Experts expect big year for big game in West
A Colorado mega-muley got things rolling, and autumn's big-game parade is far from over, thanks to timely moisture return and early high-country snows
That velvet-antlered non-typical mule deer, felled by 28-year-old Utah bowhunter Jed Lowe in late August after a lengthy stalk in the Colorado high country, is a 10x11 monster that could score as high as 273 inches, net, by the time official 60-day scoring is conducted later this month.
Should that score be upheld, Lowe's buck appears to be on the fast track to become history's top bow-killed, velvet-antlered muley.
And that's exactly why Lowe was the subject of a recent interview on the coast-to-coast "The Outdoors Show on ESPN Radio" with Tommy Sanders.
The guess here, however, is that in the autumn of big-game hunting unfolding across the American west, Lowe will probably not be the last hunter to be interviewed on the program.
That's because hunters across the continent are buzzing about animals like Randy Ulmer's monster muley from Nevada, Lacy Harber's big New Mexico non-typical bull elk, a potential state record bull elk in Utah, a slammer mule deer buck from Saskatchewan and a slew of big antelope bucks from across the West.
Thanks to superb genetics, sound game-management practices, the abundant snowfall last winter and timely rainfall this year, the 2005-2006 big-game hunting campaigns are off to a fast start — and might well improve from here.
In some places — as early high country snows drive big game animals down out of the mountains — it's possible that this big-game hunting season could go down as one of the best of all time before the smoke clears.
Take Arizona, for example, a state already well known for its monstrous bull elk.
But with a report of a potential new Pope & Young Club world-record typical bull and several other whopper wapiti falling already during the Grand Canyon State's archery season, this fall appears to be turning out to be a spectacular elk year, even by Arizona's lofty standards.
"It's kind of like breaking the four-minute mile, I guess. You never know what's possible with rainfall — and we've had good rainfall in the past year — or good forage production and with a great age structure in place."
While the state has little to do with the rainfall or genetics that it has been blessed with, Wakeling admits that he believes Arizona's philosophy of wild game management is being validated.
"Everything (licenses for elk) we have is limited entry and for us, that has certainly proven to be the way to get older age-class animals, or world-class bulls," Wakeling said.
"A lot of people argue avidly for antler point restrictions in some places, but I would just add that down here, it seems that what we're doing with limited entry is working."
Take the Boone & Crockett Club world-record typical bull elk (a 442 5/8 inch wapiti taken by Alonzo Winters in the White Mountains in1968) and Nick Franklin's recently crowned Pope & Young Club world-record non-typical elk (a 2003 bull that stretched the tape to 442 0/8 inches), along with a potential new P&Y world record typical elk harvested this fall out of Unit 10, and it would seem that by all appearances Arizona is the reigning king of the whopper wapiti world.
Add in the fact that Arizona — despite an elk herd numbering only about 24,000 in recent years — has perhaps the West's best supply of big bulls measuring upward of 330 and, at times, even 400-plus inches, and one has to wonder if the elk hunting can get any better here.
"I'm not expecting it to get much better than this, but every year, it seems to surprise us," Wakeling said.
Keep in mind that Arizona isn't the only state that has it going in terms of superb big-game hunting right now.
Take Colorado, for instance, home of Jed Lowe's recent mega-muley bow buck.
"It has already been a great year for mule deer even though we're just now getting into our rifle seasons," said Tyler Baskfield, an information specialist for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
The secret to Colorado's resurgence of monster muleys?
Well, in addition to superb habitat and good genetics, the state's move in 1999 to make all deer-hunting licenses available only by limited draw certainly hasn't hurt things.
"We're seeing better deer each year," Baskfield said. "Last year was a great year for deer, and I would expect this year to be even better or at least the same.
"All indications are that you're a lucky guy if you've got a (Colorado) deer tag in your pocket (this year)."
In Montana, home to Chuck Adam's current — I repeat, current — Pope & Young Club world-record typical bull elk measuring 409 2/8 inches, the table appears set for a good season of big-game hunting this fall.
"Other than our archery season and some of the special limited entry seasons for sheep, moose, and goats, we really haven't started our big-game seasons, yet," said Jeff Herbert, the assistant chief of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
"But our antelope season opens this weekend and our general deer and elk season opens towards the end of the month."
What will hunters find once they get afield in the Big Sky State?
In the case of antelope hunters chasing speed goats in Montana's eastern plains, they'll find a lot of "gumbo" mud, according to Herbert, thanks to the dump of a foot or more of wet snow this week onto the region's clay-based soils.
But they'll also find antelope, elk and mule deer populations that are "generally in pretty good shape."
And with a little luck, perhaps they'll find themselves settling the cross hairs or bow-sight pin onto a world-class big-game animal.
"I would guess there is good potential for antler growth in a year like this," Herbert said. "Our forage conditions were obviously good out there in the summer and late summer periods, and the animals usually respond body wise and antler wise."
Down in Wyoming, it appears that the animals have already responded to the good moisture and resulting habitat conditions of recent months.
"We've had a very good antelope season this year with better horn development than we've seen in a few years," said Jay Lawson, chief of the Wyoming Game & Fish Department's Wildlife Division.
The result is a lot of big speed goats awaiting preservation in taxidermy shops.
"We've had a lot of precipitation here in recent months, and as a result, we've had a lot of really nice bucks taken this year," Lawson said.
While Wyoming is most often thought of as one of the West's best spots to hunt antelope, that's not the only big game animal that is making hunters smile this fall in the Cowboy State.
"We're seeing some nice mule deer starting to come in," Lawson said. "And our elk, again, we've had some excellent bulls taken during the archery season."
With snows descending upon the high country of much of the mountainous west, this bodes well for general season hunters in many states, Wyoming included.
And it may be setting the stage for good moisture next spring and perhaps another banner year of hunting next fall.
"This year, we've seen good new growth on such shrub (forage) species as mountain mahogany, Wyoming big sagebrush, and bitterbrush," Lawson said.
"And this fall precipitation may set us up to hopefully have another good year of shrub production next year," he added.
"Yeah, we're feeling pretty good right now about the way things are unfolding."
In other words, if you're a Western big-game hunter, the good old days of hunting may very well be at hand.
And if you've got a big-game tag burning a hole in your back pocket, stop reading this and get out in the mountains, valleys and desert floors of the American West; an epic season of big-game hunting may be passing you by.
