Illusion of ‘easy elk’ makes some hunters silly

An elk has the same irresistible attraction as cleavage, if you know what I mean. It can make some hunters silly.

The new “shoulder season” under way for hunting elk in Montana is a case in point.

Bagging an elk is usually a tough proposition. Even in Montana, where some complain there are too many elk in some areas, the odds are 5-to-1 against filling your tag during the general hunting seasons.

(We’ll take those odds here in Washington where only about 9 percent of hunters bag an elk.)

But the prospects of hunting elk in Montana’s new trial season that comes after winter snows have forced elk down from the mountains have some people giddy with delusions of success.

Bruce Auchly, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman in Great Falls, posted a report on the “shoulder season” with some details about the hunt, as well as insight into the shadows of my cleavage comparison.

The new shoulder season is Montana’s effort to reduce elk populations on private land outside of the general and archery seasons. Hunting for antlerless elk can start as early as Aug. 15 and run as late as Feb. 15.

The goal is to reduce landowner complaints about too many elk in their fields, while letting hunters have an additional chance to put meat in the freezer.

As a test, the first shoulder season is taking place in four hunting districts in central Montana between Great Falls and White Sulphur Springs. Next year, shoulder seasons may take place in 44 hunting districts statewide.

Since this season began on Nov. 30 – the day after the general elk season ended – Fish, Wildlife and Parks has been inundated with queries from elk hunters.

“The word tsunami would not be too strong to portray the interest,” Auchly said.

“After two days of frustrated dialing, a woman finally got through, looking for a place to hunt,” he said. “She needed to get her 92-year-old father out soon to get an elk because the family had just put him in hospice.”

Somehow people were interpreting the late-season elk hunt as a sure thing.

“At one point on the first day of this shoulder season calls were pouring in at an average of 100 an hour,” Auchly said.

“In the first week, thousands – thousands! – of people called, emailed or walked into an FWP office, mostly in Great Falls.”

The magnitude of the response wasn’t a big surprise. More than 100,000 people each year buy a Montana elk hunting license. Of those, 20,000 to 25,000 get an elk during either the archery season or the rifle season. That left up to 80,000 or more unfulfilled hunters who realized the state was giving them a second chance.

But the opportunity boiled down to just four hunting districts.

“That’s a lot of hunters for four hunting districts, especially when many of those hunters have never been to the four districts, though that doesn’t diminish their fervor,” Auchly said.

One woman from the northwest corner of Montana called the agency’s Great Falls office to say she and her husband had just bought the necessary antlerless licenses. Then she demanded, “Now, where do we go?”

Auchly said similar requests poured in from from every corner of Montana, as well as from more than half a dozen states from the Midwest to the Pacific Ocean.

Finding a place to hunt is always an issue, and perhaps Fish, Wildlife and Parks could have been more prepared to to answer the question, or limit the hunt on a lottery basis.

What surprised Auchly was how many hunters assumed a late-year shot at elk would be a short, easy hunt.

“There was the fellow from Seeley Lake, in western Montana, who said he could only drive down for one day,” Auchly said. The gentleman audaciously queried, “What’s the closest place to shoot an elk?”

“Elk hunting is hard,” Auchly said, somewhat dismayed that hunters need reminding. “The animals are wary, big and often live or get pushed by hunting pressure into remote areas miles from any road.”

He quoted the old saying, “There is no such thing as an easy elk; some are just easier than others.”

Then he offered the the reality check – the basic formula for elk hunting success that puts the odds for success in favor of the sportsmen rather than the boobs.

“Look, if elk hunting is your passion, your religion, and you are determined to make this shoulder season pilgrimage, then plan on scouting, seeking advice and asking permission,” he said.

“Maybe if you knock, the door shall be opened.”