Drew NM elk

[chevynut]

Just found out that my hunting partner and I drew NM nonresident archery elk tags again for this fall. We drew 2 of only 10 tags available for the unit/season to nonresidents. It's the first two weeks of September...I got my bull last time in the last two weeks on the late hunt in the unit.

I'm a little worried I'm going to draw something else now . I apply for around 30 big game licenses in 7 western states every year. Utah results aren't out yet and I applied for 8 species there.

Good thing I'm retired.

[WagonCrazy]

Good thing I'm retired.

And if you get all 7 of those other tags, and you consume them all, you're gonna get fat too.

[NickP]

And if you get all 7 of those other tags, and you consume them all, you're gonna get fat too.

That's some pretty lean meat (protein) and it's ability to make one fat is a stretch (pun intended). Fat in the body is produced by the attending items ingested in concert with the protein, i.e. those nasty carbs.

[chevynut]

Wild game meat has 1/10th of the cholesterol of beef. And yes, it is very lean. When we make summer sausage they have to add beef suet to it. It's hard to make hamburgers out of it because it's so lean it falls apart. But it's gooooood.

Paul, I apply for around 30 tags every year, including in my home state of Colorado. I've been applying in Montana for bighorn sheep, mountain goat, and moose for 14 years and have never drawn a tag. I've been applying in Utah for 8 species for 8-10 years and have never drawn a tag. In Colorado, I've been applying for moose for 19 years and have yet to draw. I have drawn bighorn sheep twice and mountain goat once in Colorado. Residents get most of the tags in virtually every state. New Mexico only issues 6% of their big game tags to nonresidents, and most other states are at 10%. Colorado is the "giveaway state" with unlimited elk tags to nonresidents.

Most people think you just buy a license and go hunting. For many species, it takes many years to draw a tag and once you shoot an animal you don't get to hunt for that species in that state again, or have a 5-7 year waiting period. It took me 18 years to draw my second bighorn sheep tag in Colorado, and the last time I drew mountain goat was 1999....so I'm due.

[Troy]

My last hunt was bighorn sheep in Montana. I drew a tag that wa 16 tags out of 16,000 apps. Got my sheep on next to last day of hunt!! Then I moved to California, all I hunt for now is a parking spot!

[chevynut]

Wow Troy, that's amazing you got to hunt sheep in MT! What unit did you draw in? Did you get a good ram? I've been applying for the most coveted tags in the Missouri River Breaks. But almost any unit is like winning the lottery. Montana apps are due May 1.

[Troy]

Yes it was, my stepfather was surprised as he had applied for years and never got one and this was my first try!!! I don't know the unit number but it was in the Arsenic Mountain area above Gibson reservoir. It was near the Sun River Game Preserve. This was in 1981 so it's been awhile. I got a 3/4 curl ram, not big but very healthy we watched him and his herd for four days going up and down the canyon going to Gibson reservoir then back up to the peak. he was definitely the big thing in the area that we saw. We had kind of decided he was the one on the second day but held out as long as we could for something bigger but never saw any bigger. BTW way I was a Montana resident at the time. We had a guy here at work (now retired) that would put out 20-30K in license apps every year all over the US. He hunted all over. He got a huge moose in Alaska one year, it toured all over the US at hunting shows.

[chevynut]

You must have hunted the Sun River herd in one of the #400 series of units west of Great Falls. There have been some big rams taken out of those areas over the years.

Yeah the license application fees can kill ya. There was a time I had $10K or more "hanging" out there.....some you get back but not all of it. Arizona makes you buy a $164 hunting license BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN APPLY for any big game tags. That money's gone. It costs me $226 just to apply in Montana now, money I don't get back. It's getting crazy. I may have to try to start applying for lesser demand units or I'll never be able to hunt sheep in MT. Congrats!

[Troy]

Yes it was west of Great Falls and Augusta. Anyway good luck on the hunt!!!

[WagonCrazy]

The getting fat comment was a joke Nick...

In my early 20's I bought a brand new Remington Model 700 30 ott 6 rifle, because I started hunting deer with some friends who were hunters. We'd apply every year for X10 tags (most desirable in the southern half of CA- in the Sierras kind of southeast of Yosemite NP). We also applied for D8's as backup. Did that for about 5 years and never got the X10 tag.
Never got a deer either. So many others hunting in the area every year. We'd get up a 2am and walk in the dark to our positions, then let the late guys flush 'em out with all their noise coming thru. But usually it was still too dark to see the deer. You could hear them banging around in the brush below you as they high tailed it out, but not responsible to shoot when you can't see.

One year, I was sitting on a rock outcrop at just before dawn, and kept hearing other hunters above me coming thru. Then I heard the sound of several sets of hoofs on the ground 30 feet above me. A fully grown female and 2 little ones stepped out on the rock above where I was sitting into full sunlight. Was surreal. I stared at them, and they stared at me and this went on for about 20 seconds, then she got a whif of me and bolted back up and then around me so quick that (even if it was a buck) I couldn't have reacted that fast.

That's the extent of my hunting career.
Sold the rifle to my brother in law in my mid 30s. Kids came long and I wasn't going out shooting much anymore.

Now I just carry a 40 pound pack and walk thru the forest thinking I'm having a good time.

[Troy]

Hey Lazlo,

I saw on the "What have you done to your Nomad" thread that you're looking for property in Montana. My step father is selling his 1000 acre ranch with property on both side of the Jefferson river. It also goes up into the tabacco root mountains. It has moose, elk, white tail, antelope, sheep, fowl, and fishing. It has private access into forest service land. Go to this you tube video of the property and wildlife. Enjoy!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx-gaOuJA4I&sns=em

[chevynut]

Looks great Troy, but how do I find out how much it is or whatever? I went to the realty website at the end of the video and there's nothing there. This site says it sold: http://www.landsofamerica.com/proper...-59759/1023327. Bummer, that looks like heaven and I would have been seriously interested in it.

We looked at a 640 acre parcel and a 1000 acre parcel this past week. I didn't like the 640 acre parcel but the 1000 acres is beautiful.

[Troy]

Lazlo,

Contacts are
Don Parsons 406-366-3216 don@mtland.org

Lloyd Parsons 406-366-3194 Lloyd@mtland.org

tell them Troy, Bob Neary's stepson sent you!! I spent my 16th summer working on Don's cattle ranch.

[BamaNomad]

I totally agree.... really beautiful... like Heaven! Why would anyone who owned that want to sell it??

[Troy]

BamaNomand,

That's what he (my stepfather) does, he'll find another one that's even better. We moved a lot when I was a kid I went to 12 different schools. We even owned a fishing and snowmobile resort in Central Oregon (Deschutes National Forest) called Paulina Lake Resort.