Quintessential Western Whitetail?

[INMT]

Mountain whitetails are one of my favorites. This one was around 6000’ and 30-40 miles from the closest ag field. Fresh snow and single digits is where it’s at.

 

[Salmonchaser]

35 years ago I started hunting eastern Montana. Took two days to get there from NE Oregon. Now, I look for the same ground MT. Muley looks for. Definitely harder to find a good white Tail than an Elk.

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

Mountain whitetails are one of my favorites. This one was around 6000’ and 30-40 miles from the closest ag field. Fresh snow and single digits is where it’s at.View attachment 396143

That’s wild. I wouldn’t guess the center of glacier park to be 30 miles from an ag field.

 

[INMT]

That’s wild. I wouldn’t guess the center of glacier park to be 30 miles from an ag field.

If only. Seen some big bucks in the park this year.

I get disoriented when I leave my house. I forget which direction I go from Glacier when I hunt whitetail.

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

If only. Seen some big bucks in the park this year.

I get disoriented when I leave my house. I forget which direction I go from Glacier when I hunt whitetail.

I didn’t imply that you shot a deer in glacier!

I just didn’t know there was anywhere in MT a true 30 miles from a ag field.

Regardless I’d live to someday get one like that!

 

[INMT]

I didn’t imply that you shot a deer in glacier!

I just didn’t know there was anywhere in MT a true 30 miles from a ag field.

Regardless I’d live to someday get one like that!

Oh I know you weren’t implying that!

There are some places.

Considering what you’ve killed, I feel like you’re bullshiting.

I can be persuaded with IPA’s.

 

[Randy11]

I've only taken one real mountain whitetail, a few hours drive west of where I live and unlikely it had ever eaten from an ag field in it's life. It was a suggestion from a friend who also gave me an absoulte treasure trove of information on the where, how, when, etc. If you're reading, thank you - it was really fun. Way more challenging than I expected, and I'm lucky I had the tips and advice I did. I now always pay attention to the awesome western MT forest bucks I see in pictures taken by other hunters.

It's been on my list to get a mountain whitetail (locally here where I live) for many years - that being in the Madison/Gallatin range where they're unlikey ever hitting private ag (not riverbottom deer). Most on the Madison valley side are ag deer, and a lot on the east side also are. I go most years a handful of times, but only a halfassed attempt. I call it my annual dik-dik hunt. I've had a couple opportunites on USFS, but the deer have been so tiny I didn't want to shoot them. Including this year, a tiny spike with 1" brow-tines. I've seen a couple real nice bucks over the years, but they are typically well onto private during the fall, or in the summer time and antlers not even grown out fully yet. Someday I hope it happens.

Another friend found a deadhead well onto USFS a few years back and it would be a dream buck. I taped it at 193 gross (non-typical). It was a heavy, dark antlered 160+ frame with some extras and a 3rd main beam. Based on where it was found, it may have been on private land in it's life, but unlikely eaten in an ag field. It was found in September at 7500+ in elevation. pic was in this one: https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/montana-mountain-whitetail.321913/

Here's mine, it was around 4500' but still a true mountain wt. I probably saw one that was quite a bit better, but it was running so fast I'll never know for sure.
View attachment 396134

If I remember right the buck I killed on that hunt scored within an inch or two of yours.



For me the quintessential western WT hunt means the ground is covered in larch needles, cutting grizzly/wolf/lion tracks every day, and being soaked to the bone.

Me personally, elevation doesn't factor. I've hunted around Priest lake at under 3000', and that's some wild country that is snowed in half the year.

I spent 0 days chasing whitetail this year, and it was hell.

 

[Vic Colfari]

I would agree that chasing whitetails in the mountains is top-notch fun. Early November, some snow and a set of rattling antlers can make for some seriously good hunting. There are a few spots I have hunted over the years where in a day I hiked, tracked and rattled in six separate bucks ranging from dinks to "maybe I should shoot" to "holy hell" only to watch him disappear through the pines and not present a shot.
The one shot hiking out was in a weapons restricted area (not near Bozeman, FYI) so I consider that one a "hill country buck", as it was fairly low down in the timber. But he came in to rattling full tilt, and I shot him at 30 yards on the run with a stock Rem 870 throwing big ass 12 gauge slugs. This same area was where I watched a mountain lion kill a doe from about 100 yards. Pretty cool, and likely something I will never see again.

The other buck was about 2 miles in, and I bumped a cow moose and a few elk throughout the day before I found this guy trotting in while rattling, then picking up a doe and chasing her by me before he put the brakes on at about 80 yards. Boom, tag filled. The pack out sucked, and I had to drop two quarters and do another lap because I am not 25 anymore, or I am just a giant puss. Either way, for me this is the kind of hunt that puts a good stank on the season.