Go4steelhd’s Montana hunts

[go4steelhd]

I will post the story’s of my buck and bull soon…

[Timberstalker]

Masher. Can’t wait to see your story.

[go4steelhd]

6x6 🍀

[livin4fishin]

What a stud!!!! (the buck, no offense)

[dvolmer]

Great bruiser of a buck!!!!  Congrats!!

[go4steelhd]

This year I started out elk hunting on horseback here in Montana. I arrive at the trailhead three hours before daylight to see 5 vehicles already there. We saddle the horses and head out. At daylight I seen about 15 hunters and zero elk. I seen a tent set up about 200 yards from where the elk normally hang out. (I am certain a few of these hunters seen the elk the day before season in this area, and decided to get set up there so they would have fresh legs and be near the elk on the opener. The problem is the elk smelled them and timbered up for the next three days! Don’t be these guys )  The second day of season my hunting partner shot a nice four point mule deer. The third or four day of season I spotted some elk way way back at the top of the mountain in the morning. We took off after these elk and ended up putting 14.7 miles on and 7,300 feet elevation gain according to my onx. We had to lead the horse in the last mile, because it was rough county and they were done. It was about noon when we got to where the elk where at earlier. We set up for them to feed back out in the same spot that night. They did, and there was one really nice bull in it. We were set up at 400 yards. My buddy rang one over his back and that was the end of that hunt.

Driving home I had a deer jump the guardrail and I smacked it.

[go4steelhd]

The next day we have to horses a break and hunted on foot. We seen a herd and went after them, but before we got to them some one else beat us to them and they shot three times at them. That night I seen a herd of elk with a five point with them. There was about 60-70 cows and one bull. I waited for him to clear the cows and pulled the trigger. Click….. WTH……Apparently you need a shell in the chamber for it to go off. The bull never clears again.

The next morning we see a real big 5x7 at 825 yards. So we hope off the horses and make a stalk on him. There ends up being about a 100 elk with him. And we got pinned down when we got in close. The bull gave my buddy a quick opportunity for a shot, but slipped out before he was able to shoot. That night we set up for these elk to feed back out. We started  seeing the cows feed out above us. About 35 of them where out when we heard a shot right above us. The elk ran about 75 yards then started feeding again
Soon I seen a real nice bull show up on the skyline. Then another, then a third branch bull. They were about 400 yards. We watched them for about 15 minutes waiting for them to get dirt behind them so we would feel comfortable with the shot. Well the other hunters need up spooking them down the ridge.

[go4steelhd]

Skyline

[go4steelhd]

The next day we rode in to set up at a good vantage point for these elk. When we were about 800 yards up the trail I seen the outfitter pull in. They caught up with me about 5 minutes before I hit my glassing knob. When I got to my knob I hope off the horse and see the outfitter tied off about 75 yards away. And I seen about 150 elk with a few branch bulls about 500 years away. This was about 5 minutes to legal shooting hours. They raced over to get above the elk, I decided to set up to where if the elk blew out the bottom we would get an opportunity. When I looked into the next canyon the elk were gone. They must have seen or winded all of us. Seeing that they did not go out the bottom, I decided to circle around to a knob that over looks an escape route I have seen the elk use in past years. When I got there I could see the herd filing out in front of us. We set up and waited for the bulls to come into a gap between the trees. A big bull came out and stopped behind a tree with no shot. The next bull was a 5 point. Again….. Click…. No shell in. I have done this twice in a week, and only once before that in 30 years!!! My buddy rings one three feet over it’s back, which was a blessing because it turn the rest of the herald around to us. I had a 5 point step out, this time I had a shell out and bang!!!! It dropped him.. Then another bull came out and my buddy took my rifle and dropped it also.

[go4steelhd]

Now the work begins, we had to bone out two elk and get them on the horses.

[go4steelhd]

Since I spent  a weeks vacation elk hunting, then a week in Utah deer hunting. I only had one day vacation left to hunt in Montana for deer. I went out on two weekends seeing one really really big whitetail buck. In fact it’s the second biggest I have seen on the hoof. I was glassing brush draws in 35-60 mph winds. I found this buck bedded in some brush.

What I learned is apparently my rifle shoots about three feet high at extremely big whitetail 

[go4steelhd]

I feel anyone who came over deer hunting would agree this was a tough year to find a nice buck especially Muleys.

I would say each year for the last three years the herd has went down by 25% each year….
Anyhow I take my son out deer hunting in Montana because he is 7 and the rut is a great time to take a kid out and see some deer. I seen lots and lots of spikes, two points and 16 inch wide three points this season with him. He wanted to shoot everyone of them

On Thanksgiving I found a decent three point that was 24-25 inches wide. He was about 450 yards off the road. I set up the spotting scope to get a better look at him. When I seen that some other guys were set up looking at him from about 700 yards away. So I let them go after him. (They did not end up getting him)

I seen one nice buck on private next to a BMA at dark. The next day I went to a whitetail spot and set up at daylight. It was cloudy so at legal shooting hours I still could not see well. I had a buck at 300 yards but could not make out what he was enough to shoot it. He slipped away before I could tell what he was.

So mid morning I went to check on the good buck from the night before. When I showed up I seen that some of the deer were where you could hunt, and they were about 2 miles out there. I asked my son if he want to go after them and he said yes. I had to circle real wide to give the best chance of not spooking these deer off. When I got a little more than a mile from the truck. I could see something that did not look right in a draw. When I pulled up my binoculars I could see that it was a really nice buck and he was looking at me at about 1,000 yards away. I changed my course and we stalked into 230 yards. When I peaked over the ridge he was bedded looking away. While I was crawling up for a prone shot, he seen me. So I set up right there and shot him in his bed. He never got up

[hunter399]

Looks like an epic trip.
 

[go4steelhd]

On my elk hunt I had to turn in a claim to insurance for hitting a deer.

Well on this trip deer hunting I had snow on my side by side tires and I had a strap break while I was driving. I hear a bang while driving up hill and decided to pull at a chain up area. When I slowed down to pull off I heard another load bang and it felt like some one ran into the back of my trailer but no one was there.

Here is what I seen when I got pulled off

[go4steelhd]

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