Montana Observations.......

[257 Wby Mag]

Didn't seem like the same state, pard and I killed a couple gooduns, sure seemed like the #'s were waaaaay down.
Whitetails were bout non-existant, thunk about buying a B doe tag for cannin' meat, but kinda felt sorry for em. Anybody else notice the same trend?

[LittleJohn]

That seems to be the trend. All the locals here that go east every year said its way down this year. Hope it recovers quickly. Lots of Whities chasing hard around my neck of the woods. Seeing lots of bucks at work every night. Wish I had a tag

[lewy]

#'s were way down were I was too, all the locals were saying the same. esp. the whities

[deerslyr]

This is my first year livin in MT so I couldnt tell you what they were like before. Having said that I thought there were alot more deer here than anything ive seen in WA 
I hear the breaks were terrible and region 7 out by miles city broadus etc the numbers were down but not terrible. I hunted close to billings and in region 5 for most of the season until I filled my tag and the numbers seemed great and never heard anybody complain.

How are the deer numbers down there around the north fork jud? Did you and crew get any good BTs this year? When I come home for christmas ill be around dougs place trying to fill my archery deer tag

[257 Wby Mag]

Messed up on a honker on Holloween, tried to kill him without sheddin my pack, bit me in the ass. A nice 3 with eyeguards gave me the slip
last Thursday, seems like I'm loseing my edge!! grin..... In all, the boy and I passed on 9 2 points, and 7 or 8 spikes, so we had a good time.
 Got to see my long time pard kill his best bull and muley buck this year, killed my best muley, and the boy wasn't disappointed after passin up a bunch
of dinks, so it was a good season. How'd ol Doug fare this year? Gonna have to go down and see the ol gristle soon. Later

[Jason]

Well lets see some pics.

[deerslyr]

sounds like you guys had a great year. Hes doin good, his son got his first elk this year over at their annually elk camp with my pops.
Havnt talked to him since before late buck started, him or his son usually knock one off this time every year.
I might have to get ahold you when I get home to get a point in the right direction for late archery, I think ive lost my blacktail edge as well since I moved to MT 

[257 Wby Mag]

Check your PM.

[Craig]

Deer numbers were way down in the area I hunt. Seen about 10-15 bucks but nothing big enough to shoot. Hope they get a couple easy winters and get the numbers up.

[JoeE]

I hunted up around Lewistown and there weren't very many feet at all. The locals said the numbers were way down.

[270Shooter]

hunted north central and numbers were down, only saw 6 bucks. I killed a 3 point, buddy killed a 3x4, biggest ones we saw 

[RightPlace-RightTime]

5 of us went over and hunted east of Lewistown.  We went 0 for 5. 
I passed a three pts, a big 4 with one antler and a two pts the first morning. Never seen another buck the rest of the six day hunt. 

Years past.  We had 8 guys last year, 7 tagged, 9 the year before all 9  tagged out.
Four years ago we went I think 7 for 7.  So this was a big change for us.  We will take a year off for sure.

Reason's
Bad wind. Rut was not in at all. full moon. Last years winter kill was worse than i thought.

[slim9300]

Didn't seem like the same state, pard and I killed a couple gooduns, sure seemed like the #'s were waaaaay down.
Whitetails were bout non-existant, thunk about buying a B doe tag for cannin' meat, but kinda felt sorry for em. Anybody else notice the same trend?

Really bad winter kill. The DNR estimated 50% when I called on my area. We went 3 for 4 on 4 points in a 2.5 day hunt but saw about 50% of the deer we normally see. I lost a big 4x4 with eye guards and missed another one too. I saw 8 4x4's. If there is another bad winter I won't be going back for a few.

[canyelk48]

We hunted deer outside Broadus and although we both tagged out, we weren't seeing many deer; at least not like we were used to seeing.  Talked to a Fish & Game Officer and he said deer and antelope numbers were down over 50% from Winter kill.  Also elk hunted near Dillon and saw very few elk, with most being herded up on private land.  Harvest numbers were pathetic!  Also drove the entire Bloody Dick and did not see any elk or sign, nor any hunters for that matter.  I think the wolves have wiped them out in that area.  Won't be going back to Montana unless they drop the prices of non-resident combo tags as it's not worth the $1000 plus cost of fuel, food and lodging; especially with the lack of animals!

[Muleyslyr]

Spent all last week over in Broadus and was pretty disappointed myself. Best buck I saw was the first one I saw...mid 160's four by..passed on the typical 20-22" 4pts looking for that next level. I think the area is pretty dang over hunted though too. Long way to go to see and shoot an average deer. Too bad. Still an awesome area to hunt though..just wish the numbers were better.