Finding the Habitat - four day hunt in SW Montana

[skahunter831]

HI everybody, I'm a first-time muley hunter headed to SW Montana, hunting Nov 10-13th. My plan had been to camp around 7,500 feet then hunt the high country in a specific part of a specific range, more or less on the high side of the tree line at around 7,500-9,000, glassing and walking ridgelines until I see deer. I was assuming that the deer would still be up in the higher country and not have transitioned down to their winter habitat, as almost everything I seem to read about muley hunting talks about getting high up and away from roads. But a friend who has hunted mule deer in WY has me questioning my thinking. He took a look at the area I'm hunting and noticed a fair amount of irrigated farm/pasture land in the wider valleys between the mountain, and said that by mid-November the high quality greenery they use for forage would be gone from the high country, and the deer would be much more likely to be migrating down lower. They'd be feeding down in the ag land, coming from the low side of the tree line through the sagebrush foothills and coulees/ravines/drainages that lie in between the irrigated land and the timber.

So, what are all your thoughts about this? How much of this is weather dependent? Should I start high, see if I see anything, then head down lower if there's nothing going on up high? Or do that in reverse (start low then head up)? Whatcha think?

 

[skahunter831]

PS - I did call a wildlife biologist in the area but am waiting to hear back.