitat. If you want to keep the Elk off the freeway and from going over to the Yakima Training Center you are going to have to build an Elk fence. Period! Or put in an Elk feeding station somewhere up in the Quilomene to keep them up there.   Use some of the Sportsman's money out of the general fund or DOL. Get rid of that wolf expert the WDFW are paying for and wasting money on. This stuff isn't rocket science and people need to get to work and do something!

[elkchaser54]

Idiot propaganda.  Private land owners cut off access to hunters and then complain when the ungulates destroy their property.

EXACTLY!!!!!  National Forests aren't good habitat anymore and now the state will let the farmers harvest them as "damage control" while the rest of us hunters chase the few left in the forests.

[brush hunter]

I can't wait to see the harvest numbers from this year to show how over-abundant our elk herds are. 

Better yet the winter kill numbers

[CarbonHunter]

If there is such an over abundance why did the WDFW cut the rifle cow tags by 90% last year? Seams like they just left more cows to winter on the farmers fields.

[NOCK NOCK]

Wwwhhheewww !!! ,,,, I think I just opened the cavern door in a unused part of my mind , now that you guys figgered all this out , can you pleases tell me where all these critters will be around September 12th , and try to be close to a opened parking space please. Anyways , gotta go look at a map , cryder out !

I am going to tuck away this cryderism phrase in my brain.......for future use, pure gold cryder

For your ?, most of them should be about 20-25 miles due north, but much more spread out. 

[Calvin Rayborn]

What a joke. 

[Killmore]

They need to start to save for a elk fence, Did they forget that's what they did back in the 60s on the west side of Kittitas county that runs from Easton to Manastash.. If they can pay some wolf specialist $425000 I would think they can find money for a fence..

[Bullkllr]

They need to start to save for a elk fence, Did they forget that's what they did back in the 60s on the west side of Kittitas county that runs from Easton to Manastash.. If they can pay some wolf specialist $425000 I would think they can find money for a fence..

 

BTW, they didn't pay the wolf specialist 425K. The 425K was for a contract extension. The total was 1.6 MILLION!

[Killmore]

So that would pay for a lot of fence..