Opening Week of Montana Rifle strategy

[Adam Gibbs]

So this year the plans have changed and now it looks like we're going to try and draw general tags to hunt SE Montana. The only dates that we are able to make it work though is the first week of rifle season. We'll have a full 7 days of hunting. Everything I'm reading says to hunt the rut.
I really wish we could but unfortunately due to other circumstances that is not going to be the case.

For those that have hunted this week, how is your strategy different from the rut? Are you less mobile and checking every draw and crevice more thoroughly than later in the season because there bucks are less likely to move? We're first time mule deer hunters and this trip is kind of getting thrown together last minute, and it's all kind of pending if we even draw or not anyways.

 

[Wapiti1]

More mobile. More glassing. Really pick it apart. The bucks may be in groups, so if you find a forky, really look over the surrounding brush. SE Montana is pretty open, and you should be able to work a long way on a ridge and cover a lot of terrain with your glass. There really isn't high country, so focus on covering ground. Don't be afraid to smoke a whitetail. Not as common, but there are some big ones down there.

The two differences between opening week and late season will be pressure and you don't care about finding does. Expect a lot of other hunters opening week, and understand you will glass up a lot of orange vests. You'll have a fun hunt though.

Be mindful of rain/snow and quality of the roads down there. They can be snot slick and pack mud into your wheelwell until you can't turn the wheel.

Jeremy

 

[Bear7771]

So this year the plans have changed and now it looks like we're going to try and draw general tags to hunt SE Montana. The only dates that we are able to make it work though is the first week of rifle season. We'll have a full 7 days of hunting. Everything I'm reading says to hunt the rut.
I really wish we could but unfortunately due to other circumstances that is not going to be the case.

For those that have hunted this week, how is your strategy different from the rut? Are you less mobile and checking every draw and crevice more thoroughly than later in the season because there bucks are less likely to move? We're first time mule deer hunters and this trip is kind of getting thrown together last minute, and it's all kind of pending if we even draw or not anyways.

How far are you driving to hunt there? Kinda a shame to not be there during peak time. Only reason to hunt the first week for me would be if I had a smoker buck spotted, but that’s not an option for a lot of us that are a long ways off.

 

[Adam Gibbs]

How far are you driving to hunt there? Kinda a shame to not be there during peak time. Only reason to hunt the first week for me would be if I had a smoker buck spotted, but that’s not an option for a lot of us that are a long ways off.

I'm a long ways off, about a 20 hour drive. Unfortunately all of November is taken up with other obligations. We're going to make the best of it and have fun and hunt hard regardless.

 

[Indian Summer]

Other obligations? I hope you’re not putting too many irons in the fire with a rut hunt for whitetail interfering with your mulie hunt. If you’re planning a western hunt do it right or don’t bother. It’s big country and it’s wise to do everything you can to put the odds in your favor. If you don’t care about the size of animals you kill and are happy with a 3 point pencil rack then you’ll be fine. But if you’ve been drooling over pictures of 4x4 bucks you need to think about your priorities.

 

[JustHunt]

Opening week hunting is an all day foot hunt. Glassing larger areas in the grey, then walk the edge of draws the rest of the day and try to kick a buck up.
A rut hunt is just cover a lot of country. You can cover more with a truck than in your boots.

 

[Mt Al]

Other obligations? I hope you’re not putting too many irons in the fire with a rut hunt for whitetail interfering with your mulie hunt. If you’re planning a western hunt do it right or don’t bother. It’s big country and it’s wise to do everything you can to put the odds in your favor. If you don’t care about the size of animals you kill and are happy with a 3 point pencil rack then you’ll be fine. But if you’ve been drooling over pictures of 4x4 bucks you need to think about your priorities.

???? "do it right or don't bother" - most Montana's must not be doing it right by going out opening weekend. Plus all the outfitters hunting opening weekend through the rut. I'll get the word out.

Obviously it would be ideal during the rut but people gotta do what they gotta do. Nice bucks get taken throughout the season though whoppers are rarer early. The back of my truck has had 4x4s and larger from Eastern MT early in the season. You'll all have a blast, bring a shotgun for birds after your tag is filled. Plus maybe a prairie dog rifle. Be out in the field glassing early and late every day and get off the road. As written in earlier posts, glass, then glass then keep glassing but, in order to stay sane, do walk into some draws from up wind, do a few "pushes" with hunters above the draws, split up here and there.

A motto, not mine, is that if you're not going in and out without NEEDING a head lamp, you came in too late or left too early. Sound wisdom. I'm a dandy sometimes and hanker pizza or TV during a long hunt, so I go out early, drive back mid day and head to a new location for the evening. Everyone does it different but being outside during the magic hours will increase your odds.

What's nice is that big bucks don't magically materialize out of thin air during the rut, they physically exist even before and after, have to eat and drink and void their bowels and bladder. I hope your group has a blast and fills a few tags.

 

[Rich M]

Other obligations? I hope you’re not putting too many irons in the fire with a rut hunt for whitetail interfering with your mulie hunt. If you’re planning a western hunt do it right or don’t bother. It’s big country and it’s wise to do everything you can to put the odds in your favor. If you don’t care about the size of animals you kill and are happy with a 3 point pencil rack then you’ll be fine. But if you’ve been drooling over pictures of 4x4 bucks you need to think about your priorities.

I agree with this - if you are gonna travel to hunt, give it 110% or stay home cause the game is rigged against you from the git-go. If you want a trophy buck you will either trip over him - or you will earn him. I'm not sure what the ratio is but I'd favor sheer effort and being able to shoot when the opportunity hits.

4 of us went on a trip this past season (2019) and hunted from full light until dark for 6 days, then evenings only for days 7 and 8 cause we knew where to be. Took a good 4x4 (159 inch) on day 6 and missed a nice 3x3 (about 120-130 inch) n day 7 and missed a 2x2 on day 8. Not bad for first ever mule deer hunt. Guy who got 4x4 shot 350 or so rounds prepping, guy who missed said he shot "about" 100 rounds prepping. Guy 3 left early with bad cold. Guy 4 was camp cook and not hunting but enjoying the trip.

We went wrong by heading out at daylight - should have been in position before daylight and glassing. It is tough work to find the deer and that's where your knowledge of the area comes in handy - in our case we were 1 step behind everywhere we went - always tire tracks, folks coming out as we went in, people driving where they weren't supposed to be driving, etc. Opening day was a let-down but also a lesson is how well the deer blend in - saw a guy running after a buck he'd spooked (there were 2 big ones in that area) and I was glassing cause I was working over there - never saw the deer he was trying to catch. Same for when we got back to camp with guy #4 telling us there's deer on that ridge 400 yards from camp - we all got good looks at bedded deer with our optics and if we didn't know where they were I don't know if we'd have spotted them without a white rump patch. (I'm upgrading my binocs before next trip.)

We tried the walk the gullies kind of hunting and just saw other hunters.

We had better success by sharing intel with some guys and by being on stand during the prime periods. I saw 7 by standing on a finger ridge, buddy saw 4 sitting on a rimrock overlooking a cottonwood bottom, we saw deer and tons of deer sign in waist high sage, etc.

If I was gonna do it again, I'd head back to same area, get an 8 ft step ladder and set it up in the back of the pickup- drop the other guys off where they can get on a hilltop and glass, and then head to where I could see miles and glass - we'd do this every morning from before first grey until 10 am - then regroup, have a bite, compare notes and maybe do an assault on a bedding area. Have another bite and get back in position - same location or diff for the evening movement. Always ready to throw caution in the wind and stalk or shoot, but primary thing is finding the deer where we can kill them. After we find the deer, then go kill one or two.

Last note is that they do travel quite a bit when spooked and don;t return like whitetails often do. That's why being second is tough if the deer spook instead of holding tight.

Its a great trip - you'll have fun.

 

[100percent]

Man, that is going to be a tough hunt without a snow or a cold front. The deer will be spread out already and dodging the orange army. This is the week that most older age bucks find cover on private especially on/around the smaller state and blm sections. You will be surprised just how insensitive some hunters are to your presence on these small tracts. No common courtesy with a lot of these guys.
Unless you plan to hunt some of the larger national forests, I would make a later date work or buy a point and try again next year. Worst thing for ME is driving across the nation for peace and solitude only to find a traffic jam waiting for me out in the hills.

 

[Rich M]

Man, that is going to be a tough hunt without a snow or a cold front. The deer will be spread out already and dodging the orange army. This is the week that most older age bucks find cover on private especially on/around the smaller state and blm sections. You will be surprised just how insensitive some hunters are to your presence on these small tracts. No common courtesy with a lot of these guys.
Unless you plan to hunt some of the larger national forests, I would make a later date work or buy a point and try again next year. Worst thing for ME is driving across the nation for peace and solitude only to find a traffic jam waiting for me out in the hills.

Great post - it sure is tough to drive all that way (I'm 30+ hours) to fight over parcels and hunt areas.

 

[Adam Gibbs]

I get what you guys are saying. I wish we could go during the rut but with business and family commitments it's not going to happen. Regardless I'm applied for. If drawn, we're going to make the best of it and have fun!

 

[204guy]

Holy crap, the bucks don't teleport in from out of state once the rut starts. Take your 7 days hunt hard, don't kill the first buck you see, you'll do fine. Get familiar with Onx or similar if you haven't already.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[MTbow]

I’ve seen nice bucks over there in archery, find A new vantage point to glass every morning at daylight and every evening till dark. You’ll have a fun hunt, certainly see game, best of luck.

 

[Gumbo]

Don't bother going the opening week? Crazy talk.

 

[Mt Al]

Don't bother going the opening week? Crazy talk.

Yeah, I don't get it, plus the mentions of seeing other people everywhere. That's not the case in many places in Eastern MT. Also, respectfully, if it's the first time you've come to Eastern MT there will be a learning curve on terrain, locations, etc. and you may be close to people as you learn the ropes. Just like me and my friends when we go to Texas or Florida to fish - we go where there are other people because we frankly have no idea what we're doing! Each time we go back it gets a little better though.

If you're hunting next to a road, or close to next to a road, or on a place where every side/by/side or 4 wheeler can go, or around where people set up campers, then yes that's how it will be. OP, you and your pals will have fun. Consider getting the block management regs and reserving a spot, but google earth prior to the hunt to make sure there's cover.