Breaking Through the Confusion of Elk Shoulder Seasons

This week on the Montana Outdoor Podcast your host Downrigger Dale has another great conversation with FWP, Game Management Bureau Chief, Brian Wakeling, this time about Montana's Elk Shoulder Seasons. These seasons are already underway in several hunting districts and will go on and off through February 15th, 2026. Just that statement right there is confusing. Thus, there are a whole lot of hunters that pass on giving these elk harvest opportunities a try. Rigger has received a whole lot of emails from many podcast listeners and viewers complaining about that. Folks have said things like "I have a helluva time figuring out what tag I even need in Shoulder Seasons near me" or "Antlerless elk!? Does that mean a cow or calf or what" or "just when I thought I had it figured out, I head out and the landowner said, "hey you can't do that here now that was for last week!" And the list goes on and on. That's why your host Downrigger Dale said "not this year, all that confusion needs to be cleared up and Brian Wakeling is the perfect guy for the job. Brian is excellent at explaining everything you need to know about Elk Shoulder Seasons. During the podcast Brian even opened the 2025 hunting regulations and showed some examples of where to look for Shoulder Season info and more importantly what all that info means. Once you listen or watch this podcast you will be walking around with a big beautiful light bulb above your head! True you won't be bringing home a trophy mount, but you will be able to fill your freezer with delicious elk meat! That is way better than sipping on a mug of tag soup! So what are ya waiting for ya brilliant meat eater? Go mash that play button and listen or better yet watch and learn all about it! 

Links: 

• Click here for a web page were you can learn even more, and it has some great hunt planning tools!
• Click here to look at last year's Shoulder Season performance data that Brian gave us.
• For a copy of Montana's Deer, Elk and Pronghorn hunting regulations click here.
• To send Brian Wakeling a question click here.
• Click here to email Downrigger Dale.

Remember to tune in to The Montana Outdoor Radio Show, live every Saturday from 6:00AM to 8:00AM MT. The show airs on 30 radio stations across the State of Montana. You can get a list of our affiliated radio stations on our website. You can also listen to recordings of past shows, get fishing and and hunting information and much more at that website or on our Facebook page. You can also watch our radio show there as well.