Is there any good news?

[D_Dubya]

Is there any good news in general for hunting the West? Seems like every article I have read the last couple years are the same, Declining opportunity due to the following: Wolves, bears, lions, the ever present killer cold winters caused by global warming/cooling/climate change, energy development on the winter range, never ending drought, land use changes, wolves coming to Colorado, to many granolas hiking on the winter range at all hours, cheatgrass, Californication, you name it it’s always bad news! Are there any bright spots that indicate hunting for any species besides whitetail might get better in the future? Enlighten me.

 

[mallardsx2]

My wife and I always joke around and always call any news we hear "the bad news" because there is no good news these days. As humans we always look to the downside in everything. lol

"Hey, did you hear the bad news?"

-Heather's pregnant.
-My raise didn't happen this year.
-The stock market crashed.
-there was a bad accident at the intersection.
-the coronovirus is now in Georgia.
-the tractors broke.
-they are introducing wolves in Colorado.
-they cut tags in Wyoming again.
-point creep went up.

etc etc you get the picture and they all apply. Maybe as humans we are just chronic complainers. My wife will tell you that I am. I just tell her that "I am raising awareness". lol

 

[kidoggy]

well don't know if this is good news or not . guess it depends on wether one is a glass half full or empty sort.
half full equals less competition.

half empty- our sport is dying


Harvest, hunter numbers down for deer and elk in 2019


also wolf hunting opportunity is up. should be some griz hunts soon

 

[D_Dubya]

I guess it’s all in how you spin it! I guess as long as wolves don’t start spreading corona virus we’ll be ok.

 

[Bonecollector]

I guess it’s all in how you spin it! I guess as long as wolves don’t start spreading corona virus we’ll be ok.

The media does more spreading of the corona virus than anything! It's scary how easily they can manipulate the general public. I wonder what’ll come next....

 

[dustin ray]

Even with all the bad news about hunting it still remains popular

 

[Bonecollector]

Even with all the bad news about hunting it still remains popular

Like living.... still remains popular.

 

[JimP]

I think that it remains popular because of us old farts who refuse to give in and will be out there as long as we can get out.

The problems are that tags are becoming fewer and fewer. I believe that there will be a drastic cut in tags in Utah for just about all the deer hunts. Colorado is in the same boat with their deer herds along with a lot of the elk herds. My area for elk the elk population is down 50% in the last 10 years. It is now a bull only hunt on the archery and cow tags have been cut to the bone so to speak.

 

[tim]

if all you look for is bad, that is all you will find. Lots of game out west, you just got to look for it.
if the glass is half full or half empty, get a smaller glass and it will be full.

"Who Moved The Cheese" is a good book on change.

 

[CrimsonArrow]

if all you look for is bad, that is all you will find. Lots of game out west, you just got to look for it.
if the glass is half full or half empty, get a smaller glass and it will be full.

"Who Moved The Cheese" is a good book on change.

All the game in the world doesn’t help if you can’t draw or afford the tag, and that’s the direction things seem to be heading

 

[mallardsx2]

I think that it remains popular because of us old farts who refuse to give in and will be out there as long as we can get out.

The problems are that tags are becoming fewer and fewer. I believe that there will be a drastic cut in tags in Utah for just about all the deer hunts. Colorado is in the same boat with their deer herds along with a lot of the elk herds. My area for elk the elk population is down 50% in the last 10 years. It is now a bull only hunt on the archery and cow tags have been cut to the bone so to speak.

Jim,

Not to pick on Colorado but unit 25 is not far from your back door....The reckless slaughter of Cow elk the DOW allowed to happen in the first 10 years of the century in all of those units surrounding you did NOT help the situation in front of us today. Rifle cow elk tags in September....hunters shot the living hell out of the elk in that unit I was in, know that.

There is no telling how many Cow elk skeleton piles I saw while I was in there hunting a few years ago. Between 50 and 100 piles of elk bones.

Literally, I couldn't keep track. It was sad by my standards and I love to kill and eat animals.

Pretty country. Damn shame it isn't riddled with elk.

It will be a long time before I waste my vacation/season in any of those units.

 

[mallardsx2]

ALso, for the record the DOW claimed back in 2016 that the herds in the area were at a RECORD high. Clearly they have lost touch with reality or never had stepped foot or flown a plane over the unit to make those kinds of statements.

Of course I am just referring to unit 25 (Which is STILL OTC and that blows my freaking mind) and not the surrounding units.

 

[JimP]

The White River herd at one time was the largest elk herd in the nation at one time, I wonder now.

They claim that post hunt population there in 2017 was close to 46,000 elk with a bull to cow ratio of 23:100.

I know that the CP&W were planning on killing off a lot of bears and cats north or Rifle to help the deer and elk but I haven't heard of the results.

 

[D_Dubya]

if all you look for is bad, that is all you will find. Lots of game out west, you just got to look for it.
if the glass is half full or half empty, get a smaller glass and it will be full.

"Who Moved The Cheese" is a good book on change.

Perhaps my original post sounded a bit whiny...I’m certainly not complaining about current opportunities - I’ve been buying points in most states for years and I have a ton of hunting options - from that aspect right now is a great time to be a western hunter! I was just asking if there is anything positive to report regarding the future...most outdoor news/articles/reports I have seen the last few years paint quite a gloomy picture of the future, maybe that sells better.

 

[WapitiBob]

Wolves don't and won't, eat all the Elk, not even close. OR has more tags in every wolf unit now than when they were first classified. Herds are higher in almost all of those units as well.
Points work just like they're supposed to and if you have realistic expectations of what you can draw, and what you can't, a lot of the angst goes away. There is also a lot of otc hunting available for those that would rather hunt than sit home.
If a person wants to hunt and isn't, it's their own fault.

 

[Slugz]

The White River herd at one time was the largest elk herd in the nation at one time, I wonder now.

They claim that post hunt population there in 2017 was close to 46,000 elk with a bull to cow ratio of 23:100.

I know that the CP&W were planning on killing off a lot of bears and cats north or Rifle to help the deer and elk but I haven't heard of the results.

Pretty sure the White River Herd is still the largest with the Grand Mesa herd being number 2.
Also pretty sure it spiked to 283,000 but the optimal number was 240,000.

 

[Mule3006Elk]

There's lots of good news; unfortunately, humans are naturally pessimistic. Not all but it certainly is ingrained in our culture. Much more so, IMO, since the social medial explosion. Good news doesn't sell as well as painting a gloomy picture.

I have been hunting for 7 years so the current state of affairs is normal to me. I don't come from a passionate hunting family so I never hear about how good it used to be. I don't know any different. This is my norm (wolves, private land, hunter congestion, mule deer decline, elk once bugled endlessly until the wolves came around, no more BIG bucks around every corner, can't find game where there once was thousands). I've learned to hunt within the aforementioned parameters because that's all I know. To me, my perspective, looking at the state of affairs subjectively through my lens, I think it's pretty good. I get to hunt public land every year and most years I harvest. I eat game meat a few times every week my family.

 

[Rich M]

IMO, hunting will never be better than it is right now. Never again - so get out and enjoy it, if that's what you want to do.

As the regulations increase and the land open to hunting either decreases or gets more crowded, expect less folks to go. We all have a BS level that we accept and will tolerate, once it is exceeded we do other stuff.

 

[jacinda]

I think that it remains popular because of us old farts who refuse to give in and will be out there as long as we can get out.

The problems are that tags are becoming fewer and fewer. I believe that there will be a drastic cut in tags in Utah for just about all the deer hunts. Colorado is in the same boat with their deer herds along with a lot of the elk herds. My area for elk the elk population is down 50% in the last 10 years. It is now a bull only hunt on the archery and cow tags have been cut to the bone so to speak.

agree with you

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Wolves don't and won't, eat all the Elk, not even close. OR has more tags in every wolf unit now than when they were first classified. Herds are higher in almost all of those units as well.
Points work just like they're supposed to and if you have realistic expectations of what you can draw, and what you can't, a lot of the angst goes away. There is also a lot of otc hunting available for those that would rather hunt than sit home.
If a person wants to hunt and isn't, it's their own fault.

They for sure won't eat all the elk, BUT they will eat enough to effect the hunting. 8 years ago I did a hunt to Thorofare in the Teton Wilderness at the SE corner of Yellowstone NP. It had a reputation of some of the finest wilderness elk hunting in the country. In 6 days of hard hunting I saw 15 to 20 elk...that's it. Only saw 1 deer and 1 moose. Saw wolves & grizzlies every day. 6 hunter in camp and 1 cow elk taken! The wolves had really decimated the elk herd. If the initiative passes this November and they are introduced here, they will definitely effect the deer and elk.