Its about time.....Montana'09

[HuntingFanatic]

Well better late than never! So let me just say that it took me a while to even log onto the forums after this hunt. I did not want to see successful hunters, smiling next to their trophy. But gradually I started to log on and look at everyones venison on the ground. Which brings me to the story of my  hunt. I got my tag off the alternates list the second week of october. November 5th or sixth we left.  We hunted around whitehall the first day trying to fill my dads doe tag. In my excitement I had bought my dad a doe tag for what I thought was  for the entire unit. But upon further review was only for a small section within the unit. We were able to gain access through a guys property to some BLM land. No deer there! lol Larry(the land owner) gave us some areas to hit but was not to encouraging lol More coyote and jack rabbit sign than deer. Soo...onward to Bozeman where we will be meeting up with my sister.

My goals going into this hunt were. One, to not shoot the first damned buck I saw!(unless of coarse.....monster...which to me would be a 165+ deer  )Two, Be able to hunt with my sister and shoot one while she was at my side. My father has been my only hunting partner and I would like to get my sis involved. And three, just to have a good time with family.

2nd day of hunt....one day before my sister joins us for 4 days. We go into some NF land around Bozeman. Looks good. We get out of the truck right about shooting light.Take it slow. Checking things out and liking the country we were in. We crest a ridge and.....BIG light brown for legged antlered critter 150 ahead. Broadside! And has no clue! lol The first thing that popped into my head was Elk. It was by far the biggest bodied deer I have seen! He was feeding along broadside.
I got a very good look at him from all angles. A thin and spindly 4x3...nothing that made me want to shoot the first damned deer I saw! lol pass...My F'n camera man had buck fever or something.  I told him 3 or 4 times to get pictures! Love ya dad! He couldnt believe I wasnt going to shoot it. Saw 14 deer that first day. Only the one buck. I was happy with that day and had a positive attitude.

Highlights day 3-5
+Hunting with my sister. She did great. She hunted well. I was very impressed.

+Moose family at 40 yards!!!

+ 8 freekin deer! lol

Day 6....three more after this

Moved shop to Wilsall. Encouraged with what we saw(ie land to hunt) And with 2-6 inches of snow predicted we decide to stay there for the three days rather than heading east into the complete unknown to us. More than 2-6 inches of snow and 30-40 mph days later and we knew we had made the wrong decision.  Way asked to hunt a few places we had seen some really good whities. They were very nice and thankful that we had asked. But each time they told us it was leased out. Oh well. I hunted till the bitter end! lol

Whenever we neededsome inspiration we would drive the shields river road going to the next spot. We saw a ton of deer and bucks. Just not a damned lot with a rifle on my back. I am not sorry I passed up the buck earlier in the hunt. I got to spend some quality time hunting with my dad and sister. The battle cry for the next time is....."Head East!!!" lol

[HuntingFanatic]

a few more photos

[HuntingFanatic]

and more....

[HuntingFanatic]

last few.

[Aneoakleaf]

  Fanatic, you took home memories that will get you threw hard times..shared the most valuable thing you have-TIME.
The photos are wonderful, thank you for sharing them and the story

[Ironhead]

You just proved that it's not just the harvest but, the time in the woods with freinds and family or just nature its' self. Looks to me like a successful trip. Congrats, and thanks for the great pics.

[huntnphool]

 

[Magnum_Willys]

Sounds like a great hunt!  You pass on that last whitey ?

[Pathfinder101]

Fantastic pics fanatic!  Those whiteys were on private property along the Shields, right?  My boy and I saw a bunch of them there in velvet last July, some great bucks...

 

[HuntingFanatic]

Yes those whities were all on private....they new to stay away from BMA land! We had an awesome time! The only time I was crabby was on the way home in between Skykomish and Gold Bar!

[Pathfinder101]

Yes those whities were all on private....they new to stay away from BMA land! We had an awesome time! The only time I was crabby was on the way home in between Skykomish and Gold Bar!

Yeah, those ranchers along the river bottoms (not just the Sheilds, but the Yellowstone, the Powder...) know that the whiteys there are too valuable to let that land go BMA.  It's all leased to outfitters and clubs.  We saw the same thing along the Milk this fall.
Glad to hear you had a good time.  Your sis looks like a real trooper.