Montana archery elk 1st timer

[D-Rock425]

Drew general deer and elk combo for Montana this year.  Any tips or tactics.  Any most knows about Montana?

[Stein]

Take bear spray and if you see me, doing the opposite would usually be a good move.  Bears are really spreading out, generally anything south of I-90 and most of the western part of the state and anything close to Yellowstone is grizz country and some areas are pretty bad to the point that 95% of hunters avoid them.

Tons of places to go, every kind of terrain a guy could want.

[vandeman17]

Do you have a location picked out? There are a lot of variables before giving much useful advice

[Rainier10]

I would hunt the 14th-24th if I were doing it again this year.

Depending on where you go a quad is helpful, you can get a permit for it at one of their regional offices when you get to Montana.

It's a blast and beautiful country for sure.

[D-Rock425]

Do you have a location picked out? There are a lot of variables before giving much useful advice

we have a few spots on the list planning on the 12th-27th

[cougforester]

The biologists are really helpful if you have general areas picked out. Like really helpful. Find the local game wardens too. They were a big help in figuring out where pressure was likely to be and where we could get away from folks

Biggest takeaway for me from last year hunting MT elk for  the first time was the utter lack of interest in mos for the hunters to get off the road. At all.

We had ten or twelve bulls called in under sixty yards in ten days of hunting, just couldn’t get it all to come together. Killed one when we went back for rifle season in a completely different unit. Can’t wait to go back next year for the combo hopefully.

[vandeman17]

Do you have a location picked out? There are a lot of variables before giving much useful advice

we have a few spots on the list planning on the 12th-27th

I would say to pick a few areas and if possible, spend a few weekends this summer checking them out. From there, it really is a crap shoot as far as tactics because you won't really know where the elk will be at that time until you are there. In that time frame, I would assume the rut would be going so calling could work but again, very dependent on location and pressure

[Stein]

Have you thought about doing a week or so with the bow and then leaving time to come back during rifle?  Completely different game but it gives a better chance at punching a tag.  Some people only want one with a bow, but it's also nice seeing the state during different seasons.  One of the best parts of the MT general tag is how long the season is and how much ground you have access to.  It's pretty incredible really.

[D-Rock425]

Have you thought about doing a week or so with the bow and then leaving time to come back during rifle?  Completely different game but it gives a better chance at punching a tag.  Some people only want one with a bow, but it's also nice seeing the state during different seasons.  One of the best parts of the MT general tag is how long the season is and how much ground you have access to.  It's pretty incredible really.

I've considered taking an additional week off on top of the two already planned.