My First Western Hunt - Montana Elk 2019

[Eprevost_tec]

Let me start off by saying I am not a photographer. I tend to be "in the moment" and always forget to take out the camera. So sorry for the lack fo photographs.

During the summer of 2017, I felt like there was something missing from my life. Call it an early mid life crisis. I was approaching 40, my kids were approaching their late teen years, I had a great job and was advancing in my career and we were in the best financial position we had ever been in. However I was also riding a desk 50+ hours a week, putting on weight and was facing high cholesterol, and loosing my sense of purpose.

I had hunted, fished and trapped my whole life. Being from Ontario Canad, I spent summers on lakes and falls in the bush. Yet everry year I was getting further and further away from those passions. As fat would have it during the summer of 2017, I found the first episodes of MeatEater, and then.....Mr. Randy Newburg. Funny what a few hours of Youtube will do to change your life. After a few weeks of binge watching episodes of western elk hunting, and hearing the constant messages of the glory of western public land hunting, I found my purpose and was reconnected to what was missing in my life.

I spent almost every waking moment from the summer of 2017 to March of 2019 researching, reading books, gleaming over maps and spending countless hours on GoHunt and OnX maps websites gathering every bit of knowledge about elk hunting in Montana I could. I also hit the gym. I lost 30 pouds and gained the fitness I had in my 20s. I was fully consumed with elk hunting and the dream of a Montana and Western hunting experience. I knew that comming from Ontario I had a huge learning curve ahead of me, and an immence physical challenge to overcome.

During those years and months leading up to the draw application deadline, I also learned and immense amount about most of the western states, the draw systems, preference and bonus points and the immense oppertunities that exist in the USA. In fact, I think everyone should take the oppertunity to appreciate what and incredilble wildlife and public land system you have, and the amazing job that your resource managers do. Here is Canada, we dont have half as many oppertunities, and wildlife managers are so disconnected from the resources they manage that year after year we are loosing both opportunities and resources to hunt.

All the research and work paid off. I was successfull in drawing a general big game combo tag for the 2019 season in Montana. With tag in hand, e-scouting plans from A to Z and all of the gear ready to go, I headed to Montana. After a two and half day drive I arrived in Big Timber ready to tackle some public land hunting. I had arrived 5 days before the opening of the season, and would have 6 days total after opener to close the deal. I had planned to have this many days before the season as contingency to ensure that I had enough time to check through all of my e-scouting plans and be setup ready for opening day. Thanks to those of this forum for a bunch of advice on my plans, it was very helpfull.

The country was much different thank it appeared on maps and satelite imagery. I was well aware that this would be the case, but living my whole life at around 800 feet, seeing what 6000 and 10000 looked like was a bit of shock. I knew several things from my research and planning. I needed to find sanctuary areas as we were in the post rut period and that those areas needed to be near good food and water. I also needed to get back off of trails and roads.

I spend 5 solid days getting my butt kicked, hiking thousands of feet of elevations and as many miles as I could cover in a day. I glassed from great ridges focusing on north facing slopes. While I saw some amazing wildlife during my travels including some incredible 5x5 mule deer, a great trophy bull moose tending a cow, bears, etc. I didnt see any elk sign the whole time scouting. In fact the only elk I did see was a huge herd that were right off of a road on a farm field at 3000 feed grazing away at mid day.

Feeling very discouraged and beat up, with only day or so before opening, I went to a local bar to drown my sorrows. I was able to get chatting to the bar tender and some local who were both extremely friendly, and were able to give me some great advice. Everyone told me the same thing, the elk arent down yet?? "Oh they will be down when we get the snows in the mountains, but they arent down yet". But this was contradictory to everything I learned. I just couldnt make heads or tails about their advice.

Opening morning of the season came, and so did the weather. The temps dropped, snow fell and the weather turned to SH***T. The forest service roads that I was using as jumping off points were now innacessible. I immidiately purchased a set of chains, but the next day the wind blew drift that were impassible. While I had camped in the back country during my scouting, I am very glad that I did not camp out during the first days of the season, as I would have been snowed in on those access roads. Surely with this weather the elk would start to move. I had a few days left and did what I could. However I was now restricted to trail heads at main roads and could not get back as far as I wanted. The temps made hiking harder and learning to hike cold was hard for me to grasp. I would sweat too much some time, and that made stopping to glass near impossible without risking hypothermia. Even with my high end Sitka gear, I still had to use it propertly in those weather conditions, which was tough.

All in all, I never did see an elk in the back country. I was able to fill my deer tag with a white tail buck, so all was not lost. And in the end it was an amazing experience that I will never forget. In fact, I am already planning for my next western hunt next year.

That being said, I am left with a number of lessons leaned, and some big questions that I am hoping some of the forum members might be able to help me out with. With all of the information overload, I feel like I have all the puzzle pies in a box, but cant figure out how to get the edges of the puzzle started.

1. Can someone help me with some insight on what local mean by "the elk arent down yet". I know that Mr. Newburg and Jacobson's videos can be a bit missleading, but it seems that everyone can find elk. I spent all of my time in areas that locals and other hunters confirmed that elk did exist in, and I focused on key habitat ares, but couldnt locate elk. Is it as simplie as "just keep getting higher in elevation"? I didnt cut a track, see any sign, nothing.

2. I dont have any experience with a bow, and don't have any one to mentor me through the archery learing process. I am a rifle hunter. Was the weather I encountered during the first week of the montana rifle season typical? based on the data I could find, I wasnt expecting the cold and snow that I saw. However, based on what the locals were saying, was the snow actually beneficial and should I be looking for deep snow during my scouting.

3. Is there such thing as just a guide in Montana? I had a blast being self sufficient and really felt a sence of accomplishement from the daily grind. In fact, after tallying up my costs for the trip (excluding gear of course) I could go back to Montana on a DIY hunt 6 to 7 times for the cost of one outfitter hunt. I would rather have 6 awesome experiences like I did, than one catered horseback/wall tent experience. That being said, it would be great to have a guide for a few days to help me get over the learning curve of a western hunt like this. I just want someone to tag along with me for a few days and teach me what to do, general areas to try, etc.

4. While e-scouting is great, and did help tremendously I feel like there is something missing. The videos I watched on the E-scouting series make it look easy. Pick a unit, find roadless sanctuary areas nearby feed and bingo, head to the field and there's the elk. But in reality the units are huge, there are thousands of areas that could hold elk, and you can only reasonably cover a dozen of those thousands. Like Remi Warren said once, its like finding a needle in a stack of needles. Yet local knowledge seems to know exactly where in the unit the elk are. So does local knowledge mean more to the process than anything else. And how is a guy who lives 2000 miles away suppose to gain that knowledge?

Visiting the western US was one of the most amazing experiences of my life so far. There is wildlife everywhere, everyone I met was warm and friendly and the skylines are inspiring. I will continue to return to take advantage of every oppertunity that I can, while I still can. Being successfull is a cherry on top of the sunday, but the trip, adventure and experience is the ice cream. And who doesnt love ice cream.

Thank you in advance to anyone who reads or is able to provide me some general direction and advice. I will be sure to take the camera out next time, and hopefully share some photos of a more successfull hunt.

 

[Werty]

I live out west and didn't fill my elk tag, and I'm not a road hunter. Just keep learning, keep moving forward you'll get there. Good luck next year.

 

[Addicting]

New winner of the longest post award. Lol.

Just keep after it, not everyone gets it done in their first year. Coming from someone who took it way too serious their first year. Let it go, that pressure you put on yourself doing all that work prior to getting there takes away the enjoyment of being in the mountains. So now that you have been there and seen it first hand, go again next year, you will figure it out. Think Randy said it took him 4 years.

 

[406LIFE]

1. It means elk are still at the high elevations, generally on Forest Service and not in the valley floors, which is generally private. Many times it is just about eliminating areas where elk aren't. You should have a good idea of where they "should" be and then just cover the ground till you find them.
2. Typical weather doesn't exist. Generally: Archery season is warmer, drier. Rifle is colder, wetter. But two years ago we got a foot of snow during the elk rut, third week of Sept. So...
3. You can call up guides and have them tailor a hunt for you. There is something to be said about having your first one be outfitted and shortening the learning curve.
4. Local knowledge means we've had more time for boots on the ground. Nothing will beat that. So in that sense, yes. How do you acquire it? Spend more time here.

Where in MT were you?

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Elk migrate every year,one snowstorm will not make them move.Usually...
Start high,move down 1000ft,no sign-move down another 1000ft.
You saw Elk at 3000 ft.Now you know where to hunt.If the Elk can't get through
the snow to feed they will continue down until they can feed.Sometimes at the bottom
in the Ag.fields.Some herds are "resident"herd and stay near the Ag. fields year round.
Good luck to you next year.

 

[MT Bound]

You definitely put some time and homework in, good for you. Sorry to hear you didn't get into the elk w/all that work, but that's elk hunting.

I have 4 locations throughout the State I hunt, if the elk aren't in the one, I will bail and drive 1-3 hours and go to my next place. Have different places picked out in completely different mountain ranges, you'd be surprised what a 2 hour drive will get you if one spot is loaded with hunters or the elk just aren't there yet.

 

[NeilD]

1. Generally it means the elk are still way up high because of no snow. I find it interesting to hear locals of Big Timber say that though as it seems a good portion of the elk herd there resides on the private down low year round. I would think that with all the archery hunters up there that by opening of rifle a majority of the elk are already pushed to the private down low as it is a sanctuary for them. The Randy Newbergs of the youtube world have put in a lot of time to know where the local herds are generally located. Even then they aren't finding elk every day and everywhere they go. You have to keep in mind that most youtube show are only showing their successful days as otherwise not many would watch. You have to keep in mind that statistically 80%-90% of people eat their elk tag every year. It sounds like you came into this hunt with unrealistic expectations of rifle hunt elk sightings. 90% of the rifle elk hunting battle is locating them. Shooting them is easy. If it was easy to locate them the statistics on filled elk tags would be way way higher.
2. Its Montana. I've seen it snow in June and August before. There is no such thing as "typical" weather. As a rule of thumb you should always have chains and a scoop shovel with you and keep your tank of fuel full in case you get stuck. Snow is always helpful in a rifle hunt as it gets animals moving, keeps them feeding longer, and increases your chances of locating them by cutting tracks. Again, I don't look at the Crazies as a typical mountain range that sees a huge migration. I think a majority of the animals are on private due to hunting pressure way before snow makes them move so depending on snow for a migration is not as helpful as it may be in the southwest portion of the state. If you were hunting south of Big Timber down the Boulder then snow pushing them down may be more beneficial.
3. I'm not well versed on guides as I've never used one. I guess it depends on how much disposable income you have and what you want out of a hunt. It sounds like you enjoy the challenge of DIY and have enjoyed the whole researching/learning process. You won't get that out of the guided hunt but your success rate will be greatly increased. That's a personal decision you will have to make. I would guess that any outfitter is going to charge you for a whole week of hunting rather than giving you a day rate as they have limited guides and availability so I wouldn't depend on being able to find a guide for a day or two. As for getting someone who has put in the time to learn an area to show you around to accelerate your learning curve... I wouldn't count on it. Most guys have put in years and years and hundreds of leg miles to learn an area and most aren't willing to increase pressure in their area to give a stranger a shortcut.
4. They do make it look easy... that's how they sell content. What they are selling is a good starting point but like you found out, the country is way bigger/steeper in real life. Locals know where they elk are better because they have put in the time and effort to learn the country and the habits of the local elk. That isn't information that most are willing to freely give because if they do, soon those elk won't frequent those areas anymore because of more pressure. The only way you are going to get that kind of knowledge is by coming back to the same area year after year and putting in the time to learn the area.

I don't mean to come across as rude so know that isn't my intent, but I feel like you need to hear the hard truth. There are no "easy" elk on public ground. Easy public land elk don't exist outside of a total luck/chance encounter. There are no shortcuts to being successful in a harvest. It takes time and effort. We live in this age of youtube videos where everyone thinks they will come out west, drive around a little and hike a mile off the road and the elk will be running around everywhere. Its just not the reality. Elk hunting is hard work, takes a lot of time and effort to become proficient at, and also takes some degree of luck. Keep coming out and learning and eventually you will start having more success. I'm glad to hear you had a good time even though it wasn't what you expected it would be. Keep that mentality and perspective. If you relish in getting away from the hustle and bustle and being able to spend time in God's creation then your hunt will be a success regardless of if you harvest an elk. Finding and shooting an elk is just a cherry on the top. Good luck and continue to enjoy the process of learning elk hunting!

 

[MITCHMO]

Yea it’s tough, but it sure makes a guy want to do it again! Part of hunting is reflecting on successes and failures. We all have both. You’ll figure it out, stick with it.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

1. Generally it means the elk are still way up high because of no snow. I find it interesting to hear locals of Big Timber say that though as it seems a good portion of the elk herd there resides on the private down low year round. I would think that with all the archery hunters up there that by opening of rifle a majority of the elk are already pushed to the private down low as it is a sanctuary for them. The Randy Newbergs of the youtube world have put in a lot of time to know where the local herds are generally located. Even then they aren't finding elk every day and everywhere they go. You have to keep in mind that most youtube show are only showing their successful days as otherwise not many would watch. You have to keep in mind that statistically 80%-90% of people eat their elk tag every year. It sounds like you came into this hunt with unrealistic expectations of rifle hunt elk sightings. 90% of the rifle elk hunting battle is locating them. Shooting them is easy. If it was easy to locate them the statistics on filled elk tags would be way way higher.
2. Its Montana. I've seen it snow in June and August before. There is no such thing as "typical" weather. As a rule of thumb you should always have chains and a scoop shovel with you and keep your tank of fuel full in case you get stuck. Snow is always helpful in a rifle hunt as it gets animals moving, keeps them feeding longer, and increases your chances of locating them by cutting tracks. Again, I don't look at the Crazies as a typical mountain range that sees a huge migration. I think a majority of the animals are on private due to hunting pressure way before snow makes them move so depending on snow for a migration is not as helpful as it may be in the southwest portion of the state. If you were hunting south of Big Timber down the Boulder then snow pushing them down may be more beneficial.
3. I'm not well versed on guides as I've never used one. I guess it depends on how much disposable income you have and what you want out of a hunt. It sounds like you enjoy the challenge of DIY and have enjoyed the whole researching/learning process. You won't get that out of the guided hunt but your success rate will be greatly increased. That's a personal decision you will have to make. I would guess that any outfitter is going to charge you for a whole week of hunting rather than giving you a day rate as they have limited guides and availability so I wouldn't depend on being able to find a guide for a day or two. As for getting someone who has put in the time to learn an area to show you around to accelerate your learning curve... I wouldn't count on it. Most guys have put in years and years and hundreds of leg miles to learn an area and most aren't willing to increase pressure in their area to give a stranger a shortcut.
4. They do make it look easy... that's how they sell content. What they are selling is a good starting point but like you found out, the country is way bigger/steeper in real life. Locals know where they elk are better because they have put in the time and effort to learn the country and the habits of the local elk. That isn't information that most are willing to freely give because if they do, soon those elk won't frequent those areas anymore because of more pressure. The only way you are going to get that kind of knowledge is by coming back to the same area year after year and putting in the time to learn the area.

I don't mean to come across as rude so know that isn't my intent, but I feel like you need to hear the hard truth. There are no "easy" elk on public ground. Easy public land elk don't exist outside of a total luck/chance encounter. There are no shortcuts to being successful in a harvest. It takes time and effort. We live in this age of youtube videos where everyone thinks they will come out west, drive around a little and hike a mile off the road and the elk will be running around everywhere. Its just not the reality. Elk hunting is hard work, takes a lot of time and effort to become proficient at, and also takes some degree of luck. Keep coming out and learning and eventually you will start having more success. I'm glad to hear you had a good time even though it wasn't what you expected it would be. Keep that mentality and perspective. If you relish in getting away from the hustle and bustle and being able to spend time in God's creation then your hunt will be a success regardless of if you harvest an elk. Finding and shooting an elk is just a cherry on the top. Good luck and continue to enjoy the process of learning elk hunting!

And then when I was three........

 

[Deleted member 20812]

1. It means some people are too lazy to go looking for them because they are in tougher places. Lack of snow is a common excuse for not shooting an elk, ranking right up there with the wolves ate 'em all.
2. You should always plan on cold and snow in October. If it's not, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
3. A guide is a guide. Cost will be the same.
4. Hunting is hunting. You can e scout all you want and sometimes plans don't work out. Hunting knowledge is something that is accrued over periods of time, through success and failure both.

 

[buck137]

Elk season this year was rough, in my area, we had a lot of archery hunters unlike other years, which in turn pushed the elk either onto no access allowed private lands or higher and deeper. I run quite a few game cameras and normally have pictures of elk all throughout archery, but this year after the second week of archery my pictures went to almost nothing. Then when general season came about and the orange army invaded, we didn't have enough snow to push the elk that went high, down. I could go to my one spot to set up and spot and I could find the elk that were up high, but where they were, it would be extremely hard to get one out if I did shoot one. As for local knowledge, well, we live here and hunt here, with me, I scout year round, go antler hunting in the spring and generally know where the elk are or go when the pressure hits, and it has taken me many miles of hiking and glassing to figure this out, so my advice to you, is come out in the summer and do some scouting and you can reduce your learning curve.

 

[Eprevost_tec]

Thanks all for your words of wisdom and insight.

I had realistic expectation about my hunt. I was fully aware that my likely success rate of harvest was around 5 to 10%. I had no illusions about harvesting an elk.

My real disappointment was in locating elk, or any sign for that nature. Montana was amazing, and the fact I saw wildlife everywhere I went, in abundance, made my trip.

The other thing I took away was an incredible sense of accomplishment. Most of society never gets out of their comfort zone. I think people need to feel uncomfortable, do something really hard, take on immense challenges and sometime even fail. These things drive the human spirit and make us better people.

My post was by no means meant to be an expression of my complaints, but a humble expression of the reality I faced. Learning to elk hunt, especially by those of us 2000 miles away from any mountains or elk, is almost an insurmountable task. The information overload these days also does not help.

I agree with all of you, more boots on the mountains is the only way to learn and gain success. So.....I will be back.....

 

[NeilD]

And then when I was three........

???.... Again was only trying to shed light on the realities of elk hunting in an age of YouTube. My apologies again if I came off as rude. Wasn’t my intent. Sounds like the OP has realistic expectations and is willing to put in the work to get it done. That is a solid trait and one that will lend itself to success in the long term so good on him for that!

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Just something to think about if you hunt the same area again with the same conditions, you at least know where not too look, in saying that I’ve killed elk in places I generally don’t see them either. Just move, move, move till you find them. They are “wild” animals and do the same.....
Matt

 

[Pondera]

Great story so far! Thanks for sharing with us!
Here are a few thoughts: (Keep in mind that this varies year to year and some places have more pressure than others)
-Now that you have the lay of the land I wonder if you go back to the same spot next year, only show up a day or two in advance and be able to give yourself more time to hunt while the season is open.
-A guy could burn himself out scouting and not hunting.
-One year a spot I like to deer hunt had more folks scouting the week before then the opening morning!
-We always say the snow hasn't pushed them down yet, then we get too much snow and can't get around to hunt, so we sit at the local bar in our camo and talk about it.

 

[midwesthunter]

I didn't read all of the responses but, you could have been hunting an area with a lower elk population, and that would explain the lack of sign.

 

[SAJ-99]

Most of society never gets out of their comfort zone. I think people need to feel uncomfortable, do something really hard, take on immense challenges and sometime even fail.

Agree. I think that applies to everything in life, not just elk hunting. It is not clear where you were hunting exactly, but I am guessing because you mentioned Big Timber - The Crazies or the Absaroka. There are elk in both, but they are not widely distributed in either spot. By the time rifle season kicks in, they are mostly on private ground.

 

[Irrelevant]

I've never hunted MT, but one of my coworkers does. He'd been successful 3 out of the last 3 years, until this last year, he simply didn't see anything in the places he was used to and couldn't get out of that rut in time to move on and look elsewhere. As Marcus is want to say, "Elk are where you find them" which is often not where you expect them.

 

[Pagosa]

If you were hunting in the Crazy Mtns there are not any better spots. Tons of elk in there.

 

[Eprevost_tec]

Since a few of your were asking, we were hunting Unit 560. Our original plan was to hunt unit 317, but based on some advise from a very trusted forum member, we were told that the Grizzly risk was not worth it and that we should focus on our plan B which was 560. Many indicated that we were targetting some good areas, maybe we just didnt push hard enough.