Colstrip, MT area mule deer hunt

[Labman1127]

So just an update here, I guess my 2 bonus points were not enough for my antelope tag as I for the big “Unsuccessful”! That just means I will get to focus on Muleys and birds, not complaining at all.
My question is, I can either hunt the last week of October and 1st week of November, or the 1st & 2nd week of November. What are your thoughts on the better choice of dates?

 

[El Jason]

1st and second week.

 

[8andcounting]

1st and 2nd weeks of November without a doubt . Won’t be much of any ruttin action until November 5 and on . Roughly . Of course cold weather can help speed that up but I went in October one year due to other obligations later on , season opened early that year Right around October 20 or so and it was awful we hunted that week and saw less deer than we do in November by far and the bucks that we saw were tiny . We took one small 20” wide 4 point between 4 of us . Other 3 of us didn’t see anything bigger than forks and small 3 points and none of them had girls on the brain yet

 

[Mtnhunter1]

So just an update here, I guess my 2 bonus points were not enough for my antelope tag as I for the big “Unsuccessful”! That just means I will get to focus on Muleys and birds, not complaining at all.
My question is, I can either hunt the last week of October and 1st week of November, or the 1st & 2nd week of November. What are your thoughts on the better choice of dates?

Depends, will you still have access to hunt your family friends ranch during the later dates?

 

[Labman1127]

Thanks all. I will have access to the private ranch property from November 1st - 5th and then I will be onto public / BLM land after that. Thinking of hunting the private ranch around Colstrip for the first week and then heading up further North in the 700 as it seems pressure gets more limited than around the SE part of the state. Is this fairly true?
The general consensus seems the later the better so I guess that makes my decision easy to go out the 1st and 2nd week in November. The only complicating factor is it looks like a big full moon during that 1st week in November. I don’t know anything about Mule deer hunting, but have been a whitetail hunter here in Ohio for 25 years and know that the big full moon means mostly nocturnal movement and some mid-day movement but first and last light hunting suffers during the full moon for whitetails. Am I safe to assume the same holds true for Muleys?
I still plan to hunt all day, everyday but just trying to set reasonable expectations.
Thanks

 

[antlerradar]

It depends is the correct answer. Just a lot of variables.
I have been fortunate to have taken six real nice bucks in my years of hunting SE Mont. For this analysis I am going to throw out the first as he was infertile and likely behaved differently than the other five.
Four of the five were shot in the first or second week of the season. All of the four were bucks that I located during the summer and watched multiple times. I saw the fifth only one time prior to the day I shot him. I pretty much lucked into him as he was looking for does on hay fields. If you have a good buck located I would hunt opening week. The closer to the rut you get the better the chances are that he will be miles away and likely where you can not hunt.
All Five of the bucks spent the majority of Oct daylight hours on public land, Three of the five rutted on private land(based on where I saw them in previous years during the rut) and I don't know where the other two rutted as I never saw them in Nov. It is possible that they also spent some of the rut on private. Some of the other bucks I have seen where I shot them were taken on private land during the rut. If you have access to private land with a good doe population the closer to the middle of Nov the better off you will be. One of the down sides of waiting to hunting the rut on public is that a good percentage of the bucks will have left the public or have been shot by someone like me. Not saying that there will not be bucks on public and maybe even a nice one or two during the rut. The reality is any buck that spends the entire five week season on public has close to zero chance of living past three.
The other big draw back on waiting for the rut is the people. It use to be that there was a lot of buck hunters the first week of the season. That is not the way it is now. The closer to the middle of Nov the more pressure there will be. There are still plenty of hunters opening week but most of them are after elk. Find a place with few elk and you will have the hills nearly to yourself.
The rut however is a magical time to be in hills, if there is snow even more so. The deer are on the move and you never know what might happen. You could just get very lucky. For some one that has limited experience with the hunting area the benefits of rut out way the draw backs. Like 8andcounting alluded to, the hunting is allot harder pre rut even if there are more and better bucks on the hill.

 

[timmy]

If you just want to plug a rutted up muley the later the better. It certainly isn’t hard even on public. A lot of people enjoy that. The later in the season it goes the more it benefits private land hunters.

 

[timmy]

The does are getting popped all season bucks hear this. They rut for a short time maybe on public get shot at or killed. Or you could go rut with unlimited does on private. Always gonna be bucks to service does on public but is a recipe that does public hunters no good. And we line up to do it year after year.

 

[huntin24/7]

The first week of November is very underrated for muley bucks. So many say to wait til closer to thanksgiving. Screw that. More people, half the bucks are dead, and the road hunters and off road pickup hunters are out in full force.

 

[SAJ-99]

The only complicating factor is it looks like a big full moon during that 1st week in November. I don’t know anything about Mule deer hunting, but have been a whitetail hunter here in Ohio for 25 years and know that the big full moon means mostly nocturnal movement and some mid-day movement but first and last light hunting suffers during the full moon for whitetails. Am I safe to assume the same holds true for Muleys?

I’m in the camp that moon doesn’t matter much, unless it is hot (60ish that time of year). The times you point out are about right though. Does come off feed/water and head for bedding areas at first light. By 10 or so they are down. Whether they move much midday depends on temp. I have observed the does would rather sit, but if rut is in swing bucks will make them get up. By 3 they are back up and heading toward feed again. It’s pretty consistent, but hunters can bump them, one buck that is new to area can change it, tons of variables.

 

[antlerradar]

If you just want to plug a rutted up muley the later the better. It certainly isn’t hard even on public. A lot of people enjoy that. The later in the season it goes the more it benefits private land hunters.

Hunting the rut on public land is fun, you see more deer. Like timmy said it is not that hard, but it is still hunting. Put that same public land buck with a herd of does that have never been shot at and are habituated to farm equipment, Utv's and pickups driving by all day and hunting becomes just a matter of pulling the trigger. Biggest challenge of the hunt is not spilling your beer/coffee when you get out of the truck. Not very sporting.

On Public Land the rut can turn a poor hunter into a lucky one. On private land the rut can turn an incompetent outfitter in to a successful one.

 

[CMDavies0671]

I’m a first time poster and long time follower here. I drew a general deer combo tag for MT this fall and will be headed out Mule Deer hunting for the first time. I will know if I am fortunate enough to draw a 700 district antelope tag on August 6th. Hoping for a combo hunt. Also, plan to mix in some sharp tail grouse hunting as well.
I am a life long Ohio archery whitetail hunter so this trip will be a whole new adventure to me as I have never big game hunted the west. I have only bird hunted in the Dakotas a few times. Looking for some general advice, tips and pearls of wisdom from you guys.
I will be hunting the last week of October & 1st week of November. I will be based out of the Colstrip area (about 20 miles north actually) to start my trip as I have some family friends that own a ranch up that way that I will be using as my base camp. I will be hunting their ranch for the first few days and then venturing out to hunt public after that (they have another group coming in to hunt that comes out every year).
I have a forest service cabin rented in Custer for 4 days and then I will be mobile from that point on.
A few questions:
- how are the antelope populations down that way currently?
- how is the sharp tail population looking?
- should I venture up further North into the 700 district to get away from the people pressure around Custer NF?
- is that time frame of last week or October into 1st week of November typically a good time to catch the mule deer pre-rut (trying to time it so I catch that last week of antelope season while hoping to catch some early mule deer rut action).
Any advice is very much appreciated and welcomed. This is a whole new game to me. Thanks,
Bill

You should really look at talking to the regional FWP biologist. Region 7 is in miles city but Broadus has a local guy. I called him and he was happy to answer questions. I head there next week to scout. He told me to call him with any questions

 

[Labman1127]

Ok guys here’s my recap and what i have learned from my Colstrip area mule deer hunt (and yes I got a nice one...well at least I consider a nice one).
I hunted non-stop for the last 7 days straight before pulling the trigger this evening. I hunted a private ranch that is only 3 sections so had to rest it between hunts, BLM, BMA type 1 and 2, state land and Custer NF. I averaged walking between 7-12 miles per day so i definitely hunted hard to say the least! The weather couldn’t have been worse conditions for deer hunting with 70 - 80 degrees everyday and a full Moon making deer movement basically a first light and last light endeavor. The rut isn’t even close to being on, in fact I would barely say it’s even pre-rut yet.
I saw lots and lots of doe daily and very few bucks. I swear the buck to doe ratio must be 100 to 1 in Rosebud county. Outfitters clearly have all the best spots locked up and they lease TONS of ground so access is very difficult. I saw some monsters on private in the Ag pivots in the evenings but they are untouchable deer and know exactly where the BLM boarder is.
I was very surprised on how much pressure is in the area especially on Thursday to Sunday’s. Every state and BLM block I walked had boot tracks or a gut pile in it even the most remote ones. Lots of guys out here shooting muley doe and small scrub bucks.
I only saw 3 decent bucks all week While hunting (decent being 140” class 4x4). The buck i shot this evening is actually one I passed on my first evening hunting as I did not know what caliber of deer to expect. I was regretting that decision all week until he stepped out again in front of me tonight at 300 yards and became a “no question” shooter.
Custer NF is literally a scorched earth form the fires combined with hunter pressure. Those deer can pick you out at 800 yards and run out of sight immediately. I did not have a four wheeler or UTV so I was at a distinct disadvantage to the other hunters with off-road vehicles allowing them to access distant remote areas. Overall Custer NF was a quite disappointing but I only hunted the North section above Rt 212.
As others told me here earlier this year, you certainly need to have realistic expectations for bucks here on public access lands with a 125” - 140” buck being shooter. I am sure their are giants in all the spots I hunted from time to time, but I gotta believe they are super wise deer.
Overall, I hunted my butt off and saw some amazing county. SE Montana certainly is a special place and I had a great time. I plan to bird hunting tomorrow as I have seen lots of pheasants, sharptails and Huns then back to Ohio for this guy.
Thanks for all your help and advice and feel free to message me with any questions if you are heading out to this area anytime soon.

 

[Kiwi]

Nice buck, congrats.

 

[pointingdogsrule]

Congratulations on a well and hard earned trophy.

 

[antlerradar]

Nice to see a new guy that asked for help and then posts up a great report.

That is a nice buck now days, are there bigger ones, Yes, but finding one bigger is going to take lots of luck.
I was thinking that hunting pressure this year is might be on the down swing as compared to recent years. I do however expect a big crowd of hunters in the next few weeks as the rut kicks in.

 

[easternmt]

This is the most realistic write up I’ve read about the hunting in and around the Colstrip and Custer forest area. Thank you for the honesty and congrats on your success.

 

[JEL]

Thanks for the great follow up. Nice deer!

 

[PsRpOiGrRiAtM]

Congrats and well-earned. I'll echo the sentiments that it's nice to have a follow-up. You put in the effort(s) all around.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

Very well done. Congrats