Montana block management

[kramman]

 Those of you who have used the BM in montana tell me about your success or lack of. I'm headed to s.e Montana n.e Wyoming  with a tag for each. I'll hunt a week with family then have a week to myself. There are plenty of bm areas scattered throughout the eastern half of the state. If I can hold out the first week. I may try to contact some of the type 2 areas the second week?

[Stein]

The reservation "system" is not so great, you have to call and hope they answer as I have never had a call back, nor would I expect one.  The very good units are booked in advance, so far in advance that if you do get through a minute after they are open there are no slots available for the season.  It's well known that you have to know the landowner to get in on the good areas during good dates.  For so-so land, I can sometimes get through and sometimes not and you may need to jump through hoops to get the written permission.  Once, I got a reservation, but it was mandatory to pick up the permission slip two weeks before the season.  The landowner can pretty much make up any rule they want regarding access.

That said, I use the ones where you can self register.  They are like public land - everyone and their brother knows about them and you can expect company during the busier times of the year.  They are options and I've killed animals on them.  I just wish they would go to an online reservation system ran by the state as opposed to the good old boy system.

[kramman]

Ah! Not much different from washington written permission system. That's ok there is plenty of public land to hunt. I've never hunted east or north of billings but I see there is a ton of type 1 &2 bmas plus public.  Think I can find a place to stretch the legs. Even may try calling the field office in miles city.  Worth a try

[Stein]

Yeah, I don't bother with the ressie sites anymore.  The check yourself in sites can be good, especially if you are there outside the peak season (opening weekend and last week of the season, plus most Saturdays).  During the last week of the season, I have seen 20+ groups check in to a single unit in a day.

Get OnX or something that shows public, look for overlooked places where you have to get out of your truck and keep the BMA sites on your trapline and you should have plenty of areas to hunt.

The days where you could use OnX to find honey hole unknown public land are about over, seems like just about everyone is using the same strategy, but there is still a general reluctance to walk anything over 1/2 mile to check stuff out.

[kramman]

Thanks for the comments. No problem here getting out and walking. Yea I have the montana public land chip for my GPS. Itll definitely get a lot of use.  Just looking for some new places. My family likes to hunt in the same place every day. It's known to us. I like to venture out and see some new ground.

[kramman]

Most hunters in s.e. mt drive around pull up to a piece of public land and bring out the spotting scope.  After 10 or 15 mins they'll move on. Sooner if it's cold and blowing.  It may look flat and not hold deer but I know better.

[elkaholic123]

This buck came off BM in 2017 in northern Mt. Property did not get much pressure, was a walk in only area but I had permission to drive and retrieve animal 👍

[kramman]

Beautiful animal there elkaholic. I've just got to hold out and not shoot the first 3.5 yrs old buck I see.

[Muleyslyr]

Go to the Montana website and have them send you the BM maps. They are free and cover the entire state for every hunting district. They are invaluable! I have found great country to hunt and have had great success with a little bit of research.

[Bigshooter]

I have hunted a lot of different sign in BMA's and some are better than others.  One thing that I have found is that the smaller BMA's often times get overlooked. 

[kramman]

I've got all the maps and I've been trying to nail down some specific areas to target. The problem I'm having is I started to late in the game to get hotel rooms in all the smaller towns. They are all booked. I could just stay in billings and make day trips but would rather not. Ill just keep looking, I'll figure something out. May try and go further east... best of look to all.

[Tbob]

Yeah, I’ve been loading up my onx with access to BMA’s from the map the state sent out. There’s also a ton of BLM land where I’m at too. Definitely too much area for one guy to explore in my week out there.  Good luck everyone!

[kramman]

Best of luck to you also tbob

[longrange7mm]

I hunted BMA for the first time this year. I found a type 2 that was walk in only  I had it all to myself for 6 days and had one other guy hunt it 1 day while i was in there. The BMA a few miles away was a type 1 and allowed road access it was xtremely busy. I was hunting 2.5-3 miles from the access point and found no other boot tracks past the first mile. I saw new bucks every day and ended up killing a mid 170 buck the 7th day

[jstone]

Nice job, that’s a dandy
That’s what you gotta do to get the big ones

[Skyvalhunter]

Beautiful buck long-range, congrats

[Mulie87]

Block management in SE MT

[kramman]

Couple nice bucks congrats.  I personally did not end up hunting b.m... hunted public. Got a nice buck in Wyoming then hit s.e. mt looking for the biggest buck that I'd ever got. When I couldn't find him I took a 3x2 meat buck that had a bad hoof. He was limping. The front right hoof was cracked and infected. Can't wait to do it again next year.

[Pathfinder101]

This info is a few years old, but we had good luck with the reservation BMA system.  I was tipped off by a buddy to a good ranch that took reservations starting on the 29th of August.  I was able to get through on the afternoon of the 29th and got one of the last spots available.  We had a great hunt and my buddy and I both killed good bucks.  The folks managing the ranch were great (they were hunters and were as excited to see what we killed as we were- so we got some help retrieving both deer). 
That being said... I think we may have gotten really lucky.  I tried getting through on the 29th and no one was answering the phone.  The ranch was huge, and split into several parts (4 I think) and the hunt reservations were only for a 5 day period.  Considering the length of Montana's season x 4 areas...  They would have to have been taking calls all day to fill up their calendar legitimately by that afternoon.  That means that most of those time slots were most likely "pre-reserved".  Also, the best areas (from what we could tell) were already taken as well.  My buddy killed his deer on our 3rd day in the middle of a -20 blizzard.  The next day the ranch manager helped us get his deer out (mostly because he wanted to see it) and then told us that all of the other groups had gone home because of the weather.  Since the ranch was empty, he sent us to a basin where he said the deer would congregate in this kind of weather.  That's where I killed my buck. 
Like I said, it all fell together for us, but I think we got really lucky.

And... I just checked... That BMA isn't registered anymore.  I think the ranch might be a trespass fee place now....

[MADMAX]

I called 5 reservation BMA ranch’s first hour of first day

3 never answered
2 said sorry we are full

Seems to me that the good ones are already reserved long before the official dates to call are released

[jstone]

So how do they get them before hand

[MADMAX]

I think its prior hunters who say put me down for next year
Just my guess but this second year calling ranches in the area I hunt first day first hour your suppossed to call and zero availability in November
Told me call back in case we get a cancellation