Kootney elk

[Dannybuoy]

I'll have to agree with Rock on this, allowing 1000's of cow draws in the 90's sure impacted the herds! K

And the drainage where there are no cow draws ? Lots of places here in the WK where the elk pop has been reduced by wolves ..... lots of habitat , a few 6points taken every year , no cow season .

[browningboy]

I wouldn't look at it that way (even though the way I speak makes it sound like that)
There is no comparison to the EK and it's landscape, even if the odds are so crappy at times.
Everyone should at least go there once if they hunt.
I go because it is an amazing place, it's become a place where I have spent many hours with my dad and uncles, and other relatives and friends over the years….tradition.

I am just pissed because there is no need for game like elk to drop to those levels as of late.
And worse, to have had a policy to drop elk that low.
And the worst, now to only want about half of the elk compared to when hunting for elk was half decent.

They got all hung up about the elk in the lowlands and wanted them Culled, which they did and too much
they realized in the end.

THE BIGGER Problem is:
No one was listening to a lot of experienced hunters that elk were "not in the back country".
So, zone X was not only culling elk from the lowland #'s, but from all the #'s of elk.
(for the most part anyways).

If they want no more elk than 8,000 in the Zone X regions...fine!
But what they "failed" to do was get elk to move back and repopulate the areas outside of Zone X.

And that's were another member with experience stated it will be hard to repopulate the back country
without elk in the low country like zoneX
It's just F'd thinking at this point and no desire it seems to correct it properly or to listen to hunters.

But hunting the EK is an experience everyone should try, at least once.
The Goat hunting can be spectacular and nothing else compares to the views up top.

Getting the overall frustration, the biggest imo is the government doesn’t seem to really care, the mismanagement is crazy!

[rocksteady]

For the most part I believe you know what you are talking about .... in this case ... wrong wrong and wrong ! Although I do believe you haven't seen many wolves , it doesn't mean they aren't there !

3 years of a 10 day any antlerless season had way more impact than wolves..

[Bugle M In]

^^^^I have on question for the local elk hunters.

For me, I always hunted the Secondary River systems, not the main one like the Columbia or Kootenay.
(Not sure if the Bull would be considered a main or a secondary like I hunt)


But, have elk in the lowlands, along the Columbia say, always been as heavy a population, thus the
Zone X hunt imp lamented?
Or, did this supposed "over population" in this area become heavily populated in the 2000's??
(I know we would see the odd little herd crossing the Hwy beside the Columbia in the 90's, but noticed
more elk "grazing" in these same areas in the 2000's more).

Just trying to figure out if "development" of these areas inside ZoneX had a lot to do with people getting
upset with elk (which then wouldn't be the elk's fault).

Just trying to understand if Preds like wolves are responsible for chasing the game out in the back country.
If the habitat just got too screwed up?
(meaning, a lot of the areas went from beetle killed windfall, one extreme, to being logged like crazy, the other extreme)????

Makes sense that the drop in Cows in the 90's, thus the huge reduction in cow leh permits, did take a toll
on elk way up in the backcountry.
And that any gains that were being made by the mid 2000's just was "NOT long enough" to push elk to move back to the high country and repopulate there.
(They seemed to be coming back in the secondary valley where I hunt, but others were still saying nothing was deep in the back like they traditionally were).

Bad deal all around for us now going forward and the plans for what's next don't look that good.

[rocksteady]

I have my own theories as to the impact of the 3 yr, 10 day any antlerless season..

[Islandeer]

What is the FN harvest?

[338win mag]

What is the FN harvest?

Dont know, but as far as.... Elk harvested on private land. Maybe the land owners should have/keep stats on how many Elk are harvested on their personal land, make it law.
If FN aren't going to keep stats then land owners should be made to keep the data if they are letting FN hunt on their property.

[gunpower]

Nothing to do with the 6 point season, but I will put it in very basic terms. Before massive amounts of leh cow permits, and gos cow permits, youth and senior spike and cow permits there was a ton of elk in the EK, now not so much.

And we had everybody and their dog hunting the EK, that's one reason that the elk numbers dropped over the past few years. When they opened the WK , all we heard was that the rest of B.C. was hunting there private country !!!

[Bugle M In]

Here is a FB video with a pred issue for elk:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1794873460564924

[gunpower]

mmmmmmmm..... Pull up any FSR from West Creston to just north of Cranbrook come Sept 11th and all you see if 5th wheels and trucks with quad decks/trailers. Yahk main, kidd, plumbob, don't even get me started on the bull ( you could put in a set of Traffic lights and a tim hortons at the entrance in sept).

I support people traveling to hunt and us all taking advantage of hunting opportunities as BC residents. BUT, as an EK resident, I can tell you this place fills up with the mass migration from LM / Vancouver/ surrey, van isl, etc etc in Sept.

Not so much any more, The low numbers have keeped many away from the Elk Valley the past few seasons . My son who is an avid elk hunter didn't even bother to buy a tag last season as the Elk were far and few inbetween !! Mind you my grandson took a nice 6x6 bull !!!