My First Montana Hunt

[Wyo307]

Hello everyone I am coming up to Montana this coming week for my first hunt in the state. I am planning on hunting region 7 for whitetail (yes I am aware that numbers are down). I am really just planning on having a good experience in the state and exploring some new country and having a chance at a whitetail is just a plus. I do have a General tag as well as a doe tag to try to fill and will be there for a week or so depending on the hunt. I am driving up from western Wyoming and plan on truck bed camping to stay mobile. I am also making a couple quick stops on the way to hunt pheasant and chuckar as well as drop some capes off with taxidermist.

The current plan is to just bounce around on public land and maybe the odd type 1 BMA (too late to the party for anything decent in the type 2). I am not going with the intentions of trying to kill the biggest buck around I just want a good hunt. I know that finding a whitetail on public may be easier said than done but I am not afraid to put on the miles and hours behind the spotter to get it done. If all else fails I can always hunt mulies (don't want to) or drop back down and hunt the black hills of Wyoming for Whitetails.

Anyways I will post back once I return, looking forward to exploring some new areas and seeing what I can turn up.

PS Posts with no pics are no fun so here is a pic from a past pheasant hunt on the same property I am going to hunt on Saturday.

 

[thusby]

I would recommend trying out some type 2 bma if it is available. If you harvest something on bma, try to find who owns it and drop them a thank you note.

 

[Wyo307]

I would recommend trying out some type 2 bma if it is available. If you harvest something on bma, try to find who owns it and drop them a thank you note.

Thanks for the reply. I called a couple and they are full. How do the type 2 work that are administered as "written permission obtained from FWP"? Are they unlimited number of entries per day or do they still regulate the number of parties entering that piece in a day? I am new to the BMA thing.

 

[Wyo307]

Well I got back from Montana last week and it was an awesome hunt! I was able to stop in Wyoming on the way up and kill some pheasants and an odd drake mallard and pintail. Overall, the pheasant hunt was slower than past years for some reason the birds were hopping up way out in front of the dogs even though they had not been hunted yet this year on this property. After the pheasant hunt I started the drive to Montana and met up with a taxidermist along the way to drop off my antelope from this year. On my way over the mountain I randomly happened into 17 bull elk in the road which was a nice surprise. I stopped and got groceries in the last town and headed down the river leaving Wyoming into Montana in the dark by this time. The whole way that direction I was dodging deer in the road both whitetail and muleys. I made it to the pin I had made on onX to camp only to find someone doing the same thing already there. I then began to drive around a bit to find a suitable camping spot and in the process located 4 whitetail bucks near public which kind of made my plan for the next morning for me. I basically camped on the side of a county road that night on a piece of BLM but was in position to move in on the river bottom towards where I thought the biggest buck would bed that night as soon as the light came up.

That next morning I walked the public piece I had camped on and ended up jumping the deer I was going in after but he was on the wrong side of the river and on private property but got a good look at my first nice whitetail buck of the trip. I finished that walk and decided to drive through a BMA just to see what was there and did see one small whitetail buck but people everywhere so I decided to leave it alone and move down the river and keep hitting small BLM and state pieces to try to find a deer without as many people around. On the second such spot, a BLM piece that was less than 50 acres I popped up my 2022 Montana Whitetail buck out of some thick timber. I honestly didn't get a great look at him but from what I did see he was decent enough for me to take. I grunted at him and was able to stop him around 90 yards out but had no shot. I adjusted a few steps to my right and he took a few more steps as well. I grunted at him once more and he stopped in a small shooting lane with his body exposed not his head at about 125yds. I used a tree to steady my shot and cracked it off. The recoil took the scope off him but I got back on the area he was in and the woods were still no deer anywhere within sight.

I walked up there and couldn't find him at first because everything looked basically the same and I had no point of reference to walk towards. I was about to start gridding the area when I spotted his antlers 20 yards to my right. To my surprise he had an extra on both sides as well as a forked eyeguard! He is by no means a giant and wouldn't score well but I do not care he is a trophy in my eyes and my best whitetail buck to date.

I spent the rest of that day taking care of him right where he died and actually deboned him on the spot to make it easier for my camping situation with a deer in the back of the truck with me. I then went to the nearest town and got a celebratory beer before moving on to trying to fill my doe tag. I didn't have much luck that evening and only saw deer on private land adjacent to the pieces I was hunting. Doesn't matter I was marking off spots as I went and narrowing down my search.

This continued through day 2 and by mid morning day 3 I was having some trouble finding does on public but was seeing small bucks on public. It was around noon on day 3 and I was sitting up on a bluff overlooking the riverbed taking pictures of a small buck through the phone scope when I caught movement close to my right. Wouldn't you know it was a doe. A quick shuffle and I was able to harvest her with a clean shot at about 135 yards. I actually filmed that shot through the phone scope and it turned out great. I packed her out and was done and back in town for another celebratory beer by early afternoon.

A quick phone call with my wife and got the greenlight to drop back down into the black hills of Wyoming to keep hunting as I was slated for a week long trip. A couple hour road trip put me in the hills in an area I was familiar with. I ended up passing 2 small whitetail bucks that first day. Over the course of the following 2 days I passed on 5 more small whitetail bucks while it snowed basically the whole time. By that time I was missing my family and not seeing anything to keep me entertained so I threw in the towel and came home a day early which I used to trim and package my two Montana deer with my 4 year old daughter.

Overall it was a great trip and I hope to do it again soon. Everyone I had the pleasure of interacting with on this trip was great from the locals to other hunters (both res and non res). Montana is beautiful and full of game if you are willing to put in a little work. I can't imagine what it was like before the diseases went through the area.

 

[fishing4sanity]

Congrats on your fur and feather adventure! Was the mallard a cross?

 

[BradA]

Congratulations that’s an cool looking WT

 

[RobertD]

Those bladed G2s are cooler than cool. Great buck and a good story too.

 

[Wyo307]

Congrats on your fur and feather adventure! Was the mallard a cross?

No just straight up migrating green heads. Then a random drake pintail. All while pheasant hunting they just randomly popped up off a nearby ditch and came over me and I happened to be hunting with steel because it was all I had.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Congratulations on a great whitetail