Nine mile west anthro cow.

All I can say is good luck, it is slim pickins' in that unit unless you have access to some of the prime private grounds

What "prime private grounds"? What part of the unit?

I do wish you the best of luck, but we have too much of a problem on our property (and our neighbors have as well) with trespassers and vandalism to highlight which parts of the unit hold elk this time of year.

johnnycake said:

I do wish you the best of luck, but we have too much of a problem on our property (and our neighbors have as well) with trespassers and vandalism to highlight which parts of the unit hold elk this time of year.

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I can certainly appreciate the sentiment as I have had similar experiences and it is frustrating to no end. That being said, wouldn't the landowners prefer to have some of the herd thinned out? Certainly you don't know him, but maybe a good way to get introduced??

I can see where some might think that the landowners would want them thinned. But, in our neck of the woods, everyone is a hunter and nobody uses their land for agriculture--just recreational property. In my opinion, there aren't that many elk on the anthro unit, and the west sub unit in particular is pretty thin. We limit the family hunting on the property as it is, and most of our neighbors do too. This is a tough tag to fill the past decade or so, and on public land I'd call it nearly impossible.

johnnycake said:

I can see where some might think that the landowners would want them thinned. But, in our neck of the woods, everyone is a hunter and nobody uses their land for agriculture--just recreational property. In my opinion, there aren't that many elk on the anthro unit, and the west sub unit in particular is pretty thin. We limit the family hunting on the property as it is, and most of our neighbors do too. This is a tough tag to fill the past decade or so, and on public land I'd call it nearly impossible.

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I can certainly appreciate that. I know one of the larger farms up there does little to no hunting and won't allow anyone to hunt, but it seems like those are the loudest complainers about too many elk sometimes. I was thinking more of the farmers right along the roads. That 9 mile is the most screwed up land ownership I have ever seen in my life. Can anyone else point to anywhere on the map where 99% of the frontage is private, but usually only for a couple of hundred yards deep then all public essentially giving every landowner with 40 measly acres exclusive access to thousands of private? Not complaining about landowners, just the government agency that sold it off that way, very odd!

johnnycake said:

I can see where some might think that the landowners would want them thinned. But, in our neck of the woods, everyone is a hunter and nobody uses their land for agriculture--just recreational property. In my opinion, there aren't that many elk on the anthro unit, and the west sub unit in particular is pretty thin. We limit the family hunting on the property as it is, and most of our neighbors do too. This is a tough tag to fill the past decade or so, and on public land I'd call it nearly impossible.

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Wow, really?? The Avintaquin side always has the label that "this is a low success hunt," the West Anthro side doesn't get that. The January cow hunt that connects the two doesn't warn of low success either. I guess I'll have to check the data :shock:;-) ...

SLChunter, I can pretty much guarantee you that the vast majority of the filled tags occurred on private lands. That is why I stated that filling it on public lands is nearly impossible. The actual kill numbers (2010 excepted) are relatively uniform, and I am asserting this is due to roughly the same number of people hunting the same private lands year to year. Occasionally, the weather will push the herd onto public lands but that is the exception not the rule.

From the late 90's thru about 2005 the Anthro elk unit was a hidden jem!!!!!

It was one of the funnest/best elk hunts in the state....

johnnycake said:

SLChunter, I can pretty much guarantee you that the vast majority of the filled tags occurred on private lands. That is why I stated that filling it on public lands is nearly impossible. The actual kill numbers (2010 excepted) are relatively uniform, and I am asserting this is due to roughly the same number of people hunting the same private lands year to year. Occasionally, the weather will push the herd onto public lands but that is the exception not the rule.

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Very interesting. Thanks ...