Planning for an Eastern Montana mule deer hunt

[DFS]

As an outsider, I don’t get all the hate.

Every year I see ‘Deer Camp’ videos from FT, etc, that basically shows lots of hiking in gently rolling terrain, plenty of deer, and everyone going home with a half grown mule deer buck. What’s not to love as long as you know what you’re buying?

No reason Montana needs to be the toilet bowl of the west. A season that encompasses the entire rut and a high powered rifle simply isn’t fair. Not to mention a statewide tag and add on a ridiculous amount of doe tags. It’s the recipe for a poor quality of hunt and deer herd on accessible land. But I get your point people are lined up for tag.

 

[brownbear932008]

Right about now the OP is regretting starting this thread I'm guessing.

 

[SwaggyD]

That was page 10, think he got the information he wanted in the first 10 pages?

 

[Hunting Wife]

No. I just gave an example. Like I said, some of y’all SEEM so intelligent.

Ah, to be young and naive again. I suspect you will realize the limits of your own intelligence, on this and probably many other issues, when you mature a bit.

 

[Cheesehead]

If the only lunch in town is a shit sandwich, it doesn't get any better because the line is around the corner and people are coming from out of town and making the line longer.
It wasn't always a shit sandwich and it doesn't have to be a "the sandwich", every other western state doesn't exclusively serve "the sandwich "but that is what is for lunch. Telling me that I should shut up and like it because you like it, maybe because you have never had anything else. That breeds disgust.

I get what you’re saying but that’s on y’all for electing the wrong people. Don’t blame nonresidents for your disgust.

Here’s how I would summarize it from an outsider’s point of view.

I live in the southeastern part of Wisconsin. Here’s a picture of deer densities. That’s roughly half what Montana averages just for whitetail. Almost everything is private farmland. Or suburbs with tiny bits of public. I’ve run trail cameras for years and the deer on public are generally only active from midnight to 4 am. Otherwise they are bedded in impossible to hunt thick shit. And all public is pounded by hunters in a way that Westerners could never imagine. Last year I saw 12 guys either across from me or walk past me in a 100 acre field of public on opening day. Hunting is horrible here (and yes, I move elsewhere in the state sometimes but that takes time and networking). Going out west looks way more fun and inviting.

Watching videos of Marcus walking in gently rolling terrain and shooting small four points stupidly looking at him compared to cracked out nocturnal Midwestern whitetails looks amazing compared to what I deal with.



*Edit: you Montanans are the biggest bunch of cry babies I’ve ever seen. I’m looking forward to killing some of your shit this year.

 

[Nick87]

I get what you’re saying but that’s on y’all for electing the wrong people. Don’t blame nonresidents for your disgust.

Here’s how I would summarize it from an outsider’s point of view.

I live in the southeastern part of Wisconsin. Here’s a picture of deer densities. That’s roughly half what Montana averages just for whitetail. Almost everything is private farmland. Or suburbs with tiny bits of public. I’ve run trail cameras for years and the deer on public are generally only active from midnight to 4 am. Otherwise they are bedded in impossible to hunt thick shit. And all public is pounded by hunters in a way that Westerners could never imagine. Last year I saw 12 guys either across from me or walk past me in a 100 acre field of public on opening day. Hunting is horrible here (and yes, I move elsewhere in the state sometimes but that takes time and networking). Going out west looks way more fun and inviting.

Watching videos of Marcus walking in gently rolling terrain and shooting small four points stupidly looking at him compared to cracked out nocturnal Midwestern whitetails looks amazing compared to what I deal with.
View attachment 221453


*Edit: you Montanans are the biggest bunch of cry babies I’ve ever seen. I’m looking forward to killing some of your shit this year.

SE Wisconsin and SE Montana is apples to submarines.

 

[8andcounting]

SE Wisconsin and SE Montana is apples to submarines.

Yup…. About the last 2 states I’d compare as far as hunting

 

[mtmuley]

*Edit: you Montanans are the biggest bunch of cry babies I’ve ever seen. I’m looking forward to killing some of your shit this year.

I have a new suggestion for your username. mtmuley

 

[Cheesehead]

I have a new suggestion for your username. mtmuley

That was pretty good

 

[brockel]

I get what you’re saying but that’s on y’all for electing the wrong people. Don’t blame nonresidents for your disgust.

Here’s how I would summarize it from an outsider’s point of view.

I live in the southeastern part of Wisconsin. Here’s a picture of deer densities. That’s roughly half what Montana averages just for whitetail. Almost everything is private farmland. Or suburbs with tiny bits of public. I’ve run trail cameras for years and the deer on public are generally only active from midnight to 4 am. Otherwise they are bedded in impossible to hunt thick shit. And all public is pounded by hunters in a way that Westerners could never imagine. Last year I saw 12 guys either across from me or walk past me in a 100 acre field of public on opening day. Hunting is horrible here (and yes, I move elsewhere in the state sometimes but that takes time and networking). Going out west looks way more fun and inviting.

Watching videos of Marcus walking in gently rolling terrain and shooting small four points stupidly looking at him compared to cracked out nocturnal Midwestern whitetails looks amazing compared to what I deal with.
View attachment 221453


*Edit: you Montanans are the biggest bunch of cry babies I’ve ever seen. I’m looking forward to killing some of your shit this year.

Don’t forget some mule deer doe tags. Excellent meat

 

[Cheesehead]

SE Wisconsin and SE Montana is apples to submarines.

That’s the point. Montana looks like a cakewalk.

 

[Nick87]

That’s the point. Montana looks like a cakewalk.

If you can't kill a dink in Wisconsin driving to montana isn't going to help much.

 

[brockel]

That’s the point. Montana looks like a cakewalk.

It is a cakewalk. 1.5-2.5 year old neck roasts behind every sagebrush. We love our 4 Months of window shopping for meat bucks. We are in the glory years so enjoy it.

 

[DFS]

I get what you’re saying but that’s on y’all for electing the wrong people. Don’t blame nonresidents for your disgust.

Here’s how I would summarize it from an outsider’s point of view.

I live in the southeastern part of Wisconsin. Here’s a picture of deer densities. That’s roughly half what Montana averages just for whitetail. Almost everything is private farmland. Or suburbs with tiny bits of public. I’ve run trail cameras for years and the deer on public are generally only active from midnight to 4 am. Otherwise they are bedded in impossible to hunt thick shit. And all public is pounded by hunters in a way that Westerners could never imagine. Last year I saw 12 guys either across from me or walk past me in a 100 acre field of public on opening day. Hunting is horrible here (and yes, I move elsewhere in the state sometimes but that takes time and networking). Going out west looks way more fun and inviting.

Watching videos of Marcus walking in gently rolling terrain and shooting small four points stupidly looking at him compared to cracked out nocturnal Midwestern whitetails looks amazing compared to what I deal with.
View attachment 221453


*Edit: you Montanans are the biggest bunch of cry babies I’ve ever seen. I’m looking forward to killing some of your shit this year.

Would your experience be any different in October? I suspect not.

 

[kwyeewyk]

I get what you’re saying but that’s on y’all for electing the wrong people.

Disagree, the problem pre-dates the current electees and is bigger/more complicated than a partisan issue. They got liberal with tags and seasons for various reasons, bad decisions were made over time, and once you start handing out fancy ice cream bars with extra sprinkles, the kids don't want homemade grape juice popsicles any more.

Now the masses are trained, and wealthy manipulators do what they tend to do and go for quick money now or set themselves up with long-term assurances, and current administration is playing ball.

We have the same problem in WA, everybody wants a tag so we run out and bump elbows and shoot the first dink with 8 shots across the canyon and hope we don't have to fight over it. Unfortunately the masses are who's mind needs to change in MT, NR and R both, and good luck with that now they're addicted to fancy state wide long rut hunt seasons.

I think a factor the whitetail state guys don't really understand is how vulnerable mule deer are in open country during the rut with unlimited rifle hunters on the landscape. It's really a bad comparison to whitetails in every way.

 

[brockel]

I think a factor the whitetail state guys don't really understand is how vulnerable mule deer are in open country during the rut with unlimited rifle hunters on the landscape. It's really a bad comparison to whitetails in every way.

This is exactly correct. And his statement is it being a “cakewalk” is 100% true. It is not difficult to stumble around in the middle of November and shoot a 2.5 year old deer. And that’s the problem. It is to easy

 

[Scott85]

I’m grateful most hunters aren’t willing to get 100 yards off the road.

 

[MThunter398]

*Edit: you Montanans are the biggest bunch of cry babies I’ve ever seen. I’m looking forward to killing some of your shit this year.

As someone who moved from Wisconsin to Eastern Montana, I promise you hunting public land here for mature representative bucks either white tail or mule deer isn't even remotely close to easy compared to Wisconsin white tail hunting. If your goal is to come out here, kill a dink buck or a doe to prove some point that we are cry babies and all is well out here, crapy politicians, drought, CWD, EHD, declining deer population, and a good conservation ethic be damned, I would imagine you will kill something. But that attitude about "cry babies" and "killing some of your shit" will not get you far here, especially when you get stuck in our gumbo "roads" and need a yank. Better hope you don't get stuck near my family's ranch, or anywhere else I frequent. I imagine I will be a bit more skeptical of out-of-state plates this fall, especially from Wisconsin.

 

[Cheesehead]

This is exactly correct. And his statement is it being a “cakewalk” is 100% true. It is not difficult to stumble around in the middle of November and shoot a 2.5 year old deer. And that’s the problem. It is to easy

Exactly

 

[DFS]

I’m grateful most hunters aren’t willing to get 100 yards off the road.

Oh the old lacing the boots up tighter trick.