Idaho's affect on Montana for 2021???

[Skyvalhunter]

Boy Alan you sure come off like a pessimist. Things like you mention don't or can't happen over night. It won't even happen in your lifetime. The states have too much at state to let that happen.

[Karl Blanchard]

And let's not forget there are more elk, whitetail, turkey, ducks, etc than there has ever been in the last century. There is a lot of game out there to be had. The only species that gets kind of depressing to think about is mule deer. Well any deer in WA state really.

Theres endless opportunities to hunt if a guy is really looking. Things are forever changing and if you aren't willing to adapt and find those new opportunities,  you get left behind. I hunt at least one new unit a year somewhere. Sometimes its a bust, and sometimes its a killer new spot. Gotta be willing to fail sometimes. Thats hunting.

[whacker1]

And let's not forget there are more elk, whitetail, turkey, ducks, etc than there has ever been in the last century. There is a lot of game out there to be had. The only species that gets kind of depressing to think about is mule deer. Well any deer in WA state really.

Theres endless opportunities to hunt if a guy is really looking. Things are forever changing and if you aren't willing to adapt and find those new opportunities,  you get left behind. I hunt at least one new unit a year somewhere. Sometimes its a bust, and sometimes its a killer new spot. Gotta be willing to fail sometimes. Thats hunting.

Well said.....However, for those that are pessimists.. by all means give it up.  if it is not making you happy, then leave those spots and animals for the rest of us.

[Alan K]

I still harvest my animals every year, so don't take my pessimism as whining.  Filled my BT tag, elk tag, and 2 bears tags this year in western Washington, as well as deer in ID and MT. Do the same every year, though just in the last couple I've really focused on bears.  It's still not terribly difficult to fill tags, just nowhere near the days of passing over handfuls each season waiting for 'the one'.  I will never give it up so long as it's an option.

My comments really stemmed from the hunting heritage and new recruits talk. Unfortunately I don't think it matters in the long run. The number of hunters is a tiny fraction of the population, and now that wildlife is being managed politically I don't have a whole lot of hope that things will turn for the better at any point no matter how much our numbers may grow.  I don't doubt it will take time to get to the end game I laid out before, but we're certainly going down the death by 1000 cuts road.

And I really don't enjoy being a wet blanket, just my honest perspective.

[idaho guy]

I still harvest my animals every year, so don't take my pessimism as whining.  Filled my BT tag, elk tag, and 2 bears tags this year in western Washington, as well as deer in ID and MT. Do the same every year, though just in the last couple I've really focused on bears.  It's still not terribly difficult to fill tags, just nowhere near the days of passing over handfuls each season waiting for 'the one'.  I will never give it up so long as it's an option.

My comments really stemmed from the hunting heritage and new recruits talk. Unfortunately I don't think it matters in the long run. The number of hunters is a tiny fraction of the population, and now that wildlife is being managed politically I don't have a whole lot of hope that things will turn for the better at any point no matter how much our numbers may grow.  I don't doubt it will take time to get to the end game I laid out before, but we're certainly going down the death by 1000 cuts road.

And I really don't enjoy being a wet blanket, just my honest perspective.

 

You’re right on the ballot box wildlife management plus the big push to introduce and protect predators. If you have massive predators there is no surplus game to even create revenue by selling tags. When that happens our whole wildlife model just collapses. I think the whole wolf reintroduction was really part of a bigger long term plan to basically collapse the North American wildlife model and get rid of hunting by some of the real extreme groups. Others involved just got pulled along with a lot of emotional hype around wolves but predators in general too. In the meantime hunting is still good and I can’t wait to get back out there! We have lots of good years left and I don’t think will see anywhere near the end of hunting in my lifetime. Seems like every year things change just a little bit more so I have to adapt in some way. Were we talking about Montana tags ?

[dvolmer]

Well I am worried about it enough that when we hunted this last November in Montana, I visited with the ranch owner of the ranch that we hunt every year and he has agreed to get the paperwork in to the state for "Landowner Sponsored Non-Resident Deer Tags".  This should guarantee that we draw every year from here on out.  The one down side is that you can only hunt on his deeded land with the license, but that shouldn't be to big of a problem for us because that is pretty much all we do anyways.  It does take a few options away from us, but it is worth the option to hunt every year instead of every other year like Montana will probably be this year and within two more years it will be an every third year option if it keeps going the way it is.  Ranch is 10,000 acres.  Now I need to tackle my Wyoming deer tag issue.  Don't have this option there so it is looking difficult but there are a few tricks the average guy doesn't readily think of!

[jjhunter]

Well I am worried about it enough that when we hunted this last November in Montana, I visited with the ranch owner of the ranch that we hunt every year and he has agreed to get the paperwork in to the state for "Landowner Sponsored Non-Resident Deer Tags".  This should guarantee that we draw every year from here on out.  The one down side is that you can only hunt on his deeded land with the license, but that shouldn't be to big of a problem for us because that is pretty much all we do anyways.  It does take a few options away from us, but it is worth the option to hunt every year instead of every other year like Montana will probably be this year and within two more years it will be an every third year option if it keeps going the way it is.  Ranch is 10,000 acres.  Now I need to tackle my Wyoming deer tag issue.  Don't have this option there so it is looking difficult but there are a few tricks the average guy doesn't readily think of!

I used to partake in the LO sponsored draw; if remember right, it works well for 1 or 2 on a large ranch but then allocation dries up.

[idaho guy]

Well I am worried about it enough that when we hunted this last November in Montana, I visited with the ranch owner of the ranch that we hunt every year and he has agreed to get the paperwork in to the state for "Landowner Sponsored Non-Resident Deer Tags".  This should guarantee that we draw every year from here on out.  The one down side is that you can only hunt on his deeded land with the license, but that shouldn't be to big of a problem for us because that is pretty much all we do anyways.  It does take a few options away from us, but it is worth the option to hunt every year instead of every other year like Montana will probably be this year and within two more years it will be an every third year option if it keeps going the way it is.  Ranch is 10,000 acres.  Now I need to tackle my Wyoming deer tag issue.  Don't have this option there so it is looking difficult but there are a few tricks the average guy doesn't readily think of!

 

We did that before long time ago before the price increase when Montana was every other year. I’m not sure that’s a guaranteed tag I thought we still had to draw just way better odds 

[dvolmer]

A land owner with over 600 and some deeded acres can apply for the program (I think it is 640 if I remember right).  Each landowner is guaranteed two tags for their non-resident deer hunters.  If they have more than 2, then the rest are put in a random draw for the rest of the non-resident landowner sponsor left over tags.  There is a quota of 2000 tags for this.  The applicants over the last many years has been a total of approximately 800-1000 if my memory is correct on my research.  So the landowner tags have been a 100% success option for a long time and will continue to be until their are over 2000 applicants.  You might ask, What do they do with the 1200-1000 tags left over?  The left over tags they transfer over to the non-resident Deer combination tag quota for the general non-resident draw.