Fortunately the bears went to bed shortly after our prior episodes. The high country got a foretaste of winter, with some snow and temps around zero. My hunting camp is in a wonderful spot; in warmer temps it’s like having Glacier Park to yourself. Still is, in the cold, but things definitely take on a harder edge. There’s that sense that at any moment everybody’d better be heading down to the low country, unless you’re a bird or otherwise adapted to deep snow. Migration sounds better than hibernation to me, so we follow the elk.

Got one, too!

Elk numbers are above management objectives in just about every unit statewide, with a couple of cases at either extreme of record highs or "where’d they go?!" Even with high populations, elk can be hard to find and an awful lot of folks I’ve talked to can’t personally verify an excess of elk, which they mostly seem to accept as yet another of life’s little injustices. Partly that’s weather-related, as the taste of winter earlier this month was just that. There was only about six inches of snow even at considerable elevation (9000’+), and just abundant feed everywhere you look. Everywhere I looked, at least….

In those cases running into an elk or three takes on a more random nature, especially those big bulls who are holed up somewhere in their north timber hideout du jour. Conversely, though, elk are herd animals, which seems to be moreso the case again in recent years. Wolves would appear to be the likely reason, and that may be one simple answer involving wolves that could be just that simple. So, if you can find one of those concentrations of elk they can seem downright abundant. We personally experienced both extremes, with a few instances falling somewhere between. Most notably, a friend (Dave Keller) and I took just a brutal hike/climb up into what should and undoubtedly can be just a fabulously good trophy elk spot. It’s beastly hard to reach, but Dave studied the topos and came up with a brilliant alternate route. I’m glad it was his idea, cause it turned way long and scary steep in a few spots. Dave is no longer considering endorsement of Sorel pacs for high mountain hunting like that, and in fact crampons and a belay wouldn’t have been out of the question. And after deliverance from the Mountainside That Never Ends, we found the Inner Sanctum wholly lacking in elk whatsoever! So it goes….

Fortunately I had better luck on my most recent outing, which was only about three miles or so as the eagle flies from the Sanctum. That’s where the elk were, though, at least until they decide otherwise. And not just elk, we’re also seeing decent deer numbers, and a whole spectrum of other tracks including lion and yes, the odd wolf. One of the more interesting wildlife sightings occurred just before the adjacent photo was taken. It’s a stout climb out of the canyon beyond, which is part of the reason it doesn’t get hunted too much. The horses pulled up that thing like locomotives, and the two new ones (the front two in the photo) are showing real aptitude as mountain ponies. In fact Tundo (the sorrel packhorse to the left) had just grunted up that hill with beastly heavy loads, which you can see are riding slightly crooked here. We’d just hit the top. It would be a prime place for a packhorse wreck of memorable proportions, but I’d tightened my cinches at the bottom and was really tickled pink that we made it up without mishap. Anyway, just as we hit the top two eagles took off. Somebody’d left an elk rib cage in that saddle, and a whole flock of birds were having a banquet. Those eagles were BIG, and looked like pterodactyls taking off. Lexi, the mare I’m riding is only 4, and those eagles had her full attention, but she took it in stride as she does most things. Been calling her the Lexus, as she is a pretty sporty ride, but after the way she powered up that divide, I might have to change that to Hummer. Or whatever they call that Cadillac SUV….

Back on this elk population note; we got a sneak preview of some significant changes likely to be implemented for next year’s elk regulations. The statewide Elk Management Plan is to be completed soon, and I’m looking forward to getting my hands on that. For next year, FWP is proposing greatly liberalized elk regulations, especially for antlerless elk. This is still very preliminary, and won’t be implemented in some areas, but it looks like a lot of the best elk country of western and southwest MT will be open to either-sex elk hunting (with just a general elk license) the first and last eight days of the season. That catches the two weekends at either end, and should give a lot of folks abundant opportunity to put an elk in the freezer. Also, for the first time, permits will be available (on a drawing basis) to harvest a second antlerless elk. If you drew one of those, you could shoot two cows, or use the B tag for a cow & hold out for a bull with your other one. Or, you could expend time, energy, and undoubtedly some money and not even see any elk at all! But hey, with even a minimal amount of homework…. One local group that is coordinating access to a bunch of top-notch privately owned elk habitat is the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group. There’s others, and if landowners with a surplus of elk don’t offer at least some sort of access, then they don’t really have a basis for complaint, which is not an effect that has escaped consideration.

The other big change is that the Gallatin Late Hunt is likely to be cancelled. Some people will undoubtedly scream bloody murder about that, as further evidence that things are every bit as dire as they seem, and the wolves really have eaten all the elk. Not surprisingly, the two areas in Montana closest to Yellowstone are the only exceptions to the abundant elk numbers. The upper Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers have seen dwindling elk numbers, and the Gallatin late hunt had become a shadow of its former self, down to some 80 tags from 500 a few years back. Again, wolves are a factor, but there are other things at work too. A multi-decade drought, for one, plus a lot of the elk that used to be in the upper Gallatin this time of year discovered easier living west of the Madison Range and never came back. A lot of others have discovered that the living isn’t too bad at the Yellowstone Club, either, and there’s certainly less of those pesky hunters around. From my viewpoint; things just change. Get used to it, or buy a helmet. It’s looking like wolves and grizzlies might be coming off the Endangered Species list sooner instead of later, so that’ll be yet another change that will certainly be for the better. I’d personally be a lot more comfortable with FWP managing those species. That is their job, after all, managing hunters; and those two species certainly qualify.