We hunted Montana last week and within 3 days of opener the elk cleared out of the mnts and were on two huge private ranches with out of state owners. Two separate herds of 200 elk only about 15 miles from each other. They sure figured out where to go for safety fast
Just to update the thread after our hunt. We found that just getting 75 yards off the road got rid of 80% of the hunters and if we climbed up hill anywhere you could not drive with a vehicle, 99% of people disappeared. Road/trail hunting with vehicles had a very impressive participation rate!
long time lurker, first time poster.
My brother and I are most likely headed to Montana this fall and questioning how tall does the mountain have to be to stop most people from going over to hunt the next valley. In your estimate what % of hunters would a 1000 ft climb stop from wanting to hunt...