Montana Deer

[huntandjeep]

Been over here since the 4th and planning on leaving for home on the 11th. Interesting year with such mild weather.  Deer seem to be dispersed more and only minor rut activity noticed. We’ve got 4 whitey bucks on the ground and 5 mule deer bucks on the ground. Still trying to fill our last two buck tags in the next two days. I’ll post some pictures when I get home. The mild weather is great after a few bad years of cold and snow but it does have its challenges too.

any pointers for a first timer in Montana? I’m going to the north east Montana

Remember you're not in Washington. 1st year I went on the 1st day I wanted to dump a big / wide 3 point . Buddy told me no . Every 4 point I saw I wanted to shoot . Buddy kept telling me no . After 7 days I killed a big mature 4 point . The 3 years after that I set in my mind I was going to better the deer I killed the year before . Which I have done .. Just go , have fun and look over alot of deer .

[JakeLand]

Been over here since the 4th and planning on leaving for home on the 11th. Interesting year with such mild weather.  Deer seem to be dispersed more and only minor rut activity noticed. We’ve got 4 whitey bucks on the ground and 5 mule deer bucks on the ground. Still trying to fill our last two buck tags in the next two days. I’ll post some pictures when I get home. The mild weather is great after a few bad years of cold and snow but it does have its challenges too.

any pointers for a first timer in Montana? I’m going to the north east Montana

Remember you're not in Washington. 1st year I went on the 1st day I wanted to dump a big / wide 3 point . Buddy told me no . Every 4 point I saw I wanted to shoot . Buddy kept telling me no . After 7 days I killed a big mature 4 point . The 3 years after that I set in my mind I was going to better the deer I killed the year before . Which I have done .. Just go , have fun and look over alot of deer .

thats the plan ! Be there for a couple weeks also going to do some dog hunting while I’m there should be a blast as I haven’t killed a mule deer since 1989 as I’m a blacktail hunter  at heart

[NRA4LIFE]

Yeah, I don't have to count up the number of trips I've seen a better buck after I killed one.  That would be all of them.  I'm a slow learner.

[spoonman]

How many of you guys that have already been there and back this year or are still planning to go are hunting type 2 BMA’s? We leave in a couple days and I have a couple of BMAs lined up. Just curious about your experience with those?

[Stein]

From my experience Type 2s are a joke.  It's pretty hard getting anyone to answer the phone with an out of state number.  I called the first day on my brother's MT phone one year and got an answer about four minutes after it was supposed to open for reservations.  They were completely booked all season.  All 11 weeks on all 4 parts of the BM open for reservations.

Another one required you pick up the permission slip in person two weeks before the hunt.  No exceptions.  I had four on a list two years ago and called each one probably 10 times a day for two weeks straight and never got in touch with anyone, no voicemail, just ring and ring.

If the permission is issued by MT FWP it could be ok, but I have literally not had a good experience with a type 2 area.  They are probably out there, each is different, but that's my experience.  The state pays them and then they can pretty much do whatever they want.

[spoonman]

That sucks Stein. I kinda had the opposite experience. I called 7 BMA, 6 answered or returned my call, 3 were full, 2 I’m booked for and 1 told me to swing by the house on Monday or Tuesday morning to chat. I wanted ultimately to possibly give myself more opportunity and maybe less pressure but we’ll see.

[Stein]

Perfect, glad you had a better experience. 

You never know until you check them out, it's like public land, some are great and some are a total bust.  The good news about T2 are that there usually won't be 15 trucks already signed in before you get there an hour before sunrise.

Scout for other species too, I found both of my go to antelope spots and one deer spot on BM properties hunting elk.

Most of the time, I have great experiences with landowners.  It's the resident hunters that can be a bit grumpy. 

[huntandjeep]

I've tried for 4 years to get on 1 particular Type 2 . All for times I've called within minutes of the phone line opening  . And all 4 times I've been told " Sorry all booked " 
I'm not buying it . I have the same rigs parked at the entrance the last 4 years in a row though 
Last year I got smarter using OnX and found some State / BLM access that bordered the property  . And killed my biggest buck to date off that chunk of BLM 

[Limhangerslayer]

Leaving Friday morning, heard it was only blowing 50 over there today!  We have a mix of warm weather followed by a decent cold snap Wednesday.

[ganghis]

Yeah I think earlier on the lack of rut activity combined with balmy comfortable weather just made things a bit slow (for elk too).  It can only get better.

[HillHound]

Leaving in the morning. I also saw a forecast for sustained 20 mile an hour winds with 50 mile an hour gusts. Not going to be making too many long shots on those days. Reports on rut activity from friends over there already are getting Better by the day.

[JakeLand]

Leaving in the morning. I also saw a forecast for sustained 20 mile an hour winds with 50 mile an hour gusts. Not going to be making too many long shots on those days. Reports on rut activity from friends over there already are getting Better by the day.

sweet ! I’m loaded and hitting the road after a couple hours of sleep

[HillHound]

Sleep. Ha Good luck. As much as we need it we both know we’re probably not gonna do much sleeping tonight. I don’t know what it is no matter how tired I am I always am restless the night before we leave.

[JakeLand]

Sleep. Ha Good luck. As much as we need it we both know we’re probably not gonna do much sleeping tonight. I don’t know what it is no matter how tired I am I always am restless the night before we leave.

ya no doubt 15 hour drive should be fun …

[kramman]

Well I believe half of all hunters in washington and Wisconsin are now hunting s.e. montana..... hunt wa get together in broadus?