Montana deer 2024

[CaNINE]

With deer numbers down across the state what region would you guys focus on in 2024?

[Duckslayer89]

With deer numbers down across the state what region would you guys focus on in 2024?

Further East the better with crowds

[3nails]

With deer numbers down across the state what region would you guys focus on in 2024?

Deer numbers are not down across the state. Whitetail numbers in the west are increasing again.

[CaNINE]

 

[dvolmer]

With deer numbers down across the state what region would you guys focus on in 2024?

Deer numbers are not down across the state. Whitetail numbers in the west are increasing again.

Yes and No. mule deer numbers are down across the entire state. Whitetail numbers are steady and strong.  I hunt with seven or so guys every year in Montana. Ten years ago we were averaging a harvest of about five mule deer and about two whitetails every year. Now it has flipped to five whitetail and two mule deer average. Easier to find mature whitetails and harder to find mature mulies.

[Karl Blanchard]

Montana's mule deer numbers have been on the decline since the winter of 09'/10'.

[go4steelhd]

Right now I think the only real hope for the mule deer is wetter weather patterns throughout the spring and summer for about 10 years. It’s truly disheartening to see what the mule deer numbers have gotten to in the last three years.

Then as stated above if you look back 5, 10, or 15 years ago it’s gotten progressively worse.But the same can be said for almost every state in the west.

[2MANY]

Yup.
Build a house in the migration route or winter grounds and harass them year-round!!!

Man is a fool.

[Skyvalhunter]

If man is a fool then woman is?

[Pathfinder101]

If man is a fool then woman is?

...Always right.  (I'm not so much of a fool to get that one wrong... again... )

[jstone]

I’m always up to shoot a nice whitetail.
I don’t have one of those on the wall

[mburrows]

Also worth noting 410 and 417 are draw only for mule this year. Your general tag in those units is only good for whitetail which is new this year.

[finnman]

I am in for $1,074 for deer combo, B tag, and antelope buck tag.
I am trying to hunt a new area that I am familiar with but have not hunted.
We drove by it a couple years ago and saw over 100 whitetail in one big pasture.
Note: the area we were hunting in SE Montana……we saw 18 deer in 5 days. So pretty disgusting differences in areas.
I will update if the drawing goes our way….

[Killerhiller40]

Deer/Elk combo plus a bear tag put me right at $1700 sure do miss my $500 OTC non-resident college student combo license  right about now

[huntnphool]

 SE numbers and quality are way down…I ate my tag last season.