© Paul Queneau, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation
This "Living
With Wildlife: Missoula Elk Herds" brochure summarizes
information on the herds (1 megabyte Acrobat file).
Hunting Missoula’s elk hunters don’t have to drive far from home to find places to hunt. Other than the occasional bitter winter, hunting is about the only control on the size of Missoula’s elk herds. If elk numbers aren’t kept in line with the available habitat, elk can overgraze their ranges. In addition, hunting helps keep elk wary of people, a trait that’s important when elk and people are living close to one another.
Changes in management of the Rattlesnake, the herd’s early migration out of the Rattlesnake, and development of subdivisions on the herd’s winter range have largely protected the herd from hunters.
Two approaches to address the lack of hunting have been a damage hunt on three private ranches between Grant and Butler Creeks [damage hunt] and an early season permit-only hunting season established in the Rattlesnake Wilderness and some surrounding lands beginning in the fall of 2006 [early season hunt].
Damage hunts were held on three private ranches between Grant and Butler Creeks during the winters of 2005-2006 and 2004-2005. Hunters killed eight cow elk during the 2005-2006 damage hunt and three cow elk during the 2004-2005 damage hunt. No problems were reported in the subdivisions that border the hunt on three sides. Those two damage hunts were held with fairly tight restrictions to prevent problems that had arisen during earlier damage hunts when some Prospect Meadows subdivision homeowners were terrified as rifles swung past their homes while shots were being fired (apparently the rifles swinging past the homes were not the ones being fired) and a wounded elk ended up near the subdivision. Subdivisions surround the area where the damage hunt is conducted [link to photo of Bob Henderson placing safety cones]. Grassy hillsides make it difficult for hunters to approach the elk over much of the area where hunting is permitted. No damage hunt was held during the winter of 2006-2007 because the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks was attempting to trap elk for research.
Hunters who responded to surveys only killed nine elk during the hunt but even those who were unsuccessful said they enjoyed their time in the Rattlesnake. The outcome of the hunt was summarized in an article entitled "Rattlesnake Elk Hunt: Arduous Pursuit" (432-kilobyte Acrobat file), in the “Leopoldian,” the newsletter for Hellgate Hunters & Anglers.
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