Gerald Martin
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- Jul 3, 2009
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Last week my daughter Olivia and I wrote chapter 3 of the Martin family's whirlwind 2017 hunting season. As chronicled in other threads, chapters one and two were amazing hunts by their own right but that didn't keep me from having hopeful expectations of what opening week in Montana's Missouri River Breaks country would provide.
Like many other Montana hunters, I had been applying for a special elk permit for fourteen years, without success unless you count the cow tag I burned four points on by mistake. My daughter Olivia was in her second year of the draws. When the permit drawings were completed, I checked my results with anticipation and was pleased to see that I had drawn an either sex rifle permit for the Breaks. When I checked the results for the rest of my family, I was astounded to see that Olivia had drawn the exact same tag as I! Spring progressed and when the June moose/sheep/goat draws came out I was completely amazed to see my wife had drawn a Shiras Moose tag. We went on that hunt at the end of Sept. https://onyourownadventures.com/hun...Failure-is-Just-a-Dress-Rehearsal-for-Success
Our plan was to arrive in the unit a few days before the season to give us time to familiarize ourselves with the lay of the land, legal access points and hopefully lay eyes on some elk before opening morning. Due to last minute work commitments we ended up arriving late on Thur. instead of Wed like I had wanted. Dave Crisp (Elkaholic) generously drove out from Ohio to lend a hand with spotting/packing and hopefully to hunt mule deer at some point in the hunt.
Friday's scouting turned up a herd of elk on a piece of Block Management ground and no elk anywhere else. Given the amount of traffic in the area, I knew that other hunters had to have seen them as well. I was pretty sure that trying to get in on the bulls that we saw in the herd was going to be a fiasco at daylight, but without better knowledge of any other elk, we made the decision to try and be there well before daylight.
Opening day began just like I expected. Multiple other parties were present at the parking areas and walk in points. Long story short, the elk escaped to private land just as legal light arrived and no shots were fired by anyone. Strike one.
We made the decision to head to another spot I had marked as having potential and that promised less pressure for the afternoon hunt. It definitely had less pressure and had potential even though we didn't see any elk or any fresh sign. Three miles in and three miles out, plus the couple mile hike in the morning was a good jaunt for opening day and Olivia was ready to take the next day a bit easier.
Photo credits for the pics on this thread belong to Dave Crisp. Thanks Dave!
Like many other Montana hunters, I had been applying for a special elk permit for fourteen years, without success unless you count the cow tag I burned four points on by mistake. My daughter Olivia was in her second year of the draws. When the permit drawings were completed, I checked my results with anticipation and was pleased to see that I had drawn an either sex rifle permit for the Breaks. When I checked the results for the rest of my family, I was astounded to see that Olivia had drawn the exact same tag as I! Spring progressed and when the June moose/sheep/goat draws came out I was completely amazed to see my wife had drawn a Shiras Moose tag. We went on that hunt at the end of Sept. https://onyourownadventures.com/hun...Failure-is-Just-a-Dress-Rehearsal-for-Success
Our plan was to arrive in the unit a few days before the season to give us time to familiarize ourselves with the lay of the land, legal access points and hopefully lay eyes on some elk before opening morning. Due to last minute work commitments we ended up arriving late on Thur. instead of Wed like I had wanted. Dave Crisp (Elkaholic) generously drove out from Ohio to lend a hand with spotting/packing and hopefully to hunt mule deer at some point in the hunt.
Friday's scouting turned up a herd of elk on a piece of Block Management ground and no elk anywhere else. Given the amount of traffic in the area, I knew that other hunters had to have seen them as well. I was pretty sure that trying to get in on the bulls that we saw in the herd was going to be a fiasco at daylight, but without better knowledge of any other elk, we made the decision to try and be there well before daylight.
Opening day began just like I expected. Multiple other parties were present at the parking areas and walk in points. Long story short, the elk escaped to private land just as legal light arrived and no shots were fired by anyone. Strike one.
We made the decision to head to another spot I had marked as having potential and that promised less pressure for the afternoon hunt. It definitely had less pressure and had potential even though we didn't see any elk or any fresh sign. Three miles in and three miles out, plus the couple mile hike in the morning was a good jaunt for opening day and Olivia was ready to take the next day a bit easier.
Photo credits for the pics on this thread belong to Dave Crisp. Thanks Dave!
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