2020 Montana deer recap

[EYJONAS!]

Another year with no deer. I spent 20 days this season chasing some wapiti around and never layed eyes on a buck even worth a second look.

Spent Thanksgiving week in another area and didn't see a buck older than 3. I don't see a point in shooting one just to shoot one.

I wish we'd go to a different season or program. Place I used to hunt had a 3 week season and it was a great area to find good bucks now........ it's meh.

 

[EYJONAS!]

#horsekicked

 

[badlander]

This was my 7th year hunting deer in SE MT. We hunted 11/14-21, covered a ton of ground and checked out properties from down by Moorehead up to Ekalaka and in between. As a general statement, we saw a LOT less mature (or at least older age class) bucks than we ever have and saw very little of the typical rutting activity that we see during that same week in previous years. We found pockets of deer here and there where there was moisture - river bottoms, irrigation, cattle waterer that had been over flowing and keeping grass green and growing in a draw etc... but in general most of the grasslands looked like a pool table. We also saw a TON more cattle around in areas where we typically don't see them this time of year. Also, we saw WAY more people than we have in the past. That combination meant we rarely saw any deer, even does within a mile of a road and when we did find a doe group we only found one in a week that had a buck larger than a forkhorn with them.

In the time we were there one of the guys killed a decent fairly heavy 3x3 that was narrow and tall. Turned out to have been wounded earlier in the rifle season and was not in great shape. I killed a freaky 3x3 that was still half in velvet and after we recovered him was in such bad shape that we brought the head in to Broadus to have it tested for CWD. Turned out not to have CWD but its backbone and hip bones were sticking out and his neck was so skinny it looked like a doe - either really old, really bad shape, steer (had regular looking testicles?) or some combination of the 3. We had one other solid 4 point that we found but he was alone and searching for does and we never could get close enough for a good shot before he left pubic ground. For the first time in 7 years, our group left with a couple of open tags.

I'm not saying that there are no deer, there is a reason I've been hunting there for the last 7 years, and there is plenty of pubic land if you want to hike. However, based on what we saw this year, what we heard from the FWP techs doing collections, and the two taxidermy shops in Broadus I'm guessing if there is a bad winter in SE MT we're going to see significant winter kill. If I do manage to draw another tag in 2021, I'll be trying out a new area.

 

[The Hedgehog]

This year the hunting was more frustrating for me than about any I can remember. A few great days that were a lot of fun, lots and lots of slow, slow days, and crappy conditions. I quit elk and deer hunting around here on the last Saturday AM, loaded my gear up into my truck and drove about 5 hours from home to hunt deer the last day, public land whitetails. I hadn't taken a whitetail buck for 18 years, and have been wanting to get one for a few seasons. With only a day of season left, my standards were not very high. I had a fun, fun day despite the weather and no snow. I passed one buck at daylight I'd have really liked to have taken later, but it ran with a doe out toward a road, and I'm about 90% sure it was killed an hour later. I heard the shot, hit, and saw the drag mark. I passed another buck that will be real nice next year and got a couple pictures. I know this one made it til the end - he had decent mass and some small points on both his G2s.. I ended up shooting a weird 5X5 that had one dwarf antler. I'm happy with him. Thought for sure he was an older buck from how he was acting and his grey color, but I was certainly wrong. I brought out his jaw to see how young he was. He was a real small bodied deer. It's a good things, as I found out this week that freezers are harder to come by now than toilet paper was in June.

 

[Wrong Burgundy]

Not a stellar year for deer hunting for me, mostly due to jacked up schedules and some crazy weather at times.
I went out a few times on days with gusts north of 40 mph and really only did because I was just itching to hunt. Found a lot of does, a few small bucks and passed on all of them in early November.
The day after Thanksgiving I checked out an area that is tough to get into and usually sees little pressure and has pretty decent mule deer numbers. I had two hunters mess up a stalk I was making on a nice mule deer; they walked right up the ridge 200 yards from the buck I was moving in on. They never saw the deer or me, and appeared to be having a really great conversation the whole hike up. Oh well. Public land hunting. First time in three seasons I have run into anyone in that area.
I found this small buck just before the end of the day. It was a fun stalk, 255 yard shot and about 2 miles to the truck on the packout. My legs are still reminding me about it. Really cool country, the weather ended up being great for late November, and I have more in the freezer. I guess nothing to whine about...

 

[MTTW]

Our idea of big has slipped quite a bit in the last 20 years.

Our's hasn't.

 

[EYJONAS!]

It'll be interesting to see how things play out in the spring with the health of some herds over east and south east. They have just experienced one of the toughest droughts in history and if get a harsh winter or spring I don't know how good things are gonna turn out for them........

 

[antlerradar]

It'll be interesting to see how things play out in the spring with the health of some herds over east and south east. They have just experienced one of the toughest droughts in history and if get a harsh winter or spring I don't know how good things are gonna turn out for them........

If we have a tough winter, I think it will be ugly for the deer.

 

[antlerradar]

Our's hasn't.

Good point.

 

[BirdManMike]

I shot one whitetail doe and one decent whitetail buck on my own little property pretty early in the season. Had another whitetail doe tag but didnt use it. Saw some nice mule deer bucks on public lands thru the season but did not have a tag for them because I used my general deer on the backyard buck. Friend shot a really great whitetail buck on my property last day of the season this past weekend. Im a little jealous (and happy for my friend, of course!) thinking I shouldve held out, but the first time I saw this guy was when he was dead so not like I knew he was around and I am not patient or a trophy hunter by any stretch so whatever!

 

[Nemont]

Judging by the license plates we saw it isn’t just western Montana guys who are out here. Must be half of Washington, Wisconsin, Minnesota and a sprinkling on California.

still had days where we never saw another hunter so there is that. Tons of deer and lots of nice bucks were taken. I didn’t pull the trigger on one but participated in a few successes

nemont

 

[257 Wby Mag]

Strange year over there this year, lotsa little bucks, rut didn’t seem to be kicked in early like years prior. Still had a good time like always.

 

[Pucky Freak]

well 2020 season is over, how was it ? i hunted montana the 3rd week of november and went in with pretty high hopes that the bucks would be rutting but they just were not rutting atleast in region 4 where i was. we hunted 8 days and i saw maybe 2 receptive doe's the entire time . mature bucks were non existent . totally disappointed expected on a Montana general tag on public. i brought home 2 deer, my buck and a mule doe . we had a great time, looked over 150-200 different deer per day I was going to shoot a doe with my A tag but a wounded 4 point came by me on day 4 or 5 and he was hurt in the high front shoulder pretty bad, we think he was hit a few miles away on neighboring property but who knows . it wasnt a buck i was after but it needed to be put down and i salvaged most of the meat off the deer. then i filled my b tag the next day . like i said, we had fun but what a strange trip. usually by nov 20th the rut is in full swing. they had a blizzard 7 days before we arrived and of course then it got warm and that coulda halted deer activity plus it was awful to get around boots were 15 lbs each and just a recipe for not good hunting. hope the rest of you did better than me.

A great hunt is born through your expectations, not what you encounter

 

[8andcounting]

well 2020 season is over, how was it ? i hunted montana the 3rd week of november and went in with pretty high hopes that the bucks would be rutting but they just were not rutting atleast in region 4 where i was. we hunted 8 days and i saw maybe 2 receptive doe's the entire time . mature bucks were non existent . totally disappointed expected on a Montana general tag on public. i brought home 2 deer, my buck and a mule doe . we had a great time, looked over 150-200 different deer per day I was going to shoot a doe with my A tag but a wounded 4 point came by me on day 4 or 5 and he was hurt in the high front shoulder pretty bad, we think he was hit a few miles away on neighboring property but who knows . it wasnt a buck i was after but it needed to be put down and i salvaged most of the meat off the deer. then i filled my b tag the next day . like i said, we had fun but what a strange trip. usually by nov 20th the rut is in full swing. they had a blizzard 7 days before we arrived and of course then it got warm and that coulda halted deer activity plus it was awful to get around boots were 15 lbs each and just a recipe for not good hunting. hope the rest of you did better than me.

A great hunt is born through your expectations, not what you encounter

I hunt private .

 

[Pucky Freak]

I hunt private .

OK so you hunt 8 days x 175 unique deer per day = 1400 unique deer. That’s cool that you have access to such an enormous piece of ground. Apparently the ranch manager is...incompetent? I’d be miffed if I paid a lot to overlook nothing but an ocean of dinks, especially if I’d been told otherwise.

 

[8andcounting]

OK so you hunt 8 days x 175 unique deer per day = 1400 unique deer. That’s cool that you have access to such an enormous piece of ground. Apparently the ranch manager is...incompetent? I’d be miffed if I paid a lot to overlook nothing but an ocean of dinks, especially if I’d been told otherwise.

Ranch manager ? The rancher (owner) is a dear friend the ranch is no managed or outfitted . We don’t pay to hunt it . We go there every year and have fun I’m just simply saying this year something was different , aka they weren’t rutting .

 

[brockel]

but I wonder if at some point FWP will have to allocate tags by unit to spread out pressure.

That day can’t get here soon enough

 

[brockel]

I wish we'd go to a different season or program. Place I used to hunt had a 3 week season and it was a great area to find good bucks now........ it's meh.

I wish at the least we’d go to general tag October 1-31 and then a special draw for November. Be a lot of young bucks that wouldn’t be killed by being rut dumb.

 

[Fire_9]

I wish at the least we’d go to general tag October 1-31 and then a special draw for November. Be a lot of young bucks that wouldn’t be killed by being rut dumb.

I concur. It would kind of suck but I almost wish we had to specify our weapon too.

 

[EYJONAS!]

900 archery deer tag Aug 15 - Sept 15 (statewide)
General deer October 1-31
Archery special November 10-30 (region specific)
Rifle Special November 10-30 (50 permits tops per district)

Maybe a limited entry muzzy? Instead of special rifle permit?

Private land doe tags

Thoughts?