Montana

[deermeister]

I was recently invited to go to Montana on a deer combo hunt (whitetail/mule deer) this fall. Has anyone done any hunting out there? I have always deer hunted in and around Michigan, and really have no idea what I may be getting into. I'm going, of course.

[petey]

Yup,

I've bowhunted and rifle hunted Montana and lived there for a little time too (while attending a guide school in my younger years, not that I"m an old fart or anything). Where are you hunting exactly? There's a HUGE difference in terrain from the CMR (Mussleshell River & MO River Breaks) to the Bitteroots.

You're talking flat land hunting to quakies to VERY Mountainous dark timber.

So, where at, East, North, South, or West?

I've hunted Northern Yellowstone, spent much time near the NW panhandle of Idaho, and hunted as far East as Jordan, including the CMR and Missouri River breaks.

By the way, good luck. Too bad their Non-resident license just about empties your wallet though. Almost make you want to buy the Combo Tag and get your elk for an extra $100

[Elkaholic]

Deermeister,
As Petey has said, the terrain varies a great deal, the rocky mountains divides the state roughly in half with the continental divide following along north to south. East of the continental divide is wide open terrain with rolling prarie, with smaller mountain ranges found south of the missouri river. You will find the whitetails along the water sheds, with the milk and missouri rivers to the north, and yellowstone to the south. You can find whitey's up in the wheat and prarie country off the river drainages with nary a tree in sight, not quite like michigan whitetails. It's a spot and stalk game. Muleys are also in the coulees and brushy draws, and tall grass crp fields, sometimes right along with the whitetails. You can see many deer in a single day, it's more of a spot and stalk hunt, sometimes alot like antelope hunting. Now the West side of the divide is steeper, more mountainous with more timber and lusher growth. Whitetails are still in the river drainages, all the way up to the upper slopes. Muleys are generally found on the upper slopes too. I'm not sure of this years regs, but the past few years you had to choose to hunt muleys on the west side by applying for tags. In general, i think you will find larger whitetails on the West side, but you will not see near as many deer in a day. Seeing 18 to 20 deer is a good day of hunting on the West side. If you are hunting eastern montana, bring good optics, and a rangefinder sure wouldn't hurt, you will probably be shooting alot farther than your typical michigan hunt. Sight in your rifle for maximum point range(for my 270, about 2" high at 100) that way, you can hold dead on out to 300 yards or more. I find easterners tend to think game is farther than it actually is, and tend to shoot over an animal, I think not having trees to judge by kind of throws people who are used to seeing deer no more than 50 yards away. That's where the range finder comes in handy. The other tendendency i have seen is when you are used to shooting deer so close, you shoot offhand with no problem. Out west, you want a good rest, so a bipod, or shooting sticks helps steady your shooting. That's about as good advice as i can give ya, other than enjoy yourself, it's different country, with not as many people hunting around you, so my guess is, you're going to enjoy yourself a bunch, good luck.
John

[deermeister]

Northwest. We're going to area 121 near Trout Creek around Thanksgiving. If we were going for longer than four days, I'd have gotten the elk tag as well, but one of the party is a teacher, and he can't stay any longer.

[petey]

No Kidding?!!

Heck I went to guide school in Heron which is the next town (if you want to call it that) over. That's where I spent a good bit of time.

As a matter of fact, to get to the top of the drainages we were hunting we had to go to Trout Creek.

I'm sure it hasn't changed much since I've been there, so you can expect very mountainous terrians, but easy access via 4x4 in some places. You'll be hunting heavy timber with a lot of open parks or meadows. They did a lot of controlled burns around that area 15 years ago, so I'm not sure what it'll look like now. There are some MASSIVE whitetails around that area. I came home with a lot of sheds, in fact there wasn't a time I'd take a walk where I didn't pick up a nice shed. It got to the point where I wouldn't pick up anything larger than 5 points (whitetail)

One of the largest bucks I've watched in the wild for some time lived close there to triangle lake. He had over 22 points in early Aug with double drop tines close to 12"! The only immediate advice I can offer you, especially coming from Michigan is DON'T be shooting the first 8 point to come along or 10 for that matter (5 point Western count). You'll be kicking yourself in the rear

It's been close to 10 years since I've been there, but I doubt all the big bucks have been shot. I'n my time there an average buck was 140...yes average.

I'll go through some of my pictures and see if I can get them on here for you so you can see what it'll look like. Beautiful country!!.....you won't want to go back home after visiting

[petey]

I've highlighted the primary area that I concentrated on in MT, Although I did spend much time in the Cabinet Mt Wilderness and Kootenai Nat Forest to the North also.

Like I said, it's been some time since I've been there, but I have all kinds of info on this EXACT location, pictures, maps, roads and the drainages you need to be hunting.

In the meantime if you check out Wayne Hill Outfitting (who isn't a sponsor by the way) they were the next closest outfitter to the Wilderness Lodge where I was at. You Can see some pictures of deer here
http://www.waynehilloutfitting.com/deer.htm

If you look at the 2005 photos you'll probably be kicking yourself in the rear for not getting your elk tag too

Wayne hunts the exact same area I highlighted.

[deermeister]

Petey:

What a coincidence! If all goes well, I hope to make it an annual (and longer) trip. You ARE right about the elk, maybe next year.
As far as rifle and rangefinder go, I'm all set. I intend to re-sight in (and practice) at 300 yards, as I cannot locate a 400 yard range nearby. I really hadn't given thought to a bipod, but I will now. As far as other equipment, I was planning to go back to wool outerwear anyway. What worries me is footgear. The swampers I wear here (that's Yoopanese for rubber boots) just aren't going to be suitable, especially If I'm going to be walking a lot in mountainous terrain. For binocs, I've got decent 8-power. What else?

[petey]

Boots are a definate yes. Don't scrimp on those and buy them as soon as you can to break in over the summer. I'd suggest something with a bob-sole, b/c as soon as you step off the road it's almost verticle. You'll find tons of switchbacks and driving in low-4x4 just to save your breaks.

I buy the best I can afford. I fmoney is an issue, then one pair I highly recommend is the Cabela's brand Iron Ridge (all leather) They are a 10" boot, 800 gram and super light. I beleve these are based off of a Wolverine model but much cheaper running around $99. Paying anything less and you're probably asking for blisters, heavy boots, or falling on your rear a lot. Another "cheaper" good boot to look at is the cabelas outfitter series but these are heavier thatn the Iron Ridge.

If you have the chance to compare this with something like a Rocky Bear Claw you'll be amazed at the difference in weight a lone. Believe me, you'll put on the miles and the extra few onces you aren't hauling will be a blessing at the end of the day.

Buy the way, I own Wolverines, Rocky's, Timberland, Danner, and my choice on a Colorado elk hunt a couple years ago were the Iron Ridge as my primary and wolverines as my backups.

Quite honestly most of the deer I saw were on the low-lands near fields, and would come out just the same as back home in early morning and late evening. The super big bucks, though....well I'd run into them in some real nasty drainages, hidden parks, and places where you can tell not too many people tred. Just as a heads up, I ran into plenty of cat sign (mt lion) and even found a 5x5 mule deer in a kill tree hanging about 6 ft off the ground in a drainage once. Pretty neat actually, but it made me watch my back too.

It is two different worlds, and looking at Wayne's pictures to can tell I'm not BS'ing you. I have plenty of stories to tell about that area, heck I almost wish I were going now.

[petey]

Below is three pictures I took with a 35 mm then just scanned them and put them together real quick.

If I can recall, this shot is from left (head of elk creek) to right (Heron). There are over 30 drainages here, each of which has it's own little caveates. I took this picture from my favorite watching rock, very close to that big cat's sunnin rock.

This picture is basically the upper left-hand portion of the highlighted circle above. Hopefully it gives you an idea of what you're looking at. Here, I am on top... and to put things into perspective, both closest ridges on the left and right are around 1000 yards. Looking straight ahead in the skyline is Idaho.

PS. Sorry for the poor quality, but I just fished these pictures from a shoe box!

[deermeister]

Thanks, Petey!
That will be a great help.
I'm going to order topos in April, and we'll all get together and go over them.

[royinidaho]

Here's a google earth image. Goggle earth is a freebee and very time intensive when it comes to planning a hunt.

Just download google earth and type in Heron Mt and go hunting!

[petey]

Yeah, Google Earth rocks.

The screen shot you gave is of the Cabinet Mt Wilderness and the Kooteney Nat Forest.

The picture I supplied is South of your Crosshairs in the lower left hand corner. Buy the way Roy, you aren't looking for a Tomahawk are you? I may know someone who'll part with one for the right price

[royinidaho]

Bad timing on the tommy. Rebarreling the 338 Win to 338 RUM and have a super hootie 270 something on the way. Other than that, I'm broke.