Little Belt Mountains

[lowke01]

Can anyone suggest a couple places to front country camp in the Little Belt Mountains in Montana? I'd like to be centralized on the west side of 89 with the plan to move to the east side if we're having a hard time locating elk. Is that smart or should we just camp near 89 and drive in/hike either direction from there?

 

[Fire_9]

To save yourself some grief I would start by introducing yourself

 

[lowke01]

Thx for the advice. I'm not sure what grief you speak of but I'd prefer to avoid any negative interactions. I found the about me tab on my profile so I just completed that. Hopefully that's what you're talking about and people can read that and get an idea of who I am.

 

[G. McAlister]

I think he means introduce yourself in the who am I section of the forum.

 

[HighWildFree]

Camp off of any of the main Forest Service roads. You, everybody, and their brother

 

[Fire_9]

I'm saying that some guys don't like it when your first post is asking for info. I can't say a whole lot as I was one of those guys when I drew my goat tag. Either way, good luck. I would share intel if I had any...

 

[kansasdad]

Thx for the advice. I'm not sure what grief you speak of but I'd prefer to avoid any negative interactions. I found the about me tab on my profile so I just completed that. Hopefully that's what you're talking about and people can read that and get an idea of who I am.

I copied and pasted what his profile "about me" section states:

My name is Kevin, I'm 43 years old, I grew up in a hunting family but I'm just beginning to get serious about big game hunting as an adult for the first time. Watching Randy on YouTube has been a big part of me getting fired up to get out into the woods again. I love the DIY and public land aspect of hunting.

 

[MooseCaboose]

Don't have any suggestions, i've never hunted there. But I do know you should expect it to be very busy, especially on weekends.

 

[smithrmk]

Pm me about the Little Belts. I've taken multiple elk on the south end. These fools that troll this site think you got to produce a "resume" to ask questions. Hunt mid week and after snow and you will get into elk. I can tell you a great spot to camp also.

 

[8andcounting]

Pm me about the Little Belts. I've taken multiple elk on the south end. These fools that troll this site think you got to produce a "resume" to ask questions. Hunt mid week and after snow and you will get into elk. I can tell you a great spot to camp also.

This is the best post in months . Thank you smith

 

[lowke01]

Thanks guys. I rarely use forums so I'm sure I have plenty of "etiquette" to learn but I didn't think it was going to be too complicated or touchy to ask some questions about camp spots. Btw, I forgot to mention we are bow hunting mid September. I'm sure we will still have crowds but not like rifle season.

 

[Dan O]

Thanks guys. I rarely use forums so I'm sure I have plenty of "etiquette" to learn but I didn't think it was going to be too complicated or touchy to ask some questions about camp spots. Btw, I forgot to mention we are bow hunting mid September. I'm sure we will still have crowds but not like rifle season.

Even in September you can have lots of snow in the Little Belts. There are a lot of gated roads you can use to walk into an area to get off the beaten path. Use Google earth to find more remote area's and check them out. Not many guys get to far off the roads. Know how to use a compass & maps plus a GPS really helps. It's easy to get turned around in some of the area's. I have never been lost there but have been confused on occasion. One time I shot an Elk in the late afternoon and didn't think I was that far from the truck. I checked my GPS and I was 1 1/2 miles from the truck and in the next drainage. Followed the GPS track out after dark right to the truck.

 

[[email protected]]

We've been hunting the NW side the past 3 years, if you have Google Earth overlays that come with the OnX chip it shows you designated campsites though you can camp anywhere you please. There will be a fair amount of hunters but there is also a ton of land to hunt so bumping into people isn't much of an issue unless you are road hunting. Most of the gravel roads are pretty decent and you can get around quite easily on them. They did have snow at the beginning of September last year, you can expect all sorts of weather if you are going to be there for a week!

 

[lowke01]

Thanks Matthew and Dan. Good info/warning about the chances of snow even in September. We're going to be there for 2 weeks so I'm sure we'll get some variety of weather and hunting conditions. I have OnX for Montana and I've been studying Google Earth, so I'm making progress. My dad is pulling in a 23' trailer so we'll be limited to camping off the wider/maintained gravel roads.