yotebuster

All good advice, but one thing I would say is there aren’t any easy general bull elk taken in MT on public ground. If you plan to day hike you will be in for a long day just to get into elk. We hunted an area up the gunnison years ago. It was a 3.5 mile hike just to get where you start hunting. Didn’t even dream of seeing an elk track before that spot. Then hunt all day and get back to trailhead at midnight. We were too stupid and didn’t have the gear to bivy up in there back them nor did we have horses. Killed an elk or two but it wasn’t good hunting by any means. The first time I ever elk hunted in AZ I couldn’t believe you could see elk from a road. I hadn’t dreamt that was possible. At the end of the day MT is a land of a lot of opportunity, the right limited draw tag or the right private access and you can have giant bulls in your lap every year, but the wrong chunk of ground and you’re gonna be out for a hike every day. My step brother lives in Helena and is 2 for 9 on elk and hunts every weekend of the bow and rifle season. It’s not easy. The wolves complicate things. They aren’t the culprit though, go across the border into Wyoming and they have limited draw tags that take 12-14 points in the same country with the same wolves and they are killing giant bulls in there. The MT general tag moto is what kills all the elk. The wolves just cleaned up the scraps.

Looks like they make you hire a guide too?

This pic makes me tent up a little.

Hybrid......

Asian short ribs for lunch today. Incredible!!

So does this have a rangefinder built in? Just range and it lights up the dot for you on holdover? Then you send it?

If you build a few points for antelope you can draw a tag in the same area. I’ve literally shot antelope, whitetail, mule deer, pheasants, partridge and sharp tails all within a mile of each other in NE MT. Wonderful place to hunt. You’d need about 3 points to pull the antelope tag. The deer tag is high draw chance without a point but a point makes it guaranteed.

The area I have hunted is a LOOOONNNGGG drive, but you’ll kill deer and a big pile of pheasants, sharp tails and huns. The buck I put a pic of was killed 1 mile from the Canadian border. I killed a coues 1 mile from the Mexican border too!!

Cleared it out and sent you a PM we’ll talk tomorrow.

I killed this buck on state land. Real easy DIY hunt.

I dunno crap about Wyoming but eastern Montana has plenty of whitetails on public land. If you’d be happy with a 130-140 buck I don’t think you’d have a problem at all, getting a bigger one can be a little tougher on public though.

Dang. Did the arrow stay in him? Faces bleed a lot but if it didn’t break his jaw he may make it.

Now for the best part of all!! The top one is a ribeye my wife sousvide and then cast iron seared. The bottom one I just hit hot and fast on the grill. Both were exceptional!!

Got it all unloaded in the freezer. That’s a 23 cu ft chest freezer that was completely empty. That’s only about 60-70% of the meat!! The pic of my dog licking the skull really puts it in perspective. She’s not a big dog but probably 50 pounds!! I ended up scoring him to the best of my ability and came up with 115 6/8 which makes book by a few 8ths.

My cousin actually runs a feedlot for bison. They grain finish them similar to beef. I have a hunch this bull will be a lot different then the meat I’ve had from him. Still looks incredible though. We just got home tonight and there’s some thawing in the sink so I’ll have an update likely tomorrow.

Haven’t had any from this one yet as we’re still working our way home but my cousin raises them so I’ve eaten it a lot. Tastes like beef but better. Marbeled like beef.

Good question! I debated a lot about what to use and I have a gorgeous pre 64 model 70 .375 H&H that is an absolute tack driver with 250gr TTSX. I set it up for my AZ bison hunt but never used it. The reason I went with the STW is two fold, one, my dad got it for me when I was 12 and I’ve killed around a dozen different big game species with it so I wanted to add another to the list. 2: I was concerned I may have to take a slightly longer shot (300-400) as the national elk refuge has some wide open sage flats. I ran the numbers on it and because of the higher case capacity and slimmer bullet, the STW actually passed up the H&H at about 175 yards on kinetic energy. This bull was dead from the first shot, the ground was painted in blood, but I always shoot till the critter isn’t moving, so I kept on him. I would say a maximum of 10-15 seconds elapsed from the first shot to the last.

The ones they post are just tags vs applicants. Doesn’t take into account that only a percentage go to Non resident nor the fact that a percentage go to guys with most points, or the fact that if guys have points their names are in there multiple times. If I were you I’d get a subscription to one of the services that do odds. Then back figure where you’re gonna hunt. You’ll find the mid hunts in the further south units will be easiest and it’ll get harder on first hunts or December hunts and harder the further north you go (more or less). 21 and 22 are gonna be a little harder to draw as they’re fewer tags and seasons then 33 and they’re popular units. Unless you pick a border unit mid hunt, or a unit with some access issues, you’ll be looking at sub 50% chance to draw with no points. Might be an outlier you could dig up and then research that unit, plan the trip and go. It sounds like you’re planning on working for it and have a good plan in mind so I’m sure you’ll get into deer.

Here’s what gohunt has for odds in 33 (assuming that’s what you settled on).

Recovered two of the 175 aframes when skinning. They look just like their website says they should!! Pretty impressed!! I killed my muskox this year and a few other critters with 175 partitions with plans of using them for this hunt but they shed a ton of weight (40-50% loss) so I ordered some aframes just for buffalo as my rifle hates copper bullets. Reallly happy with them. Will weigh them when I get home.

Do you have any points?

Naw it wasn’t you. It was trophy. He follows me around CWT and trolls me by taking shots at anything I say. This time he decided to call me a douche bag but didn’t even have the balls to quote me. I left it be as he doesn’t quote for a reason so he can act like it wasn’t aimed at you when you call him out. Passive aggressive manboy bs.

I figured that was a crack at me. I never said I wouldn’t look for it, just that it raises an interesting question. I think the rule is stupid but I know for a fact that if you arrow an animal on the last day of the hunt and find it the next day and tag it and word gets out you will lose your animal. I do appreciate the fanboy attitude you have toward my posts as well as the name calling. Do you have some kind of tracker on me so every comment I make you’re able to troll?

If season is closed yes. Not sure how it would work on a OTC tag if you arrowed a buck on new year eve and then recovered it in the am. I’m guessing you’d have to tag it with you new tag

I’m not sure if it’s been said, but a tripod for your binos is the single most important tool you can have. More so then your rifle. Tasco 7x42’s on a tripod will find more game then swaro’s being hand held any day. I’d just rent a tripod and swaro 12’s from one of the rental places. 12’s will be better for you if you’re just learning to glass, 15’s can be a little short on field of view so you’ll move around too much and that exactly what you don’t want to do.