MT_Sourdough

My last and only antelope was in Montana '09. I used my 30-06 with 150gr Winchester Silvertip factory round. I wish I had my 444. Shot was only 70 yards. I placed the shot, high shoulder where with my 444, everything from small does to big bulls all pancake on the spot. With the 150 gr silvertip from a 30-06, the bullet exploded on the light shoulder blade. I was seriously bothered when I saw the antelope run off. I knew it was gonna circle so I cut it off and dropped it with the next shot. I prefer one and done. I think, just because I am such a fan of my 444, on my next antelope hunt, I'll use it with a self designed 237gr cast bullet at @2600 fps.

My brother had maybe two days where he pretty much stayed in bed at the worst point. He is the type of guy who could not ever find peace in staying still, so he's been working on his son's car in the rain while he is staying home. Cough is almost gone, but because he is entirely confident it was coronavirus, his wife is having to quarantine herself as well. She doesn't appear to have contracted the virus. My bro is a healthy 49 year old and he was able to ride it out. He is, in my opinion, a highly stressed individual and may be susceptible on the front end. His over all health and vitality allowed him to beat back the virus in fairly short order. His son is coming to visit with his grand parents in Arizona. I raised the red flag, because it was my original understanding that he was working on the car with his dad. I was concerned that the old folk might not fair well with the virus. We all were able to relax when we learned that the young man was teaching snowboarding at a ski resort while his dad worked on his car, so there was no interaction between the two and no risk of contagion.

My brother is a CEO of a architectural firm. He lives outside of Seattle and around three weeks ago, he brought his truck to the dealership in Kirkland. Along with him, he brought his bulldog along. His bulldog captured the attention of everybody at the dealership. My bro says everybody came out to pet his dog. Several days passed when my brother became seriously ill. As a result, he started working from home, but while he was working from home, he made many calls to medical professionals. His research revealed that several workers at the auto dealership were now in the hospital with the Corona Virus. My brother asked to be tested, but he was told that unless he was in Critical Condition, they can't offer him the test. With that said, the number listed for Washington State (@160) is pure hog wash. If they only test the people who end up in Critical Condition, then obviously the number means nothing. As professionals there admitted the real number is in the thousands. Fact is, both sides (parties/factions), right and left are downplaying the truth. All the Media Networks are basically subsidiaries of Wall Street holding companies. While the viewers of one network hate the viewers of a different network, the shareholders/executives of the different networks are sharing cocktails with each other. Now, on the other hand, I hate crowds, so I am digging the fact that everybody seems to be hunkering down. Just cough every once in a while and crowds are nowhere to be seen.

I am surprised nobody has mentioned all them big bucks taken up Nunya Gulch. 🤓

I have an early archery cow tag, myself, but for those of you that are going after headgear, mother nature seems to favor you this year. Good luck.

Two things make for a perfect storm. 1) over the counter tags available to non-residents 2) Arizona's mild winter weather is a wonderful escape for people in the northern parts of the country I know if it was my choice, I'd choose AZ as my preferred winter destination if I had learned about the hunting opportunity in January.

On the ranch in Montana, at age 13, my parents put an open sighted Marlin 336 30-30 in my hands and said "Go get'em." The rule was if I was to shoot at an elk, 50 yards was about max and 100 yards for deer. Some years I used my Grampa's 1946 Winchester model 70 30-06 with a '50's vintage Weaver 4 x scope. That thing felt like carrying a tank compared to the Marlin 336, but I was allowed to shoot out to 200 yards on elk with it. When I was a senior in high school, I bought a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight chambered for 270 topped off with a Leupold 3x9.

Just one of the years was 8 late rifle, the other 3 are in the multi unit hunts. This year and last year is and was for the September hunts. I am no fan of the unit 8 late rifle hunt. There are a too many people, atvs and RV campsites. I am a solo hunter that is old and fat and can not reasonably drop into a canyon to get away from the masses. Multi unit (limited opportunity) hunts have far less number of hunters spread over a much larger area.

2 pts has been golden for me with my 4th straight tag. early archery either a bull tag or cow tag.

I appreciate your contributions. I'm glad to hear things are getting better for you.

I feel like I have been dumbiefied.

Yep. Left undisturbed on the ground in Montana. horse manure takes about 3 years before it becomes good fertilizer. When harrowing the fields, we do our best to break up all horse manure and spread it with the cow manure. Harrowing helps to diminish the negative impact. The ground under undisturbed horse manure in the first and second year when you turn it over, is dead underneath. Undisturbed, horse manure sticks to the ground and can keep the soil underneath dormant for 3 years, as a generalization. On the other hand, when left undisturbed, a cow patty will be lifted a 1/2 an inch to 2 inches by pale grasses by the month of July. The grasses are pale because no direct sunlight. The cow patty, lifted by grasses underneath will be broken up and in the fallowing year will have strong grass production where it has broken down. On top of all that, If you lack bait for fishing, kick over a cow pie and help yourself to night crawlers and worms under and in the cow patty. Not so for horse manure.

https://www.nps.gov/kova/blogs/ice-age-mammal-bones-of-northwest-alaska-1.htm No, horses haven't evolved much over the last 400 years, (some breeds of modern horses have disappeared.) but they have evolved over the last 12,000 years. Since the last ice age when the earth was on a different axis and you can walk across an earth bridge from what were warm grass plains of Alaska to the warm grass plains of Siberia. The ice age is gone. The land bridge is gone. Alaska grass plains have been replaced with tundra. And those early horses as a species are long gone as well.

While reading this, I was getting fired up to add my 2 cents, but then Koozcrazy stole some of my thunder. To expand upon his knowledge about 4 stomach chambers of a cow versus the single stomach chamber of a horse, well in the end, horse chit and cow chit are very, very different. The efficiency of a cows 4 stomach chambers produces manure that is fantastic fertilizer. Harrow cow manure into the fields every spring and yield great hay harvest. On the other hand horse manure is hot and can kill grass. Several years of my youth had a lot to do with hay. So that is one thing. As far as which is more destructive, that depends on the terrain. Cattle do more damage in high riparian areas. In the hot summer days, cattle linger in high cool moist riparian areas and ruin them. They will do big damage to ground, vegetation, and aquifer. The sediments from the muddied water sources that eventually forms creeks can do great harm to the spawning beds and water oxygen that it can ruin creeks for healthy fish populations. When elk numbers get too high, they can do the same sort of damage as cattle. On the other hand. cattle on public lands are moved around to theoretically allow an area to recover. The horses, confined to a limited area will eventually overgraze and overbrowse an area till a once fertile area eventually looks like a barren desert landscape. One more thing, to say horses that were "reintroduced" are the same species as the horses that Europeans introduced is about the same thing as saying we are all still monkeys.

That big winter herd that hangs on the big ranch at Ennis holds 1000-2000 head of elk. You can glass them and see some 400 score bulls, but the only way to go at them is to pay the outfitter big bucks. The point is, the big bulls are in Montana, but they are scarce and very often, on private land. In my neighborhood, in the mountains north of Butte, there are some massive bulls taken over time, but most are taken by the ranchers. It's hard to beat Arizona or New Mexico for trophy bulls, but no part of either state is the equal to Western Montana for the beauty and all-around experience. That's just my opinion though. There are more bulls now that they imposed the browtine law in the state so the bulls get a chance to get educated before they get wiped out. In general, Montana is dominated by local meat hunters

go private access and say your prayers and you may find a 375 plus bull. Many in Montana don't even know what that means. 375?

It is true, General Elk Licences are the reason why public land hunting is tough. It's a "locals rule" state and the locals may love a big bull to show off, most prefer a freezer full of meat going into the winter. Many in Montana still rely on it. And yotebuster is right about the Big Hole. One of the primary reasons to choose the Big Hole Valley is for all the other attractions that go with the territory. You can buy a wolf tag. You can hunt grouse. Fish, I mean the area is a sportsman's paradise, but there are better places if you have your heart set on a trophy Bull. In late rifle season elk herds come over from Idaho to winter around Fleecer and some other wintering areas on the Montana side, but to get a big bull out of those herds is all about timing. Ennis area is usually a good place to fill your tag with a cow.

Western Montana has elk everywhere. Montana'a biggest numbers for elk are in the southwest part of the state. Bigger herd size usually means more hunters. Sometimes if you are looking for less competition from other hunters you can try areas with smaller herd size. Most would hunt the areas around Yellowstone. Areas around Ennis to Gardner. Myself, I would hunt the upper Big Hole area from areas around Divide to Wisdom. A guy can have a good chance of drawing an antelope tag in that area too. I prefer the area as it is usually easier to get away from other hunters, plus there is the Big Hole River, Wise River and lots of mountain lakes. The country bars in the area can get rowdy around hunting season. 😉

Most ma & pa ranches are long gone, especially in this state. I lived and worked on ranches growing up and I did lots of improvement to water sources and fences and such. Never was their a concept of ownership, but value is recognized by the work done and which usually covers the cost of range lease. That was 30 to 40 years ago in Western Montana so things are quite a bit different these days and here in AZ. Old 19th century water rights in the west are archaic and need to be re-visioned. Most any ranch that have changed hands over the last 50 plus years are going to millionaires who do not make money from the ranch. In many cases, they are held by holding companies of some sort and in the end are a tax right-off. The money these "new" ranch owners bring to the table make them formidable. I wish no ill will to the old family ranchers, but I have very little appreciation for the fat cat ownership that takes advantage of our romanticism about the way things once were.

19a is a dying unit, herd size is dwindling and the area will be developed in a big way over the next 10 years. This year, as far as I have observed, the winter herd size is way down.

unit 8 for me. I hope the astronauts don't screw up my turkey hunt again.

Wow, that was cool. Nice buck. Thanks for sharing.

When I was 8, my Christmas present was an Evil Knievel bicycle. It had a faux gas tank, motorcycle style handlebars. and knobby motorcycle style dirt tires. I'd ride the heck out of that bike in the rain forest that surrounded the navy base in the middle of Oahu. Later, after my Pa retired from the navy and we moved to the ranch outside of Butte, I found myself among the people who grew up with Evil Knievel and they were not all fans. In the Mountains outside of Butte I left my bicycles in pieces because at that point I was more into fishing the creek or chasing elk and deer through the hills. My guns on the ranch were family guns, though I was the one that actually used them. At that time, my model 60 Marlin and I led the crusade against those evil gophers.

worked for me

That's a darn good price for that rifle right there