Successful Montana Hunt

[teamhughes2007]

We had to leave for Montana a couple of days late due to a funeral, which turned out to be a blessing because we missed the snowstorm and subzero temps.  We arrived at camp on the 12th to about 3" of fresh snow on the ground.  The 6 tag holders set out that next morning to hunt hard for the next 4 days.  Instead of heading into my honey hole, I decided to head into a new area I had spotted on Google Earth about 3.5 miles off the road to scout it out since none of us had hunted it before.  This turned out to be a good move.  I spotted several groups of deer including 2 decent bucks right after sunrise.   I also spotted a large 4 point bedding down but decided to pass since it was the first day.  That morning hunt also turned up a cow moose which surprised me, but was fun to watch.

The next few hunts turned out about the same.  I was able to spot a lot of deer, but not the bruiser I was holding out for.  One evening hunt, I spotted a nice 4 point with a doe that was definitely a shooter at this point in the hunt.  I was busted during my stalk but I saw where they were heading and they weren’t in a hurry so I backed off a little to let them calm down.  Just then I noticed my Dad hunting in the area that they were headed and he was obviously glassing the same buck.  So I took one last look at the buck and my Dad and decided to head in a different direction and let him have a crack at it.  Well, later that night back at camp, my Dad asked me if I ever closed the distance on that buck.  We then realized that we had both done the same thing.  We had both seen the other guy and both decided to hunt a different area and leave that shooter buck in the woods for another year

Well, it’s now the third evening and 4 others had filled their tags with nice bucks, 2 of which came from my honey hole that I was saving for the last day to hunt, so the pressure was on to take something in a different spot.  It took about an hour and a half of walking to get to the area I wanted to hunt.  I immediately started spotting deer that were heading down to the prairies for the evening but couldn’t close the distance as they were a ways off and walking fast.  It was getting late and I decided to head back up when I glassed over my shoulder one last time.  I spotted a buck and 3 does.  I dropped down the opposite side of the finger I was on and hiked a half mile down to where I thought they’d be.  I ditched my pack and belly crawled up to the edge to find them grazing right below me.  I could now tell that he was a decent 3 point and decided to take the shot when he showed me how symmetrical he was.  He bedded down broadside to me at about 175 yds.  Put one shot high on his neck with my 270win and that was it...stayed right in his bed.

All in all, a very exciting hunt with some great hunters…already looking forward to next time.  We went 5 for 6 with a 27" 2x3, 24" 3x4, 23" 3x3, 22" 3x3 and my 20" 3x3.  Oh, and with this buck, I go one up on my little brother for our lifetime total...better luck next year Brian.

[Labs07]

WOW....you guys knocked the heck out of the mulies!  Nice work!

[doyourtime89]

Now that is what I call Whack and Stack....GREAT job you guys!!!!   

[400out]

WOW thats a truck load! whats the deal with the hides still on 

[teamhughes2007]

None of us were going to do shoulder mounts and it was cold enough so we decided to process them when we got home.  A little unorthodox, but it worked.

[400out]

Deer Skinning with the truck
Watch this, you could have been done with all in about a half hour 

[teamhughes2007]

Awesome...with a strong hanging pole, we could've skinned them all at once 

[gunnarnewt]

Looks like fun! Congrats.

[carpsniperg2]

That's a truck load of deer

[wsucowboy]

Looks like a great hunt! 

[Pathfinder101]

Nice work