Some Wa. Hunters in E. MT.

[2MANY]

The Lord's pot stirring does little to get me fired up.

Truth is many small Rocky Mountain towns depend on tourism.
Hunting, fishing, rafting, you name it they look forward to the tourist season.

The ones that don't profit from the tourists are the ones that bitch.
The end.

[Rainier10]

This is just kind of an FYI of what I have been hearing on a daily basis.  I  am currently out in E. Montana, Terry, MT. to be precise. The past two weeks I have been learning the area, getting a P.O. box, set up local bank account etc. etc along with daily scouting. 
I keep hearing the same comment over and over.  Those Washington hunters your the worst groups ever.  What they are talking about is groups with lots of B tags just stacking up the carcasses in their camps and not taking care of them.  I have heard this from over a dozen different people.
So I just thought I would pass this along if you are headed this way.
You will find this small community very welcoming to hunters.  I  personally would like to see it stay that way.

I'm really curious specifically what "What they are talking about is groups with lots of B tags just stacking up the carcasses in their camps and not taking care of them" means.

Are the hunters leaving bone piles?

  More information on exactly what was seen would be great.

[Seahawk12]

This is just kind of an FYI of what I have been hearing on a daily basis.  I  am currently out in E. Montana, Terry, MT. to be precise. The past two weeks I have been learning the area, getting a P.O. box, set up local bank account etc. etc along with daily scouting. 
I keep hearing the same comment over and over.  Those Washington hunters your the worst groups ever.  What they are talking about is groups with lots of B tags just stacking up the carcasses in their camps and not taking care of them.  I have heard this from over a dozen different people.
So I just thought I would pass this along if you are headed this way.
You will find this small community very welcoming to hunters.  I  personally would like to see it stay that way.

I'm really curious specifically what "What they are talking about is groups with lots of B tags just stacking up the carcasses in their camps and not taking care of them" means.

Are the hunters leaving bone piles?

  More information on exactly what was seen would be great.

I took it to mean that the Washingtonians hunting prowess is so great that they're stacking their harvest like cord wood. 
Leaving good meat to spoil is illegal everywhere, so I don't believe that to be the case and I won't believe that without seeing some form of verifiable proof. 

[meatwhack]

Just thought I’d share this from the IDFG site about second tags which are sold at the nonresident price.

The second-tag program has been popular with hunters. For many years, portions of the nonresident quota of 12,815 elk tags and 15,500 deer tags went unsold. Since 2000, they have been available as second tags for residents and nonresidents alike, although the majority of second tags (about 70 percent) are sold to residents.

[jackelope]

The Lord's pot stirring does little to get me fired up.

Truth is many small Rocky Mountain towns depend on tourism.
Hunting, fishing, rafting, you name it they look forward to the tourist season.

The ones that don't profit from the tourists are the ones that bitch.
The end.

Words of wisdomness right there.

[jackelope]

Just thought I’d share this from the IDFG site about second tags which are sold at the nonresident price.

The second-tag program has been popular with hunters. For many years, portions of the nonresident quota of 12,815 elk tags and 15,500 deer tags went unsold. Since 2000, they have been available as second tags for residents and nonresidents alike, although the majority of second tags (about 70 percent) are sold to residents.

So you're saying Idaho wants more of us?

[Bob33]

Just thought I’d share this from the IDFG site about second tags which are sold at the nonresident price.

The second-tag program has been popular with hunters. For many years, portions of the nonresident quota of 12,815 elk tags and 15,500 deer tags went unsold. Since 2000, they have been available as second tags for residents and nonresidents alike, although the majority of second tags (about 70 percent) are sold to residents.

So you're saying Idaho wants more of us our money?

(fixed)

[meatwhack]

I was just sharing information I thought was interesting.

[meatwhack]

For the small town support argument I’ve never really bought into that for hunting. I think some towns definitely rely on tourism to run the economy but as far hunting goes I don’t think it has near as much effect myself.

[dune]

I'm from MT. the only thing I can say is both in state and out of state hunters give themselves a bad rep. I don't like the fact hunting is all about 💰 in MT. Most of the ranches I hunted as a kid are lease or pay to truspass.

[vandeman17]

For the small town support argument I’ve never really bought into that for hunting. I think some towns definitely rely on tourism to run the economy but as far hunting goes I don’t think it has near as much effect myself.

I don't think it's some of the town's lifeblood but I do think that without it, their ability to survive would greatly diminish. I have hunted a handful of different areas in or near small towns in Montana and driven through way more. Many of them have numerous signs saying things like "welcome hunters" or have things trying to draw in hunters. Hunting season in a few months long so how anyone can say that a motel in a small town wouldn't need and want hunter's revenue to actually make a dime is beyond me. 

[Stein]

For the small town support argument I’ve never really bought into that for hunting. I think some towns definitely rely on tourism to run the economy but as far hunting goes I don’t think it has near as much effect myself.

If you are talking Bozeman, then I would agree.  If you are talking about one of the tons of tiny towns that don't have much tourism, I would not agree.  The town I hunt has all rooms in all hotels booked almost solid for almost 12 weeks of hunting season.  I pay about $120 and you can go anytime outside of hunting season and get a room for $59 and have an empty parking lot.

There are a bunch of towns that just don't get hardly and traffic outside hunting season, what is the draw for a sleepy ranching community?  For those businesses, I bet they make a substantial portion of their profit during hunting season.  It's not the entire story, but without hunting I bet more than the occasional business would be close to break-even.

[DOUBLELUNG]

I lived in Wyoming 11 years and worked for the Game and Fish Department over 7 of those.  I can vouch that nonresident deer and antelope licenses run the Department financially, every other program including elk, fishing and resident hunting are subsidized by those revenues. 

Hunting and wildlife-related tourism are estimated to contribute 5% of the entire state economy.  By comparison, agriculture is 12% of the Washington state economy; apples, dairy and potatoes comprise about 4.85% of the Washington state economy.  Hunting and wildlife-related recreation are more important to Wyoming's economy than apples, dairy and potatoes are to Washington's.  That 5% is the highest of all 50 states, the importance of hunting and wildlife tourism to the state's economy can't be overstated.

In terms of who are bad apples, some of the wardens' jokes in Wyoming are instructive.  Cheeseheads (WI as well as Mi and MN, also known as pumpkinsuits for their preferences for head to toe orange) are party hunters.  TX and LA plates are probable cause in eastern WY, in western Wyoming UT, NV and CA.  The professions most likely to poach are teachers, preachers and cops. 

I checked hunters in eastern WY from every state except ID, they do turn up in the west.  The only MT hunters I ever checked were doe/fawn antelope hunters down for the opportunity to take doe/fawn antelope at $24/pop.

Washington hunters didn't hit the radar much as a standout - they were more likely to hunt hard, i.e., you could find their trucks and not find the hunters.  They were generally easy to please, not terribly picky about trophy quality and enthusiastic about opportunities to fill multiple tags.  They were maybe more likely than some to trespass, usually due to a lack of understanding of Wyoming trespass laws.  Other places they were likely to get tripped up was not carrying a hunter safety card if born after 1966, and shooting forest grouse without an upland bird license.

In rural areas with low populations, one bad group of repeat nonresident hunters can give a state a bad name (whereas resident bad actors were known by family names).  When I started in Casper, a lot of the landowners didn't like Michigan hunters, it was mainly due to one outlaw group that was notorious for running around in 4wd vans, sliding the door open and shooting from the vehicle, grabbing the critter and running.  We worked them hard for about 3 years, and I was proud of the time I was able to watch them shoot a mule deer doe from the van while trespassing on private land without permission.  After 3 years and many citations they quit coming back.  I suspect the situation described relates to one particular party who happened to be from Washington, one bad crew can definitely sour a region on hunters from that particular state.       

 

[DOUBLELUNG]

I'm from MT. the only thing I can say is both in state and out of state hunters give themselves a bad rep. I don't like the fact hunting is all about 💰 in MT. Most of the ranches I hunted as a kid are lease or pay to truspass.

I saw the exact same thing with eastern Wyoming ranches in the 1990s.  It was a domino effect, as more and more ranches were pay to hunt or leased to outfitters, the pressure for access got higher and higher on the remaining ones.  I remember talking with the ranch manager on one of the last ones to allow free hunting in Converse County, he said they were going to have to charge the next year to cut down on the time dealing with hunters looking for access: over 1,500 contacts that summer and fall had impacted their ability to run the ranch.

[idaho guy]

My cousins in Idaho call them the "Outdoor Channel wannabe city folk".  They can't stand the out of staters that show up in their pavement princess rigs plastered with Bone Collector and such stickers looking like they just stepped out of a Cabela's catalog.     They say those are the folks who trespass, trash the woods and leave a bunch of wounded critters to rot.

that pretty much sums up the look!  I know many great hunters from Washington and have some family there also who are great hunters, unfortunately wa plates have a terrible name in Idaho and yes it is worse than any other state. It is the attitude of quite a few that come over. I feel like it is kill something at all costs without regard to the animails and screw anybody to do it. Yesterday I am driving back from bow hunting and check on a road leading to one of my other spots that is gated. Yep! Washington guys have the road blocked with jacked up rigs and camps and acting like nobody is getting into that spot. A guy comes out of his tent all puffed up! at about a 145lbs of terror . I was tired and not wanting to hunt anymore but  an out of stater will not keep me out of a spot I have been hunting 20 plus years ever! but that attitude is what is ruining it for the good guys. Btw I can four wheel to the gated road they are protecting from the bottom anyways