Missing Antelope

Tomorrow is the opening hunting day of big game in Montana. I'm jacked to say the least. I have certainly missed not hunting antelope this year. I missed the barren flats, the bitter wind, the crunch of sage and the gumbo. I realized this year antelope also fills the gap between early rifle and regular season. Quelling the urge to get in the field. The fact of the matter is it is usually action packed and high energy. It ranks right up there with elk hunting for me.

I ran across this article, Blood on the Tracks - which spurred me to post up.

Here was an earlier report from MTFWP:

In southeastern Montana, FWP Region 7, antelope numbers are 57 percent below the previous 10 year average. Winter survival was also severely impacted here by last winter's harsh conditions.

"Winter stress caused spring birth rates to be very low in FWP Region 7," Kujala said. "The 2011 fawn to doe ratio in FWP Region 7 was 47 fawns per 100 does, compared to the long-term average of 73 fawns per 100 does."

Good luck to everyone.

Wolf poop on a headlamp

I accompanied a friend yesterday while he was bowhunting in an area behind his house. We covered about 6 miles and gained 2500 feet. The day proved to be a good one, a very fine fall day with temps in the 50s and a brisk wind. The colors were absolutely brilliant especially in the upper elevations (~5500ft), with the ground shrubs throwing bright reds and the larch turning yellow. We had great views of snow capped peaks in the Missions, Rattlenakes and Swans. We spied a couple cow elk at 300 yards, not close enough for the ole' bow and arrow.

On the weird and strange front of things; we came across this:


What you see here is a pile of wolf scat atop a dropped headlamp. The headlamp appeared to have been dropped by a hunter within the last year. Then a wolf happened upon it, smelled the human scent and decided to mark it by shitting on it. I really do need to buy wolf tag this year.