Montana mule deer Expectations.

[runningmt]

It wouldn’t take a seismic change to improve from the current reality. Nor would it have to be in every unit.

Unfortunately MT is now committed to managing for younger bucks, and less bucks. The opposite of every wildlife mgmt idea anyone else knows. I was told this at the last commission meeting, by FWP.

The evidence is in the idea to eliminate HD324, one of the very few places in MT where an older age class buck can be taken, with a permit of course.

I didn’t hear the final outcome of the vote, but I assume HD324 is gone. I can’t stomach the idea of watching 10 hours of Zoom to find out.

 

[Walkathon]

I don't expect a whole lot in terms of deer quality when I hunt Mt. I hunt on public or Block Management. The scenery is great, and as others have said, there are also birds to hunt. I just expect to hike a lot, and have fun not being at work.

 

[kwyeewyk]

I'll be back to MT this fall for the first time since 2001, the only year I hunted MT as a resident. I've spent my whole life hunting for meat and trying to minimize cost per pound. My goal with hunting out of state is to explore and experience new areas, and enjoy the hunt. Not necessarily to hunt trophy animals, but not to just kill the first legal animal as fast as I can like I would in WA. That said, my family values the meat highly and could really care less about antlers, and with the time and money I spend hunting there is an expectation that the freezer not be empty.

If it wasn't for the pricing on the big game combo I would just hunt elk, $600 something for a deer tag that is known to be not great is not a tag I would buy. But for $165 more than the elk tag it becomes quite tempting. This is one reason I think the big game combo should go away, separate full price NR draw for each species.

So I'm planning to get the deer tag too. Not sure what my expectation is at this point, coming from WA my general experience with areas in other states that people say are crowded and not great hunting are still better than WA. But that attitude is part of the problem, so I figure @ $165 for the deer tag I can be selective, plenty of chance to kill one in WA, or maybe white tail does in WY.

What I would like to hear is what MT residents and those highly familiar would recommend as a voluntary standard for deer hunting in MT. Holding out for 4.5 yo+ seems to get thrown around, not hunting the rut as well. If I can't find a mature muley buck outside the rut, and want to bring some meat home, switch to white-tailed? Any grief with killing dink whitetails? Would be great to hear what your self imposed rules or recommendations are if we're trying to voluntarily help the problem.

 

[Unlucky]

I have never shot a mulie. So expectations low. I will buy a tag to apply for LE. Outside of that, I hunt for a 300 class bull otc chances are.

My kids won't draw but there expectation is a 5x5 150. So doubtful. Atleast they are becoming aware of the landscape after killing a few dinks.

 

[MTTW]

I expect to see deer about every other day that I hunt. If I am not walking at least 1 hour before daylight I am not hunting that day. I expect to kill a deer once in a while, as in, occasionally. It will be over 165 or I expect to be very disappointed in my judgement. I would love to see some truly big bucks but don't expect that it will happen. I can count the ones that I have seen in sw MT in 50 years on 1 hand and with the fingers left over on that same hand I can count the ones that I have seen in eastern MT.
I saw and missed my first truly big buck in 1985. If someone would have told me how few I would see in the next 35 years I would have laughed at them.

I expect there to be less mule deer in sw MT 5 years from now than there are now. I expect the 3-week season in region 2 to fail for the most part because it runs too late, and because hunters will swarm on those units if it starts to work. On bad weather years hunters will shoot the bucks out the last week of season. Not saying they shouldn't go to 3 weeks; we should do it in the entire state.

 

[corndog1]

I would like to see an older class of deer. Each year where I hunt it is fifty to one forkies to four points. I'm guessing most of the four points would not be considered mature either.

 

[mtmuley]

I expect to see deer about every other day that I hunt. If I am not walking at least 1 hour before daylight I am not hunting that day. I expect to kill a deer once in a while, as in, occasionally. It will be over 165 or I expect to be very disappointed in my judgement. I would love to see some truly big bucks but don't expect that it will happen. I can count the ones that I have seen in sw MT in 50 years on 1 hand and with the fingers left over on that same hand I can count the ones that I have seen in eastern MT.
I saw and missed my first truly big buck in 1985. If someone would have told me how few I would see in the next 35 years I would have laughed at them.

I expect there to be less mule deer in sw MT 5 years from now than there are now. I expect the 3-week season in region 2 to fail for the most part because it runs too late, and because hunters will swarm on those units if it starts to work. On bad weather years hunters will shoot the bucks out the last week of season. Not saying they shouldn't go to 3 weeks; we should do it in the entire state.

A couple units here in R2 have been 3 week seasons for a long time. But, it ain't wide open country and some of it a bit tough to get into. We'll see. mtmuley

 

[MTTW]

A couple units here in R2 have been 3 week seasons for a long time. But, it ain't wide open country and some of it a bit tough to get into. We'll see. mtmuley

I hope it works. In my experience you are better off if it doesn't work too well.

 

[mtnkid85]

It wouldn’t take a seismic change to improve from the current reality. Nor would it have to be in every unit.

Unfortunately MT is now committed to managing for younger bucks, and less bucks. The opposite of every wildlife mgmt idea anyone else knows. I was told this at the last commission meeting, by FWP.

The evidence is in the idea to eliminate HD324, one of the very few places in MT where an older age class buck can be taken, with a permit of course.

I didn’t hear the final outcome of the vote, but I assume HD324 is gone. I can’t stomach the idea of watching 10 hours of Zoom to find out.

With the threat of cwd spreading across the landscape, managing for more- and older bucks is going to be a up hill battle and counter to one another. Its going to take time, money and resources to understand the cwd issue before we can move to the next.

I brought this issue up with during the R5 scoping meeting and was pretty much told the same thing @runningmt was told. And as much as I care about older age class bucks, I care about the species as a whole more.

 

[bigsky2]

I'll be back to MT this fall for the first time since 2001, the only year I hunted MT as a resident. I've spent my whole life hunting for meat and trying to minimize cost per pound. My goal with hunting out of state is to explore and experience new areas, and enjoy the hunt. Not necessarily to hunt trophy animals, but not to just kill the first legal animal as fast as I can like I would in WA. That said, my family values the meat highly and could really care less about antlers, and with the time and money I spend hunting there is an expectation that the freezer not be empty.

If it wasn't for the pricing on the big game combo I would just hunt elk, $600 something for a deer tag that is known to be not great is not a tag I would buy. But for $165 more than the elk tag it becomes quite tempting. This is one reason I think the big game combo should go away, separate full price NR draw for each species.

So I'm planning to get the deer tag too. Not sure what my expectation is at this point, coming from WA my general experience with areas in other states that people say are crowded and not great hunting are still better than WA. But that attitude is part of the problem, so I figure @ $165 for the deer tag I can be selective, plenty of chance to kill one in WA, or maybe white tail does in WY.

What I would like to hear is what MT residents and those highly familiar would recommend as a voluntary standard for deer hunting in MT. Holding out for 4.5 yo+ seems to get thrown around, not hunting the rut as well. If I can't find a mature muley buck outside the rut, and want to bring some meat home, switch to white-tailed? Any grief with killing dink whitetails? Would be great to hear what your self imposed rules or recommendations are if we're trying to voluntarily help the problem.

That’s an interesting point. There’s probably a lot of bucks that get killed because most people don’t want to go home empty handed when they can’t get an elk.

 

[SAJ-99]

The biggest MD I have seen in Montana are inside of city limits. That should tell you something.

 

[mtmuley]

The biggest MD I have seen in Montana are inside of city limits. That should tell you something.

No kidding. That's how the area I live in got so popular. Great deer if you don't mind swingsets and yapping dogs. mtmuley

 

[brocksw]

Nineteen eighty seven was the best year I have ever seen on the Custer. I saw or found sheds from eight different 180+ bucks for that year and most of the best time to be looking I was in school in CO. In the last 10 years I have seen one that is for sure over 180 and one that might be and I have been living right next to the forest full time.

How many deer tags were sold in 1987? I can't find any data going back past 2004.

 

[BenInMT]

When I see various wanna be instafamous social media douches, including those from some well known brands that we’ve all heard of, and they are taking scrubby little muley bucks 5 miles from the truck just to have some kill content… Well, that’s how I know it’s probably going to suck out there. My expectation is to shoot an elk and not really worry about a mule deer because I don’t have the time needed to find that needle in the haystack. I have a lot of respect for the handful of guys who are consistently getting close to the 200” mark.

 

[antlerradar]

How many deer tags were sold in 1987? I can't find any data going back past 2004.

I can not tell you about buck tags, but there wasn't one doe tag sold that was good on the Custer.

 

[Pagosa]

There are several districts in Region 3 that we never see a mule deer while out elk hunting. I used to periodically see them up really high in the rifle seasons, but not recently maybe a few tracks.

I think if they limited tags and season timeframe it would be similar hunting to SK/AB or WT

 

[Schaaf]

In the areas I hunt, I expect to put a lot of miles on, see one or two bucks that will be over 160”. I might see one deer that is 5+ years old and might sniff 170”. Which has been my experiences for the last 5 years.

I saw one deer this year I would have pulled the trigger on but he outsmarted me.

 

[BackofBeyond]

32” wide +/-, 5-6” matching inlines on each side, one inline slightly longer than the other, 17-18” backs, decent eye guards, etc.

Rumor is that you can find bucks like this just laying around in neighboring NORTH DAKOTA

FIFY

 

[The Hedgehog]

There has been a lot of talk here about mule deer and the management of them. So what is the expectation you have when hunting mule deer in Montana? mtmuley

Expectations are pretty low today. If I were a non-resident, I'd certainly pick other places such as Idaho, WY, and Colorado where you can have better hunting with regularity. Even their poor places are likely better than our best places. I don't really hunt deer often, but have a license and see them while hunting elk. If MT would separate the seasons (deer/elk) - I think far fewer deer would be killed.

If I drew the best deer permit in MT, I'd be very happy to take an honest 170" deer. I know there's better out there, but pretty uncommon or protected by a fence/boundary. I killed deer in 2016 and 2019, and should have just left my tag unnotched. I got excited by a large 3X3 in 2019, called in an older but small (150s) and shot him. I drew a limited permit (front) in 2016 and hunted hard, saw maybe 2 deer over 170 that year. I hunted SE MT from 90s to 2000 and it was fun, good hunting, deer on public at 170 were not too uncommon. In 2000 I switched to Rocky Mtn front, it was an upgrade, but I watched that place get shot out in a decade. I still see an occasional 160-170 mule deer, but they are almost always where you can't hunt them.

I hunted a lot in the Madison Range this year for sheep. Figured I'd see a good deer as much time as I was spending during prime hours. I saw one buck in early July and it was too early to tell what he was, but likely not too small. Saw 4 more bucks total. One was likely 170 the week before rifle opened. Saw another from a distance in mid November that could have been that same deer, but too far to tell. A handful of years ago, Eastman's journal recommended the Spanish Peaks for a mule deer hunter. I laughed then, and it's even funnier now.

I've never seen a legit 200 in eastern MT. Did see one in NW MT in 2003. I shot at one during archery season and missed in 2020. It was possibly 180, certainly over 170.

 

[brownbear932008]

Haven't applied for or hunted deer there since I think it was 2015/16. The cost outweighs the reward by a large margin to me. For the price of a non resident tag I would expect a much better hunt than a 130/140 inch mule deer. I'd rather not have the feeling that I need to punch a tag because of cost so I don't apply and let others shoot the dinks if that's what makes them happy.