Planning for an Eastern Montana mule deer hunt

[bigsky2]

The most exciting part of Montana deer season is when it ends. It’s tough to stomach the slaughter that happens during the rut with open country and high powered rifles.

Great quote

 

[WYelker]

Maybe they are not interested because everybody is killing the yearlings/two year olds (just so they can go home and brag that they shot a buck) and there are few mature deer to be hunted?

My first attempt at hunting mule deer in MT was before my son was born. He is 12, so lets say 13 years ago. As mentioned we were around Dillon and it was amazing to me how people at that time looked down on deer hunters and deer hunting. Now fast forward a decade and a half and the same attitude is still there... I get the idea that it might be a bit of a chicken or an egg argument, but when the residents do not seem to value the deer or deer quality then the Game and Fish will not put much effort into the deer.

When I went on my hunt around Dillon my dad and I hunted hard the entire week of thanksgiving. We witnessed an unreal slaughter on elk. Bullets literally skipping down a county road as the road hunters swarmed the elk herd. We watched a herd of elk get stuck out on a huge flat and the trucks circled them and waited. The herd that morning stat off at 70 some animals and that afternoon around 4pm there were 6 that managed to make it back up into the trees. The point however is that in 5 days we never saw a buck bigger than a fork horn. We watched 2 fork horns breed all the doe while we were there. When I got back, I shared the story and the report. I summarized up our hunt as a negative experience. Killing bucks for 2-3 months, unlimited resident take, lack of mature bucks etc. I was told by most people in MT that I just suck as a hunter and that there are monster deer all over MT, and that nothing needed to change. The thread was then filled with a ton of 140-160 bucks all taken in the last few years etc. I wish I knew where that old thread was because it is almost the exact same issue but now everyone is happy about killing a 120-140 buck...

 

[RobertD]

My first attempt at hunting mule deer in MT was before my son was born. He is 12, so lets say 13 years ago. As mentioned we were around Dillon and it was amazing to me how people at that time looked down on deer hunters and deer hunting. Now fast forward a decade and a half and the same attitude is still there... I get the idea that it might be a bit of a chicken or an egg argument, but when the residents do not seem to value the deer or deer quality then the Game and Fish will not put much effort into the deer.

When I went on my hunt around Dillon my dad and I hunted hard the entire week of thanksgiving. We witnessed an unreal slaughter on elk. Bullets literally skipping down a county road as the road hunters swarmed the elk herd. We watched a herd of elk get stuck out on a huge flat and the trucks circled them and waited. The herd that morning stat off at 70 some animals and that afternoon around 4pm there were 6 that managed to make it back up into the trees. The point however is that in 5 days we never saw a buck bigger than a fork horn. We watched 2 fork horns breed all the doe while we were there. When I got back, I shared the story and the report. I summarized up our hunt as a negative experience. Killing bucks for 2-3 months, unlimited resident take, lack of mature bucks etc. I was told by most people in MT that I just suck as a hunter and that there are monster deer all over MT, and that nothing needed to change. The thread was then filled with a ton of 140-160 bucks all taken in the last few years etc. I wish I knew where that old thread was because it is almost the exact same issue but now everyone is happy about killing a 120-140 buck...

Are you telling me 64/70 elk got killed that day??

And also, to your point, there was a guy on here trying to meet people in parking lots for talking down on Montana deer hunting a while back. People definitely get feisty at times.

 

[mtmuley]

Are you telling me 64/70 elk got killed that day??

There was an incident in the Southern Root that rivaled that number. mtmuley

 

[brockel]

Are you telling me 64/70 elk got killed that day??

 

[manitou1]

My first attempt at hunting mule deer in MT was before my son was born. He is 12, so lets say 13 years ago. As mentioned we were around Dillon and it was amazing to me how people at that time looked down on deer hunters and deer hunting. Now fast forward a decade and a half and the same attitude is still there... I get the idea that it might be a bit of a chicken or an egg argument, but when the residents do not seem to value the deer or deer quality then the Game and Fish will not put much effort into the deer.

When I went on my hunt around Dillon my dad and I hunted hard the entire week of thanksgiving. We witnessed an unreal slaughter on elk. Bullets literally skipping down a county road as the road hunters swarmed the elk herd. We watched a herd of elk get stuck out on a huge flat and the trucks circled them and waited. The herd that morning stat off at 70 some animals and that afternoon around 4pm there were 6 that managed to make it back up into the trees. The point however is that in 5 days we never saw a buck bigger than a fork horn. We watched 2 fork horns breed all the doe while we were there. When I got back, I shared the story and the report. I summarized up our hunt as a negative experience. Killing bucks for 2-3 months, unlimited resident take, lack of mature bucks etc. I was told by most people in MT that I just suck as a hunter and that there are monster deer all over MT, and that nothing needed to change. The thread was then filled with a ton of 140-160 bucks all taken in the last few years etc. I wish I knew where that old thread was because it is almost the exact same issue but now everyone is happy about killing a 120-140 buck...

That's crazy! Wyoming folks love their mule deer and hunting them.

 

[RobertD]

There was an incident in the Southern Root that rivaled that number. mtmuley

That's really something. I'd rather actually hunt elk than kill one in those circumstances, if they're like they sound when he describes them

 

[WYelker]

There was an incident in the Southern Root that rivaled that number. mtmuley

Are you telling me 64/70 elk got killed that day??

And also, to your point, there was a guy on here trying to meet people in parking lots for talking down on Montana deer hunting a while back. People definitely get feisty at times.

There were over 60 elk taken that morning and when it was all said and done there were 5 cows and 2 rag horn bulls that made it out of the flat and back up into the trees. We ran into the warden the next day. He was solo out there and wrote 9 tickets, but he said he should have written a lot more but he could not get to them all as it was chaos. The elk got caught at first light on the upper end of Lima Resevoir. To the west there was the lake on the north side was a main road on the east side another good road and south side a 2 lane road. The elk would turn to run and 4-5 vehicles would speed in and cut the herd of and shoot a ton of shots, turning the herd back towards the middle. Then they would run another direction towards another roads and another grip of trucks would cut them off shoot another couple, then they would turn again. They were trapped and people just kept shooting them at 10 am they had killed over 30 elk and the herd that was left kind of gave up trying to run and just laid down in the wide open they got about an hour break before 3 different groups on foot converged and started shooting again. This got the herd on its feet again and the shit show started all over with new trucks and new shooting. I certain that day I saw over 60 elk shot and only 7 of the elk that were in that flat at first light made it out and too the hills. They looked absolutely exhausted and wore out.

We saw a similar thing the next day on black tail road, in this case about 15 elk of 40 were killed. However on this group we literally saw bullets skipping down the county road as people shot at the elk from vehicles and the elk were crossing the road in front of the truck. The worst part was our camp and a 1/2 dozen other camps were down that road. The horse trailer next to our wall tent took 2 bullets.

I was way up on a ridge and watching all this, when the elk finally left the bottom they crossed about 40 yards in front of me and my dad. I only had a deer tag but my dad had an elk tag and said he couldn’t imagine shooting one of them after all that they went through

 

[DFS]

This seems like very effective elk killing. These incidents should be studied and replicated. We may have solved the elk problem.

 

[Shangobango]

There were over 60 elk taken that morning and when it was all said and done there were 5 cows and 2 rag horn bulls that made it out of the flat and back up into the trees. We ran into the warden the next day. He was solo out there and wrote 9 tickets, but he said he should have written a lot more but he could not get to them all as it was chaos. The elk got caught at first light on the upper end of Lima Resevoir. To the west there was the lake on the north side was a main road on the east side another good road and south side a 2 lane road. The elk would turn to run and 4-5 vehicles would speed in and cut the herd of and shoot a ton of shots, turning the herd back towards the middle. Then they would run another direction towards another roads and another grip of trucks would cut them off shoot another couple, then they would turn again. They were trapped and people just kept shooting them at 10 am they had killed over 30 elk and the herd that was left kind of gave up trying to run and just laid down in the wide open they got about an hour break before 3 different groups on foot converged and started shooting again. This got the herd on its feet again and the shit show started all over with new trucks and new shooting. I certain that day I saw over 60 elk shot and only 7 of the elk that were in that flat at first light made it out and too the hills. They looked absolutely exhausted and wore out.

We saw a similar thing the next day on black tail road, in this case about 15 elk of 40 were killed. However on this group we literally saw bullets skipping down the county road as people shot at the elk from vehicles and the elk were crossing the road in front of the truck. The worst part was our camp and a 1/2 dozen other camps were down that road. The horse trailer next to our wall tent took 2 bullets.

I was way up on a ridge and watching all this, when the elk finally left the bottom they crossed about 40 yards in front of me and my dad. I only had a deer tag but my dad had an elk tag and said he couldn’t imagine shooting one of them after all that they went through

Wow.

 

[SwaggyD]

Why are we talking about western Montana elk hunting when the OP said he’s gonna hunt 704/705?

Also, that happened on the east side of canyon ferry X amount of years ago. Dead elk everywhere. It was a blood bath. Lots of ‘harvests’.

 

[8andcounting]

Why are we talking about western Montana elk hunting when the OP said he’s gonna hunt 704/705?

Also, that happened on the east side of canyon ferry X amount of years ago. Dead elk everywhere. It was a blood bath. Lots of ‘harvests’.

Not harvests in Montana , in Montana it’s killing . Can’t have rodents like mule deer and elk roaming around ya know … kill ‘em all

 

[WYelker]

Why are we talking about western Montana elk hunting when the OP said he’s gonna hunt 704/705?

Also, that happened on the east side of canyon ferry X amount of years ago. Dead elk everywhere. It was a blood bath. Lots of ‘harvests’.

Side tracked… The point was from my
Original story 13 years ago that when I went to Mt I was surprised at little value residents had for mule deer. Even now there is still a lot of people who are not bothered by poor deer quality and quantity. It is more for clarity on deer in MT and how
Resident joins and values lead to the current status of deer.

 

[brockel]

Side tracked… The point was from my
Original story 13 years ago that when I went to Mt I was surprised at little value residents had for mule deer. Even now there is still a lot of people who are not bothered by poor deer quality and quantity. It is more for clarity on deer in MT and how
Resident joins and values lead to the current status of deer.

Probably because most fear that if they value it more they might lose out on their birthright of thanksgiving weekend hunting

 

[OpenCountry]

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.

Reread my post. I was referring to the deer hunting conditions and asking when is enough to require change. Im guessing there isn’t so hunters can keep shooting themselves a solid meat buck on the final couple days of the season. In reality a doe would give them more meat then the forky that came nose down across the trail in front of them. Let’s speed up this crash so we can get to new season structure.

 

[Brushbuster]

Do you guys see a difference in quality and age class between public and private ground in region 7?

 

[brockel]

Do you guys see a difference in quality and age class between public and private ground in region 7?

Yes of course there is as long as it’s not small chunk of private against a lot of public. Or private that gets pounded as hard as the public

 

[DFS]

Do you guys see a difference in quality and age class between public and private ground in region 7?

Night and day.

 

[DFS]

The only management in Montana comes from private land.

 

[SwaggyD]

The only management in Montana comes from private land.

Where’s Oprah. Let’s give our some private land tags!!