Elk/Deer/Bear hunt Montana 2022 - Semi-live updates

[jpcoll01]

Made it to Wyoming. These guys were busy trying to sort out who’s boss.

 

[jpcoll01]

If you were to ask. “Was today a good day?” I’d have to say “you bet your ass it was!!”

 

[jpcoll01]

To say it’s been a whirlwind few days would be an understatement. Not bad for a bunch of whitetail hunters from KY on a DIY hunt. Check out the forkie on the left. My buddy got him at last light last night. Full velvet still intact, so much character. Mine is on the right.

 

[BEvans]

Looks like a successful hunt congrats! Is that freezer plugged in or just being used as a cooler? I presume it's connected to an inverter?

 

[jpcoll01]

Looks like a successful hunt congrats! Is that freezer plugged in or just being used as a cooler? I presume it's connected to an inverter?

That is the antelope freezer which isn’t in use yet. The two small deep freezes full of deer meat and a carefully bubble wrapped velvet forkie are in an enclosed trailer plugged in at the hotel and freezing all that meat.

 

[jpcoll01]

I have had a blind marinating near some water for the past 3-4 days hoping the antelope would start to ignore it and that it wouldn’t blow to the next county. I was on my way to my blind this evening and there was a buck standing out in the field at 80 yards. He wasn’t alarmed for whatever reason but did the whole walk away a little faster than you can keep up move and suddenly was at about 100 yards. I stopped following him and he stopped to and kept picking. I went the long way around and got out of sight (barely) and waited on him to see where he’d go. He walked to within 30 yards was quartering to pretty hard and I shot him. Shot a bit back and it exited really far back but he was staggering and bleeding really bad. Staggered to 40 and I sailed another Kudu broadhead through both lungs and he went down immediately. It was pretty exhilarating. Coolest thing was my family was on the horizon line watching it all go down (but none of them thought to video).

 

[jpcoll01]

I’m back in Montana. Had a fantastic 8 days on Wyoming resulting in a nice 3 point, probably 30 stalks that were an absolute blast, 10-12 hours in a blind, and ultimately my first two antelope with a bow.
I can’t tell you how much fun it was to hunt with my family this past week after grinding it out solo for several weeks before.
Going to take the wife, son and daughter to the farmers market in the morning for breakfast and some fresh flowers and veggies, spend the rest of the day recharging and then try to get out a bit on Sunday. Monday starts my regular schedule which is to work eastern hours and try to get out most evenings starting at 2:30-3 and all day on weekends. Will take a couple 4 day weekends as well during rifle but I know the pressure will be significant.
What a week!!

 

[jpcoll01]

So do any of you ever get toward the end of archery and start to question your abilities as a hunter? I had a bull responding last night and we glassed him and his cows up leaving their beds. I thought I had a really good chance of Intercepting this morning. Got to parking spot at 5:15 commenced hiking through a mile of terrible blow down in the dark with headlamps to a bedding area that I was sure would be empty for another 2 hours. Had a cow call at me 1/2 way through the obstacle course I’d blow downs dead down wind with the morning thermals then never heard another sound. Got to the spot I was hoping to intersect and never saw a thing. Went to the ridge ripped some locators but I think I busted the entire herd out. Man this is really hard. On the bright side I got another grouse last night with my bow.

 

[jpcoll01]

Went 3-3 on Wyoming tags and back to Montana to continue getting humbled. Even getting my a$$ kicked it’s still better than work.

 

[GoGriz]

Went 3-3 on Wyoming tags and back to Montana to continue getting humbled. Even getting my a$$ kicked it’s still better than work.

I’ll second that! Got my tail handed to me during archery in SW Montana, but I loved every second of it.

 

[Hunter4Life78]

You got this jpc. Yer gonna connect I believe. You got a positive attitude and are putting the time in. It's gonna pay off. I believe!! Loving this thread.

 

[jpcoll01]

Haven’t been in the woods since Sunday. Plan to go this evening and hope they are bedding in the same place and I can catch them headed out to feed. It’s a long shot, I know it’s a matter of days until he leaves those cows and heads off on his own to a hole somewhere.

 

[Hunter4Life78]

Haven’t been in the woods since Sunday. Plan to go this evening and hope they are bedding in the same place and I can catch them headed out to feed. It’s a long shot, I know it’s a matter of days until he leaves those cows and heads off on his own to a hole somewhere.

You hunting in the Bitterroot Mr. JPCOLL01?

 

[jpcoll01]

You hunting in the Bitterroot Mr. JPCOLL01?

I'm still chasing the bull I had heard the night I met you. I'd sure like to put an arrow through him If he stops responding or moves off I am heading south!

 

[jpcoll01]

Another humbling evening. Left Missoula pretty much as soon as my son got out of school and drove a little over an hour to a spot that I have been able to get a bull to respond several times and actually laid eyes on him late last week. Pulled up and had a solid plan hatched with my wife. First we would go to the east ridge and I'd rip a locator and see what we got then if nothing I would take off to where I think they are bedded and set up on the route I believe they take to feed in the evening. She would set a timer for 20 minutes to allow me to get down and around the mountain and then rip a locator from the west ridge so I could be in position when he rounded up his cows and rolled out (yes, my wife has been learning to bugle to help me out, she is the absolute best). Fast forward to what actually happened, rolled up to east ridge and heard a bugle in the distance (never even called) over the spine and down valley from the west ridge. I thought "I got him now, he has no idea I'm even around". So I took off hiking down and around to get in position. In the mean time she goes to West ridge and waits the agreed upon time and rips a locator...no response...waits agreed upon time, rips another one...no response...waits, rips nothing. I'm hearing and seeing nothing in the valley so she goes to plan B which we had agreed upon earlier and goes back to the east ridge and rips the first locator that we have done on that ridge. Immediate response (she thinks 100-150 yards). In the mean time I give her a call to see where she went and she tells me about the response so I start running back up the mountain. She waits per our original plan and bugles again...even closer with some chuckles seemingly directly where I was coming up the ridge (from her perspective). I had good wind and was making my way up the mountain and never saw or heard anything the entire way, nothing. Best I can guess is he came in pretty close to her and saw that she wasn't a bull and headed off down into the valley. Continue to be humbled by these creatures, maybe it's time to focus on bear for a while...

 

[jpcoll01]

Took a few minutes this morning to reflect on how fortunate I am to be able to spend the fall in Montana. I have been approaching it a little like a job but trying to make this time fun for my family as well. Last night was early out day for my son, so we headed to check out Pattee Canyon and then to Scheels for bowling and the play place. This kid loves that place. After that we headed to Mormon Peak road and that place looks like a moonscape, amazing what a fire can do to a mountain. I bet it greens up nice in the spring. Hunting in the Bitterroot this weekend at a place another Hunttalker gave me to try out, pretty excited about that.
I love KY, it is home and in Spring and Fall there is no more beautiful place on planet earth...but man, I sure am enjoying my time in Montana even if I haven't punched a tag here .

 

[jpcoll01]

So...I've met someone, I know, I'm married and straight but there is a bull elk that I just can't get off my mind, LOL. I have identified a herd of elk that are keeping a pretty consistent pattern over the past couple weeks. I have been goofing up (as called out in earlier posts) and they keep giving me chances.
Yesterday I got to the mountain way before sun up, like way too early, not sure what time I thought the sun came up but I was there around 5:45. I did some simple locators from both ends of the ridge which covered 2 distinct drainages...nothing. I hiked down a finger ridge and did the same, generally covered the area with on response. As I was about to leave to try somewhere else just after daylight I went to a spot to glass a bit where I had seen elk before. Just as I get there a short, quiet chuckle from down below. I sat down and got in my glass and started to see cows/calves come out into the open a bit, watched them feed around a bit and listened to them talking to one another then busted it the long way around to get the wind right and down the mountain I went. By the time I got to the bottom the thermals were shifting and I was actually in a position with good wind. I heard the bull rounding up his cows to head to bed (guessing) and he was probably 100 yards. I had cows at 30-40 yards upwind but behind brush. I didn't have a path past them to the bull. As usual I probably did the wrong thing so I cow called a little bit, they seemed to think I was a cow and were calling back, then I started raking and ripped a pretty severe bugle as I was so close I thought that he had to respond. I was wrong. He didn't make another sound, he and his cows moved off and that was that. They went up canyon to bed and I had no way to get to them as the wind was terrible and above them was 1/2 mile of blowdown, so pretty much the perfect bedding area in terms of safety. I backed out so as not to mess up the whole deal.
...pumpkin farm...
...highlander brewing for late lunch and brews...
time to leave to get back up the mountain
...son shows up from KY so I hung around an extra 40 minutes...
Bust out to get up the mountain and glass to help build the picture in my head and potentially (long shot) make a stalk. As we round the last corner the entire herd had climbed the mountain and were crossing the road heading to the next drainage they were 70 yards in front of us and reacted as you would think a herd of elk would react when seeing a truck come around the corner. If I had been there when I wanted to get there I would have watched them start up the hill and, in theory, could have made a play on them. Talk about a kick in the teeth. I just hope he hangs around another week, I can get to 400 yards easier than I can get to 40. Also missed a grouse so generally a disappointing evening.

 

[jpcoll01]

Someone in my wife’s spin class today told her to go up Miller Creek, so we did. Neat place but the trashiest place I have been to in Montana. Man people need to pick up after themselves and just generally have some pride in what is a place of amazing natural beauty. At one point driving up two guys were shooting TOWARD the road sighting in their rifles. People talk about Eastern KY (where I’m from) but this was a poor showing for the sportsmen/women Of Missoula. Damn shame.

 

[jpcoll01]

So, I have participated in my first Montana general season opener! I expected a sea of people so I started my day very early hoping to miss the traffic jam on the mountain. Lucky for me the snow and cold kept a lot of people at home as I only saw four vehicles all day. I know there were more from the tracks but in the time I was near the road I saw four.
I got into position about an hour before daylight and, after it got light (didn’t actually see the sun all day) sat in my glass until around 9:30-10 and saw nothing. I had good wind so I decided to stalk into the bedding area that I had previously seen this bull and look for tracks. Made my way up to the corner and saw undisturbed snow they hadn’t come back last night. I walked on around the mountain and started back to the top via what I thought was the best route. I learned something that morning. If a hillside has spots that appear clear that humans haven’t cleared for a road there’s a good chance it’s blowdown. So, after a 1/2 mile of scrambling straight up the mountain I got to experience 500 yards of blowdown going uphill. It was rough to say the least. I eventually made it to a road where I bumped into my first people of the day. A couple locals taking a weed break and having some snacks. They were nice, said they were waiting fir the weather to break. I walked on to my truck and got warmed up for about 30 minutes.
After I got warmed up I hiked to the other side of the mountain where I had seen them go thinking maybe they hunkered down in the snow and I’d sneak up on them. Hiked a couple miles but didn’t see any sign so headed back to the truck again. Warmed up again then went to the ridge between the two places I’d been to see if I could catch them crossing in the evening. I didn’t. Stayed until dark no elk no tracks.
Yesterday I went to a different place and didn’t see anything but on the bright side I didn’t see any people either.
Main takeaways for me:
- it isn’t even cold yet and I’m struggling to stay warm even with mittens and insulated boots my extremities are freezing. Probably simple answer is hand warmers.
- snow sure does help decision making. No tracks no elk so you can act decisively. As a newer hunter that was a good thing.
- satellite shows open spot on side of otherwise tree covered mountain be suspicious. Interested what other people think but seems like every yard of blowdown is equal to 5-6 yards of normal hiking so go around if at all possible
- manage your sweat, that is what will kill you when you finally sit still. I knew this before but didn’t do a good job of it on Saturday.

 

[jpcoll01]

I remember being younger and every year I’d get excited for deer season only to go out and sit in a stand and freeze to death at which point I’d remember that I didn’t like sitting still and freezing and, unless I got onto one the first day, I’d be done for the year. Fast forward 20+ years of no hunting and I discovered western spot and stalk hunting with my Dad and was addicted. I have been in Montana for about a month and a half (taking off a little over a week for Wyoming antelope and deer) and I have been hunting my tail off, hiking, stalking, calling etc. it has been great. Saturday I spent a lot of time in my glass in the snow and cold and it wasn’t the best. Yesterday was actually just as cold just minus the snow…not so much fun. I feel like I have the right gear but I can’t get warm sitting still, just can’t and that’s even with a heated vest on. Any tips for surviving when it gets REALLY cold over the next month?