Montana mule deer hunt

[mp_moody]

My buddies and I decided to change things up this year. We applied and were successfully drawn for Montana's general deer hunt, whitetail or mule deer. Our party had a total of six tags. We were told upon arrival that it would be a hard hunt due to high whitetail mortality rates from "blue tongue." Four of us, including myself, wanted mule deer while the other two wanted whitetail. We spent the week hunting private land, primarily cattle ranches, near Cascade in the central part of Montana. I came into this hunt thinking it would be a turkey shoot...my buddy and his father hunted this same property last November and got a tall 3x4 mule deer and an 11 point whitetail...never again will I be that naive.

 

Here's Cody's whitetail taken on Saturday morning at 400 yards:

 

He was with at least a pair of eight points.

 

Two of our party tagged out with fork mulies (no pics) on Monday and Tuesday morning. On Monday morning I had a stalk on a nice eight point whitetail spoiled by a doe, then later had a 4x4 mulie stop at 300 yards before ending up in the adjacent property. Monday evening I had a tall ten point whitetail at 500 yards, silhouted on a ridgeline for at least twenty minutes. He got spooked when a herd of ~25 pronghorn fed onto my position. I never saw him again.

 

Tuesday morning we got to my spot late after signing in with another land owner. I had two good eight point whitetail feeding within 450 yards of my position, but I was unsure of my ability and did not pull the trigger.

 

Aaron's mulie, taken Tuesday evening:

 

The genetics for this property aren't the greatest. Cody's buck last year was taller but just as narrow; a few hundred yards across the property line and on a steep ridge we did spot a nasty toad that would rival a Kaibab buck. However, this mature beast doesn't ever leave the area. Only the younger bucks wander across the barbed wire fence and get whacked.

 

Wednesday morning the weather was much warmer but it was miserably windy. Cody and I sat on the waterhole I'd seen all of my whitetail deer on until well after sunrise. It was during this time I began to realize that I might have to eat an out of state Montana deer tag.

 

Minutes from me thinking about packing up, out of nowhere a buck rose up from his bed not 400 yards below us. I decided with two days left on this hunt I needed to pull the trigger:

 

He turned out to be a mule deer with giant fork antlers! I was shocked when we finally got to him, I was sure he was an eight point whitetail! The shot that counted ended up being textbook, just behind the shoulder at a cool 700 yards. Regardless, I am absolutely thrilled with this trophy.

 

Later that afternoon the last guy with a tag got his mulie:

 

3x3 with an eyeguard. Did I mention that this was Matt's first deer, and that he shot him on his own on a brand new part of the property no one else had hunted yet?

 

Here are four of our racks, looking out of our cabin's window which overlooks the Missouri River:

 

I'd probably do it again. The cost was substantial for me, who is used to purchasing left over tags for southern AZ coues hunts and living off of cheap camp food and beer for a week at a time, but the hunting experience I gained and the good times had can't be beat. I participated in five deer drags (instead of quartering out a deer you just gut it and drag), got stepped on by a pronghorn, saw a wolverine, and caught some giant brown trout out of the Missouri at 30 degrees. Next year I'm going to apply for the antelope draw as well. I saw at least a couple hundred of those white goats.

 

Now to prepare for my desert archery next month...I have no idea what I'm doing but I know it will be just as fun.

[Will K]

Cool.

[Lucky Draw]

Congrats on a memorable experience. Thanks for sharing.

[6ANut]

Looks like a blast of a trip congrats.

[Xforcebaby]

Awesome! Sounds like you guys had an awesome trip. Way to go and thanks for the pics!

[Seldom Drawn]

Very Nice,

But thats a lot of money for deer you could shoot with left over az tags.I know its more then just the kill but

you guys could have some options for az if you want to deal with our border.Montana's prices are the highest in

the country,even more then a Henrys Utah tag.

thanks for the pics.

 

Seldom Drawn

[bonecollector]

Congrats on a successful trip. Looks like you guys had a great time.

[randyolson]

Congrats on getting your deer! Sounds like you had a great time!