SagebrushSlayer
Active member
2017 was an incredible year of hunting for me, I was able to draw a couple tags in MT & WY, hunting with family and friends on each trip. I was really excited for my deer hunt in Montana, because I would get to hunt with my brother, ID_deerslayer. He moved to MT a few years ago and has been learning areas to hunt each year. I had it in my head that I would shoot the first deer that excited me when I saw it, which I assumed would be a nice representative mule deer for Montana. With limited time off, due to saving vacation for a 2018 hunting trip, I hunted weekends only and flew back to ID at the end of each weekend.
Our first weekend we headed out for Central Montana on Friday afternoon and checked out possibilities for Saturday morning. We dead ended in some deep snow on public that evening and decided to go to a BMA and glass before dark. We ended up seeing quite a few whitetail deer, including a pretty nice buck. Darkness pushed us back to our hotel and we ate dinner, got ready for the morning and I passed out about 730 (I work nights and didn't sleep during my travel day Friday).
Saturday morning we headed back to the BMA and eventually found the sign in box. We were the first ones there right before daylight and took off before shooting light. After about 30 mins of hiking we spotted some whitetails out in the middle of the property feeding. They were about a mile away and we thought we could circle in that direction after we checked some draws. Well the snow in early November was a little deeper than I thought it would be. After post hole hiking and not spotting any fresh tracks or deer, we looked back across and watched two hunters making there way over to the whitetails. After watching the show unfold and the other hunters take one of the bucks we made our way back to the truck to go check out some other BMA's. That afternoon, we went to a BMA my brother had the most success in finding animals and getting away from other hunters. The day was getting away from us and with a handful of vehicles at the sign in, we decided to come back the next morning and hike into his spot. On the way back to the motel, we probably spotted 400-500 deer, albeit they were on private property, but it was good to see so many deer after not seeing very many during Idaho's hunting season.
First thing Sunday morning we showed up early and headed out. After spotting quite a few Pronghorn and a couple groups of mule deer doe with young forky bucks at first light, we continued our hike and made it to one of his sitting trees about 8 in the morning. After getting settled in we watched a few different groups of both mule deer and whitetail deer feeding and moving to bedding areas as the sun hit the hillsides. We watched a few younger mule deer bucks try and posture for the ladies and follow them into different draws and coulees. After watching a group feeding about 600 yards away in a draw and no buck with them, I decided to go check out a draw on the other side of the hill and make sure we could verify nothing was feeding in it since it was still shaded. I was gone about 10-15 minutes before making my way back to where we set up our overlook. As I sit down, ID_deerslayer says "hey there is a doe coming up from the bottom of the draw you just checked out", so find her and start scanning behind her in the draw and a little young buck is following her about 40 yards or so. I scan behind the little buck and out of the brush comes a NICE buck, I tell my brother " there is a NICE buck" after a few seconds I say "I'm going to shoot that buck". He finds the buck in his binoculars and says he will watch from the sitting tree. The buck was about 500 yards away, working towards us slowly, but would disappear due to topography in about 200 yards following the draw. After I dropped down the hill and was working my way to where I thought the buck would be, I look up and ID_deerslayer is waving me back up the hill, so back up I go. He tells me the buck picked up his pace to keep up with the doe and we can go above us see from where I was glassing earlier. We moved over to the edge and set up. The doe was barely feeding, moving more then she was feeding, but the small buck and big buck were feeding and staying in the brush. Lagging behind the doe by about 50 yards, I waited for the buck to walk out and present me with a good shot. A short minute or two later and I ended up shooting my second Whitetail buck. We took in the amazement of how the morning unfolded and made our way down to check out the deer. I was thinking it was a good deer, comparable to one he shot a few years ago. Walking up to it I was pleasantly surprised when it was bigger than I thought. After high fives and photos, we noticed that the buck had escaped hunters at least once before earlier in the season. There was a good sized neck wound across the front of his throat. So we proceeded to quarter it out and started the pack back to the truck.
Thanks to ID_deerslayer for taking me out hunting. Hopefully we will be able to do it again soon. I'll leave it up to ID_deerslayer for the second weekend of the hunting story.
Our first weekend we headed out for Central Montana on Friday afternoon and checked out possibilities for Saturday morning. We dead ended in some deep snow on public that evening and decided to go to a BMA and glass before dark. We ended up seeing quite a few whitetail deer, including a pretty nice buck. Darkness pushed us back to our hotel and we ate dinner, got ready for the morning and I passed out about 730 (I work nights and didn't sleep during my travel day Friday).
Saturday morning we headed back to the BMA and eventually found the sign in box. We were the first ones there right before daylight and took off before shooting light. After about 30 mins of hiking we spotted some whitetails out in the middle of the property feeding. They were about a mile away and we thought we could circle in that direction after we checked some draws. Well the snow in early November was a little deeper than I thought it would be. After post hole hiking and not spotting any fresh tracks or deer, we looked back across and watched two hunters making there way over to the whitetails. After watching the show unfold and the other hunters take one of the bucks we made our way back to the truck to go check out some other BMA's. That afternoon, we went to a BMA my brother had the most success in finding animals and getting away from other hunters. The day was getting away from us and with a handful of vehicles at the sign in, we decided to come back the next morning and hike into his spot. On the way back to the motel, we probably spotted 400-500 deer, albeit they were on private property, but it was good to see so many deer after not seeing very many during Idaho's hunting season.
First thing Sunday morning we showed up early and headed out. After spotting quite a few Pronghorn and a couple groups of mule deer doe with young forky bucks at first light, we continued our hike and made it to one of his sitting trees about 8 in the morning. After getting settled in we watched a few different groups of both mule deer and whitetail deer feeding and moving to bedding areas as the sun hit the hillsides. We watched a few younger mule deer bucks try and posture for the ladies and follow them into different draws and coulees. After watching a group feeding about 600 yards away in a draw and no buck with them, I decided to go check out a draw on the other side of the hill and make sure we could verify nothing was feeding in it since it was still shaded. I was gone about 10-15 minutes before making my way back to where we set up our overlook. As I sit down, ID_deerslayer says "hey there is a doe coming up from the bottom of the draw you just checked out", so find her and start scanning behind her in the draw and a little young buck is following her about 40 yards or so. I scan behind the little buck and out of the brush comes a NICE buck, I tell my brother " there is a NICE buck" after a few seconds I say "I'm going to shoot that buck". He finds the buck in his binoculars and says he will watch from the sitting tree. The buck was about 500 yards away, working towards us slowly, but would disappear due to topography in about 200 yards following the draw. After I dropped down the hill and was working my way to where I thought the buck would be, I look up and ID_deerslayer is waving me back up the hill, so back up I go. He tells me the buck picked up his pace to keep up with the doe and we can go above us see from where I was glassing earlier. We moved over to the edge and set up. The doe was barely feeding, moving more then she was feeding, but the small buck and big buck were feeding and staying in the brush. Lagging behind the doe by about 50 yards, I waited for the buck to walk out and present me with a good shot. A short minute or two later and I ended up shooting my second Whitetail buck. We took in the amazement of how the morning unfolded and made our way down to check out the deer. I was thinking it was a good deer, comparable to one he shot a few years ago. Walking up to it I was pleasantly surprised when it was bigger than I thought. After high fives and photos, we noticed that the buck had escaped hunters at least once before earlier in the season. There was a good sized neck wound across the front of his throat. So we proceeded to quarter it out and started the pack back to the truck.
Thanks to ID_deerslayer for taking me out hunting. Hopefully we will be able to do it again soon. I'll leave it up to ID_deerslayer for the second weekend of the hunting story.
