Montana deer draw

[furbearer365]

I heard today that Montana took 3,000 deer tags out of the draw and added them to the deer/elk combo tags in order to get more money.  They are wanting people to hunt deer and elk and spend the money to do it rather than just hunt deer only.  I hope this is just a sick joke, i want to go back and an waiting for my results.

[Bigshooter]

I doubt it's true.  They have approved quotas.

[huntnnw]

I agree...they have quotas set . Something like 4,600 deer tags and 17,000 deer elk combos...so with that being said that would leave 1600 deer only tags? they couldnt sell all the tags last year

[Pathfinder101]

I agree...they have quotas set . Something like 4,600 deer tags and 17,000 deer elk combos...so with that being said that would leave 1600 deer only tags? they couldnt sell all the tags last year

They sold them all, but not in the first draw.  Some went as leftovers.  If I remember right though, they only lasted a few days.

[YoterHunter]

if you can . do like i did this year . i did the deer elk combo . put in for a hard to draw elk permet . so when i dont get drawn for the elk . i will get 358 dollers back and a deer combo license. alot better odds of getting drawn.

[Fishmasterdan]

deer population is way down. Alot of the Montana hunters I hunt with are not going to put in this year. I bet the deer draw this year will be at least 90% success.

good luck with your draw.  I would say what you heard about the state moving tags is wrong statement. They may short some tags but not move them.

[JPhelps]

I wish they would just leave their system alone.

[YellowDog]

Okay guys, some of you have applied and hunting in Montana in the past.  My brother and I put in in 2010 and did not draw.  We didn't put in last year due to a life threatening injury sustained by my brother and the pile of medical bills he had.  We want to put in for the deer/elk combo this year and put in for the hardest to draw elk units in the special  draw.  Probably wont draw the elk permit so we can build a point and get a partial refund.  We do want to hunt deer and plan to put in for a tough to draw 1st choice in the special draw.  We are looking for a decent 2nd choice with 100% or unlimited draw odds for a decent hunt with public land and/or block management land to hunt.  Not looking for a trophy hunt just a good chance at taking a couple of decent bucks.  Can anyone give a suggestion for the 2nd choice options that fit the bill?  Preferable in Western half of montana.  Thanks in advance. 

(plan to take one or two long weekend trips this summer to get an idea of likly areas to zero in on, ride dirt bikes, and generally scout some areas for future hunts)

[deerslyr]

If your looking for a second choice Id just put in for a another tough to draw tag and hunt the general season if not drawn. The quality of hunting to be had on the 100% draw areas is not very good compared to many general season units IMO. I dont even bother putting in for deer and elk limited tags here. Too many over looked general hunts that offer excellent hunting to even think about limited entry tags.

[YellowDog]

If your looking for a second choice Id just put in for a another tough to draw tag and hunt the general season if not drawn. The quality of hunting to be had on the 100% draw areas is not very good compared to many general season units IMO. I dont even bother putting in for deer and elk limited tags here. Too many over looked general hunts that offer excellent hunting to even think about limited entry tags.

Makes sense.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I'm open to any other general suggestions or areas to look into (not looking for real specifics just a starting point)

[furbearer365]

It is hard to give any suggestions for a good deer hunt in Montana cause a general deer tag give you the ability to hunt almost the whole state.  For someone to just give out a general is pretty tough cause there are deer in every unit.  You just have to pick an area yourself, according to what style of hunt you want, then start researching a spot to go. Make phone calls to the fish and game and start talking to people, that is what i did and both me and my dad killed good deer and saw a good number of deer.

[huntnphool]

 A quick "generalization" of Montana can be broken down to the East and West. Of course there are deer and elk throughout the state but if you are looking for numbers, the West typically has a large number of elk and not as many mule deer, and the East has a large number of mule deer and not as many elk. Remember this is just "in general", you can find both throughout the state but I have found this to be a decent way to look at it.

 If you are looking for whitetail, they can be found in almost every river/creek drainage throughout the state.

 If you are worried about getting a tag, I wouldn't! The state of the economy and the additional cost of tags has the number of applicants down significantly. Originally they cut the online application option off at the end of February this year, requiring you to snail mail your app in from March 1-15th. I got online on the 14th and noticed they changed that policy and took online applications the last couple weeks as well, undoubtedly because of the lack of applications coming in.

[JPhelps]

If you are worried about getting a tag, I wouldn't! The state of the economy and the additional cost of tags has the number of applicants down significantly.

I hope you are right because my Dad and Uncle didn't want to buy the $50 pref point (big game combo) and I was worried it could come back to bite us.

[buckhorn2]

We put in last year and we did;nt get drawn but when they did;nt sell all the permits we bought ours and they still gave us 1 preference point for not getting drawn but that was when it was 20 to put in for a bonus point.

[furbearer365]

Hey Phool, i would say your generalization is correct about the locations but that is why i say it is hard to give someone a starting point.  If you look at where most of the big bucks (book bucks) they come from the west side of the state.  Missoula county is leading for most enteries.  So how do you tell someone where to go.  Some want more deer and some what a chance at the biggest around.  I would say that most with a general tag would want to see more deer and maybe take a little lesser of a animal (horn size) than not.   I would say there are not to many that are willing to eat a nonresident tag as opposed to taking a good deer.  Lets just face it, most areas in montana, even a general area, have bigger deer than most of the limited draws in this state.

And the same is true for the elk.  Most of the giants are starting to be taken a little more east.  Central montana is producing some giant bulls.  The areas around fort peck in the missouri breaks has a lot of elk.  I talked with a taxidermist in this area and he told me that for the first time last year, the state counted more elk than deer on the CMR.