I was looking at 2013's hunt area map and noticed that area 116 was quite a bit larger than it was last year, I was also checking the quotas in that area and apparently they are changing it to a general season. In the past I have applied for this area and it seemed to be hard to draw because of the small amount of tags. My question is why would they change it from a somewhat hard to draw unit to a general season? Are they trying to clean the elk out of this area? From what I have heard there are not to many elk here so it seems like it is somewhat of an extermination.
116 elk
- Thread starter Wyohunter
- Start date
There are getting to be a lot of elk over there. I lived there for three years and watched the pop grow every year. However, the biggest reason (if I had to guess) is landowner pressure to alleviate the growing numbers. They did depredation hunts almost every year I lived there. Lot of elk and lots of private ground equals unhappy ranchers. Now if they would only let us hunt those "pest" elk instead of just whining about them and not letting anybody on. Depredation Hunts should equal public access otherwise you don't get the depredation tags. Just my two pesos.
shootbrownelk
Veteran member
I'm betting on landowner/rancher pressure. Anything that eats grass other than cows, has got to go.
birdhunter
Active Member
I went to the WGFD meetings about the black hills areas. The reasoning for making the area general is landowners complaining about elk destroying the feed they use for cattle. The game and fish also said they are having a lot of trouble getting those landowners letting people on to hunt those elk. They are not giving out any deprevation money unless the landowners are proving they let so many people on their land and those people are harvesting a certain amount of elk. The landowners will never stop complaining and will never let anyone on their land to hunt.
SouthernWyo
Member
- Mar 11, 2011
- 62
- 1
It's usually a little more complicated than stated above.
Many landowners do allow a certain amount of public access to harvest elk, in most cases cow/calf which is the method for managing animal numbers. The problem arises when a neighboring landowner does not allow access and harvest. The animals aren't stupid and quickly relocated to the area with little to no pressure, and then move back onto the neighboring ranches during the off season, which leads to conflicts over forage. Its been my experience that landowners denying access seldom apply for or need depredation compensation, it's usually the folks that allow access but suffer because the herd management isn't actually occuring.
Many landowners do allow a certain amount of public access to harvest elk, in most cases cow/calf which is the method for managing animal numbers. The problem arises when a neighboring landowner does not allow access and harvest. The animals aren't stupid and quickly relocated to the area with little to no pressure, and then move back onto the neighboring ranches during the off season, which leads to conflicts over forage. Its been my experience that landowners denying access seldom apply for or need depredation compensation, it's usually the folks that allow access but suffer because the herd management isn't actually occuring.
shootbrownelk
Veteran member
Ilovethewest
Active Member
so if this is now a "general license" hunt, is it doable to draw a tag as a 2nd choice? or will hat depend totally on tag levels and such? never bought a general elk tag, so I am not as familiar.
birdhunter...............how goes things in eastern wyo? wet wet spring here in Wisconsin. Been doing some fishing..........got a real nice eastern turkey this spring. Applied for a Region C deer tag. getting PP # 4 for elk in June. Really want to try the greys River area for elk............my grandfather hunted there for decades. he passed away last June, and has some ashes he requested to be sprinkled out in the greys on a good mountainside........I will be happy to do that for him!
anyways, hope all is well out in Wyoming. =
birdhunter...............how goes things in eastern wyo? wet wet spring here in Wisconsin. Been doing some fishing..........got a real nice eastern turkey this spring. Applied for a Region C deer tag. getting PP # 4 for elk in June. Really want to try the greys River area for elk............my grandfather hunted there for decades. he passed away last June, and has some ashes he requested to be sprinkled out in the greys on a good mountainside........I will be happy to do that for him!
anyways, hope all is well out in Wyoming. =
Alabama
Veteran member
Sorry to hear about your grandfather but that would be really cool to honor his wishes and follow in his footsteps hunting elk in the same area. Good Luck in the draws.
birdhunter
Active Member
I love the west, sorry to hear the news. That would be great if you could go over there and spread his ashes. I wouldnt think twice about it if it were me. The spring started off pretty snowy. Now it is getting pretty hot and we havent had too much rain. The next couple days are suppose to be in the upper 80s. We are just praying for rain.