So, for the final installment on mule deer record book research, we’re going to take a look at Nevada, Arizona, Montana and Utah. The order of recent submissions also seems to mirror the all time rankings of these four states, with Utah on top of Arizona, which is ahead of Montana, and Nevada bringing up the rear. I know I’ll be leaving out California, Oregon and Washington, but mule deer aren’t even the most numerous deer species in those states.
Utah is one of those states that usually comes to mind when thinking about mule deer hunting, but if you’ve read many of my past articles, you’ll know that I’m not a huge fan of the state of Utah's deer hunting outside of the 2 main trophy areas: the Paunsaugunt and the Henry Mountains.
The chance to hunt a bighorn sheep in any hunting unit in Montana this fall, was worth $300,000 to a New York man. This isn't even the highest the tag has been auctioned off for, in 1994 it went for $310,000.
In 2010 Montana adopted a Bighorn Sheep Conservation Strategy. The plan was to transplant bighorn sheep herds, hoping to increase the economy that comes with hunting and animal viewing. The sheep conservation was set to create five sustainable herds throughout the state, and also to help existing herds grow. After research Montana FWP biologists created a list that they brought to commissioners in the Spring of 2011 for some areas that would be most suitable for bighorn sheep herds.
There is a lot of activity going on at Elk Island National Park in Alberta. Bison are being branded after going through some medical testing, and receiving vaccinations, before their long journey to a home they've never known, but that their ancestors came from.
Mike Feldmann owns the Lodge at McGregor Lake in Montana. His business was not operating at full capacity this hunting season. He keeps a poster board at his lodge, where in seasons past hunters would proudly display photos of their harvests. This year Feldmann has posted photos of a pack of wolves eating a heifer carcass at a nearby campground during archery season. Feldmann's lodging business has felt the impact of less big game animals which has meant less hunters as well.
For a little bit of a change of pace, let’s talk about moose hunting as a nonresident. Because I’m trying to focus on DIY hunts, I’m going to ignore Canada’s opportunities and resident-only hunts in the US. By limiting our scope to states that offer nonresident moose hunting we have just a handful of places to consider: Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire.
On Wednesday Ben Laster was elk hunting in the Badger-Two Medicine Area of the Rocky Mountain Front. With the opening of rifle season more hunters are quietly stalking elk at dusk and dawn. Laster heard something while he was walking, and stopped, he thought it might be an elk he spooked. Then he heard huffing sounds. He had not startled an elk, but a sow grizzly that was charging at him.
Oregon was not able to use the same arguments as Montana did to control their wolves. A lawsuit filed by animal rights and wolf activists brought the state's control of the wolf population to a halt, until more research is conducted. Oregon was seeking to kill two known wolves that were responsible for killing cattle. In the lawsuit, wolf activists claim that killing the wolves could cause "irreparable harm" to the wolf population recovery of Oregon. This argument had been rejected in Montana, but in Oregon it did stop the search, until the legal merit could be looked at.
