Are MT shoulder seasons effecting bulls too?

[MTelkHuntress]

I'm curious what others think about this topic. I've seen a lot of comments against the shoulder seasons because of pregnant cows during the hunt and pushing cows off public, but I've never heard about it effecting bulls and where they are during hunting season. The unit I am hunting this year is also a shoulder hunt area and I have yet to see any cows on public. Almost every hunter I talked to blamed the shoulder hunts for the bulls not being on the public because the cows have been pressure onto private land that doesnt allow hunting. I hadn't really heard this view before. I talked to a game warden about bulls in the area and he mentioned that the shoulder season really shouldn't effect bulls on the public. I'm curious what other people think, do shoulder seasons really have an effect on bulls during hunting season?

 

[406LIFE]

I've not seen any data that supports shoulder seasons affecting bulls except where they are being moved off of private onto public in the areas that elk are being pressured.

 

[Big Foot]

Less elk means less bulls.

 

[Straight Arrow]

More hunting pressure for much longer periods of time, with significantly reduced times between hunting seasons, results in behavioral changes. I have no substantial data, other than the information surrounding introduction and increase of large predators such as wolves and bears, as well as anecdotal accounts of behavioral changes.

 

[Bulldog0156]

Archery success is very high in the districts around where you are hunting. Talking to a warden last fall when I had my rifle tag, he said they estimated about 50% success for archery hunters with the majority of elk being bulls. In my opinion, the number of bulls being shot on an annual basis is pretty high for that district. I doubt it's as high where you are, but who knows.

 

[Bambistew]

Not sure how you could tell... how do you determine how bad it is when there are 17 bulls per 100 cows or 15?

 

[noisy]

I don't really see how shoulder season pressure could be pushing bulls off public when all the hunting is on private. Kind of the opposite, really. It might be pushing them to other private where hunting is not allowed, but that's really nothing new. What I've seen the past couple years is the elk have changed their behavior somewhat. Rather than lollygagging around on private during the day (like they did a couple years ago when you actually had to draw a B tag to hunt the shoulder season in some places, before OTC, meaning much less pressure), they are now moving up onto public land during the day, but still coming down to feed on private during the night. Public land adjacent to private where shoulder season hunting has been allowed should be a good bet for opening day rifle at least, because the elk have been pressured to move onto the public to avoid shoulder season hunters. But I don't think they're going any farther up than they need to, at least not until the guns start going off on public.

The place where I've been hunting has also seen an influx of wolves and grizzlies in the past two years, and that's keeping the elk moving around a lot. Basically between the shoulder season hunting and the predators, the elk are always on the move, which again is really nothing new but I think it's even more so now, at least where I've been hunting. Life isn't as easy for them as it was a couple years ago. I can't say how much it has affected the population--I'm not sure anybody really knows that yet for sure. But I almost never see elk tracks without wolf tracks nearby anymore.

I also wonder about the increased popularity of archery hunting and how much that is going to affect the bull population. Seems like every joker goes out and arrows a six point these days. Just kidding, that's not true, but I don't think anybody can deny that the increasing popularity of archery hunting will have an affect on the bull population. Not to mention the increase in wounded animals never recovered.

We live in interesting times.

 

[HighWildFree]

I also wonder about the increased popularity of archery hunting and how much that is going to affect the bull population. Seems like every joker goes out and arrows a six point these days. Just kidding, that's not true, but I don't think anybody can deny that the increasing popularity of archery hunting will have an affect on the bull population. Not to mention the increase in wounded animals never recovered.

I think this aspect is wildly under appreciated. Especially those wounded and never recovered.

 

[MTelkHuntress]

don't really see how shoulder season pressure could be pushing bulls off public when all the hunting is on private. Kind of the opposite, really

Actually in this unit there are shoulder tags for public land as well.
It's a limited draw unit and it's my first time hunting it for bulls. I would assume that since all the cows are on the private land that doesnt allow hunting, the bulls are going to be where the cows are during archery but maybe will move off during rifle.
There are no wolves or grizzlies in this unit as well. Not that I, the other hunters in the area and according to the game warden, have seen (no sign either). But I do wonder when wolves will move in.
I can see how the popularity of archery may be having an effect. I feel like everytime I open up social media, I see a couple posts about someone taking a long shot at a bull and losing it.

 

[lapuahunter]

I'm not sure what area you're hunting in but I'm almost positive all the areas around Missoula have a wolf population. I grew up just down the valley in Stevensville so I'm quite familiar with the areas. Due to my job I don't live there anymore however I still come home every November for elk hunting.

 

[MTelkHuntress]

I'm not sure what area you're hunting in but I'm almost positive all the areas around Missoula have a wolf population. I grew up just down the valley in Stevensville so I'm quite familiar with the areas. Due to my job I don't live there anymore however I still come home every November for elk hunting.

I dont hunt around Missoula but its interesting because I hunt across the highway from this unit normally and I've seen wolves far back from the roads. It's just bizarre to me that everyone I've talked to hasn't seen wolves in the unit.