Montana C.M.R. Land

[Dmanmastertracker]

 When we were there last, the locals said the muleys started rutting earlier, you could possibly catch part of the muley rut that last week before CMR closes. The Chain Buttes and surrounding BMA's are huge, you should easily find a spot there, but some of the smaller BMA's are more popular and will be fully booked out early, if they are call-ahead spots. I found the BLM chunks to be some of the best, most guys do not concentrate their efforts on these and thus they can be really good, if you are persistent. Some of the chunks are small and you just have to catch a deer passing through at the right time, but they do eventually, every small block of BLM I hunted had decent legal bucks on it.

[Pathfinder101]

Thanks again, DMan.  Great info.  Have never hunted MT before and wasn't really expecting to get drawn, so every little bit helps.  I am planning to scout once this summer.
Did you guys have any luck (pictures for motivation)?

[Dmanmastertracker]

 We did OK, though I did see bigger deer and just couldn't make it happen, in a couple cases.

[Dmanmastertracker]

 This guy was near one of our hunting areas.

[Pathfinder101]

That whitey is a stud, and the 3rd buck from the left looks real good too.  Thanks for the pics, that is perfect motivation!
  Are those BMAs that you have to call and reserve generally worth it?  I would hate to commit myself to hunting a piece of land that was all shot out.  How many people do they generally let sign up for a peice of land on a given day?

[Dmanmastertracker]

 To be honest, I wouldn't bother with the reservation only places. If you would like more detailed info, PM me, I'm not hunting over there anytime soon, so I don't mind sharing.

[Fletch]

Ive hunted the CMR in the recent past.  Where we hunted there were multiple roads in and out, almost all of them impossible to travel in the rain.  We loaded the truck with provisions to spend the night...get in while the ground was frozen and spent the night or stayed until they refroze...Where we hunt there are nice bucks, the first year there we both brought back 25 inch bucks last year we were too early and just caught the start of the rut as we had to leave.  I think they close it early so they preserve some of the bucks during the rut...that being said it is a fun area to  hunt lots of bucks and elk too.