To many hunters

I hunted uplands for 86 days in NW Montana this year and never saw another hunter.

I did not start until Nov 1 and I picked spots that were at least a mile walk to pheasant habitat.
And being retired, I only hunted weekdays.
 
mmmm said:
I always say go but go alone with your dog there is nothing like walking out there just you and your dog.
Click to expand...
While I do love sharing the field with my aging Father, I could not agree more with this statement. Sometimes when its just the dogs and I, I forget to shoot...but, I'd likely miss anyways. Soon my oldest boy will be ready to hunt. I look forward to that day.
 
18 car said:
I'm not convinced reducing the daily bag limit would reduce hunter numbers. As a lifetime Montanan and avid bird hunter, I've seen a continual increase of hunting pressure to the upland bird resource in MT.
Today quick access to accurate landownership maps (onx maps), a popular Block Management Program, large tracts of Federal and State owned land, low hunter numbers relative to many mid-west states and the internet/ social media have all contributed to growing hunter numbers. Every hunter has to decide when expenditures exceed gratification.
Click to expand...
While you are probably correct in reducing hunter numbers, is he instead saying that reducing bag limits may provide more opportunities for more people to harvest birds longer into the season on public? That's just my 2 cents. If it's anything like Iowa however, you rarely see people limiting on public ground for roosters, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen public land limits with 2+ people.
 
Too Many Hunters,

This happened to Kansas years ago. I hunted there for at least 25 years. Public ground hunting was excellent when I first started. Word got out on the net and here came the buses of hunters. Kansas is very hit or miss now due to over hunting and lost of CRP ground. I hunted in the great state of Montana years back. We didn't see a lot of hunters then. I'm sure you will see a decline in birds.
 
I suggested lowering the limit on Huns and Sharptails to protect the birds not to reduce hunters. I dont see the need to kill 4 Sharptails a day or 8 Huns Although I have never seen anyone get that many Huns. However I have seen large groups of hunters getting the limit on sharptails day after day I dont see a need for that 2 would be a better number and cut down on shooting doubles in the long run less birds overall taken.
 
One cannot stockpile birds. If numbers are elevated then limits should follow and vice versa. We as hunters are most dependent on the hatch of the year and not the adult carry over birds. If the hunters do not harvest the bonus surplus, then nature will by local climate conditions. The blizzard in ND will have an impact, hopefully not long lasting. Enjoy the surplus while it lasts. We all have seen the highs and lows. Until we control the climate to maximize bird populations, we have to adjust accordingly. Now who makes the rules is another discussion.
 
Wind River said:
One cannot stockpile birds. If numbers are elevated then limits should follow and vice versa. We as hunters are most dependent on the hatch of the year and not the adult carry over birds. If the hunters do not harvest the bonus surplus, then nature will by local climate conditions. The blizzard in ND will have an impact, hopefully not long lasting. Enjoy the surplus while it lasts. We all have seen the highs and lows. Until we control the climate to maximize bird populations, we have to adjust accordingly. Now who makes the rules is another discussion.
Click to expand...
That is all true.

Since I am retired and solo hunt locally, I have a self-imposed limit of 1 rooster per morning hunt.
I believe that allows me to repeat hunting the same drainage and every time I hunt it I flush at least 3 roosters.
Last fall I hunted the last week of the season the same drainage 5 straight mornings (weekdays only) and always flushed roosters.
Since I solo hunt and there is sweat-equity hiking into this drainage, it receives little pressure.
I think that if a gang of 4-6 hunters went in for a couple days huntng, the roosters would have dispersed to another low-pressure area.

I had the same approach in Alaska...a self imposed limit of 3 sharptails on a 5-acre cranberry patch near my home.
(The limit was 15 sharptails).
Over a month I shot 60 sharptails from that patch....it never burned out even after hunting day after day after day.
Some evenings I would flush 20-30 birds even though I had hunted it the four previous evenings.
 
AKSkeeter said:
That is all true.

Since I am retired and solo hunt locally, I have a self-imposed limit of 1 rooster per morning hunt.
I believe that allows me to repeat hunting the same drainage and every time I hunt it I flush at least 3 roosters.
Last fall I hunted the last week of the season the same drainage 5 straight mornings (weekdays only) and always flushed roosters.
Since I solo hunt and there is sweat-equity hiking into this drainage, it receives little pressure.
I think that if a gang of 4-6 hunters went in for a couple days huntng, the roosters would have dispersed to another low-pressure area.

I had the same approach in Alaska...a self imposed limit of 3 sharptails on a 5-acre cranberry patch near my home.
(The limit was 15 sharptails).
Over a month I shot 60 sharptails from that patch....it never burned out even after hunting day after day after day.
Some evenings I would flush 20-30 birds even though I had hunted it the four previous evenings.
Click to expand...
Just curious Skeeter.....what year was this that you found that many sharpies in the interior?
I was under the impression after talking to ak f&g biologists that both ruffed and sharptail populations were at all time lows....can you elaborate? Thanks
 
Birdman2 said:
Too Many Hunters,

This happened to Kansas years ago. I hunted there for at least 25 years. Public ground hunting was excellent when I first started. Word got out on the net and here came the buses of hunters. Kansas is very hit or miss now due to over hunting and lost of CRP ground. I hunted in the great state of Montana years back. We didn't see a lot of hunters then. I'm sure you will see a decline in birds.
Click to expand...

Kansas has a lot fewer upland hunters than it did 25 years ago. Upland hunter numbers are about 2/3rds of what they were in the 00s, half of their historic highs in the 80s.
 
s.davis said:
Kansas has a lot fewer upland hunters than it did 25 years ago.
Click to expand...

I think that's probably the case in most states. I know that MN hunters have a fraction of what they used to as well. Its not just upland hunters either, waterfowl hunter numbers have also declined. Deer and turkey hunter numbers have stayed steady though.
 
Birdman2 said:
Too Many Hunters,

This happened to Kansas years ago. I hunted there for at least 25 years. Public ground hunting was excellent when I first started. Word got out on the net and here came the buses of hunters. Kansas is very hit or miss now due to over hunting and lost of CRP ground. I hunted in the great state of Montana years back. We didn't see a lot of hunters then. I'm sure you will see a decline in birds.
Click to expand...
It's really crazy to me and really highlights the loss of hunting ground. Every motel in the west half of the state of KS was booked the first month of the season years back and I don't really ever remember cussing about hunting pressure. Nowadays you're fighting for spots all day long and there's a fraction of the hunters. So sad we didn't realize what we had and that we let it get away. I don't have a son and my daughter isn't into the bird hunting at this point but I'd be even madder if I had a kid that really wanted to get into this and Id never be able to give them the memories I had. It's bad enough staring at young dogs in my pen that I wonder what I'll do with coming down the pipe the next few years. They'll sure never see the miles my previous dogs have seen and it's not their fault.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, the problem is not too many hunters, is that those hunters are funneled onto less and less accessible land with carrying capacity. In Kansas, so little private ground gets hunted at all, that pheasants get pushed off public land quickly onto nearby private land and never have any reason to leave it, because it rarely gets hunted. I almost exclusively hunt private land, and when it's good habitat in the immediately vicinity of WIHA land, it's often golden-era level loaded.
 
There is entirely too much technology in hunting--EVERYWHERE in hunting...these days. The outdoor sports industry advertises "technical" vests and "technical" jackets---how the hell can clothing be technical? Shells are faster and more expensive evry year; I'm wondering how soon we'll just be able to spot a covey or flock of birds and just call in an artillery strike....it's just ridiculous nd getting worse each year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top