SCliving Outdoors
Well-known member
After killing my bull in New Mexico I headed up to Montana to try to fill my general tag. I've read a lot of not great things about Montana deer (kind of like the current thread that is going around). I realize that I'm not a local so I can't comment on the quality or quantity except for my own experience. I don't know what it was like back in the "good old days". As I was headed to the piece of public land I was going to hunt in Eastern Montana. I started to see deer in the daylight on the side of roads, in green fields, in creek bottoms. You see deer here in SC, but its completely different. We have plenty of deer, but public land (private land can be tough too) deer are just tough to kill. I remember 2 years ago I started my season with 11 straight hunts where I didn't see a deer. I usually kill some nice bucks, but you just don't see deer in broad daylight walking around fields. I was starting to feel a little more confident.
I decided I would give myself 2 days (3 max) to get a buck before I headed home. I'd been gone for a while and I was ready to start heading home. I arrived to the property I wanted to hunt after dark and drove in until I got to a gate and parked my truck. I looked at my maps and made a plan for the morning to hike in a mile or so and start glassing every crack and creek that might hold a deer and that's what I did. As the sun came up the next morning I would walk and glass, walk and glass, walk and glass. Sometimes I would cover a few hundred yards and glass sometimes it was five yards. I wasn't seeing anything! It was dead. I did see a couple other hunters and I worked to move away from them. I had never hunted open country like this and I knew there were deer in there. I kept moving and glassing. I kept looking at my maps and trying to find something different in the terrain that would hold some deer. Finally after after about 8 miles I started to get into some terrain that looked a bit better. There were more bushes and small trees down in the valleys. I sat to glass and after a while I picked out a small buck with about 90 minutes left of shooting light. I decided I would move closer for a better look. As I worked down closer I stopped to glass again and picked out 2 does. Finally, I was in the deer. I kept glassing and to my left about 1000yds up on a hill I saw another buck. I grabbed my spotter for a closer look and saw it was a nice buck. The chase was on! At this point I had about 45minutes of legal light left. I circled around a ridge and got down to 430yds. I hit the buck hard, but my shot was back. He was quartering away so I felt like the shot was going to be lethal, but I didn't want to push the deer. I saw him go into a group of trees and I never saw him come out. It was going to be cool that night so I knew the meat would be fine. I decided I would walk the 4.6 miles back to the truck to get a good nights sleep and some food and head back in the morning.
The next morning I was hiking before the sun was up. I got back to the area where I shot a little after 8:20am following a 2.5hr hike in. I immediately went to the area I shot from and began working my way up the hill towards the area where I shot the buck. I saw and heard some crows when I began getting close, so I had a feeling my buck was close by. I glassed the hillside and I saw my buck. He went less then 100 yards from where I shot. The buck wasn't stiff so I made the right decision to back out. He's not a giant buck, but he's a nice buck and I was happy to bring him home. I packed him back to the truck and loaded him into coolers to hit the road. I hiked 13 miles day one and 10 on day 2.
I was able to stop in Illinois on the way home and visit my Mom, Dad, Sister and 5yr Niece (Violet). She told me when she gets older she wanted to go hunting. That made my heart smile. My 3 state trip was a success and I can't wait to do it again. I drove a 5,892 mile loop all across the west. Now I'm going to focus on whitetail here at home and starting to planning for Spring and Fall 2023. I already have some really fun trips planned and I'm looking forward to it!
I decided I would give myself 2 days (3 max) to get a buck before I headed home. I'd been gone for a while and I was ready to start heading home. I arrived to the property I wanted to hunt after dark and drove in until I got to a gate and parked my truck. I looked at my maps and made a plan for the morning to hike in a mile or so and start glassing every crack and creek that might hold a deer and that's what I did. As the sun came up the next morning I would walk and glass, walk and glass, walk and glass. Sometimes I would cover a few hundred yards and glass sometimes it was five yards. I wasn't seeing anything! It was dead. I did see a couple other hunters and I worked to move away from them. I had never hunted open country like this and I knew there were deer in there. I kept moving and glassing. I kept looking at my maps and trying to find something different in the terrain that would hold some deer. Finally after after about 8 miles I started to get into some terrain that looked a bit better. There were more bushes and small trees down in the valleys. I sat to glass and after a while I picked out a small buck with about 90 minutes left of shooting light. I decided I would move closer for a better look. As I worked down closer I stopped to glass again and picked out 2 does. Finally, I was in the deer. I kept glassing and to my left about 1000yds up on a hill I saw another buck. I grabbed my spotter for a closer look and saw it was a nice buck. The chase was on! At this point I had about 45minutes of legal light left. I circled around a ridge and got down to 430yds. I hit the buck hard, but my shot was back. He was quartering away so I felt like the shot was going to be lethal, but I didn't want to push the deer. I saw him go into a group of trees and I never saw him come out. It was going to be cool that night so I knew the meat would be fine. I decided I would walk the 4.6 miles back to the truck to get a good nights sleep and some food and head back in the morning.
The next morning I was hiking before the sun was up. I got back to the area where I shot a little after 8:20am following a 2.5hr hike in. I immediately went to the area I shot from and began working my way up the hill towards the area where I shot the buck. I saw and heard some crows when I began getting close, so I had a feeling my buck was close by. I glassed the hillside and I saw my buck. He went less then 100 yards from where I shot. The buck wasn't stiff so I made the right decision to back out. He's not a giant buck, but he's a nice buck and I was happy to bring him home. I packed him back to the truck and loaded him into coolers to hit the road. I hiked 13 miles day one and 10 on day 2.
I was able to stop in Illinois on the way home and visit my Mom, Dad, Sister and 5yr Niece (Violet). She told me when she gets older she wanted to go hunting. That made my heart smile. My 3 state trip was a success and I can't wait to do it again. I drove a 5,892 mile loop all across the west. Now I'm going to focus on whitetail here at home and starting to planning for Spring and Fall 2023. I already have some really fun trips planned and I'm looking forward to it!
