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My Montana WT quest round 2

Little Big Man MT Chris

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Joined
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Location
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Last season recap which was my 1st in Montana, i quick shot a buck in some brush in bow range on my 9th day hunting before checking species , doh ! It was a mule deer. I’ve had to wait a whole year for redemption. Ha ha I’ve yet to harvest my 1st WT deer

Been out 3 days so far , I’ve let some small bucks go the last 2 days

Went out last Friday in snow only kicked up a cow moose hiking around with the wife.

Sunrise
IMG_5052.jpeg
Moosie
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The bedroom is empty
IMG_5055.jpeg
Wife enjoying a brisk mountain morning
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Just got back from a 2 day trip to the same area, the snow is gone , I saw some whitetails, let 3 young bucks go,
Haven’t seen a big buck yet in daylight

Hey wolf
IMG_5167.jpeg
A old young bull elk dead head I came across, that had the antlers sawed off , never seen that one
IMG_5170.jpeg
Found the skull on the edge of this tree line
IMG_5168.jpeg
Doe at 266yds she fed across the hill side towards me to 160yds , no one followed
IMG_5180.jpeg
After cutting behind the doe as she passed, I slow hunted on foot back to the rig and crept up to a pocket meadow , had 3 whitetails in it , 2 does and a little fork by one , he walked past me at 50yds , took this pic without the help of binos
IMG_5187.jpeg
Found a new shed for the pile today
IMG_5190.jpegIMG_5191.jpeg
The evening hunt had a young forky WT walk below the hill I was sitting, had him in the scope once, but 1.6 miles in and an hour left of light , I’m like nope 👎🏻 the draw the buck came down
72100168063__815CFDB8-CBEB-4F2D-8526-48CD7CD94578.jpeg
Slow hunting on foot back to the truck
Had this spike looking at me at 122yds
IMG_5198.jpeg

After seeing no deer the last two morning hunts and only seeing deer out after 3pm in the evenings, I drove home tonight for a shower and rest , sleeping all coiled up like a pretzel in the back of your Tacoma. It’s not a lot of fun, but I’ll go back out tomorrow night for another evening hunt.

Then my brother flies into town this Wednesday for four days and I’ll take a break from hunting and then starting Monday the 13th. I’ll be hunting every day through Thanksgiving in till I get my buck, or I don’t ha ha
 
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Last season recap which was my 1st in Montana, i quick shot a buck in some brush in bow range on my 9th day hunting before checking species , doh ! It was a mule deer. I’ve had to wait a whole year for redemption. Ha ha I’ve yet to harvest my 1st WT deer

Been out 3 days so far , I’ve let some small bucks go the last 2 days

Went out last Friday in snow only kicked up a cow moose hiking around with the wife.

Sunrise
View attachment 300668
Moosie
View attachment 300667
The bedroom is empty
View attachment 300666
Wife enjoying a brisk mountain morning
View attachment 300669

Just got back from a 2 day trip to the same area, the snow is gone , I saw some whitetails, let 3 young bucks go,
Haven’t seen a big buck yet in daylight

Hey wolf
View attachment 300671
A old young bull elk dead head I came across, that had the antlers sawed off , never seen that one
View attachment 300678
Found the skull on the edge of this tree line
View attachment 300679
Doe at 266yds she fed across the hill side towards me to 160yds , no one followed
View attachment 300676
After cutting behind the doe as she passed, I slow hunted on foot back to the rig and crept up to a pocket meadow , had 3 whitetails in it , 2 does and a little fork by one , he walked past me at 50yds , took this pic without the help of binos
View attachment 300675
Found a new shed for the pile today
View attachment 300673View attachment 300674
The evening hunt had a young forky WT walk below the hill I was sitting, had him in the scope once, but 1.6 miles in and an hour left of light , I’m like nope 👎🏻 the draw the buck came down
View attachment 300672
Slow hunting on foot back to the truck
Had this spike looking at me at 122yds
View attachment 300677

After seeing no deer the last two morning hunts and only seeing deer out after 3pm in the evenings, I drove home tonight for a shower and rest , sleeping all coiled up like a pretzel in the back of your Tacoma. It’s not a lot of fun, but I’ll go back out tomorrow night for another evening hunt.

Then my brother flies into town this Wednesday for four days and I’ll take a break from hunting and then starting Monday the 13th. I’ll be hunting every day through Thanksgiving in till I get my buck, or I don’t ha ha
From nice photos it was an enjoyable foray to a great area. Stick with your hunting plan and be confident of success later. It's called hunting not just shooting!
Good hunting, shoot straight, be well.
 
Went out this evening feeling confident after the last 2 evenings of getting into deer , and ……….. nothing. Wind was howling, froze my butt off. Ha ha … saw a Bald Eagle fly by a few hundred feet above my head , but the kickers on tonight’s trip that will always stick with me was…..

Finding a knife stuck in the ground to the hilt !!! After sitting on my elevated position watching the tree line for as many hours as I could
IMG_5250.jpeg
I finally started to shake so bad I knew I needed to walk so I slowly backed out and got up into the tree line above me where there’s no trail and the wind was blowing hard in my face so I decided to randomly just Work my way through the trees and use the noise of the wind to cover any noise I might make and see if I could stumble into something and do a little slow hunting and getting some blood pumping to get my body heat back up.

I’m not on any trail, game or human, just randomly picking my way the trees and brush. When I stopped to slowly look and glance ahead for movement, or anything, I just happen to look down, and I see the handle of a knife sticking out of the ground. It’s gray and black and matches all the branches and crap laying on the ground and i reach down and pick it up out of the ground thinking it’s going to be all rusted and worthless from years of sitting there and there’s almost no rust on it. WTF

I begin to think that maybe somebody killed an animal and lost it gutting it and that’s why It was stuck in the ground , I start looking around in the area. I saw no hair no greasy old stain from an old gut pile that got eaten up not any sign of an animal being killed. Then I’m like how the hell did this knife get buried all the way to the hilt in the ground ? Knowing im on any type of a hiking trail , I will never know but I’ll always wonder.

There’s no amount of money that I could’ve bet that I would’ve randomly find some dudes knife in all that country stuck in the ground and the color matches all the branches and debris on the ground, over finding a shed which is bone white or seeing an actual live deer walking around but somehow I managed to pull this out of the mountain today! Ha ha ha hunting , I love it , from the small amount of rust I’m guessing it’s been in the ground a month or less. #RANDOM
72109700419__2F3E2DAB-4626-4EDC-9625-D7C1E50FCB20.jpegIMG_5247.jpegIMG_5248.jpeg
 
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The elk head didn't have the antlers cut off. That's just how they look after they have shed their antlers. Awesome find on the knife. Good luck on the rest of your hunt.
 
The elk head didn't have the antlers cut off. That's just how they look after they have shed their antlers. Awesome find on the knife. Good luck on the rest of your hunt.

I beg to differ on the elk head
The 1st lower saw mark
IMG_5253.jpeg

There is nothing that creates a perfect 90 degree angle in nature I know
IMG_5255.jpeg

The top of the other had saw marks also , but I took it from this angle to show the lower saw mark
IMG_5254.jpeg

I’ll hike all the way back in there and pick that some bitch up and take more pictures if we need. Ha ha ha cause I’m gonna be hunting back in there anyways. 🤠

It was probably a spike or something, and he just broke off the spikes and packed them out instead of the whole antler mount is my guess
 
I beg to differ on the elk head
The 1st lower saw mark
View attachment 300834

There is nothing that creates a perfect 90 degree angle in nature I know
View attachment 300836

The top of the other had saw marks also , but I took it from this angle to show the lower saw mark
View attachment 300835

I’ll hike all the way back in there and pick that some bitch up and take more pictures if we need. Ha ha ha cause I’m gonna be hunting back in there anyways. 🤠

It was probably a spike or something, and he just broke off the spikes and packed them out instead of the whole antler mount is my guess
Yeah that extra 6oz of skulls was just too much. 😂
 
I’d guess it was a deadhead found by a shed hunter who didn’t feel like packing a skull out. I’ve done the same with small critters
 
I’d guess it was a deadhead found by a shed hunter who didn’t feel like packing a skull out. I’ve done the same with small critters
Doubt that. I’d guess if they were to cut them off they would want the entire burr.
 
If the critter died of natural causes, weren’t they free for the taking?
In Montana I'm pretty sure it used to be illegal to remove the horns from a dead head. Don't know if that has changed.
Back in my horn hunting days I met a warden waiting for me at the trailhead. With an attitude he slung some accusations and demanded to inspect the horns on my pack. Pretty certain he was looking to see if they had naturally fallen or I had removed them by other means.
No citations issued🤣
 
In Montana I'm pretty sure it used to be illegal to remove the horns from a dead head. Don't know if that has changed.
Back in my horn hunting days I met a warden waiting for me at the trailhead. With an attitude he slung some accusations and demanded to inspect the horns on my pack. Pretty certain he was looking to see if they had naturally fallen or I had removed them by other means.
No citations issued🤣
I just asked individual that is in the ”know” what the legality is of removing antlers from a deadhead. The response was plum legal.
 
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