great idea for the Missouri breaks elk tags/season?

[HuskyMusky]

I believe something like 1200 tags is issued for either my unit/season in the breaks for elk archery.

The season is from 9/1 to 10/14.

Wouldn't everyone benefit from splitting this entire season into sections kind of like NM does with their archery elk tags/seasons in the Gila/archery?

They could split the season into 3-15day seasons and spread out the pressure, at least for non-residents who I doubt almost no non-res hunt the entire 1.5month archery season and most non-res wouldn't even hunt the entire 15 days.

They could also make the 1st season the shortest, then the 2nd season a bit longer, and finally 3rd season the longest, maybe like 12 days, 15 days, 18 days. Kinda like a pre-rut/opener season, followed by a rut season hunt, followed by a post rut.

Personally I'd rather hunt with 400 other hunters than 1200.
Seems like a win-win to me, more seasons, less pressure, same odds/same # of tags,
It might even be possible to issue even more tags and reduce pressure, ie 3 seasons of 500 tags would feel like less guys in the field than 1 season with 1200 tags.

Also I would bet most of those 1200 tags hunt closer to the opener/first 3 weeks than any other time, or just the first 2 weeks.

 

[ceby7]

The draw odds wouldn't stay the same because most people would want to draw one of the later seasons during the peak of the rut. Your overall chances of getting a tag would probably remain about the same, but a lot of guys would end up getting the early season as a 2nd or 3rd choice.
Here's my solution: Currently, if you draw the north side(1400 permits) you can hunt in 3 districts and on the south side(1900 permits?) you can hunt 2 districts. I would love to see them split these combined districts into individual areas. Split the 1400 permits between the 3 districts based on population surveys and do the same on the south side. This would distribute the hunting pressure across all of the districts instead of having the majority of the hunters in a very small area with easiest access(a highway runs right through the middle of the Breaks).

Just my .02!

 

[HuskyMusky]

I agree with splitting the units up, I think for residents it's split up...

 

[Moodie64]

The hunting units in the breaks are combined for both residents and non-residents.

I personally love how long the Montana hunting seasons are. I love the fact that I can hunt most of the fall on my time schedule. I do not always have time to take an entire week off, but I can drive a few hours and hunt on the weekends. I understand non-residents not having that luxury, but one thing to remember is that all 1200 people are not there the whole time. I wouldn't even guess 400 people are there for a consecutive week. Shortening the season will increase the likelihood that the 400 or 500 people would be there the entire season if the seasons are divided.

I believe most hunters apply for 621 or 410 in the breaks and do not care about the other units. I know there are some people that do hunt the 620, 622, and 417, but most people will be in 621 or 410. Dividing them up will not accomplish a whole lot if this is the case.