Montana Deer

[D-Rock425]

Tag is punched in Montana

nice deer.

[D-Rock425]

All loaded up and ready to roll out on a solo hunt after work tomorrow.  Should have 4 or 5 full days to find an elk and a deer. 

[Limhangerslayer]

All loaded up and ready to roll out on a solo hunt after work tomorrow.  Should have 4 or 5 full days to find an elk and a deer.

good luck, rut just really kicked in!

[bugs n bones]

Nice buck !

[Duckslayer89]

Tag is punched in Montana

Bruiser! Nice work

[Skyvalhunter]

Beautiful Buck Lim

[bear]

Just finished up. Filled our tags. Deer numbers were down more than 50% than the last few years. Talked with a local taxidermist who’s dad also guides in the area. He confirmed it. Said they just disappeared during the drought this year. Local river wasn’t even flowing this summer. We settled on mostly smaller bucks

[kramman]

Hey Bear that was the sentiment in the area we hunted.  Deer #s down due to drought. Only green up of the area all yr according to locals was in October. Mostly smaller bucks with the big boys not coming off of private. Just that type of year. Still more enjoyable then washington!

[bear]

Outfitters were putting clients on 2 points before the rut. Didn’t even see decent bucks on private this year.  But yes it’s better than WA

[jstone]

So do they move out somewhere or die off from the drought

[vandeman17]

We are headed out in the morning for the week. Forecast is warmer than we had hoped but at least mainly dry. Be nice if the rut is going strong to keep them moving around all day

[bear]

So do they move out somewhere or die off from the drought

That’s a question I’m gonna wanna ask a biologist. Not sure where they could move too
The rut was definitely earlier than the last 2 years for us

[Mulie87]

Well day #1 in SE MT is in the books. 50'ish deer today, with about 10 bucks. bucks were 2-3pts, and not worth shooting. The drought made this place look like a barren wasteland. The sage is only inches tall and that’s cause its dead and in a pile. The land looks like the surface of the moon. I found tbe deer on the fringes of farms and ranches where there’s food. MD and WT co-mingling whole eating. I guess the whitetail feel bad for the MD and invited them to dinner. Seriously, I’ve never seen it this bad in tbe 6yrs I’ve been hunting here. Zero rut action, only small bucks cruising for does. The weather probably has something to do with it too; 20’s in ybe am and it was 48° in tbe afternoon. I’d hate to spend this kind of money to come home w a 2-3pt buck, but it just might happen. I have three days left to fing the big ones. 

[kramman]

Good luck mulie87! Sounds like you are hunting where I spent 8 days. Took a smaller 4x4 wt. Cuz I rattled him in, my 1st rattled in deer and my biggest wt. Keep at it we saw a few good ones just couldn't get on them... that part of s.e. mt will need a few good yrs to recover. 1st thing that needs to happen is eliminate the MD doe tags. We saw numerous people shooting does with fawns. Can't recoup the herd if you shoot the breeding does.

[Mulie87]

Thanks, kramman. I did bring my rattle bag, maybe I’ll try that. To my surprise, it snowed a dusting last night. We’ll see if that gets anything moving.