As I’ve said before, I spent several months in North Dakota several years ago, working as the photographer for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. It was a great gig, and the folks up there were incredible, but North Dakota just wasn’t home. I might have gotten used to most of the differences, but I couldn’t get my head around the thought of only having one elk license for the rest of my life.
That’s just a completely foreign thought to me. It makes sense up there, because they just don’t have the elk numbers, and if everyone could hunt them like we do down here, they’d quickly run out of them altogether. And to be fair, you can always go hunt with someone who has a license and be along for the ride, and still get to enjoy a hunt. But you can’t fill your freezer very well that way.
Fast-forward to this year. I’ve been back in Wyoming for several years, and I never gave up my residency, because I never moved to North Dakota. I’ve had a general elk license every year since. But this year, I bought two over-the-counter leftover cow/calf elk licenses, and I’ve been out looking for the beasts a few times. Today, I’m out there again, trying to help out some ranchers who get mobbed by elk, who come down out of the hills and clobber their haystacks.
If I don’t connect today, I still have another full weekend to get it done, and then one more bonus day, because the 31st falls on a Saturday this year. So not only can I get a license every year here, I can get multiple licenses. And on top of that, we have seasons that stretch clear into January. So yes, it’s good to be back here in the Cowboy State. Granted, more elk means more depredation on farm land, but that’s also a benefit, because there are always ranchers who will let you help thin the herds.
Happy hunting to you.
