BuzzH
Well-known member
With a MT deer and elk tag in my pocket, figured I'd hit the last week of the season and spend thanksgiving in Missoula.
Got to Montana late Friday night and gave my Brother a call to see if he wanted to hunt Saturday and Sunday for some whitetails.
He was game for that, so early the next morning we drove up to the spot we've been hunting since we were old enough to hunt (my 34th consecutive year). As usual, there were a few other hunters around. We talked with the other 2 guys that were there and asked them where they intended to hunt as I didnt want to get in their way (and vice-versa). They picked their spots and Matt and I decided on a particular ridge that always holds a few bucks.
We made our way up the ridge, in total crap conditions, crunchy snow, noisy brush, etc. We stopped to glass some country and Matt heard what we thought was someone trying to rattle. Definitely antlers rattling, very mechanical and phony sounding for sure. The sound was just below where we'd walked and slightly to the West of us. We back tracked about 50 yards and I looked downhill to see 2 bulls walking up the ridge at 70 yards. I couldnt see the upper 1/3rd of the bulls rack in the front, but what I could see looked pretty good. He was quartering toward me pretty hard, but I managed to slip a 140 accubond behind his shoulder with my 7-08. He took a couple steps and was now more broadside. Just as I was about to shoot him again he turned and started walking away slowly hard quartering away. I shot him again in the back of the ribs just before he disappeared behind some fir trees. Matt and I walked down and about 25 yards from the initial hit found this guy.
Not bad considering I'd hunted less than 2 hours and he just happened to be in my whitetail spot. I was kind of surprised he was only a 5 point, as I knew he had pretty strong brows.
Matt and I:
My buddy Brian (BRI) came up to hunt for a couple days and we had a great time. Again the conditions were crap, but Brian managed to kill this buck:
The next day Brian and I hunted a different area and right at dark I saw a good buck standing on a ridge. I looked him over for a couple minutes and decided good enough. I ranged it at 426 and made the adjustments. I laid down prone and got a rock solid rest over my pack. I waited until he was looking plenty calm and pressed the trigger. He never took a step, the 140 accubond broke the on shoulder and made a nice 50 cent pieced sized exit.
I havent killed a buck in my area since 2008, mainly because of time conflicts and hunting mule deer. The over-all deer numbers are definitely bouncing back, lots of fawns, mostly twins.
The country is getting thicker and thicker over time and I'll be making some adjustments to my hunting in the future to deal with that. Hopefully the conditions are better next year as I didnt hunt most of the best spots.
Anyway my Montana whitetail for 2013:
Got to Montana late Friday night and gave my Brother a call to see if he wanted to hunt Saturday and Sunday for some whitetails.
He was game for that, so early the next morning we drove up to the spot we've been hunting since we were old enough to hunt (my 34th consecutive year). As usual, there were a few other hunters around. We talked with the other 2 guys that were there and asked them where they intended to hunt as I didnt want to get in their way (and vice-versa). They picked their spots and Matt and I decided on a particular ridge that always holds a few bucks.
We made our way up the ridge, in total crap conditions, crunchy snow, noisy brush, etc. We stopped to glass some country and Matt heard what we thought was someone trying to rattle. Definitely antlers rattling, very mechanical and phony sounding for sure. The sound was just below where we'd walked and slightly to the West of us. We back tracked about 50 yards and I looked downhill to see 2 bulls walking up the ridge at 70 yards. I couldnt see the upper 1/3rd of the bulls rack in the front, but what I could see looked pretty good. He was quartering toward me pretty hard, but I managed to slip a 140 accubond behind his shoulder with my 7-08. He took a couple steps and was now more broadside. Just as I was about to shoot him again he turned and started walking away slowly hard quartering away. I shot him again in the back of the ribs just before he disappeared behind some fir trees. Matt and I walked down and about 25 yards from the initial hit found this guy.
Not bad considering I'd hunted less than 2 hours and he just happened to be in my whitetail spot. I was kind of surprised he was only a 5 point, as I knew he had pretty strong brows.
Matt and I:
My buddy Brian (BRI) came up to hunt for a couple days and we had a great time. Again the conditions were crap, but Brian managed to kill this buck:
The next day Brian and I hunted a different area and right at dark I saw a good buck standing on a ridge. I looked him over for a couple minutes and decided good enough. I ranged it at 426 and made the adjustments. I laid down prone and got a rock solid rest over my pack. I waited until he was looking plenty calm and pressed the trigger. He never took a step, the 140 accubond broke the on shoulder and made a nice 50 cent pieced sized exit.
I havent killed a buck in my area since 2008, mainly because of time conflicts and hunting mule deer. The over-all deer numbers are definitely bouncing back, lots of fawns, mostly twins.
The country is getting thicker and thicker over time and I'll be making some adjustments to my hunting in the future to deal with that. Hopefully the conditions are better next year as I didnt hunt most of the best spots.
Anyway my Montana whitetail for 2013:
