sidney herald hunting guide

Hunting Guide Sidney Herald Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015 1

2015 Hunting

Guide

www.sidneyherald.comSUNDAY, SEPT. 20, 2015A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO

Hunting Guide2 Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015 Sidney Herald

By Bill Vander WeeleSidney Herald

Ryan Karren is pretty much living his dream. The area’s game warden gets to work outdoors in one of the best hunt-ing locations in the country.

“Eastern Montana is a hunting para-dise,” Karren said. “If you work hard enough, you will be successful.”

Karren, who started his duties as game warden for Richland County in June 2013, said he has treasured time in the outdoors his entire life,

“I love being outdoors. Interacting with wildlife. Interacting with hunters,” the 2001 Sidney High School graduate said. “I just always had an interest in the outdoors. Hunting is one way of enjoying the outdoors.”

He remembers going on hunting out-ings with his father at a young age. “He wasn’t an avid hunter. I think I enjoyed

it more than he did.”But the father and son were successful

when hunting deer and pheasants. “We had a good bird dog growing up.”

Karren said he enjoys the patience required for deer hunting and the surprised element of pheasant hunting. “Watching my dog work is my favorite.”

After graduating from high school, Karren attended Brigham Young Uni-versity in Utah to become a game war-den. He worked as a game warden for a couple of years in Utah and then moved back to Big Sky Country. His work expe-rience includes serving as game warden in Custer County

He expects the population for upland birds — pheasants and grouse — to be extremely high this hunting season.

After a tough couple of years, he is seeing the population of deer and antelope making a rebound in eastern Montana.

“They are on the rise,” Karren said. “The big game hunting has recovered some, but it is still recovering. In the next couple of years, we should see some visible increases.”

He said there is still a ton of oppor-tunities for eastern Montana hunters. One of the keys could be having a good relationship with property owners.

“If hunters take the time to make good relations with landowners and get permission (to hunt on their land), it can be a lot of fun and successful,” Kar-ren said.

Antelope and pheasants seasons open Oct. 10 and deer hunting season starts Oct. 24. The youth deer hunt is Oct. 15-16.

“I just encourage people to participate and have fun,” Karren said. “Make sure to read the regulations to make sure everything is right.”

He notes the “vast majority” of hunt-

ers are very good following regulations. One of the largest problems is when some hunters go on landowners’ prop-erty without permission.

A mistake some hunters make is going in the wrong region because region 6 and region 7 are so close. Kar-ren encourages hunters to have their regulations with them so that mistake isn’t made.

On the night before hunting season begins, Karren is usually busy working. “I just need to make sure no one is get-ting too tempted to get an early start,” Karren said.

If people see hunting infractions, they should call Karren, 406-853-7272, the Richland County Sheriff’s Office, 406-433-2919, or 1-800-TIP-MONT.

“It’s their wildlife and they need to make the ultimate decision if they want that behavior to stop,” Karren said. “I’m just here to enforce the rules.”

Game warden loves working in eastern MontanaBill Vander Weele | Sidney Herald

Ryan Karren has served as the game warden in Richland County since June 2013.

Hunting GuideSidney Herald Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015 3

By SteVe and aShley harriSSuBmitted

It was the hunting season of 2012, and I was after a giant muley buck. I had spotted this

buck back in 2011 and had filmed him once on private land where I couldn’t hunt. I was out with my boss during the youth season of 2012 and spotted him for a second time in an area where I did have permission to hunt. My mind was made up for this season, it was either this deer or nothing.

I spent every morning out in the area where I had last seen him. This buck had something

about him that gave me an adrenaline rush like I’d never felt before. I was seeing him quite regularly, but he always went onto private land. On one occasion I watched him as he stood along the fence line trying to make up his decision on whether to stay with his does or go to the land where I couldn’t hunt him.

He repeatedly looked at his does, the private land and then toward me, as if trying to make up his mind. Then all at once, he grabbed his does and headed for a deep cut just inside the fence on the land I could hunt.

I watched him bed down and decided it was now or never if I was going to make a stalk on him. He was facing into the wind where he could see everything in front of him in all directions and the only way to sneak up on him would be to go all the way around him and come out above him.

I managed to sneak within 10 feet of him and as I peaked over the hill he was looking right at me. I brought up the gun as

On the hunt for giant buck

aSHley HarriS / CapturinG Clay pHotoGrapHy

Steve Harris with his most prized possession.

‘i managed to sneak

within 10 feet of him and

as i peaked over the hill he

was looking right at me.’

Steve harrisHunter

See hunter, paGe 4

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he jumped out of his bed but all I could see through the scope was russian olive branches and an occasional bit of hair, I was too close. I took one shot as he was rounding the corner, a clean miss.

The deer disappeared for the next week and a half, and finally one day before work my boss, Clint Hecker, and I were out hunting and decided to go after a buck for him. We snuck around his buck and when we got close, my deer jumped up in front of us. I took several shots and all missed the mark. On the last shot before he went over the hill, I hit him and he stumbled up and over the hill.

We went over to the spot he went over and found lots of blood and some frag-ments of bone, which made me worry I had made a bad shot. With tons of blood on the ground, we followed him down a draw in the hopes of seeing him, but the blood ran out at a fence line we couldn’t cross.

We headed back to town, regrouped, called some land owners and got per-mission to go after him the next day. Two buddies and I went out and tracked him in circles in a creek bottom where it appeared coyotes had chased him all night. We looked the rest of the day try-ing to figure out where he had gone, in

the hills or along the creek.We proceeded to go out many times

after this with no signs of him or where he had gone. We thought maybe another hunter had found him that day or he had headed back into the hills. I looked for this deer on and off for the next two years during season and shed hunting and never found him.

In January of 2015, two buddies and I entered a coyote tournament and went out to the same land where I had lost the buck. Soon after we started call-ing, two coyotes appeared on the ridge about a half mile away and sat down and watched us for a half an hour. They would not come in and finally lost inter-est and walked away. After they left, my buddy asked if I had seen the giant shed right under where the coyotes had been.

I moved to the right five feet and sure enough, there was a big shed laying there. We talked about going to get it, but it was a really sloppy and muddy day. We decided no one would be going in there for any reason and we would go back later.

That brings us to the morning of April 19, 2015, when my buddy, Jimmy Decker who had spotted the shed, and I headed out to go find it. We drove into the property and decided to walk it from the top of the ridge on down where he

had spotted it. We each picked a ridge and started walking toward where we thought we had seen it.

About three quarters of the way down the ridge, I spotted the horn we had seen during the coyote tournament. I yelled over to Jimmy that I had found his horn. I disappeared down to the bottom of the draw where I saw it, and as I got closer I noticed it was a full rack and not just a shed as we had originally thought. As I walked up on it, I noticed it was laying in a big washout and a lot bigger than what we thought.

The configuration of the rack looked strikingly familiar. As I pulled it out of the washout I couldn’t believe my eyes,

it was the giant that had haunted my dreams for over two years. It was in my hands, at last.

As tears flooded my eyes I ran to the top of the hill as fast as I could. I yelled to Jimmy that it was my buck and dropped to my knees in disbelief. The rack that seemed like just a dream was finally a reality.

After we celebrated and high-fived, we took pictures to remember this mo-mentous occasion. We brought the rack back to town to show everyone and to score it. The monster rack cleared the magical 200-inch mark with a final gross score of 210 6/8 and just under 34 inches wide. This buck is above and beyond what I had remembered or seen in my dreams.

I would like to thank everyone who helped me look for this buck the last two years: Jimmy Decker, Chad Daw-son, Chad Nelson, Clint Hecker, Edwin Gatzke, Corey Foss, Erik Volkman and Clancy Harris.

I would also like to thank all the land-owners in the area that let me go look for him.

And last but not least, I would like to thank my wife for all her support and patience while I spent countless hours looking for my buck.

hunter: monster rack of buck clears magical 200-inch markfrOM paGe 3 ‘as i pulled it out of the washout

i couldn’t believe my eyes, it was

the giant that had haunted my

dreams for over two years. it was

in my hands, at last.’

Steve harrisHunter

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Welcome Hunters!


SuBmitted

Kylee Lambert with her first buck.

Every hunting season some individu-als unwittingly or knowingly violate the state’s game laws.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks offi-cials urge hunters to review Montana’s hunting rules and regulations to ensure they act within the law and that they recognize when others violate the hunt-ing regulations and related laws. Any violation afield can be reported to TIP-MONT at 1-800-TIP-MONT, that is 1-800-847-6668 or report a violation online on the enforcement web page.

Here are some of the most common game violations:

• Failure to obtain permission from landowners before hunting on private property.

• Wasting part of a game animal suit-able for food.

• Failure to properly validate a li-cense/tag or to securely fasten the tag in a visible manner to a game animal immediately after it is taken and before it is moved or transported from the kill site.

• Taking game from the wrong hunt-ing district.

• Using someone else’s tag on a game

animal you killed, or tagging a game animal that someone else killed.

• Shooting game animals on or from any public highway or public right-of-way.

• Taking game without a license or the proper permit.

• Failure to validate a big game tag.• Not leaving evidence of the sex or

species of the game animal attached.FWP encourages hunters to protect

the future of their sport by hunting responsibly and reporting hunting vio-lations to the toll-free 1-800-TIP-MONT (1-800-847-6668) number.

Be aware of hunters’most common violations

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By Mike francinGueSSidney Herald

This year’s 3D archery shoot at the Lone Tree Archery shooting range east of Sidney brought bow enthusiasts from across the MonDak area to participate in the outdoor fun.

“We usually do one of the 3D shoots a year, maybe two if we get good par-ticipation,” Lone Tree President Tom Hedagaard said. “One for sure, usually in the first week of August around the fair.”

August is a good time to hold the event, as the weather is generally well-suited for being outside. But Aug. 1, the first day of the two-day event, was no picnic. The temperature reached 98 degrees in the afternoon. However, true archery lovers made sure to get out there in the morning and evening, and those even more dedicated to the club stayed throughout the day.

The 3D shoot is different from the regular Monday club meetings, Hed-agaard explained. Once (or twice) a year the club breaks out the fancy 3D targets and charges non-members to come out and have some fun on the range. It helps bring in money for the club and is a nice change to shooting hay bales with a 2D

animal on the side.“We keep the bales up all the time and

then we put up the 3D models for the tournament,” he said. “They’re very ex-pensive. We just got some new ones with a grant from city, so we’re very grateful for that.”

One of the new models, a bright white mountain goat, stood out in the yel-lowish-brown shooting range directly across from Lone Tree headquarters. Along with the goat, a mouflon ram and a caribou were new additions to this year’s course.

Archery ranges play like golf courses. You shoot at the “animal” from a desig-nated spot, which is different for com-pound and recurve bows. After you hit (or miss) your target, you collect your arrows and move on to the next target.

Despite Saturday’s sweltering heat, Sunday brought cooler weather, and even more shooters. This year was a good turnout, Hedagaard noted, as it wasn’t competing with any major events in the area.

“This is one of the better turnouts we’ve had in a few years,” he said. “It all depends on what’s going on around town.”

local 3d archery shoot attracts bow enthusiasts

mike FranCinGueS | Sidney Herald

The Lone Tree Archery Club holds a 3D shoot once or twice a year.See archery, paGe 7

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SuBmitted

Trenton Lambert with his spring turkey.

Montana’s young hunters will have the states’ waterfowl and pheasants to themselves Sept. 26-27.

Legally licensed hunters ages 10-15 may hunt ducks, geese, coots mergan-sers and ring-necked pheasants state-wide on these two special days set aside for youngsters.

The two-day youth hunt is open to:• legally licensed 12-15 year olds who

have completed hunter education and who are accompanied by a non-hunting adult at least 18 years of age;

• and properly certified and legally licensed apprentice hunters 10-15 years of age who are accompanied by a non-hunting adult “mentor” at least 21 years of age.

While the accompanying adult or mentor may not shoot, he or she can assist with setting decoys, calling and

retrieving.The bag limits, shooting hours, and

all other regulations that apply to the regular waterfowl season apply to this special hunt.

There is, however, one exception to the youth waterfowl season. That’s at the Canyon Ferry Wildlife Management Area near Helena where shooting hours will extend from one-half hour before sunrise to noon on each day.

A second youth-only hunt for deer is set for Oct. 15-16.

All hunters must ask first to gain per-mission to hunt on private land.

For more information, visit FWP’s website at fwp.mt.gov. Click “Hunt-ing” then click “Special Youth Hunting Opportunities”; for information on the new apprentice hunter program click “Apprentice Hunters”.

youth only pheasant, waterfowlhunts on tap in state Sept. 26-27

Archers are renowned for their love of the outdoors, but their reasons for shooting and for their weapons of choice are as varied as the weapons themselves.

Club member Loren Dempsey, for ex-ample, prefers to shoot a compound, an advanced bow that uses wheels and le-vers (and other doohickeys beyond this reporter’s comprehension) to achieve a further, straighter, more powerful shot than is achievable with a standard recurve bow.

“I’ve shot compounds all my life,” Dempsey, who has been shooting for 25 years, said. “It’s the ease of it, and hav-ing more distance. You can be accurate at 80, 90 yards.”

For outdoor adventurer (and sales-man) Grant Winters, the opposite is true, he prefers the recurve bow for the difficulty, he said. Winters, a former fly-fishing guide, said he quit using a compound because, well, it was too easy. He decided to switch to the recurve.

“The best immediate gratification I ever had was missing a target, because it wasn’t easy,” he said. “You get out of it what you put into it. The reward isn’t

always the animal in the photo. It’s

the investment of time and to see your-self grow and evolve because it takes a lot of work...It’s pretty fascinating what you can get out of your God-given abilities.”

Both Dempsey and Winters agreed on the reasons for enjoying archery. Spend-ing time outdoors with those close to you. Winters was out shooting Sunday with his girlfriend, who was brand new to the sport, offering her tips and point-ers along the way.

“For us, this is small town America,” Winters said. “We don’t have a Nord-strom’s or a cineplex or a lot of sporting venues. People have to get creative. It’s wholesome. You’re outside, you’re get-ting some exercise.”

Dempsey was out with his son, who has been shooting for nearly 10 years, both nailing targets dead on from what seemed like impossible distances for a bow.

“It’s about just getting out and enjoy-ing nature,” Dempsey said. “I love every minute I can be outdoors. It’s another thing I can do to get outside...Everybody has got to work, but you have to have time to enjoy life.”

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For wild upland birds — grouse and pheasants and such — it’s all about the hatch and chick survival.

Well, almost all. A really bad winter can knock things back for a year or two but generally, if there is a good hatch and good survival among the chicks, especially a few years in a row, there will be great hunting.

Gray (hunGarian) partridGeWhile no formal surveys are conduct-

ed for huns in Montana, weather and habitat conditions suggest huns across the state will range from slightly above to well below average this season. Observations in Regions 4, in the middle of Montana, and Region 7, in southeastern Montana, suggest aver-age numbers. In FWP Region 6, north-western Montana, good sized broods have been observed so hunters can expect hun numbers to be good given favorable 2015 nesting conditions that further benefited from dry conditions through June that likely improved nest success and brood survival. Summer hail storms in Regions 4 and 6 likely affected bird numbers where storm cells hit resulting in the aforemen-tioned spotty distribution of birds. In southcentral Montana, FWP Region 5, conditions were in flux and bird

numbers in most of the region will be below average.

pheaSantSMontana is experiencing a large

decline in CRP acreage along the northern tier of the state, which may have an impact on hunting experiences in Regions 4 and 6. Based on crow counts and brood sightings in Region 6, numbers vary from below average and slightly down from last year near Havre, to average and the same as last year near Malta and Glasgow, to well above average in the northeast corner of the state.

Sharp-tailed GrOuSeLike pheasants, sharp-tailed grouse

in Region 6 have been affected by a reduction in CRP acreage, so where CRP ground no longer exists there will likely be fewer birds. In the central part of the state in Region 4 things look good because the past few years have had favorable conditions for production and survival. The eastern part of the state in Region 7 should be about average but spotty depending on local habitat conditions. In Region 5, numbers are likely lower than last year due to low numbers of birds going into this year’s nesting season.

Forecast provided for upland bird hunting

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