Free: Contests & Raffles.
I have never hunted antelope before, so I booked a hunt at the Puyallup Sportsman's Show, with what a pretty good deal. Know that I don't need a guided hunt, but got in with an outfitter so my wife and I can learn the ropes, and also gain a little local access and knowledge to upland bird hunt in a different area of Montana, as well. I have been in contact with my outfitter several times since the show. Seems like a very nice guy. My last two phone calls were answered promptly while he was bear hunting.I was applying for our tags on line (already drew my Big Game combo for my Nov elk hunt) this past week. Just for grins, I contacted the FWP office in Billings on Wednesday to get a preliminary opinion regarding how the winter affected Central and Eastern Montana.The lady was very nice, and with pointed questioning, eventually described parts of HD 700 as having "nothing left" with regards to deer and antelope, following this past very difficult winter. This correlates with my webcam observations through the winter. I go to the Montana DOT cameras website, click on "interactive" and then go to whatever camera I want to look at, which usually is many of them throughout the state. Gives several webcam pics for each site, frequently undated, as well as current weather data. Very good site. If you are unfamiliar with this site, I suggest you give it a try.Great info. Thank you for sharing. She also said that the area around Harlowton was "decimated"- her words, not mine, due to heavy snow and cold temps. She said that the area around where she lives in Billings got about 100 inches of snow. She did say that the pheasant population around her property evidently did well, as there is a fair amount of cover and some feed. She said that she is seeing a "lot" of hens, in particular, and quite a few roosters. She didn't offer to let me hunt there, however.I told her I was actually hunting (if we draw) in a different area from these two locations, and she indicated that there was much less snow where I am headed, and thought I would be ok, especially since we will be hunting private land, as there are not a lot of public options. I discussed this with my outfitter, who has not yet been to this hunt location due to his ongoing bear season much further west, but he did say that several of his ranchers, with whom he leases hunting privileges, felt that their antelope (and also deer) populations "look good", without significant winter kill. This apparently is an area with a fair amount of agriculture, and the animals seemed to do ok through the winter. Not sure I should have expected any different answer, but I am sure that if the hunting season looked bad, our hunt could have been put off til next year.The FWP rep did say that the situation/counts could improve as the surveys continue, and that pockets of animals might have done better, based on cover/food. Again, this information is all based on one phone conversation with FWP in Billings this past week and discussion with my outfitter, so take if for what it is worth. Sounds like there might be fewer hunters this year, so if good access can be obtained or if scouting to locate more opportune areas can be performed, there might still be some possibilities. This will also likely affect future years, so we shall see how the spring/summer goes for the animals.I hope this information adds another data point for the folks trying to decide about where to go this year.
