Chalk it up to global warming, or just the normal flux in weather patterns, but we are definitely in a warm and dry phase currently, have been with few exceptions since the early 80’s, and that trend shows no sign of abating. There’ve been plenty of recent winters when the local ski areas would scarcely be able to boast four feet of snow, and the valley bottoms are often bare. Mule deer numbers crashed after the winter of ’96, and while they’ve recovered nicely, the predominate megafauna anymore are elk. We saw them literally everywhere we looked last weekend, and in fact, when I awoke at dawn Sunday and sat up, the first thing I saw was six elk unconcernedly grazing about 150 yards away! There’s lots worse ways to start the day…..

Inabnit makes no mention of elk in that country during his youth. Given his later affinity for hunting them, I’d take that to mean they were exceedingly scarce if not non-existent. That jibes with other discussions I’ve had with old-timers around the neighborhood. Here on the west slope of the Bridgers, elk were almost unheard of until about the early eighties. Now we see them on pretty much of a daily basis. In fact, populations are at all-time highs (since records have been kept, anyway) for the Bridger Elk Management Unit, which catches both sides of the range including the Sixteen country. Except for ranchers burdened with springtime fence repair (elk are tough on fences), no one I know finds fault with that situation. The elk also wreak havoc on a neighbor’s fences where I pasture my horses. Repairing the damage is one of my annual springtime chores, and I consider it a small price to pay for the enjoyment I get from watching those elk throughout the year.

Checking out that trail had been an item of curiosity with me for some time. It accesses some scattered parcels of Forest Service land, although most of the country it passes through is privately owned. Aside from the fall hunting season, and some logging on the private land, the area is lightly used. Under the current Gallatin National Forest Travel Plan, the area is open to ATV use, so I expected to find the trail had devolved into a troad, the 2-track not-quite-road that usually results from 4-wheeler usage. We were pleasantly surprised to find basically no evidence of use at all, though. In fact, other than some aged and weathered "Stock Driveway" signs, there was basically no trail at all. Still, it’s a numbered Forest Service trail, although its original use was probably trailing sheep to summer pasture.

These days you’d be hard pressed to find a band of sheep in the Sixteen country. Several of the ranchers outfit for elk hunts, though, which strikes me as an eminently more practical way to capitalize on the resources at hand than running a band of woolies. Some resident hunters don’t like the idea of private landowners profiting from public wildlife, but hey, if the rancher is providing habitat, and has incentive to maximize that habitat for wildlife; more power to ‘em, in my opinion. Besides, there are those parcels of public land that nobody seems to go to the trouble to reach…. And, now that we’ve checked that trail off our list of upcoming explorations, I probably won’t rush back myself. We just prefer our usual elk hunting haunts, where we don’t have to keep such a close eye on the map to avoid inadvertent trespassing. Still, if you were intrigued with the idea of hunting an area with record high elk densities, I think it would behoove you to dramatically expand your available hunting area by going on one of the outfitted hunts, so if that’s of interest, drop us a line. And incidentally, there’s still those surplus non-resident licenses available….