Finding elk in central MT compared to other states?

[Jason Snyder]

My first elk I shot with an outdated bow and hauled out with little more than a school bag,

Calling that pack a school bag was being generous. It was like a Dora The Explorer backpack

 

[PJG]

Shot my first elk when I was 12. We only rifle hunted back then, and never backpack hunted. We never needed to, where always able to find elk, always hunted public areas. Yep, we got out and worked, put lots of miles on. Always hunted timbered areas, with parks in them. Hunted in blue jeans until the weather got below zero, then we would break out the woolies.

We used to drag elk out whole, we never knew any better. You can only imagine what we thought the 1st time we saw a hunting show that quartered and packed an elk out, man game changer for us. We never carried a camera, never really thought it was a big deal to shoot an elk, it's just the way it was. Really wish we had more photos of a few bulls we shot.

Sure our gear has changed over the years. But, our hunting style has not. Good elk can be found in Montana. I now live in Colorado, but choose to hunt with my family every year in Montana.

 

[Jason Snyder]

Thanks, I have a tendency to overthink everything . BTW - Are there any maps that show the general areas for deer and elk? I assume they are not the same for archery and bow?

EDIT: Found it on the hunt planner.

MAT,

If you know how to find elk, you will find elk in MT. I have no qualms about jumping to a different mountain range if I'm bumping into too many hunters where I'm at, the elk are crowding private land, or I just don't like where I'm at. I've pretty darned consistently been able to go somewhere completely new and find elk. I can count on one hand the number of times I ended up in an area that was just completely devoid of elk.

 

[MAT]

Thanks guys. I actually like the idea of exploring new areas but I'm always a nervous wreck until I get there and see what it's really like in person. I'm meeting with my buddy this weekend to decide on CO draw or MT general. Somehow CO just doesn't excite me anymore, even draw areas.

I've also hunted around Yellowstone a few times. I wasn't that nervous about bears until I saw how serious my buddy who lived out there was (he took a shotgun to go take a dump and we were only 100 yards off a busy highway!). The only griz we saw just happen to wander on by one day and was easily spooked once he knew we were there. We thought we heard several more, and one time we had our unpacked camp tossed about by a few young bears as evidenced by their tracks in the snow. I still have claw marks on my duffel bag as a reminder.

 

[TradLife406]

Don't forget there's two grizzlies in the Sweetgrass Hills now... LOL

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Montanated]

Calling that pack a school bag was being generous. It was like a Dora The Explorer backpack

I hear nothing but jealousy here Snyder.