Montana Antelope zone 620

[gbruce]

Any up to date info on 620 for 2011 season? I understand it was anther rough winter with snow & flooding. Anyone have any first hand sightings of animal concentrations yet. I pulled an out of state tag so no much time for scouting. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[LuckyMike]

I can't help you with your specific question, but I can give you some guidance as to where you can normally find a lot of antelope. Get yourself a BLM map and find Indian Rock and/or Indian Lake. I've hunted that area with my family a couple of times and always found lots of antelope and lots of bucks but not monsters. Again that's during normal conditions. I don't know about this year. You might try contacting a biologist from MFWPs. Good luck!

 

[MThuntr]

I have been up in that area (Sun Prairie & Content) several time in the last few months. I can confirm that the antelope (and deer population) are not doing well. A bout of EHD (often referred to as blue tongue) is current working it's way through the area also. There are some places that I used to see antelope all the time and now I only see 1 or 2 or none. One rancher I work with offered a chance at a buck has since taken back his offer because the numbers are so low. He has also found 3 dead, seemingly healthy antelope this week. I suspect EHD was the cause. Luckily I didn't draw a tag.

I would still go because things change and animals move around so there could be pockets of good numbers. I'll agree with LuckyMike...no monsters but still representative animals do exist.

 

[Nemont]

The antelope have been thinned out pretty well by the winter. I have spent a fair amount of time south of Malta doing different things this summer and the antelope are sparse at best. There will be one or two here and there but I disagree that there are pockets of animals. They are just not there in any numbers. The counts were the lost in 50 to 60 years.

Nemont

 

[MHMT]

I spent a lot of time in the southern half of 620 this summer and saw very few antelope. They are very scarce. I did see one nice buck on private land though, not sure if the American Prairie Foundation allows hunting.

Over the course of the entire summer I think I saw a couple of groups of 3-4 does and two lone bucks. Maybe it's better up north but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I spent a lot of time in the southern half of 620 this summer and saw very few antelope. They are very scarce. I did see one nice buck on private land though, not sure if the American Prairie Foundation allows hunting.

They do. We hunted grouse up there last year, and they are enrolled in Block Management. Not sure how it is structured this year, but last year it was wide open - no reservation. Call their Bozeman office to find out what their terms are this year. There was some talk of going to a reservation system over the sign in.

Some good critters there last year. Not heard much positive out there this year, except for elk.

 

[ld1]

Call the fwp biologist for the area, they might be able to point you in the right direction.