Montana 340 Doe Tag

[jakeaba]

Hey all,

Been putting lots of miles driving around unit 340 looking for a doe. Haven’t seen a single deer through 300 miles of driving and prob 15 miles of hiking.

I started up around 7-8k mark but I’m wondering how much this snow has affected their whereabouts.

This is my first year hunting and I’ve done tons and tons of YouTube and forum research. I’m not looking for anyones honey hole, but I am finding it hard to believe I can’t find a single deer. Anyone have any tips that I can add to the knowledge bank on how a plunge in temps and snow accumulation can affect things?

I tried calling the biologist but she’s out hunting this week. I really feel like I have exhausted all podcast, YouTube, forum and any other sites I can gain info from and am stumped. I did an archery hunt in Washington in September and was seeing deer every day so I thought I was doing well. Getting my ass kicked over here though!


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[bsnedeker]

Welcome to hunting! That's how it goes sometimes! Does are not terribly sneaky critters for the most part. In the early morning and last couple hours of the day they are usually out in the wide open. When I'm trying to fill a B tag I'm usually road hunting cruising low elevation open country early and late, and spend the middle of the day walking transitional areas.

Good luck!

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[t_carlson]

Dropping temps and snow should make the deer spend a little more time out in the open feeding. I would be at a good vantage point in the morning and glass the open areas until 9-10 a.m.

If you don't see anything, then start looking for tracks. Find fresh ones and then hunt at that elevation. You could also try following a set of tracks, even if they are a day or two old and see where they go. Deer tend to move around within the same area, so following some slightly old tracks might bring you to a newer set within a mile or so.

Mule deer can be anywhere from the creek bottoms to the tops of mountain ranges. Snow might push them down, but it depends on the depth and quality of the snow.

Hunting down low, along the private land, might be worthwhile, too. There are probably some resident deer that live down low all year long. At least you don't have to guess what elevation they might be at.

I'm not sure if 340 is one of the units they are trying to reduce the population in (read: decimate) for CWD control or not. But it does get a lot of pressure from Butte locals. Its quite possible they have shot most everything near the roads if the FWP is handing out a lot of tags.

 

[NDGuy]

FWP is handing out a lot of tags.

Pretty much the answer

 

[jakeaba]

Awesome thanks for the update.

I moved down lower and glassed this all day and haven’t seen a deer move. Maybe you’re right and everything just got blasted the first couple weeks of the season? I’ll try and upload a picture


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[jakeaba]

 

[leclairk]

Most of the muley’s I’ve come across in Montana are bedded down the the draws. They like to stay down out of the wind. You won’t see much glassing.

 

[dirtytough]

Hey all,

Been putting lots of miles driving around unit 340 looking for a doe. Haven’t seen a single deer through 300 miles of driving and prob 15 miles of hiking.

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If I put on that many miles and hadn’t seen a deer. I think it might be a bad idea to kill a doe in that unit. It might be worth eating the tag and shooting some rabbits or coyotes instead.

 

[bsnedeker]

If I put on that many miles and hadn’t seen a deer. I think it might be a bad idea to kill a doe in that unit. It might be worth eating the tag and shooting some rabbits or coyotes instead.

Agreed, especially if you are looking for mulies. I didn't look up the specific unit and assumed he was hunting for whitetails where I don't think you can possibly kill enough of those things.

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