PaBone
Lil-Rokslider
Finally getting around to posting our Montana archery hunt. I was part of a large group of people that got scammed by an outfitter or should I say ex-outfitter his license has been revoked. I sent a down payment to pack my two son's and I into a base camp, well long story short the outfitter took the money and left the state, so our hunt turned into a public land DIY. I spent a lot of time studying maps and came up with a plan on where to start our hunt along with five or six other spots to try. We packed in around 3 miles and set up our spike camp and from there we would walk 4 or 5 miles. We started our hunt on September 6th Labor day and it was hot and smokey, but we found a fairly level spot to camp with good water nearby. Finally on September 10 we caught our first break, a cold front pushed through clearing out the smoke and we heard our first bugle. From that day on we had non stop action with several close encounters. My one son killed a nice young 5x5 and my other son hit a big 6x6 on the shoulder after his arrow deflected off a limb. Luckily the bull seemed unhurt. I did most of the calling and passed on a few small bulls, but we had our chances and had bulls in close several times and just no clear shots. In the end getting scammed probably worked out for the best, we got to spend more time in Montana hunting and could try different spots. It wasn't an easy hunt, packing all that gear, sleeping on the ground and grinding away every day especially when your 60 years old. But we had a hunt of a lifetime and spending time hunting with my boys was priceless.