Seems like January is the longest
month of the year. It was longer this
year because we spent a couple of weeks out of commission with the flu. I’m always glad to have longer days and a
shorter month in February.
We had an extended elk season in
December. The last day I counted almost
700 elk on our lease and adjoining property - no hunters, of course. They are having a pretty normal winter, with
most of the snow blown off the ridges.
We haven’t had much for -0 temperatures.
Deer, antelope, and birds are wintering well, also.
Fish Wildlife & Parks will
implement an either sex elk season in our district for the entire season next
fall. They’ll also issue some second
tags for elk on a drawing. They expect
no changes in deer regulations, and expect to keep the number of antelope
licenses about the same. There is a
proposal out to do away with unlimited antelope archery licenses. We’ll see where that goes. It’s been a nice bonus to deer/elk archery
hunting.
We did some mountain lion hunting
in December, until we lost good tracking snow.
By the time we got more, the quota had filled in my areas.
While scouting for lion tracks, I
checked out some of my old favorite spots for bobcat (fur buyers call them
lynxcats here). It’s interesting how
animals use the same places year after year.
I caught cats where I caught their ancestors thirty years ago. I skinned
one cat for mounting, either full-body or as a rug, buyer’s choice. After it warms up, I’ll put in a few beaver
sets. I’ll have some tanned beaver hides
available for rugs or decoration.
We didn’t see the rams we
expected in the Elkhorns after the rut.
The first week of January, we found out why. Our bighorn herd had contracted
pneumonia. About 70% of the population
is gone. This would have been the first
year nonresidents could apply to hunt there.
I’ll let sheep hunters know in early April where to apply instead.
Our bird guide, Steve, has taken
his champion black labs to Arizona
for the trial season. He’ll be home in a
couple of weeks. Chuck’s got another
English pointer, that he and Steve will have ready to add to the team in the
fall. These guides have some of the best
dogs in the country.
We won’t be attending any shows
this year. I’m busy keeping livestock
fed, and will be calving in another week.
My carpentry career is about to resume at the lodge. We’ll have a couple of new bedrooms ready for
next fall. I want to get them done
before spring bear season.
Give me a call or drop an email to
visit about your hunt plans.
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Yours in good hunting,
Monte |
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