Breaks mule deer

The people that know Montana can see how far we’ve fallen. People that don’t know any better come here and act like they have just been to Disney Land when they leave. I’m sure they are trying to make the resource better. I’m sure it will add more access better quality hunts and more wildlife on the landscape.
 
Up on the Hi Line where I'm at now the mule deer are beyond plentiful. I took a tall wide 3x3 the first afternoon ... from a flock of 15+! Between my brother and I we had to have seen nearly forty deer in just a couple of hours. There was a 4x4 with the bunch but got around the corner before I could get a shot. Condition of my license is I have to hunt with my resident brother who was having trouble with diabetes and vehicle so I took the shot at this one. Offhand at 200 yds and I dropped him flat. I really thought he was a better buck but it worked out okay. Had to drag it about a mile to a road. Fortunately nothing uphill and good snow on the ground. Next morning brother loaded it up and went home to the West Side. Sounds like he won't recover sight in his left eye. Bummer. May be our last year hunting together.

Next day I went to the same property to find the shell carrier that fell out of my pack. Hunted birds and took a rooster, three sharpies, and a Hun. Saw several does and a forked horn. Out on the county road on the way home I drove by ten more on the rancher's north property with five small bucks in the bunch. Less than a mile down the road a dozen does were on both sides. Next block management there was a monster buck chasing does 250 yards away. His rack didn't require binoculars! Right in town today I see a doe and fawn standing in the ditch. The guy and kid who pulled into the campground tonight have four muley doe tags to fill. I hope they shoot them all. The deer will just die this winter anyway. The rancher at the property we hunted told us he saw a herd of more than fifty in his back end grain field two weeks ago. I sent these two on up to his place. If they don't come back with a truckload tomorrow, it's because they can't shoot. Heck, while eating lunch my brother had three does walk by the vehicle close enough to touch if he'd rolled down the window. They were headed to the graineries with the blinders on.
 
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I was surprised to not see the usual highway deer coming back from the breaks last weekend. That may just be lack of moisture causing lack of green grass along highway.

I did just speak to buddy who saw 40 head of whitetail on river bottom.
I did not see that but I wasn’t hunting deer.

This drought is going to be tough on wildlife and ranchers.
 
My daughter and I spent the 2 days of the junior hunt in the breaks, a couple go to spots looked pretty dismal but after changing tactics based on the logical conclusion one would come to considering the conditions we checked another spot that typically holds some deer and found lots of deer, 2-3 times normal and lots of elk concentrated in one basin. I would be looking for places that still have H2O
 
Hunting the bird refuge for uplands I'm surprised how little deer sign I'm running into given that it still holds lots of water. No sign of blue tongue at all. A few years back during the last epidemic I couldn't go two hundred yards there without the dogs finding a bone pile.

I would also suggest looking for places that haven't had cattle on them. The farmer whose property I hunted got out of cattle several years ago and didn't lease his pasture this year. I think the availability of browse may account for the large numbers of muleys on his place. Also look for anyplace with winter wheat or alfalfa bordered by coulees.
 
Eastern MT treated me great this year. Good luck!

img_7799-jpg.200279
 
brockel said:
Anymore pictures?
Click to expand...

Deer - lets see em

Which Ruger is that? Kinda looks like a big cartridge, which makes sense where you're hunting. Regards, Guy It’s a Ruger Guide Gun in .375 Ruger. It has more energy and velocity (w/ a shorter barrel) than a H&H .375 (w/ a longer barrel). It’s a very short, handy, durable gun with a hell of a...
www.hunttalk.com www.hunttalk.com
 
If Disney world is full of fork horns and does I guess I would agree that I went to Disney land. lol

I doubt I will ever hunt Montana again unless I have a draw tag. I hunted HARD for 8 days and ended up killing a doe on the last 15 minutes of my hunt. The amount of small bucks people were killing baffled me. lol

I saw 1 shooter on private land the entire time I was there and we had good cold weather and I was in fact hunting "during the rut".

Plenty of does to be had. I seen over 50 every day and maybe a fork horn or three or four. Actually, more does than what I figured I should be seeing so I didn't feel bad about shooting one. I certainly felt better about that than blasting a fork horn and tossing him in the truck. lol


I have hunted a lot of different states and I will have to admit that it was really freaking sad to hunt that hard and not even see a shooter in that many days during the rut.

Buck to doe ratio is CRAZY out of whack in those units.

PS: You residents can say whatever you want but the local residents or people with Montana plates were the ones I saw killing most of the fork horns and small bucks in the units I hunted so I dont know why everyone points to the non-residents.
 
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Mallardsx2 said:
If Disney world is full of fork horns and does I guess I would agree that I went to Disney land. lol

I doubt I will ever hunt Montana again unless I have a draw tag. I hunted HARD for 8 days and ended up killing a doe on the last 15 minutes of my hunt. The amount of small bucks people were killing baffled me. lol

I saw 1 shooter on private land the entire time I was there and we had good cold weather and I was in fact hunting "during the rut".

Plenty of does to be had. I seen over 50 every day and maybe a fork horn or three or four. Actually, more does than what I figured I should be seeing so I didn't feel bad about shooting one. I certainly felt better about that than blasting a fork horn and tossing him in the truck. lol


I have hunted a lot of different states and I will have to admit that it was really freaking sad to hunt that hard and not even see a shooter in that many days during the rut.

Buck to doe ratio is CRAZY out of whack in those units.

PS: You residents can say whatever you want but the local residents or people with Montana plates were the ones I saw killing most of the fork horns and small bucks in the units I hunted so I dont know why everyone points to the non-residents.
Click to expand...
I completely agree. I was lucky as hell finding this guy and I know a lot of people are reporting the same.
 
OntarioHunter said:
Up on the Hi Line where I'm at now the mule deer are beyond plentiful. I took a tall wide 3x3 the first afternoon ... from a flock of 15+!
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OntarioHunter said:
The guy and kid who pulled into the campground tonight have four muley doe tags to fill. I hope they shoot them all. The deer will just die this winter anyway. The rancher at the property we hunted told us he saw a herd of more than fifty in his back end grain field two weeks ago. I sent these two on up to his place. If they don't come back with a truckload tomorrow, it's because they can't shoot. Heck, while eating lunch my brother had three does walk by the vehicle close enough to touch if he'd rolled down the window. They were headed to the graineries with the blinders on.
Click to expand...
JFC
1636066613466.png
 
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