Montana, talk to me about your mountain whitetail.

[Wrong Burgundy]

A buddy of mine and I joke that we have a separate species of "Montana mountain whitetails. We have killed a handful over the years deep in the mountains, thick pine forests, etc. where we are seeing elk sign and deer sign throughout the area. I shot a nice buck in late Oct. a few seasons back after losing the tracks of a small herd of elk and then busting the buck out of the timber. This area is the same one where the year prior during an elk hunt in Sept. we spotted a nice big grizzly on a steep hillside roaming around. There is a lot of crossover with them in elk country; I actually am surprised when I DON'T see whitetails during most of my elk hunts at some point. It makes for some fun hunting and diversity and can save the day when the elk hunting is slow.

i joke that instead of Odocoileus virginianus, it is Odocoileus alpinus. "Alpine Whitetail."

 

[shb]

 

[Jwill]

My lone trip to MT we found whitetail and muleys together in the mountains at about 6,500’ and several miles from any irrigated fields.

 

[mtmuley]

My lone trip to MT we found whitetail and muleys together in the mountains at about 6,500’ and several miles from any irrigated fields.

Hush. mtmuley

 

[Rie Bread]

Yep

 

[BackofBeyond]

Yes, welcome future Google-fu warriors. Montana is definitely the place for all your Mountain Whitetail needs. No other adjacent states. Just Montana.

 

[mtmuley]

Yes, welcome future Google-fu warriors. Montana is definitely the place for all your Mountain Whitetail needs. No other adjacent states. Just Montana.

Stop it. mtmuley

 

[Raisin Bran]

No, not about where I can get tags and go hunt them, although, sure, I am curious about that too.

But, educate me - what's the deal with those mountain whitetail in Montana? Are they endemic? How come this isn't a thing in Colorado? And is in places like Montana and the Black Hills?

Is it not as widespread of a population as I'm led to believe? In my head there is a pretty prolific whitetail population in the mountainous western part of the state. It seems there are some folks on here who go pretty hard and specialize their hunting on those mountainous whitetails. The reality is I'm just kinda jealous of that and it makes me curious about what the deal there is and why Colorado doesn't have anything like that.

It would be real cool if Colorado had mountainous populations of whitetail that could be hunted on public land. So why don't we and western Montana does?

I am not certain why or how he was in there but I chased a nice 150ish Whitetail buck at over 8,000 feet this year. Several times. Seen a few does in there over the years but this year…Wow…something changed!

I normally don’t care much for Whitetails but a dark, heavy horned mountain Whitetail is pretty cool

 

[brockel]

Mountain whitetails WAY more fun to hunt than eastern Montana mule deer.

 

[Hem]

Good enough @TOGIE ?
Delete this thread.

 

[TOGIE]

Good enough @TOGIE ?
Delete this thread.

I think the main purpose of the thread continues to be ignored. So, absolutely not, will not delete

I would like some more definitive answers and discussion on the evolutionary, biological, and ecological reasons why some places have mountainous whitetail populations and others don’t.

This thread has literally nothing to do with me finding places to hunt whitetail lol

 

[WildWill]

I think the main purpose of the thread continues to be ignored. So, absolutely not, will not delete

I would like some more definitive answers and discussion on the evolutionary, biological, and ecological reasons why some places have mountainous whitetail populations and others don’t.

This thread has literally nothing to do with me finding places to hunt whitetail lol

So you've had me pondering this sense you posted it. I wonder if geography isn't the main culprit here. Looking at a satellite map of the west zoomed out the front range really stands out as a substantial barrier. Especially if you look up to Montana where the mountain ranges excluding the far NW corner are more solitary with low country around. Maybe the geography of Montana lends itself to whitetails being able to make easier inroads to the west.


Okay everyone ready for the holes in my theory to be pointed out.

 

[Northwoods]

Studies on white tailed deer have shown some significant movement. It’s not uncommon for them to hang out in one area for a while and then move 20-50 miles. An individual deer might have 2 or more areas they spend significant time in migrating between the spots. A “mountain” whitetail could also be a “valley” whitetail. Where I live deer will migrate a long way to spend the winter along the north shore of Superior where the temperature and snowpack is not near as extreme. Once spring comes some of those bucks will move back to their favorite hang outs in the middle of the bush.

 

[rjthehunter]

Yes, welcome future Google-fu warriors. Montana is definitely the place for all your Mountain Whitetail needs. No other adjacent states. Just Montana.

I killed a nice whitetail in the Selway a few years back!

But that's definitely just overflow from MT.

 

[Northwoods]

Gotta shoot more mule deer to make room for them!

White tails can run muleys off on their own. I’ve seen a lot of footage of white tailed bucks opening up a can of whoop-ass on their weaker cousins.

 

[Beignet]

Good enough @TOGIE ?
Delete this thread.

The rational part of my brain wonders who the heck would drive any distance for such a low odds hard work hunt in the middle of the general season? This part of the state is nothing but steep mountains, thick timber & deadfall, and grizzly bears. Then again, the masses aren’t always rational.

Also and especially ‘cause the mountain whitetail hunting is so much better in Idaho in all the places where @BackofBeyond hunts.

I am very curious as to Togie’s above: “…definitive answers and discussion on the evolutionary, biological, and ecological reasons why some places have mountainous whitetail populations and others don’t.“

Where the biologists with some citations at?

 

[Nameless Range]

Elevation/ecology is the thing I think of. I know there's a lot of folks smarter than me who can comment - but i think your mountains are typically a base elevation of at least 5/6/7k+ - in the NW part of the state of MT it's 2/3k below that.

I saw the biggest WT buck I’ve ever seen up close in Montana this year at 7,400 ft.

I can find Whitetail all over the country I grew up hunting in the late 90s and early 2000s and back then there were none there. Definitely proliferating and I do wonder if they are doing some displacing of mule deer but I couldn’t say because the latter gets all Shot to hell annually and that’s probably the more sensible explanation.

 

[LuketheDog]

those tags are over the counter unlimited E/S whitetail only, which also means those tags exist for the sole purpose of crushing the populations... not a great public land hunt, to put it mildly.

As someone who hunted this tag 5 years in a row, can confirm...not a great public land hunt by any metric other than going for nice walks with a backpack on.

 

[Pagosa]

I've shot s couple mountain whitetail and they can be very problematic on patterning bc the bucks are always on the move. And only being able to see 75 yards in the thick timber limits seeing them. Mule deer are about 3x easier to hunt imo

 

[TOGIE]

The rational part of my brain wonders who the heck would drive any distance for such a low odds hard work hunt in the middle of the general season? This part of the state is nothing but steep mountains, thick timber & deadfall, and grizzly bears. Then again, the masses aren’t always rational.

Also and especially ‘cause the mountain whitetail hunting is so much better in Idaho in all the places where @BackofBeyond hunts.

I am very curious as to Togie’s above: “…definitive answers and discussion on the evolutionary, biological, and ecological reasons why some places have mountainous whitetail populations and others don’t.“

Where the biologists with some citations at?

If I have to @ huntingwife and wanderwoman I will.

Just a constant question in my brain, these western states with the whitetail populations that proliferate well beyond the traditional habitat one thinks of. And it’s something Colorado distinctly lacks in comparison.

As far as chasing them, rationally, if I’m looking for NR western whitetail hunting hunting I’m looking to Wyoming. If only because it’s closer.