Montana Trophy Mule Deer

[MTODhunting]

Ok, now that we talked about conservation, let's talk about some hunting! I'm from Montana, lived and hunted here all my life. I know about a lot of great places to hunt deer and elk. But I just want to see what everyone else has to say. Where are the best places in Montana to tag a trophy mule deer? I'm not asking for you to share your honey hole by any means, but as far as general area goes, where would you hunt if you were in Montana and hunting for a real trophy?

 

[Nameless Range]

Mule deer are declining in MT, and even though you'll hear alot of complaints, I think you can still find trophy mule deer almost anywhere. I now hunt in a west-central Montana unlimited draw district for muleys and have nearly my whole life, and even though I surely don't get "trophy" caliber deer every year, I always seem to know someone who does.

They are up the Blackfoot and down in the Big Hole and I really think on any given day high on any of the divides of South West Montana you could run into ancient Muley monsters.

When I was a student in Missoula, I put in for the John Longs muley buck(HD 210) tag every year but never got it. One reason I don't like that they've moved up the date to put in for Muley bucks is that you have less time to shed hunt and determine if an area you're interested in may have the buck you're looking for. But, when I lived in Missoula shed hunting in the John Longs gave me a lot to daydream about.

 

[----]

Hd 204.

 

[belly-deep]

Yeah! Somebody please post up the best trophy mule deer hunting in Montana so anyone that is smart enough to work the google can pull up this thread!

 

[mtmuley]

Magazines, TV shows and pics of big bucks with the unit displayed don't help either. mtmuley

 

[mtlion]

Durpity durp.

 

[Lawnboy]

I didn't think Trophy Mule Deer and Montana could be in the same sentence They are like the passenger pigeon of old.

 

[Nameless Range]

MTODHunting, What's a trophy to you?

I think putting in for limited draw districts in other states with reputations for big mule deer is a good way to go. But the doom and gloom in reference to MT on here is hyperbole.

People shoot "trophy" deer in the limited draw districts in MT sure. People also shoot 160+ inch deer all the time in unlimited draw districts here in Montana. My neighbor shot a 179 inch (gross) last year in one. It's also a mistake to overgeneralize the attributes of a district. As far as the deer are concerned, the arbitrary boundaries of a hunting district do not exist to them. And I'm not talking about borders with limited draw HDs. The north half of a district could be sparse but the south half loaded. The whole damn thing could be slim pickings except for those 3 seldom visited gulches that dino-buck and his kin have occupied for decades.

I reject that there isn't much hope for "trophy" bucks in Montana- even in unlimited draw or general tag districts. The fact that it's difficult, or more difficult than it once was, doesn't mean they aren't there. The deer people shoot, the sheds they find, and the photos they take seem to bear that out in my recent experience.

 

[----]

Durpity durp.

I just ran this through my decoder ring and came up with 340.

Everybody lets head to unit 340!

 

[mtlion]

I just ran this through my decoder ring and came up with 340.

Everybody lets head to unit 340!

Great. There goes another district.

 

[Bulldog0156]

340 was last year, 235 is this year's hot zone.

 

[joelweb]

If you are hunting public land, find big unroaded country and migratory deer and you'll find nice bucks on an A license. I think there is a higher percentage of mature animals in the more heavily forested units because the cover helps deer avoid spotting scopes and long range shots.

I think you should be able to harvest a 135-150 class buck nearly every year in Montana if you hunt hard and smart. Bucks bigger than that are hard to find. I think it is more of a genetics issue than anything else.

 

[belly-deep]

joelweb pretty much nailed it. Big bucks are old bucks. Bucks get old in country that is tough to get to (be it private or remote) and country that has such low deer densities nobody bothers to hunt it very hard. It also helps if the country doesn't hold many elk because elk hunters often pop a mulie while they are out looking for a bull.

 

[buck12mm]

what do you think of the southeast portion of the state around the middle of November. Are mychances any good there for a whitetail of any size?

 

[belly-deep]

what do you think of the southeast portion of the state around the middle of November. Are mychances any good there for a whitetail of any size?

Haven't heard about that area but I know up in my neck if the woods blue tongue has been hitting them pretty hard

 

[Carrion Carrier]

Some good, recent info.

http://fwp.mt.gov/news/newsReleases/hunting/nr_2016.html

 

[Lawnboy]

I love there Region 3 report "•Mule deer populations are stable to slightly decreasing and still down from long term averages." Ok so you see a problem then start reducing the tag numbers and quit killing does just to provide opportunity. This has gone on far too long. If it's not a wolf issue it seems that it gets put on the back burner around here.

 

[joelweb]

I agree Lawnboy. Hunting does makes no sense in most places. I suggest that folks reach out to their commissioners and express this, as FWP will soon be drafting the regulations for the 2014/15 seasons.

 

[Carrion Carrier]

Nice to see you Joel!

More info (hot off the presses) on SE MT.

http://fwp.mt.gov/news/newsReleases/hunting/nr_2017.html

 

[----]

340 was last year, 235 is this year's hot zone.

Holy crap, I though you were kidding. I ran up there last night to poke around and was blown away. If anyone was lucky enough to put this down on their application this year PM me.