Mt. W. fork Bitterroot calf survival

[Carrion Carrier]

"To date, 18 of 66 radio-collared elk calves in the Bitterroot study have died this spring and summer. However, the causes of death are still being determined, Thompson said. In addition to wolves, young elk also face threats from black bears, mountain lions and natural causes."

http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_1035defa-b675-11e0-a785-001cc4c002e0.html

 

[muleguy]

8/2/11 Things are slowing down for the calves in west fork-they are getting stronger and able to get away. 19 dead as of today-they found one dead inside a culvert-test are being done to see what kind of bitterroot troll we have lurking around.

 

[DavidKeenan]

inside a culvert? Sounds like a bear to me on that one. the like to cache their food that they cant eat right now. I've seen things burried in logs under logs etc. All we have here are blackies. Im sure the griz do it too. I've heard of pieces of carcas being up in a tree. That could be a blackie or cat.

 

[Black Hills]

This is an interesting discussion. Related to the "baiting issue" one of the beauties of how our American system of managing wildife functions is MT or any other state could temporarily approve "baiting" to get a specific species population down and then do away with it until it might be needed again.

We need to make sure that our game agencies have all the options available when & if they need them; for exapmple the past efforts to ban trapping on public land in MT would not be good for the future of controlling wolves and so forth.

I agree with the points that SS makes about it being a judgment call on exactly what is baiting as well. Anyone who has hunted ducks, geese or even pheasants over corn fields could be considered "baiting" by some folks standards. Idaho allows it with bears and Idaho has a large bear population that it needs to bring down.

I have never hunted over bait but I do understand that there may be times when it is appropriate, at least temporarily to get game numbers where they need to be; it doesn't have to forever or allowed everywhere but it should be an available option when needed.

 

[Carrion Carrier]

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_dbcbff2a-c3ba-11e0-94f5-001cc4c03286.html