Planning for an Eastern Montana mule deer hunt

[brockel]

View attachment 220275
I’m sure at @brockel has worse pictures. I live on the edge of it.

All I’ve got is the wife’s office and the driveway. Wind was blowing so hard when I went to do chores this morning that I didn’t take any pictures. But we got to 42 degrees today and the sun was shining so it melted a ton today

Shameless advertisement for the wife’s business

 

[brockel]

Much needed I might add very thankful for the moisture.

This one actually laid some snow down in the flat ground vs just filling the draws from the wind like the last one

 

[brockel]

We had 1/4” of rain before it turned to snow. I heard down by @antlerradar they had over an inch of rain before the snow

 

[Brushbuster]

Woah…. That’s a helluva storm

 

[Brushbuster]

One of my CTBs had about a dozen mule deer does hanging around it all winter long. After last weeks blizzard I think there was only 4 deer there. I’m hoping it was a different group but I don’t think so. Haven’t been back to work to see after this storm.

Well I hope the moisture the landscape needed wasn’t actually too much moisture for the animals to handle.

 

[Hunting Wife]

Woah…. That’s a helluva storm

Storms like these are where we get the saying “winter weakens, spring kills”.

And then up here in the northeast, we’ve still had almost no moisture and it’s already dusty. Not good.

 

[Brushbuster]

What about around the Forsyth area? Did it get hit that hard as well?

 

[brockel]

Well I hope the moisture the landscape needed wasn’t actually too much moisture for the animals to handle.

Going to be REAL hard on what little pheasants we had left around here. The grouse are smart enough to get in up in the bushes. Pheasants just hunker down and get buried

 

[antlerradar]

We had 1/4” of rain before it turned to snow. I heard down by @antlerradar they had over an inch of rain before the snow

Inch an 1/4 of rain/snow and quite a bit of the snow blew right past the rain gauge. Snow never got more than 4 inches deep in the river valley as it melted from the ground up just about as fast as it fell. A few hundred feet above the river the hills get white in a hurry. Needed the moisture bad.

 

[antlerradar]

What about around the Forsyth area? Did it get hit that hard as well?

Talked to a friend from Forsyth today. On the western edge of the storm.

 

[Brushbuster]

Talked to a friend from Forsyth today. On the western edge of the storm.

Well hopefully it was enough to green things up but not destroy the wildlife

 

[antlerradar]

Well hopefully it was enough to green things up but not destroy the wildlife

Should green things up, likely too late for much of the wildlife.

 

[EYJONAS!]

Man if there was ever a 1000 round boxing match for MT mule deer. This has to be the 10,000th knock blow to em.

Can't imagine the antelope and calves are doing well either. Just an absolutely brutal blow.

That'll put an end to my mule deer hopes for awhile.

 

[brockel]

Man if there was ever a 1000 round boxing match for MT mule deer. This has to be the 10,000th knock blow to em.

Can't imagine the antelope and calves are doing well either. Just an absolutely brutal blow.

That'll put an end to my mule deer hopes for awhile.

Can’t say for this storm but the last storm there was quite a few antelope showing up under the snow drifts when they melted away around Buffalo, SD. That last one was 3 days of shit. At least this one got done quicker

 

[Dakota79]

Can’t say for this storm but the last storm there was quite a few antelope showing up under the snow drifts when they melted away around Buffalo, SD. That last one was 3 days of shit. At least this one got done quicker

I am in the very northwest corner of South Dakota along the North Dakota and Montana border. This last blizzard we had 2 inches of rain and then 14 inches of snow.

We are damn lucky and have great protection for the wildlife and livestock. The cows that have already calved we were able to tuck away in some rough country with protection and they stayed. Some neighbors that do not have the protection we do have some pairs drift and they had quite a death loss.

We did lose a few deer and antelope but no huge losses that we have found so far.

Yesterday we got into the 40s and green grass is already poking through the snow and water is running everywhere. The next seven days are going to be in the 50s with rain in the forecast. It has been brutal and great at the same time.

 

[Handlebar]

I am right on the SD/MT line. We had 1" of rain before the snow then we got at least a foot of snow. Very welcome moisture.

 

[EYJONAS!]

Hell a guy combines this moisture news with the mule deer class put on by the industry's finest. 200 inch bucks should be a walk in the park in 2022 in SE MT.

#30TALL30WIDEONLY

 

[Flatbrimmer]

That’s funny. In all truthfulnesses, Im a whitetail fanatic and have never wanted to shoot big mule deer. Im a carpenter by trade, and the 30 tall thing hopefully never dies! if I find one that I think might be even close to 30 tall OR 30 wide, thatd be my first mule deer And that’s the ONLY way.

 

[8andcounting]

and have never wanted to shoot big mule deer.

Then montana is the place !

 

[Flatbrimmer]

Then montana is the place !