Montana Mule Deer District 270

[MT_elk]

Congrats! Thanks for taking us along and sharing your experience.

 

[Kneetopia]

Nice buck. A friend of mine had that tag about 8 years ago and he put in about 14 days of hunting if I remember right. Similar to you, he saw tons of bucks, but in the end pulled trigger on a small/medium one. I'd say you did pretty will with that one.

 

[Griztrax]

Nice work G!! You put in the time and effort and at the end you harvested a nice buck...great memories for years to come! ...........what if I would've texted 30 seconds sooner...?

Thanks Kyle - not sure what I would have done with your info. LOL. I had recently been to all of the spots you mentioned. It is hard chasing "ghosts" I call them because rarely can you ever find a deer that someone else sees or when you do, often they aren't quite what you were looking for. I greatly appreciate you looking out for me!!

 

[Griztrax]

Nice buck. A friend of mine had that tag about 8 years ago and he put in about 14 days of hunting if I remember right. Similar to you, he saw tons of bucks, but in the end pulled trigger on a small/medium one. I'd say you did pretty will with that one.

Thanks! A lot of effort is put in by some seriously dedicated hunters. Was glad to meet several of them and forgot to mention that another tag holder from Butte America helped me pack my buck out - can't thank him enough. Hoping he can hold out to the end and find a stud.

 

[elkrchr]

It was a pleasure following youi on your adventure. Thank you for sharing your expereince and providing an honest review of the unit.

 

[rtraverdavis]

This has been a really fun and interesting thread to follow. I’ve learned some about the unique considerations of having a highly coveted tag. Thanks for sharing and congratulations on a good buck!

 

[BrianID]

Thanks for sharing the story and pictures. I've been on some similar hunts. I've learned to enjoy the experience and to not care as much about the antlers. Sounds like you were able to enjoy the exeperience

I've hunted other unit similar to this and I believe the lack of bucks with big antlers is easy to explain.

We as hunters are very effective at shooting the bucks with the best genetics.

Many of the hunters that draw these more coveted tags pass on multiple bucks that are older but have poor antler genetics. Hunters in these units put in more hours and effort than they would on a less coveted tag and often have friends along to help them filter through the bucks. The bucks with the better antler genetics often get killed when they are 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 because they score better than some of the 5+ year old bucks with poor antler genetics. There will still be a few really nice bucks killed in units like this but most of the good genetic bucks get killed before they are old enough to grow big antlers.

It wouldn't be hard to manage a unit like this different but it wouldn't be popular with a lot of hunters. You could make 40 of the 50 tags "3 point or less on one side" and keep 10 of the tags good for any buck. Within a couple years you would start to see a lot more big antlers in the unit but the odds of drawing the tag would become even worse.

 

[Griztrax]

We as hunters are very effective at shooting the bucks with the best genetics.

Many of the hunters that draw these more coveted tags pass on multiple bucks that are older but have poor antler genetics. Hunters in these units put in more hours and effort than they would on a less coveted tag and often have friends along to help them filter through the bucks. The bucks with the better antler genetics often get killed when they are 3 1/2 or 4 1/2 because they score better than some of the 5+ year old bucks with poor antler genetics. There will still be a few really nice bucks killed in units like this but most of the good genetic bucks get killed before they are old enough to grow big antlers.

It wouldn't be hard to manage a unit like this different but it wouldn't be popular with a lot of hunters. You could make 40 of the 50 tags "3 point or less on one side" and keep 10 of the tags good for any buck. Within a couple years you would start to see a lot more big antlers in the unit but the odds of drawing the tag would become even worse.

I have had this very conversation with several hunters and generally agree with what you are saying. I fought the urge to shoot a couple 3.5-4.5 year old bucks that had beautiful deep forks but had no mass or width. They probably would have scored higher than my deer but that really didn't matter to me. Interestingly, MFWP is going to discuss a proposal this month that would issue several tags only valid for deer with a 3-point side (not counting eye guard). The goal is to remove some of those bucks (like the one I shot) from the population. The proposal can be read here: http://fwp.mt.gov/doingBusiness/ins...tings/agenda.html?coversheet&topicId=51283397. Hopefully that link works. It will be interesting to follow this proposal and see if it gets adopted. I encourage people to provide public comment at the appropriate time - whether you agree or not with the proposal.

 

[Ridge Ghost]

Congrats on a successful hunt! You certainly put the time and effort in. And thanks for taking the time to write and share with us.

Interesting dynamic that there are so many "pretty nice" bucks but few, if any, true whoppers. It looks to me like you shot a pretty good representative of what the unit currently has to offer.

 

[Griztrax]

I got a chance to skin out the head tonight so I can take it in for a European mount. As a wildlife biologist myself, I have aged quite a few deer over the years but I must admit I'm a little rusty as I'm not a big game biologist and I had to refer to my literature. Once a deer hits 4.5, they definitely become difficult to age. I'm putting this buck at 6.5. I will be sending a tooth off to FWP tomorrow and hopefully will get the official age next spring. But assuming this deer is 6.5 (give or take a year), it should arguably have one of it's largest set of antlers.....Yikes! I also put a tape to his left antler and came up with 72 inches and an inside spread of 22. if his right matched his left, that would put him at 166. I was thinking 160 when I saw him on the hoof so I'm glad to know that I was in the ballpark with his frame since I had never hunted mature mule deer. I didn't even measure the right side but assume he is low 150's as a mainframe 3x4 with eye guards. Looking forward to getting him back from the taxidermist and displaying at my office.

 

[targetpanic]

I thoroughly enjoyed following along on your journey! Congrats on a great buck and thank you for taking the time to share!

 

[Stubaby]

Thanks for taking us along. Nice buck!!

 

[Griztrax]

I've been anxiously awaiting the tooth aging results on my deer from last fall and the email came in this morning from FWP. As I had estimated, the buck was 6.5 years old. The scientist in me wishes I knew what he looked like at 5.5, 4.5, 3.5, and even what he might have looked like this year had I let him walk. As it is, he sits in my temporarily empty office (working from home) and is a great daily reminder of the adventure in 270.

With drawing results set to happen in the next couple weeks, I'm happy to share more specific information with anyone lucky enough to draw - just shoot me a PM. This will be the first year for 270-51 also so that will be interesting to see how those 15 added tags change the dynamics in the district - I'm guessing not much.

Attached is a pic of the euro I had done at Trails West Taxidermy in Helena - they did a nice job on it and had it back to me within 10 days!

 

[Nameless Range]

That's very cool. What do you think he may have looked like 1 or 2 years ago, relative to what he looked like on the day he met his maker?

 

[Nameless Range]

Oops, read a couple posts above. Theoretically this is a big as he was gonna get. It is a very beautiful buck.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

@Griztrax you should throw some of your buck pics in the muley thread if you feel like it: Muley Thread

 

[Griztrax]

That's very cool. What do you think he may have looked like 1 or 2 years ago, relative to what he looked like on the day he met his maker?

You know, I saw quite a few bucks that I guessed were 4-5 years old and they all had a little less mass and no stickers compared to mine, so I would think this guy probably maintained his 3x4 frame through the years and packed on a little mass and the couple small stickers as a 6.5 year old. That's my best guess.

 

[klwinter921]

I've been anxiously awaiting the tooth aging results on my deer from last fall and the email came in this morning from FWP. As I had estimated, the buck was 6.5 years old. The scientist in me wishes I knew what he looked like at 5.5, 4.5, 3.5, and even what he might have looked like this year had I let him walk. As it is, he sits in my temporarily empty office (working from home) and is a great daily reminder of the adventure in 270.

With drawing results set to happen in the next couple weeks, I'm happy to share more specific information with anyone lucky enough to draw - just shoot me a PM. This will be the first year for 270-51 also so that will be interesting to see how those 15 added tags change the dynamics in the district - I'm guessing not much.

Attached is a pic of the euro I had done at Trails West Taxidermy in Helena - they did a nice job on it and had it back to me within 10 days!

He looks even bigger as a Euro! Nice work Sir! I'm surely not the professional you are but I would have to agree that he met you at his peak, antler-wise.