Elkwhisper
Well-known member
The Montana deer season was a tough one for me this year. For the first time in 5 years I didn't draw the special mule deer permit I usually get. This through me for a big curve, as it is usually a sure thing draw, and I have spent ALL of my time over the past several seasons in this unit, and finally felt like I had it pretty well figured out.
Withouth that tag, I really had no back up plan and started desperately trying to find some new spots to hunt. I spent quite a bit of time, covered a lot of ground, from Conrad to Broadus, saw some deer, even a few decent bucks, but nothing that I wanted to burn my tag on. I rarely went out that I didn't find some deer, but from what I saw this year, the deer numbers accross the state are pretty low.
As the season wore on, I was able to help my wife and some friends fill there tags but still had mine unpunched. Saturday was the last day I had to hunt for the season and the morning hunt with a few buddies didn't turn up a single buck. With the sun threatening to set on my season with me eating my tag for the first time in the 23 seasons, I got invited to tag along with some good friends for one last evening hunt.
After spending a couple of hours covering some suprisingly rugged terrain on foot looking for a muley, I ended up watching the sun set on my season from a point above a small willow patch in a creek bottom waiting for the rest of our party to meet up. With about 10 minutes of legal light left, I was lucky enough to have my glass pointed in the right direction to catch this buck standing up from his bed in the willows. He was about 600 yards out, and a quick look was all I needed to decide that he was definitely good enough for me, considering the clock was running out. I quickly dropped off the knob and closed the distance to 250 yards. When the smoke cleared, I had my first whitetail buck in about 5 years. He ended up being a very tall and heavy 4x4 with a cool drop tine on his drivers side.
I always thought that drop tines were a pretty rare occurence, but between my wife and I we have taken a drop tine buck each of the last three seasons. The added charachter defintiely adds to the appeal of the rack and this latest buck will have a spot above my desk as a euro mount.
A big thank you goes out to Ben, Gina, and Jack for the invite to tag along!! I owe you guys big time.
Withouth that tag, I really had no back up plan and started desperately trying to find some new spots to hunt. I spent quite a bit of time, covered a lot of ground, from Conrad to Broadus, saw some deer, even a few decent bucks, but nothing that I wanted to burn my tag on. I rarely went out that I didn't find some deer, but from what I saw this year, the deer numbers accross the state are pretty low.
As the season wore on, I was able to help my wife and some friends fill there tags but still had mine unpunched. Saturday was the last day I had to hunt for the season and the morning hunt with a few buddies didn't turn up a single buck. With the sun threatening to set on my season with me eating my tag for the first time in the 23 seasons, I got invited to tag along with some good friends for one last evening hunt.
After spending a couple of hours covering some suprisingly rugged terrain on foot looking for a muley, I ended up watching the sun set on my season from a point above a small willow patch in a creek bottom waiting for the rest of our party to meet up. With about 10 minutes of legal light left, I was lucky enough to have my glass pointed in the right direction to catch this buck standing up from his bed in the willows. He was about 600 yards out, and a quick look was all I needed to decide that he was definitely good enough for me, considering the clock was running out. I quickly dropped off the knob and closed the distance to 250 yards. When the smoke cleared, I had my first whitetail buck in about 5 years. He ended up being a very tall and heavy 4x4 with a cool drop tine on his drivers side.
I always thought that drop tines were a pretty rare occurence, but between my wife and I we have taken a drop tine buck each of the last three seasons. The added charachter defintiely adds to the appeal of the rack and this latest buck will have a spot above my desk as a euro mount.
A big thank you goes out to Ben, Gina, and Jack for the invite to tag along!! I owe you guys big time.
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Seriously, congrats on a great deer.
