Montana, talk to me about your mountain whitetail.

[mtmuley]

View attachment 352147
Yes. Rock Creek, in Montana, is the place to be!

Yeah. For multi million dollar homes. mtmuley

 

[Gerald Martin]

Yeah. For multi million dollar homes. mtmuley

The best kind of deer stand. Trophy lawn in summer, food plot in the fall. Pro tip. Remove all window screens before hunting season.

 

[DFS]

The best kind of deer stand. Trophy lawn in summer, food plot in the fall. Pro tip. Remove all window screens before hunting season.

One of the better whiteys I have seen was shot out of a 300k house blind.

 

[Nick87]

300k

So a single wide?

 

[DFS]

So a single wide?

I believe it sold for close to a million recently. At the time I bet it was a 300k house.

 

[Hem]

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?

Sure, I slip in an over reaction and bail. It's my mode.
Montana is on its knees, and IMO any threads which provide incentive just end up a further punch in the guts.
Nature of the thread is not directed in that sense, but I have had enough of anything that directs or redirects further strain on our resources..
Yep, it's the internet, and the influencers already got a jump on anything tangible.
No fault to @TOGIE , legitimate topic.
My bad for acting a little stiff.
Carry on.

 

[INMT]

Googles a helluva drug. You might think you’re just asking biological questions but for real STFU.

 

[TOGIE]

but for real STFU.

nah. i'm gonna bump this thread monthly just for that.

i'm starting to think that the only reason colorado doesn't have mountain whitetails is our state actually knows how to manage mule deer.

 

[Forkyfinder]

nah. i'm gonna bump this thread monthly just for that.

i'm starting to think that the only reason colorado doesn't have mountain whitetails is our state actually knows how to manage mule deer.

Don't be bitter....

You could change it to "M0ntana" or the like and avoid the Google tricks

 

[Rie Bread]

It blows my mind that people pull a $700 NR tag and hunt a week

 

[WildWill]

nah. i'm gonna bump this thread monthly just for that.

i'm starting to think that the only reason colorado doesn't have mountain whitetails is our state actually knows how to manage mule deer.

 

[Dsnow9]

It blows my mind that people pull a $700 NR tag and hunt a week

Some of us only have week long hunting seasons in our home states. Why hunt a single tag for three weeks when you can hunt multiple tags in that time? For some of us it is about putting meat in the freezer, not a dick swinging contest about who shot the biggest deer.

My wife would quickly put a kibosh on all of my hunting trips if I didn’t come home with animals because I was waiting for the right one…

To each their own

 

[Rie Bread]

my wife would blood eagle me if I spent $700/ 50-79lbs of meat.

Each their own.

Did you ever send that hat? As a fellow dad bod freezer filler I feel like it’s a natural fit

 

[Dougfirtree]

I'd be interested in the answer as well. What I can say, having lived in western Montana and done some hunting/recreating in the mountains of Colorado, and hailing from whitetail land originally (and currently), is that I could have told you on a gut level that Montana would be better for them. The forest just feels very different. It's lower in elevation, it's wetter/more lush, there are more shrubs, thicker cover and a lot less sage. It also has areas that seem like both cover and winter habitat down low, as opposed to the classic "winter range" of open sage brush that isn't buried in snow, in CO. I may be off on this, but I feel like there's a lot more logging in Montana, also. And whitetails and logging go together like 7mm-08 and Varget.

That said, my guess is you'll see more and more of them in CO. They're awfully adaptable.

 

[DFS]

View attachment 352184

It’s a good question and having seen it first hand western Montana can burn like the rest of the state. I think it’s elevation but that’s a guess.

 

[TheJason]

So then, would some folks likely conclude that they’re maybe not endemic to the mountainous regions?

In some regions, yes.

 

[TheJason]

i'm starting to think that the only reason colorado doesn't have mountain whitetails is our state actually knows how to manage mule deer.

I highly doubt that.

 

[rjthehunter]

I’m sure you weren’t. Let’s not hotspot this poor area

Everyone go to rock creek! Lots of big bucks up rock creek

Alright alright, I changed it. Logistics to get to where we hunted would be incredibly tough and time consuming without a guide. And all but impossible without horses.

There were a lot of wolves around the area. It'd be fun to go back and target them.

 

[TOGIE]

I highly doubt that.

It was just a dis. A dis in jest that was intended to hint at a broader theme that seems to hold some truth: where mule deer tend to decrease in density whitetail tend to fill in.

Ergo, if maybe Colorado decided to show mule deer the door with a general rut tag maybe we could see some nice expansion of whitetail into the mountains

 

[TheJason]

As opposed to the whitetail moving to the higher elevations. I have questions for our biologist. mtmuley

I’d love to hear their thoughts on it. Like most things, I’m guessing it’s multifaceted.