"The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom."
Yes these are a factor calculating allowable harvest but clearly with the present state of the elk populations things did not turn out as intended
Not exactly as simple as your stating though
Clearly with the way elk numbers have declined there was a miss calculation on what was surplus after the other factors that impacted the elk population
Last edited by Wild one; 04-22-2019 at 01:28 PM.
That's because the areas you just stated "still have some elk".
In the areas like where I go, the #'s dropped so badly, people have gone elsewhere.
Yes, some areas of the EK see pressure, because there are some elk.
And yes, us non EK guys find that info out too, not just locals.
Look folks,
Take the Peace Region (and I haven't been there yet to hunt elk).
But the LEH is showing an MU with a ton of permits for cows.
This should tell you that the Ministry is working with private landowners and some others to have elk #'s
reduced in the area.
(In other words, giving hunters some short term benefit, but the end game is to reduce elk).
Same went for the EK.
In the 90's they saw a problem and thus pulled back on LEH Cow permits.
I think they realized (as well as pressure from GO's) that elk were down, so they also put in the 6pt
restriction.
THIS WORKED!!, elk came back, and maybe to the point where the 6pt could have been lifted AND a
few Cow LEH handed back out.
BUT, for whatever reason (potentially preds chasing elk down to the valleys?) the elk stayed lowed.
They weren't repopulating the high country ion the Spring like normal!?
AND, during that time, the Ministry again listened to private landowners and others etc, and put in
ZONE X.
(Yes, hunters benefitted, but was again a short term benefit with long term consequences).
The whole intent was to drop elk #'s to around 8000 by implementing zone x hunts.
SO, WHY did we even bother getting the 90's cow leh permits withdrawn and why did we even institute a 6pt restriction!????????
The Ministry dropped the ball.
They weren't listening to many hunters that the elk were leaving the high country and not coming back.
All the ministry did was try to address all the elk (the majority of the populations) in the lowlands and
have the majority to shot off.
Cant really blame hunters for this type of direction.
IF the tags are there, hunters go and hunt.
BUT, the ministry should have been paying attention the to Preds issue, the forestry issue (beetle).
They didn't, and this is what we have now.
Kiss the early bow season good buy and any cow leh.
BUT, what is the Ministry going to do different now???? (nothing, accept put in restrictions!!)
FOLKS IN THE PEACE,
Sounds to me like a lot of what the Ministry did in the EK, they are now going to do with you folks and your elk.
Are they addressing Preds?
Are they trying to remove elk from private property?
You can always tell their intent by the amount of "Cow leh allocations".
(yes, you have to have x amount of cows only so some bulls can make it thru the winter, fyi)
But when you see this type of "liberal" allocation, there is more to the story.
AND, to me, the Ministry has shown me they are "INCAPABLE" of actually managing wildlife.
AND, they are no longer managing wildlife "FOR HUNTERS".
The Ministries interest are for "OTHERS".
SO, STOP blaming each other or putting other hunters down folks.
It's crappy "wildlife management" at it's best!!
Wildone,
When it comes to the EK, the ministry wanted elk down to around 8,000 head.
There was no mistake by them.
They may not have considered how much preds might harvest.
And yes, hunters are "efficient" at hunting elk.
(collaring info shows how many elk have met their end by hunters)
The Minsitry knew.
J-T has stated it the best.
The ministry is not "trying to grow game" to a level we hunters think they should.
(Like the EK elk population, they only want to have about half the historical levels)
They want 12,000 head in the EK.
When hunters had the most fun, (and what made the EK "legendary") there were at least 20,000 elk.
(some might say 30,000!?)
People need to "wake up".
This was "not a mistake"
Just "over efficiency"!
They wanted the elk "Culled" for Private Sectors.
They made it happen.
And now us hunters will pay the price again"
Guess with what????
Yup, more Restrictions (and necessary because the ministry did what they did)
(I just hope hunters in the Peace see what could happen to them)
And hunters from all over will still search for "other areas" to try and find elk.
So, the WK can be "warned" right now.
You ain't seen nothing yet!
And you know 98% of the people posting here and where and how they hunt ? Im going to say your being very presumptuous and even insulting in your post,
especially the lazy incompetent hunter part that's a classic, as long as those folks don't do anything illegal what business is it of yours how or what they hunt or the extent of their knowledge to hunting ?
And generally shooting anything that is legal is just that....LEGAL obviously you have an issue with a legal hunt, if a fellow wants to shoot a WT doe for MEAT is he lazy incompetent hunter to you ? a bad hunter because it doesn't conform to your narrow minded ideology ? I thought the whole purpose to go hunting is to get some wild organic meat to eat......???
7mm PRC soon to be the most popular cartridge in North America
little long winded there bugle m in .. sure the goverment puts the regulations and tags in place but they have tooooooo... smoking ciggerettes is legal but should you personally smoke every single one you can?? you cant sit here type away and blame them. you come over here and kill the elk.. do you come over here and kill the predators to compensate? people are easy to blame the powers at hand but they are to dumb to realize its there own common sense thats will catch up to them in the end.