Mt. View Unit

[meatwhack]

I think the predators and unlimited native harvest have had a larger effect on the herds than the last two winters. Elk can handle the snow much better than deer can.

[idahohuntr]

I think the predators and unlimited native harvest have had a larger effect on the herds than the last two winters. Elk can handle the snow much better than deer can.

I disagree.

When you see landscape level declines (i.e., across numerous units in the blues) which are sudden and consistent - including units with few wolves and virtually no tribal harvest...it pretty well fits exactly what the biologist stated. 

[elkchaser54]

Elk in the blues have zero wintering ground.  They are forced on to farmers fields where they get shot with depredation tags.

[meatwhack]

There’s been harder winters than the last two if you go back a decade or two and they didn’t have any substantial impact on the elk herds. What’s changed is the cougar population is probably 10 times what it was 25 years ago and now there’s a couple packs of wolfs to go along with it. You can believe the winter theory from the biologists if you want but I’m calling BS.

[Tbar]

Elk in the blues have zero wintering ground.  They are forced on to farmers fields where they get shot with depredation tags.

Or forced onto a very limited amount of public land which is why there needs to be laws to control shed hunting during critical times. 

[huntnnw]

Elk in the blues have zero wintering ground.  They are forced on to farmers fields where they get shot with depredation tags.

there are hundreds of elk wintering above the ronde and rattlesnake grade on private property with 0 agriculture fields its all cattle range land in that area

[huntnnw]

Man you are lucky at drawing, congrats!  I drew a bull moose tag before any blues elk tags  , not really funny but I guess I have to laugh about it.  Did you kill good bulls?  I know talking with nwhunter who guides over there, that the herd is cut in half. Predators are fat.

archery tag I passed some good bulls and rags, I blew it on a 340" bull and had about a dozen encounters under 100 yards and no shots. I shot a fork horn bull on the last day after 19 days of hunting. Last year was a very disappointing hunt I had a powder issue at 20 yards and bullet hit the elk and bounced off. 330-340 bull I flat out missed a 330" bull and a bunch of encounters, but bad winds for a week didnt help.

[huntnnw]

There’s been harder winters than the last two if you go back a decade or two and they didn’t have any substantial impact on the elk herds. What’s changed is the cougar population is probably 10 times what it was 25 years ago and now there’s a couple packs of wolfs to go along with it. You can believe the winter theory from the biologists if you want but I’m calling BS.

I have fished the grande ronde religiously for the last 31 years from late January to late march.  The last 2 years were the only 2 years in the last 31 that we never went or went once or twice due to terrible weather, snow etc. 2 years ago was the worst winter they had experienced down there along the ronde previous 29 years we never dealt with snow ever while fishing or had it pile up 6-8" while fishing like last year.

[nwhunter]

I put the blame on the cougar population more than anything in the units I hunt. I don't discount any of those other impacts from wolves to winterkill to natives but cats are out of control and are lethal killers that eat everyday. The bios are way behind the eight ball on this problem and the quotas that are on the Blues units are way to low for whats really out there...

[bigbullshedhunter]

Everyone talks about wolves, cougars and Indians doing all of the damage in the blues.  I have a Dayton modern rifle bull tag this year.  I called and talked to Paul Wick the game biologist in the blues about the elk numbers.  He says the Dayton area has half as many elk as it had two years ago.  He said that the wolves, cougars, and Indians do take some animals but the massive super fast decline was not caused by them.  He said it was from two terrible winters and a super dry summer last year and just about zero calf survival with minimal cows carrying calves and those that did, the calves didn't survive the winter.  He said the elk in the blues that did survive were nothing but skin and bones in March.  He said the fallacy that I have heard on this forum many times, "that all of the elk have left the high country and are in the lower private areas because the wolves have chased them down" isn't correct.  The reason people are seeing more animals in the lower private areas is due to them getting late winter food from the hay stacks and fields where the mountain elk didn't have that opportunity and starved.

Now with this said, I am not sure who is correct or if it is a combination of the both.  I was told the numbers were so low on calf survival the last two years that he would be surprised if anyone at all would be able to find a year and a half old spike at all during the general seasons in most of the blues.

He said that they figure 5 to 6 wolves are in and out of the Dayton area and approximately 30 cougars work the area.  He said the Indians don't get to far off of the main roads but its hard to tell because they have absolutely no requirements to report their harvest numbers and they are adamant that they will never report or tell WDFW what, how many, and where they hunt and kill big game.

Just my personal opinion is that, yes the two last years have had a terrible impact on the elk.  Due to the lack of predator control and out of control Indian hunting, the chance of any kind of speedy recovery is hard to foresee or imagine.  Sad!

it's easy for the numbers to drop so drastically  the last couple years especially when there's maybe a 1/4 of what was there 8 years ago.