Well, just got back from trip to Montana with some great friends. Unfortunately I was not able to seal the deal and came up empty handed.
I guess that's what I get for being the only one in our group to get one in WA this year. Regardless, I had an awesome first experience in MT and look forward to going back again in the next few years. Hopefully they will all post their stories and pics as overall we did great. I saw my first droptine buck (double actually). Buddy or I coudn't quite put it together, but fun to watch as he was attempting to mount his harem of does.
I did have one exciting/scary encounter that I wish to never experience again. I had watched my buddy Bob shoot a nice 4 point during the evening hunt. We spotted him racking a tree at about 600 yards out, and Bob was able to sneak within 330 yards to setup a shot. On the 3rd try, Bob put the kill shot into him and his nice buck slid down into a big gully. (I'll post pics to another thread later) It was about 3:00 PM so we knew we only had a little daylight left before we would be working in the dark. After getting his animal gutted and quartered, we decided to hang the meat overnight and retrieve it the following morning. We were way down in this thing and didn't have and packboards nearby. As we gathered up our gear and got set to head out, we heard a sound that I hope to never hear again. It was pitch black besides the slight glow from our headlamps and eerily quiet. Then just as Bob picked up the head and cape, we hear a low, deep growl from about 5-10 feet away. We got back to back really quick and were shining our lights in all directions, hearing the animal moving around in the trees and bushes. Up to this point we had not been able to get anyone on the radio or gps. Luckily, we ot our buddy rightplace righttime on the walkie and he told us to shoot our rifle in the direction we heard the sound in hopes to scare off whatever it was. With that, we picked our route and scrambled up to the ridge. I can tell you what, I have never moved up a hill that fast, and this time I did it backwards with a rifle in one hand and a radio in the other. We made it back to our truck in record time, all our buddies waiting for us, along with several other concerned hunters. I am only going to assume that what we heard was a cougar, but regardless of what it was, I was scared to death. This was the first time during the entire trip that either of us went out without our pistols. NEVER AGAIN
We were hunting the Breaks, and according to some locals, the area has had a recent infestation of cougar and is a likely added cause to the low number of deer we were seeing on our trip.
Anyway, hope jjdavis2222 or rightplace post some pics soon of the rest of the group and their great success. Awesome trip with great friends!!!!
