Clarification on Land Ownership in MT

[JasonEG]

I'm planning a trip to MT in October, so I decided to pick up an OTC tag. I ended up with an antlerless deer B tag. (I tried to get an antelope tag, but the FWP system was down most of the day and by the time it was up and running again, the Antelope tags were gone.) Anyhow, my tag is for district 326

Here is a screenshot of the map and the legend (nice used of very similar colors, FWP)

What color areas am I able to hunt? I assume BLM and USFWS, but what about those empty patches? How difficult, when you're on the ground, is it to determine if you're on the correct land? Ultimately, it looks like I'll be ok since a pretty large segment is USFWS or BLM, but I don't want to make any assumption that may get me in trouble.

Here in Florida it's pretty straight forward, and the maps provided by the FWC make it easy, but this patchwork of land, and the different designations is a little confusing.

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

 

[swmt]

You can hunt everything but the pinkish grey background color, essentially all public lands, state and federal are open. There are also several large block management areas ( bma's) in this unit on private land that are administered by mt fwp that are also open to the public. Information on the bma's can be found through mt fwp. Good luck.

 

[Ben Lamb]

You can hunt everything but the pinkish grey background color, essentially all public lands, state and federal are open. There are also several large block management areas ( bma's) in this unit on private land that are administered by mt fwp that are also open to the public. Information on the bma's can be found through mt fwp. Good luck.

Pretty much this.

It's big country. You'll run out of legs before you run out of land. Have fun!

 

[JasonEG]

You can hunt everything but the pinkish grey background color, essentially all public lands, state and federal are open. There are also several large block management areas ( bma's) in this unit on private land that are administered by mt fwp that are also open to the public. Information on the bma's can be found through mt fwp. Good luck.

Thank you. I've been digging around the FWP's site for the last week or so and have been able to piece things together. Thank you again for the info.

 

[mtmander]

If you want to be sure of what land you can hunt, you should get a landowner map of montana from onxmaps (works on gps and smartphone). Their montana map shows private and public (land you can hunt on) very clearly and tracks you as you walk so you know where you are on the map.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

If you want to be sure of what land you can hunt, you should get a landowner map of montana from onxmaps (works on gps and smartphone). Their montana map shows private and public (land you can hunt on) very clearly and tracks you as you walk so you know where you are on the map.

This!

 

[phutch30]

specific to your map. The non colored areas are private and about 30% of the white on your map is enrolled in Block management. Im guessing?? you got a whitetail doe tag? your pretty much going to be looking for them on the river/creek bottoms. Access to land for whitetail does isnt too difficult but 326 doesnt have much. Theres a couple of popular public areas but they get cleaned out of does fast.

I would start calling Block management lands in unit 326 for permission ASAP as they book fast. The largest BM area in your unit doesnt require permission, but it also rarely has whitetail does on the area thats open as they hang on the creek ( they dont allow public hunting on the creek bottom)

For your unit public land is yellow, blue, purple and green. Most of this is elk/mule deer country. Generally open grassland with conifer timber higher on the slopes. Again almost all the whitetails will be found on creek bottoms. You will occasionally catch them in the open grasslands, but these dumb ones get weeded out of the gene pool fast.

Not saying you cant shoot a doe on public land in 326, you can, but they are alot less common. I'd call block management if you want a whitetail doe in 326.

And get a chip for a GPS, it will save you a lot of headachs and trouble. Land here DOES NOT have to be posted. All private requires permission.

If you have a mule deer doe then you should have little trouble finding one in the rougher country.

 

[JasonEG]

specific to your map. The non colored areas are private and about 30% of the white on your map is enrolled in Block management. Im guessing?? you got a whitetail doe tag? your pretty much going to be looking for them on the river/creek bottoms. Access to land for whitetail does isnt too difficult but 326 doesnt have much. Theres a couple of popular public areas but they get cleaned out of does fast.

I would start calling Block management lands in unit 326 for permission ASAP as they book fast. The largest BM area in your unit doesnt require permission, but it also rarely has whitetail does on the area thats open as they hang on the creek ( they dont allow public hunting on the creek bottom)

For your unit public land is yellow, blue, purple and green. Most of this is elk/mule deer country. Generally open grassland with conifer timber higher on the slopes. Again almost all the whitetails will be found on creek bottoms. You will occasionally catch them in the open grasslands, but these dumb ones get weeded out of the gene pool fast.

Not saying you cant shoot a doe on public land in 326, you can, but they are alot less common. I'd call block management if you want a whitetail doe in 326.

And get a chip for a GPS, it will save you a lot of headachs and trouble. Land here DOES NOT have to be posted. All private requires permission.

If you have a mule deer doe then you should have little trouble finding one in the rougher country.

Wow, thank you. I requested the Hunter Access Guide, which will be available tomorrow, and it looks like you can't make reservations until the 21st.

Looking at the remaining OTC tags, there are a few Mule doe tags for 705. Are you familiar with that unit? Do you think grabbing one of those would be worth it?

Thank you again for the info.

 

[phutch30]

Ive hunted SE MT a lot. Finding a mule deer doe in 705 on public should be very easy to do.

Ya you have a few days before you can call Im saying dont waste much time in calling.

When did you think you would be in Dillon area?

 

[JasonEG]

Ive hunted SE MT a lot. Finding a mule deer doe in 705 on public should be very easy to do.

Ya you have a few days before you can call I'm saying don't waste much time in calling.

When did you think you would be in Dillon area?

Nice, maybe I'll pick up one up for that area as well. We don't have a set schedule yet, just a window of when we would like to get out there (likely mid-late Oct). The trip itself is from Florida to Missoula with plenty of stops on the way. We're looking to spend a few days in/around Missoula because we're thinking about moving out there for at least half the year. I'll be in the Dillon area before heading to Missoula, and if I get the 705 tag I'll hit that area on our way out of MT.