Montana general elk

[mitchparker6]

Hey everybody, looking to get some info on a general elk/deer combo tag. First off if we are going to list specific units I would appreciate it if it could be done in a PM. This would be my first montana elk hunt and I am looking for a good unit to put boots on the ground in terms of opportunity and being accessible in the late season. I farm and will most likely be able to make it out there as early as Nov 15th. That late in season I would be worried about accessibility due to snow. I'm also tossing around the idea of doing a solo hunt too. Any help would be appreciated, again not looking for honey holes, just somewhere to get started. I have 3 units narrowed down as well, but would like to talk to someone about them just to get a rough idea of what I'm getting into. Thanks

 

[westbranch]

I have a similar plan next year with my brother. He farms and manages a custom harvesting crew so it will probably be after Nov 15th. Deer should be easier to find, but it would be nice to see some elk too. I'll send you a PM if you want to bounce some ideas off each other. I am going to try to make a summer camping/scouting trip to get the lay of the land for the area we pick.

 

[buck137]

Not going to sugar coat this, but most elk at that time of year, are either up high and deep in or on private lands where they don't allow hunting. You can find elk still, but you'll hunt hard for them, this season was really hard to find elk, every where I could normally find them, they weren't. I could glass for hours and not find them on any public land, but once you glass the private they were there. But then again, we had an more people in this area than I've ever seen before and with that pressure, it pushed the elk into their sanctuary areas earlier than normal. I normally run eight game cameras and have hundreds of pictures of elk, but come the second week of archery, they pretty much disappeared. As for the snow, it varies from year to year, this past season, it wasn't bad at all to get around, but the two years before that, it was next to impossible to get into some areas without snowshoes, cross country skies or a snow mobile, and my winch on the truck was used quite a few times too. I wish you luck on narrowing down your search, and hope you draw your tags to get to come here and enjoy what we have here.

 

[MITCHMO]

I’d recommend calling a Montana Bio for the area/region you are considering. Ask them where the elk are that time of year. They will know if they completely leave a specific unit or not. I got some solid advice this past season from the Montana Bio for the region I hunted.