Eastern Montana Mule deer

[Arteman]

Nice Buck Dave    didn't even know you moved out or state.

[NRA4LIFE]

MT upped the ante on the tags again this year.  $561 for the deer combo and now $50 for the preference point if I'm reading it right.  Getting a little spendy over there. 

[bobcat]

It's looking like I won't ever hunt deer (or elk) in Montana again, unless I move there and become a resident. No way am I paying $600 for a deer. And how much is it for an elk tag? $1000?   

[bearpaw]

I hunt deer in 4 states every year for a living and Montana is one of them. Most any state has more mule deer than Washington. In 2011 the herds were down in every state we hunt due to the previous winter. But there are still deer to hunt. Montana did take a hard hit in some areas on deer and antelope numbers.

Here's how I describe Montana, some of the best deer hunting anywhere, lots of deer and some good bucks. But if you look at the record books, you can quickly see Montana is not where the biggest deer are taken. For the best bucks look at other states like Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Nebraska, etc, basically all the other rocky mtn states. But even in those states there are the areas that produce the most big bucks and a lot of those are draw areas.

My best advice for big bucks: Apply in as many states as you can for draw areas, hope to pull a tag here and there.

[GoldTip]

It's looking like I won't ever hunt deer (or elk) in Montana again, unless I move there and become a resident. No way am I paying $600 for a deer. And how much is it for an elk tag? $1000?   

Its actually just shy of $1000, but thats for a deer and elk combo.  Really not much different than Idaho for the non-resident buying both a deer and elk tag.

[JLS]

It's looking like I won't ever hunt deer (or elk) in Montana again, unless I move there and become a resident. No way am I paying $600 for a deer. And how much is it for an elk tag? $1000?   

Its actually just shy of $1000, but thats for a deer and elk combo.  Really not much different than Idaho for the non-resident buying both a deer and elk tag.

Where they stick you though, is if you just want to hunt one or the other, and not both.  An elk combo is just shy of $900, a whole lot more than the $575 that ID or WY charge you for elk only.  I'm seriously looking at WY for archery elk instead of MT (don't have the time to dedicate to both elk and deer), but the extra fuel costs might make it a moot point.

[engelwood]

It's looking like I won't ever hunt deer (or elk) in Montana again, unless I move there and become a resident. No way am I paying $600 for a deer. And how much is it for an elk tag? $1000?   

Its actually just shy of $1000, but thats for a deer and elk combo.  Really not much different than Idaho for the non-resident buying both a deer and elk tag.

Where they stick you though, is if you just want to hunt one or the other, and not both.  An elk combo is just shy of $900, a whole lot more than the $575 that ID or WY charge you for elk only.  I'm seriously looking at WY for archery elk instead of MT (don't have the time to dedicate to both elk and deer), but the extra fuel costs might make it a moot point.

WY has to be the worst state for giving archery hunters an advantage. Just my  but you really don't benefit from the type 9 tag, if that's what you are referring to.

[Fishmasterdan]

" plan on using the lake to get away from other hunters". Thats what all the other hunters do also. That place was a Zoo this year with all the Washington hunters. It used to be a good place to go but it has turned into winthrop. I for one will be looking for another place to hunt. I have never seen so many game violations than this last year from WA hunters. I even saw a person shoot out of there window.I was ashamed to be from washington. With the availablity of easy to get deer tags the public areas were overcroweded with people.

[Rufenit]

Thanks for all the advise. I appriciate it.

[carp slayer]

THOSE ARE SOME GOOD BUCKS