Little Big Man MT Chris
Well-known member
I’m finally starting to get out and about and get some Montana dirt under my boots, even though I’ve been in Montana for five months when I transferred here I had to take a night shift position and it was very hard on me, and when I did have a day off you’re up all night in the middle of the night with nothing to do, finally was able to get a swingshift position and so now on my days off I’m up during the daytime and the last two weeks I’ve made the most of it.
Last Thursday I got out on a chunk of BLM for my 1st Montana Hike , I just picked out randomly off the map and did an 8.5 mile hike in and out saw 4 Elk and 10 deer and picked up my first Montana mule deer shed and I posted those pics on the Sunday pic of the day thread.
In Oregon I got to hunt Blacktails and Mule deer and was blessed to have been able to harvest both species. And whitetails is something I never have gotten to do and that is at the top of my list for this year. And so today was going out and poking around in an area where I got a tip I might be able to hunt some whitetail.
The view from the first ridge above my park point. I dropped off this ridge to cross the valley, crossed a creek went up that finger ridge to the top and then walked it till I got around 2 1/2 miles in droped down off the ridge and then came back through the valley floor
In the bottom trying to find a place to cross the creek I came across a giant tree where a predator had been taking animals he had killed over the last couple years and then eating them and storing them under this tree
My bridge across the creek, Which was not cool as I got about 2 feet out left trekking pole went in about 8 to 10 inches right trekking pole went in 3 1/2 feet balance don’t fail me now
As I begin to decide which ridge I wanted to go up to get to the top I see my first whitetails on public , I saw seven on private driving in, There’s actually three deer in this picture one is in the bushes on the right side of the draw you can barely see the deers back
Not wanting to disturb the deer they were at 390 yards I decided to go around the deer and on far side of these animals, about 3/4 the way up the ridge the deer had been feeding from my right to my left I figured after seeing me they would continue to feed left but no they stayed put , and when I started to come up to get on the ridge there was two of them that I could see bedded at at 123 yards
Making it to the top of the ridge I began to look around
After a couple minutes glassing a find 2 elk
I continued my walk along the top of the ridge there was an old two track from years ago that ranchers or somebody used but hadn’t been drove in on in quite a few years there was a lot of deadfall on it hoping to find a shed, saw a lotta deer tracks or on that two track but I came up empty looks like I’m gonna have to work a little bit harder for my first whitetail shed in Montana
My view farther down the ridge
As I try to find those first two elk that I saw I couldn’t see them but then I started seeing more elk in other Meadows a group of 10 and then a couple Meadows over there was a group of five feeding so I had seen 17 elk so far on my hike , And three Angus cows in between the two herds of elk
As I look at the pictures , these elk were well over a mile out seeing what the pics look like , I go wait are those antlers and then as I zoom in I realize that that one bull laying down has antlers at least 3 feet over his head already and like in third day of June , hello Mr. Bull
And as I go back and forth between the group of 10 elk that I can count now and the group of five just enjoying a nice moment on the mountain I glass back to my left and then I realize that those three big black objects were not Angus cows but they were three moose in between two herds of elk , as I fumble to try to get my phone out the 3 moose walk so fast 2 feed back into
The brush , but I did capture a picture of my first Montana moose encounter even though it was over a mile away
Even though these pictures are all blurry , not great and they’re from far away, you all know how the saying goes pics or it didn’t happen well I got pics and it did happen !
The hike out was uneventful didn’t see any more critters and I found a better place to cross the creek
I did come across this rather interesting thing on the way out which I never saw in Oregon , a cocoon full of caterpillars, It was about the size of a golf ball
I did 4.75 miles on this loop. Plus there was a couple other chunks of dirt I was interested in going and looking at before I headed home today
Driving through the grasslands on the way to my next area of interest I saw over 20 Whitetails on private property in the middle of the day walking around feeding, it was pretty cool, And in all I saw just over 30 whitetails today.
And for a bonus on the way to that last walking area I wanted to look 120 yards off the road was a bald eagle sitting in a tree so I took a picture, The second bald eagle I saw today driving around
And then when I got to the last area I thought about hiking in I look right across the dirt road and there are on private directly across from the heart of the walkin area were the two biggest bucks I’d seen all day 250-300 yards from public
Pretty epic day in Montana I would say and to top it off on the way home I was right close to the town of Columbus which is the headquarters for Montana silversmiths who makes IMO the best belt buckles in the world, they make buckles for most all of the rodeos/bull riding events in the country so I had to stop and get me one at the outlet store there.
Last Thursday I got out on a chunk of BLM for my 1st Montana Hike , I just picked out randomly off the map and did an 8.5 mile hike in and out saw 4 Elk and 10 deer and picked up my first Montana mule deer shed and I posted those pics on the Sunday pic of the day thread.
In Oregon I got to hunt Blacktails and Mule deer and was blessed to have been able to harvest both species. And whitetails is something I never have gotten to do and that is at the top of my list for this year. And so today was going out and poking around in an area where I got a tip I might be able to hunt some whitetail.
The view from the first ridge above my park point. I dropped off this ridge to cross the valley, crossed a creek went up that finger ridge to the top and then walked it till I got around 2 1/2 miles in droped down off the ridge and then came back through the valley floor
In the bottom trying to find a place to cross the creek I came across a giant tree where a predator had been taking animals he had killed over the last couple years and then eating them and storing them under this tree
My bridge across the creek, Which was not cool as I got about 2 feet out left trekking pole went in about 8 to 10 inches right trekking pole went in 3 1/2 feet balance don’t fail me now
As I begin to decide which ridge I wanted to go up to get to the top I see my first whitetails on public , I saw seven on private driving in, There’s actually three deer in this picture one is in the bushes on the right side of the draw you can barely see the deers back
Not wanting to disturb the deer they were at 390 yards I decided to go around the deer and on far side of these animals, about 3/4 the way up the ridge the deer had been feeding from my right to my left I figured after seeing me they would continue to feed left but no they stayed put , and when I started to come up to get on the ridge there was two of them that I could see bedded at at 123 yards
Making it to the top of the ridge I began to look around
After a couple minutes glassing a find 2 elk
I continued my walk along the top of the ridge there was an old two track from years ago that ranchers or somebody used but hadn’t been drove in on in quite a few years there was a lot of deadfall on it hoping to find a shed, saw a lotta deer tracks or on that two track but I came up empty looks like I’m gonna have to work a little bit harder for my first whitetail shed in Montana
My view farther down the ridge
As I try to find those first two elk that I saw I couldn’t see them but then I started seeing more elk in other Meadows a group of 10 and then a couple Meadows over there was a group of five feeding so I had seen 17 elk so far on my hike , And three Angus cows in between the two herds of elk
As I look at the pictures , these elk were well over a mile out seeing what the pics look like , I go wait are those antlers and then as I zoom in I realize that that one bull laying down has antlers at least 3 feet over his head already and like in third day of June , hello Mr. Bull
And as I go back and forth between the group of 10 elk that I can count now and the group of five just enjoying a nice moment on the mountain I glass back to my left and then I realize that those three big black objects were not Angus cows but they were three moose in between two herds of elk , as I fumble to try to get my phone out the 3 moose walk so fast 2 feed back into
The brush , but I did capture a picture of my first Montana moose encounter even though it was over a mile away
Even though these pictures are all blurry , not great and they’re from far away, you all know how the saying goes pics or it didn’t happen well I got pics and it did happen !
The hike out was uneventful didn’t see any more critters and I found a better place to cross the creek
I did come across this rather interesting thing on the way out which I never saw in Oregon , a cocoon full of caterpillars, It was about the size of a golf ball
I did 4.75 miles on this loop. Plus there was a couple other chunks of dirt I was interested in going and looking at before I headed home today
Driving through the grasslands on the way to my next area of interest I saw over 20 Whitetails on private property in the middle of the day walking around feeding, it was pretty cool, And in all I saw just over 30 whitetails today.
And for a bonus on the way to that last walking area I wanted to look 120 yards off the road was a bald eagle sitting in a tree so I took a picture, The second bald eagle I saw today driving around
And then when I got to the last area I thought about hiking in I look right across the dirt road and there are on private directly across from the heart of the walkin area were the two biggest bucks I’d seen all day 250-300 yards from public
Pretty epic day in Montana I would say and to top it off on the way home I was right close to the town of Columbus which is the headquarters for Montana silversmiths who makes IMO the best belt buckles in the world, they make buckles for most all of the rodeos/bull riding events in the country so I had to stop and get me one at the outlet store there.
Last edited:
