High country whitetails

[mdunc8]

I was out trying to track down the group of bucks I found a few weeks back (after catching 60 cutthroat this afternoon). I managed to find one of them. He looks to be decent 8 point. Has anyone else noticed an increase in whitetails at higher elevations? I started scouting the area hoping to find two muleys I saw two years back, but have seen nothing but whitetail bucks this year and only a few muley does. I'm at about 7,000 feet, which isn't super high, but it's definitely not your typical whitetail country. It was only two years ago when I was seeing nothing buy muleys.

I also found several single large beds. Is it safe to say that they're either from a bull elk or a moose since there weren't several together?

 

[ismith]

Ive seen some very nice whitetail bucks up high in the Gravellies over the last few years. Saw a very nice buck on Norris hill just this morning!

 

[BuzzH]

I've been killing whitetails from elevations of 5200-6500 feet since the early 80's.

In the early 80's the place I hunt was primarily mule deer with just a few whitetail. Due to a major timber liquidation campaign at a highly accelerated rate...mule deer numbers tanked big-time in the 80's in my area. Mostly due to increased roading (easier access), some really piss poor management by a MTFWP biologist the mule deer where about gone by the early 90's.

The cutting did cause a GOOD deal though for whitetails, creating thousands of acres of edge habitat and increasing browse species like snowberry, huckleberry, ninebark, etc. etc.

I remember hunting in the early 80's and if I saw a dozen whitetail bucks during the 5 week general seaon I felt I was doing pretty well. All through the 80's though, the hunting for whitetails just gradually got better and better...to the point that seeing 20+ bucks a day wasnt unusual.

Amazingly, most of the mule deer road hunters werent smart enough to learn to hunt whitetails...if they couldnt hunt a deer that stood there and let you use the truck mirror for a rest...they wanted no part of hunting there anymore. Even better than fewer and fewer hunters was the road closures in the 90's. Absolutely one step from hunting exclusive private property as I rarely saw other hunters...and those I did see didnt have the 25+ years of experience hunting those deer like I have.

I found out a couple things real quickly...number one is that whitetail bucks, in particular the mature ones, could be found at ANY elevation. I routinely killed whitetail bucks while hunting high, timbered ridges for elk early on. Pretty soon I was primarily hunting mature whitetail bucks and just shot elk as an after-thought when I ran into them. Secondly, you can not easily pattern a particular whitetail buck that lives in the timber. They have a much larger home range, and I have never shot a deer that I saw on previous days...there here one day...gone the next. They just roam too much to pattern, in my experience. But, what I could pattern was WHEN and WHERE to hunt under WHAT conditions. That was really the achilles heal for the mature bucks that I killed.

Another key thing was the timing of when to hunt the mature bucks when they were the most vulnerable. I have kept detailed journals for years, as well as every single deer tag I've had since I was 12...and if you want to take a mature buck where I hunt...the magic day is November 18...give or take a couple days on either side of that day. A vast majority of my best bucks have been killed very close to that day.

Its amazing how the deer activity changes in there during the prime days...really hard to describe and most dont believe it.

Anyway...a few pictures.

One of my favorite glassing spots to just a get a feel of whats going on with both elk and deer. The highest knob on the sky-line is a good spot for whitetails. I shot my first real good buck in that country one day about noon there.

Another look at some different country...again...really good area and days with snow like that, around the 18th of November...shit just doesnt get much better. I watched my brother kill a good whitetail buck from the very spot I'm glassing in the photo a couple years ago. On the way out...he filled his cow tag about 3 hours later.

 

[mdunc8]

The area I've been scouting/hunting has been hit pretty hard by the beetles and there has been some intense thinning of the dead trees the last few years in an attempt to keep the fire danger down around the property a little bit. The other drainages I've hunted in the area haven't seen the logging that this area has, which I'm guessing is the reason I'm only seeing an increased presence of whitetails in this particular area. I recently moved from Virginia and have shot a few nice whitetails back home and managed to shot a decent (for me) 3x3 muley last year. I've been planning on devoting much of rifle season towards muleys, but now I'm starting to question that strategy. I would really like to take an animal from this drainage, regardless of species, so I may go after one of the bucks I've been seeing. None of them are huge, but at least two of them would look purty nice on the wall. Any pictures of the bucks you took up in the areas you posted pictures of?

 

[BuzzH]

A few high country whitetails, no hayfields, no river bottoms...just timber.


Not the highest scoring buck I ever shot...but IMO, the best I ever shot. Split eye guards on both sides and 8.5 years old, shot when road hunting was just about at its heaviest. Also, after killing this buck and seeing the potential for whitetails there, I started taking things a bit more serious about hunting them.

Another look at the same buck:

One with some nice bladed eye-guards...couldnt resist, shot in 1996:

One of the highest scoring bucks I took, shot it in 2000:

Got this one in 1995:

Bumped this buck from his bed while tracking a raghorn bull...he was less than 10 yards on the opposite side of a large crowned doug-fir tree when he jumped. I got a decent look at a heavy 5 point antler as he ran uphill. He wasnt sure what I was and stopped for a look back...bad idea:

Probably one of the best days for big bucks I've ever had...not sure how many I saw in a week...but this day in particular was crazy. There were 5-6 bucks on one small hill-side chasing does around, fighting, etc. A friend and I watched them for a long time and 2 of those bucks were excellent. After much contemplation, I decided on the heavy one...but I'm sure the other buck I passed would have scored quite a bit better. I just couldnt get past the mass and dark antlers on this one...I'll never forget that day.

My brother Matt and I had a great 10 days of hunting with him taking this nice mature buck right near the 18th of November on a perfect day conditions wise. We saw a couple real good bucks as well as a nice bunch of elk that day.

I got picky and thought for sure I was going to go without a deer as the conditions went to crap after Matt shot his buck...but Matt and I didnt give up and hunted a heavily timbered ridge. We found this buck and I wasnt about to pass him. Probably the oldest WT buck I've ever shot. His back teeth were all but gone and according to a jaw board...9.5-10.5 years old.

Matt with the same buck:

 

[BuzzH]

A few more random bucks from over the years...some good...some average...but all good memories for me.

 

[BuzzH]

Even more:

Gramps with one:

Some a friend of mine took with my help:

A couple more for Matt:

A few more of mine:

 

[Sytes]

Damn Buzz, Very nice pics - enjoyable.

Enjoyed your insight as to the progression of the wt's.
Odd as I rarely run into wt's while hunting elk in western MT. In fact my first experience of watching a wt was this last year - glassing skree slopes for bear and presto - darn group of whitties. Granted early - little if any snow, I assumed they would move down once the snow hit though now you have me reconsidering that thought. This was up in Kootenai Natl Forest - along the border area

 

[mdunc8]

Those are some beautiful bucks. I've got a thing for nice clean, long-tined 8 pointers and you've got several nice ones that fall into that category.

 

[ismith]

Those are some great whitetails!
This buck was the smaller of two bucks that I hunted hard during archery season. I had a breaks rifle tag back in 2006 and didnt want to archery hunt for elk so I focused on whitetails. I actually saw more elk that year deer hunting than ive ever seen since in one season. This buck was bedding on public land during the day and feeding on private land at night. I caught him on his way down. His "twin" looked almost identical to him, but a 1/3 bigger in body and rack size.

 

[ismith]

Took this picture a couple of years ago. This buck spent some time on public land.

 

[----]

There's no mountain whitetail west of the divide, I have no idea where Buzz got all those pictures.

 

[mhungerford]

Found this guy last year at around 7000'

 

[Scott40]

I've regularly sen whitetail at 8,000 ft in the Little Belts, but where they are at it is mostly like a big plateau.