Montana B Elk License

[WoolSocks]

First year looking at Montana. I’m considering a Class B license as it’s within my budget, and I’d be satisfied with a cow. Just want to get away from the crowd in Washington! Hunted archery here last year and saw a few just outside of bow range. Also saw lots of hunters that had no problem walking all over somebody else’s hunt, stank the whole woods up like pot and kept the bulls too skittish to bugle.

I can’t tell from the regs. Is the class B a stand-alone license, or is it an add-on? I sure like the idea of paying $300 to hunt, rather than $1k.

[hughjorgan]

The B license can be purchased by itself, I think you have to have a conservation license as well. You’ll have to draw them in some areas or find an OTC area.

[mossback91]

There will still be crowds in Montana

[ganghis]

B tags in the places I elk hunt (big belts) probably take 5 bonus points or so to draw these days.  My impression is most of the units with easy-to-draw / OTC cow tags have large amounts of private land, so you'd have to deal with access issues.  Probably the best thing would be to get on GoHunt and start looking at odds and unit profiles to find something that suits you.  Or if spending a lot of cash on a GoHunt subscription is too much, maybe just check out Montana's website...  There are sometimes interesting high odds draws if they're trying to reduce herd size somewhere (like a breaks B tag in Jan/Feb), but even those aren't guaranteed.

[WoolSocks]

There will still be crowds in Montana

Even in archery season? The state has to have something going for it, if people shell out serous cash to go there…

[CarbonHunter]

There will still be crowds in Montana

Even in archery season? The state has to have something going for it, if people shell out serous cash to go there…

The state has opportunities but it is by no means a guarantee that you will not see hunters or even get an animal. In fact the only time you typically see light hunting pressure is if you are in an area with little to no game. It’s a big state and animals are dispersed.

[CarbonHunter]

Here’s a list of elk density by state and total population.

Washington’s density is not much lower than Montanas. The main difference to me is that Montana let’s you hunt the elk where Washington teases us hunters with the animals.

[dvolmer]

Here’s a list of elk density by state and total population.

Washington’s density is not much lower than Montanas. The main difference to me is that Montana let’s you hunt the elk where Washington teases us hunters with the animals.

I would have never thought that Oregon has more elk than Wyoming. Interesting graph.

[3nails]

There will still be crowds in Montana

Even in archery season? The state has to have something going for it, if people shell out serous cash to go there…

There are still places in Montana where you can hunt a week without seeing another hunter. You just have to avoid the internet areas.

[22shtur]

Yes, you'll see many hunters archery hunting in MT.
With a general tag and archery license, hunters in MT can go archery hunting and if unsuccessful they can go out again with the general tag for rifle season.

[jstone]

What’s the dates to put in for the B tags? I am putting in for the combo deer and elk this year. Will be archery hunting elk if I don’t get my Washington quality tag

[Sakko300wsm]

We put in for combo and B tags on Friday

[CarbonHunter]

You have until June 1st to apply for B tags in Montana.