All around new hunter from Montana

[kenton]

Welcome Jack

 

[bts09]

Congrats on the tags and welcome to HT!

 

[Pucky Freak]

Welcome!

 

[Dzlmech]

Welcome, if you ever make it over to the east side of the mountains i am around the Shelby/Conrad area. You can also message me if you have any questions about the breaks.

Thank you! I was fortunate to hunt in Shelby my third year of hunting a friends family member allowed us access to some landlocked public land through their property and had a fantastic time being able to see deer in every coulee. SO different than here in the northwest corner. I’d love to get back to the Shelby area and find some access to public lands.

 

[Tikka06]

That is a proper introduction. Welcome aboard and good luck.

 

[Ben Sellers]

Welcome!

 

[Elkhunter24]

welcome to HT!

 

[HuntingJudge]

Thank you! I was fortunate to hunt in Shelby my third year of hunting a friends family member allowed us access to some landlocked public land through their property and had a fantastic time being able to see deer in every coulee. SO different than here in the northwest corner. I’d love to get back to the Shelby area and find some access to public lands.

just message me if you ever want to make it over this way again.

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Welcome! Great intro!

 

[kylemcintyre67]

Welcome.

 

[LCH]

Good luck this year!

 

[Crossbowguy]

Welcome from Northern NY

 

[Flatbrimmer]

I was a little hesitant posting in the new guy forum cause it can be intimidating. But here I go.
My name is Jack I am a transplant from Northern California to Kalispell, MT now. I’ve been in Montana now for 11 years. And I had never hunted before the 2013 season. It all kind of started when an old roommate made bear stew from a bear he had harvested. After having that I knew I wanted to be able to find my own food. After that, my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) enrolled in the hunters education and completed that so we could hunt starting the 2013 season.
The both of us have been incredibly fortunate in our hunting experiences as we don’t have any real mentors. Neither one of us have any family whatsoever that hunt. So we are completely self taught. I spend lots of time watching hunting shows and listening to experiences. We have been fortunate to harvest an animal each every year we’ve been hunting. I myself have also harvested two wonderful bears, ones a funny story, but they are by far my favorite meat. We consider ourselves mule deer hunters as we love the elevation that they spend their time at here in the northwest.
Four years ago, we walk into a cabelas in post falls and my wife says “I want to shoot a bow” I was like really? Sure sounds like fun. Well naturally we end up buying her an entry level bear bow, and after she is shooting it in the yard and stuff for a couple weeks I’m like that does look like fun so I find an old Mathews mq1 bow for sale super cheap. We spend the next year messing around and taking bow hunters education, which let me tell you is far more informative to a new hunter than regular hunters Ed. Both of us have since upgraded bows to allow us to chase these mysterious wapiti.
Fast forward to last year, it was really my first time archery hunting. Well let’s face it, it was bow hiking. Now mind you I’ve been able to take my second bear with my bow in the 2017 season fall opener. That goes back to the funny story for another time. But I feel confident that if a shot presented itself I could take it. I had some trail cameras up in an area a friend said I should check out, turns out some fantastic amount of elk travel through this area, but never stay. I had two separate opportunities to take a cow at 30 yards, and I didn’t take them cause in my head I was thinking there’s gotta be a bull with them. There wasn’t. Going back to the saying never pass on the first day what you’d be happy with on the last day. I should have popped my elk cherry but I played arrogant and ate my tag.
Well here comes the 2019 tag applications and I was like let’s shoot for the moon, both my wife, myself, and next door neighbor, who I’d done a little bow hiking with, applied for the upper Missouri River breaks limited entry archery tag. In my head I’m thinking if one of the three of us draw it we’re going to have fun with it.
Well April rolls around for the draw results and all three of us draw it! So now the pressure is on. But we are looking forward to both my wife and I having the opportunity to fill our first elk tags.
I’ve been lurking on this site for a couple months learning but now looking forward to interacting with you all. So far everyone has been so ready to help and I really appreciate that because it seems like many of the locals to me are not willing to lend any advice.
If you’ve made it this far thanks for sticking it out! And can’t wait for September!View attachment 110771

I was a little hesitant posting in the new guy forum cause it can be intimidating. But here I go.
My name is Jack I am a transplant from Northern California to Kalispell, MT now. I’ve been in Montana now for 11 years. And I had never hunted before the 2013 season. It all kind of started when an old roommate made bear stew from a bear he had harvested. After having that I knew I wanted to be able to find my own food. After that, my girlfriend at the time (now my wife) enrolled in the hunters education and completed that so we could hunt starting the 2013 season.
The both of us have been incredibly fortunate in our hunting experiences as we don’t have any real mentors. Neither one of us have any family whatsoever that hunt. So we are completely self taught. I spend lots of time watching hunting shows and listening to experiences. We have been fortunate to harvest an animal each every year we’ve been hunting. I myself have also harvested two wonderful bears, ones a funny story, but they are by far my favorite meat. We consider ourselves mule deer hunters as we love the elevation that they spend their time at here in the northwest.
Four years ago, we walk into a cabelas in post falls and my wife says “I want to shoot a bow” I was like really? Sure sounds like fun. Well naturally we end up buying her an entry level bear bow, and after she is shooting it in the yard and stuff for a couple weeks I’m like that does look like fun so I find an old Mathews mq1 bow for sale super cheap. We spend the next year messing around and taking bow hunters education, which let me tell you is far more informative to a new hunter than regular hunters Ed. Both of us have since upgraded bows to allow us to chase these mysterious wapiti.
Fast forward to last year, it was really my first time archery hunting. Well let’s face it, it was bow hiking. Now mind you I’ve been able to take my second bear with my bow in the 2017 season fall opener. That goes back to the funny story for another time. But I feel confident that if a shot presented itself I could take it. I had some trail cameras up in an area a friend said I should check out, turns out some fantastic amount of elk travel through this area, but never stay. I had two separate opportunities to take a cow at 30 yards, and I didn’t take them cause in my head I was thinking there’s gotta be a bull with them. There wasn’t. Going back to the saying never pass on the first day what you’d be happy with on the last day. I should have popped my elk cherry but I played arrogant and ate my tag.
Well here comes the 2019 tag applications and I was like let’s shoot for the moon, both my wife, myself, and next door neighbor, who I’d done a little bow hiking with, applied for the upper Missouri River breaks limited entry archery tag. In my head I’m thinking if one of the three of us draw it we’re going to have fun with it.
Well April rolls around for the draw results and all three of us draw it! So now the pressure is on. But we are looking forward to both my wife and I having the opportunity to fill our first elk tags.
I’ve been lurking on this site for a couple months learning but now looking forward to interacting with you all. So far everyone has been so ready to help and I really appreciate that because it seems like many of the locals to me are not willing to lend any advice.
If you’ve made it this far thanks for sticking it out! And can’t wait for September!View attachment 110771

that’s a crazy picture of the bear above you in the tree. Super cool to get it with your bow! I actually just shot my first bear this year, with a rifle. I also moved here from NorCal, the East Bay, when I was a kid. Took hunters Ed and Shot my first and only elk when I was like 16 cuz my dad made me (good man). I didn’t get into hunting really until I was mid 20s and now I’m fully submersed in the “get it on your own” lifestyle. Constantly doing our own taxidermy and learning our own practices. Butcher and make our own sticks and jerky etc. I read your whole post about your buddys moleskin feet too and that cracked me up. Did you put in for the 620-21 tag again this year? If you ever want an extra at camp, I often find myself hunting alone. And I’m too extroverted and impatient to sit at it alone too long.. it’d be an honor to hunt beside you and your wife and share some knowledge of the area… when you were there, what’d ya think of the Slippery Petting Zoo?

 

[pabearhunter]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Wallydeuce]

Welcome from Nevada and good hunting!