Elk hunting dwindling in Big Horn Mountains, biologist says.

[spectr17]

Elk hunting dwindling in Big Horn Mountains, biologist says.

SHERIDAN, Wyo. (AP) - Opportunities to hunt elk in the Big Horn Mountains have declined because of motorized traffic, overgrazing, logging and wildfires, a biologist said.
Less habitat in the mountains has forced elk onto private land in the foothills were hunting is prohibited, Tim Thomas of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said.

Thomas spoke during a meeting hosted by the Bighorn National Forest to revise the forest's management plan.

The Forest Service should restrict travel in the forest to protect wildlife, he said. There are few places where four-wheelers and campers cannot be seen, he said.

"We really need to be conscious of where we put roads," he said.

Thomas said he believes many more elk will remain in the Big Horn Mountains if habitat improves.

Elk hunting revenue has dropped to less than $2.5 million from $7 million in the late 1970s, he said.

 

[Jim Mackey]

I can't see where the Big Horns are overgrazed or where logging has hurt the elk. And when was the last wild fire?
And roads are a great asset for management of forests, But some of them or most of them need to be closed to traffic when they are not being used for logging or fire control.
Tim is right on the money about campers and 4 wheelers. They do menace wild life, and they are everywhere.

 

[Hook]

Jim, welcome to Jesses forum. I agree that ATVs are hurting the elk hunting in many western states.

(Edited by Hook at 8:19 pm on Feb. 21, 2002)

 

[FTTPOW]

Hey Jim, have you hunted the Big Horns much?  If so how was it?  Seems like the talk is always about the more popular units, but I never hear much about the Big Horns.  I've only been through there once, and that was just passing through from Cody to The Little Big Horn.  A friend of mine bought some land around Buffalo, and I may get a chance to see it close up in the future.

 

[Jim Mackey]

FTTPOW...I hunt the Big Horns all the time. I live at the bottom of them and I just came down from the top a few minutes ago.
Getting a tag for an area in the Big Horns for elk is the problem. After that it depends on hunter savy. Depends on whether the hunter can make the adjustments to what is required. Most hunters want to hunt like they do at home and go home empty. In contrast my neighbors elk is at the taxidermist and he said he saw legal bulls every day he hunted.
Another neighbor is an outfitter up there and gives his hunters close to 100% opportunity. Their problem...Shooting ability.
In a nutshell success is up to the hunter. But I recommend the Big Horns because they are fun, win lose or draw...JM

 

[Jim Mackey]

Spot and stalk...Thats the method I have found to be the most consistant Elk producer. My wife has 12 elk in the spotting scope from the dining room window right now, as I type. They are up high on snow. They are the color of bulls, but she can see no bone. Could be the heat waves distorting the view because it is a little early for them to have lost their horns. It would take a day to get to them, but at least a guy would know one was at the end of the trail.

 

[Jim Mackey]

My wife and I went over the Big Horns to Sheridan WY yesterday. Just off the mountains on the Sheridan side we spotted a lot of tracks of a herd of something, about a thousand yards from the highway. When the tracks came to a fence they crossed it and I knew they were elk, and not cattle or horses.
Another couple of miles and my wife said she thought she saw some laying down up on the side hill.
Binoculars revealed nine bulls with their antlers still intact. The spotting scope revealed them to all be Rack Bulls with 3 of them being 6X6's.