GazOutdoors Blog

While Montana shut down its wolf season ahead of schedule, Idaho Fish and Game Commissioners voted Thursday to extend all of its still-open wolf units to a Mar. 31 closing date.

Seasons would be extended to Mar. 31 in the Panhandle, Palouse-Hells Canyon, Selway, Middle Fork, Salmon, Southern, and South Idaho zones, which had been set to close December 31. The seasons already were set to close March 31 in the Lolo and Sawtooth zones.  Three units have already closed when quotas were reached.

As of Thursday, the Idaho wolf kill was at 110 animals, exactly half of the state's quota of 220.  Montana closed its season Monday with 72 of the state's quota of 75 wolves taken.

Heading into the wolf seasons in Montana and Idaho, everyone seemed to agree that hunting wolves would be tough and quotas could be very difficult to reach.  With Idaho's season extension and Montana's closure two weeks before the scheduled end to the season, it makes you wonder whether Montana's wolf quota was too low, whether Idaho's quota might be too high or exactly what the difference is between success and failure in wolf hunting. -- mark

In the animal kingdom, it's often the biggest male that wins the right to mate, although less-dominant males often sneak in when they can.

But new research by the University of Alberta's David Coltman suggests there may be a downside to female mountain goats mating with the biggest males.

According to a press release from the university, Coltman's research found that "the daughters of the big bruisers are routinely smaller and less fit than females produced by physically more modest fathers."

The research raises several questions: Would the possibility of such an outcome affect the female's choice of a mate? Could this be a factor weighed by a sexually mature female when courted by males that come in a variety of sizes? Why are female offspring sired by the dominant male smaller?

Whitetail bucks are notoriously territorial when the mating season rolls around. Their aggressiveness is one reason the animals have thrived and spread throughout the West, in some cases displacing the more meek mule deer.

But like bullies in barfights, even the big guys eventually meet their match. That's the case for one whitetail buck in Wisconsin that decided to try and joust with a concrete elk statue in a resident's backyard. Although the buck toppled the statue, he cracked his skull in the fight and died only a few feet away. The tale is recounted by Bob Lamb at our sister paper, the LaCrosse Tribune.

In memory of the strange incident, the statue's owner is considering having the buck's antlers glued to the elk statue. But that seems like it would just prompt another buck to take on the concrete menace in the future. Easy meat for the freezer, though.

E-mail photos of huge whitetail antlers taken from a buck illegally killed in Minnesota this hunting season are turning some heads, as well as leading to the charging of one man for poaching on Halloween.

The story of the massive eight-point buck comes out of Cannon Falls, Minn., and is documented in stories in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The antlers are possibly a new record eight-pointer. The inside measurement of the rack was 23 3/8 inches and the animal was green scored at 192 gross, 188 net.

Check out the Star's photos and weep. It's sad that the trophy animal was taken by a poacher and also that it was killed on private land where the landowner had given the hunter permission.

Elk harvest is just above last year and on par with the five-year average at west-central Montana hunter check stations, while deer harvest continues to lag behind.

Overall at the region’s three check stations through the first three weeks of the season, a total of 13,916 hunters checked 467 elk, 195 mule deer, 266 white-tailed deer, six black bears, one moose, 13 bighorn sheep, three mountain goats and sixteen wolves for 6.9 percent of hunters with game.

General license holders could hunt for antlerless elk in many Blackfoot and Upper Clark Fork hunting districts during the third week of general hunting season, possibly bolstering the hunter and elk numbers tallied at Bonner and Anaconda check stations this weekend.

“The cold weather with snow accumulations at the end of the week, combined with antlerless elk hunting opportunities for general license holders, made for a lot of antlerless elk checked through the station this weekend,” says Ray Vinkey, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) wildlife biologist responsible for the Anaconda station.

The Anaconda station saw 19 elk this weekend and 66 elk this season so far—the highest checked at the station during the first three weeks of the season since 2000. FWP also ran a check station in Hall this weekend to monitor antlerless elk harvest. The Hall station saw 15 elk and 426 hunters.

Elk harvest in the Blackfoot hunting districts saw a jump in harvest this week, where elk harvest totals are now just below this point in the season last year and slightly above the five-year average.

The Darby check station—which sees hunters from the Bighole and southern Bitterroot Valleys reported an elk harvest 10 percent below the five-year average.

White-tailed deer harvest reported at the check stations is approximately 50 percent behind the five-year average through the season’s third week. Mule deer harvest totals are nearly 40 percent below.

Most of the decrease in white-tailed deer harvest has been seen at the Bonner check station where totals are half of what they were at this point in the season last year. Part of the decline in harvest is likely due to the elimination of over-the-counter white-tailed Deer B license for rifle hunters in Region 2 this year.

FWP wildlife biologists also note that buck harvest is declining as well as antlerless harvest, which may reflect a reduction in the white-tailed deer population. As a result, FWP is considering whether to recommend more season adjustments next year.

Hunter numbers are down approximately 10 percent from both last year and the five-year average.

Three wolves were harvested in Wolf Management Unit 2 (WMU), which encompasses most of west-central Montana, over the weekend. Hunters are reminded that wolf hunting in Montana will close statewide Monday, November 16, 2009 at one half-hour after sunset.