Out of town c$%ksucker
Planning for an Eastern Montana mule deer hunt
- Thread starter Jpopejoy1980
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Nick87
Well-known member
Well around here your they don't care if your from in town our out of town your just a....well you get it.
I should have said with all due respect.
That does soften the blow.
SwaggyD
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Back to topic. To the OP. Come on up and spend time with your dad. I know I’m gonna hunt with my dad for as long as I can.
For an out stater I thought I did well. Just like the guys from Pennsylvania and shoot 130 inch whitetails in Iowa and mount them . Here its just another bone pile buck but to them its a stud. Who cares? Shoot what makes you happy.
Curious on why everyones bagging on the neck ? It was negative 15 that day I shot the deer in my profile picture . Im proud of it but maybe I wont share any more pictures if everyones gotta be an asshole about it .
I get it you guys have seen a decline in MT muleys . I dont see it getting fixed until rifle rut hunts are gone. Its just too easy. Too many people, too many tags . The glory days are gone . Just like Iowa in the 90s early 2000s timber everywhere, access was easy, big bucks were plentiful then big money came in , leased timbers ect but you dont see me bitching every thread in HT about it and I sure as shit didnt give up hunting them.
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SwaggyD
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That answers your neck meat question. You did do well, not many people from out of state shoot a buck that nice on public. Even fewer do it before the rut starts. Nobody is purposely being an asshole directed towards you, just pointing out that there needs to be mule deer management changes. You benefited from the current management, nothing wrong with that. Last mule deer I shot was November 17, 2019. Full on rut, huge neck roasts. With any luck, the OP and his dad can find something like that to make their trip even more memorable.
I even said after I shot em , I bet this bucks just a buck for the locals and I’m sure it is lol . I was shocked it was legal to hunt them in the rut like that . If you could do that around here in Iowa you could drop a 160in whitey every year off the road till they got thinned down after a couple years . Personally I think it’s easier to kill a big one with a bow here than a gun because of how dumb they become when love is in the air !
Ducks
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Does anyone have any information they could share on the effect of the drought last summer. I'm looking for something from Montana G and F.
Also did it affect the pronghorn as well as the deer? Thanks
Also did it affect the pronghorn as well as the deer? Thanks
antlerradar
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Shoot what makes you happy is the way to go. If you are happy we are happy. Just don't post a pic of a less than ear wide buck and make the statement that it is not too bad.
Happy you had a good time and lets hope you can make it back. If you ever do see a truly big mule deer you will be star struck.
It’s all relative to what you know and what era and area of the country you grew up with/in .
antlerradar
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Yep. That is why when hunters post up pictures of of average bucks and claim all is good some of us get a little triggered. Even more frustrating when FWP does it. Some of us do not want to be the Pennsylvania of mule deer hunting.
Keep posting up pictures, and nothing wrong with being proud of a deer like the one you got. You should be, sounds like it was a great hunt, just do not act like he is something he is not. At lest you didn't claim he is 30 tall.
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Hunting Wife
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The full effect of the drought last summer won’t be known until we see what makes it through the winter. It is still very much winter in many places, and we still have big snow potential in March. The next month or so will be pretty critical. There is very little residual forage so they still have to make it until new growth starts coming on.
As far as pronghorn, my anecdotal observation was the area around me in NE Montana had very poor pronghorn recruitment. Fawn numbers dwindled all summer and by September, there were virtually no fawns to be seen.
SwaggyD
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A trophy is in the eye of the beholder. That said, big 'to you' doesn't necessarily mean big.
Luke_with_a_lab
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I grew up in eastern mt but now live in western mt. I have gone back to the east side to hunt deer the last few years. After what I saw and experienced last year I am not going back until something changes. There were so many people it was unreal. Not just on the roads, but way back in too. we got back off the roads in some really remote spots and found 4 guys from Washington camping where we usually do. They had all shot small to average 4x4 muleys and were stoaked on it. They also had filmed the whole thing and were going to put it on youtube. We spent the next 5 days pounding dirt and saw nothing worth taking. In that one trip we saw a minimum of 12 different groups of guys, all from Washington interestingly enough. Many had shot little dinks. After talking to some of them we realized they had all seen/ herd of "eastern mt" from youtube, insta and other social media and were coming to experience the "game rich environment" for themselves. All I can conclude after talking to some of the people is that to them eastern mt feels huge, vast and limitless because they are used to seeing 20 or 30 trucks at a trail head in whatever populated state they are from.
Wait so you can’t just strap your boots on tighter to have success on big bucks? I’ve been lied to.
rogerthat
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You boys aren’t pounding the hills hard enough. When someone asks “Where are the big bucks?”
“O’er the next ridge, you lazy bastages. That’s where they are.”
Oh come on now, pick on Michigan or New York. That's what we do at least, lol.
EYJONAS!
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