Montana Deer Hunting Question

[Madman]

Couple of quick questions for those of you familiar with Montana's hunting regulations. I am just starting to look at expanding into hunting other states, and am curious if Montana differentiates whitetails from mule deer on their tags....from eyeballing the regulations it doesn't appear so, but wanted a little experience to verify how I interpreted them. Additionally, if there are areas of left over tags, can you go to a Wildlife office and purchase those if coming from out of state? Sometimes my work rotation and ability to have someone fill in for me doesn't allow for planning a hunt to draw, but if I can do this by purchasing left overs it should help broaden my horizons. I'm really interested in Mule Deer and Whitetail hunts in Montana, and any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[bowhuntmontana]

It depends on the area. A general A tag is often good for either a whitetail or a mule deer, but definitely not always. You will want to look at the area-by-area regulations just to be certain. There are also several limited entry areas. There are other areas where you have to put in for the mule deer tag, but you are guaranteed the draw; however, you can only hunt mule deer bucks in that specific area. There are others where you can only hunt whitetails. Almost any combination of the above are possible. Again, I'd be sure to look into the regulations area-by-area.

Leftover tags usually go on sale in August and get sold out pretty quick. I am not aware of which, if any, limited entry tags would be leftover aside from some doe tags.

I might have some of my information wrong. Anyone is welcome to correct me.

 

[Madman]

Thank you for the info. The area I was looking at is the South Central to east above the Wyoming Border. I left my print out of the regs in my other pick up, but will look over them for which area/unit it is. Also plan on making a call to Dow/Fish and Wildlife or whatever they are called during the work week.

 

[Madman]

Think it is 702,704, and 705 area if those are the correct terms for it. Looking on OnX.

 

[LCH]

You can show up and buy some B tags OTC, but all the antlered tags go out in the draw.

 

[bowhuntmontana]

I haven't specifically looked at those areas, but I think pretty much all of the 700 units are either species. And last year there were leftover mule deer doe tags for the 700s as well.

 

[MLaird]

In those areas this year the regs allow either sex/either species harvest with your general tag which you have to draw. Leftovers will be for does only.

If you do come to hunt, note that part of this area (the southern half of 704) is a special CWD management zone so there are restrictions on moving the carcass. They will be doing a lot of research on CWD in 705 this fall, too, but there won't be the same restrictions.

 

[Madman]

Thanks!

 

[lsutigers_1]

A little off topic but any advise on Region 3 hunting for Whitetail and Elk B-Licenses? I've never been to Montana and I will be traveling from Louisiana.

 

[PacificSon]

It depends on the area. A general A tag is often good for either a whitetail or a mule deer, but definitely not always. You will want to look at the area-by-area regulations just to be certain. There are also several limited entry areas. There are other areas where you have to put in for the mule deer tag, but you are guaranteed the draw; however, you can only hunt mule deer bucks in that specific area. There are others where you can only hunt whitetails. Almost any combination of the above are possible. Again, I'd be sure to look into the regulations area-by-area.

Leftover tags usually go on sale in August and get sold out pretty quick. I am not aware of which, if any, limited entry tags would be leftover aside from some doe tags.

I might have some of my information wrong. Anyone is welcome to correct me.

Do you know where to find over the counter doe tag information per district, for residents?

 

[R.K.]

Do you know where to find over the counter doe tag information per district, for residents?

It's in the regs.

You can look on the FWP website to purchase tags, and see which ones are available under Deer-B License.

Then get on the digital Deer-Elk-Antelope regs (DEA regs) on the fwp website, then Ctrl+F to search the document for the tag number that's available. That will find every instance where the tag is listed in the regs, and you can write down which units the tags are valid in.

Could be easier, but it isn't tough.