Suggest a hunt - last week of March (ID, MT, WY)

[gmajor]

Suggest a hunt - EDIT: End of March/Early April (week ending with BHA Rendezvous)

Alright folks, my buddy and I are doing a week-long road trip from the Bay out to Missoula, with a stop in Boise. The trip is just to generally adventure around, maybe run a river or two weather depending (probably not in our favor), but we both hunt and it would be great to add something to the mix. We're willing to look at ID, MT, and WY for a hunt. I can't think of any rifle hunt that would yield some meat going on around that time. Way past all the ungulate seasons and too early for spring bear, am I right? Is it archery turkey in MT or bust?

You guys know more than me, so I'll defer to the slide's infinite wisdom. Much appreciated.

 

[fair-chase]

Gmajor, hope you don't mind me tagging along. I'm looking at taking a trip west (ID,MT,WY) for my sons spring break and am interested in similar activities for the first week of April.

 

[Brendan]

Great spring skiing that time of year - that's still pretty much winter.

 

[2ski]

Wolf ends a little too early for you. That's what I was going to suggest until I re-read your post and realized it was the end of March. I see lions with hounds is open then. I guess shoot a coyote or some rabbits. I don't know when steelhead season ends in Idaho. Maybe that?

Check out this website. http://www.mackdays.com/ Its a fishing tourney put on by the Salish/Kootenai tribe on Flathead Lake. The reservation is on the lower half of the lake, but the tourney covers the whole lake. It costs nothing to enter. Once you catch 11 fish, you start earning money. Check out the rules for the levels of caught fish you need to hit to jump to the next dollar amount. You don't have to win the thing to win money. It goes on every Friday, Sat., Sunday from mid-March into mid-May. Check out the website. If you guys are making a trip, you can fish throughout the week and then fish the tourney on the weekend or multiple weekends. Troll, jig, whatever you're most comfortable with. The limit is 100 fish PER DAY. Most fish I catch when my father, brother and I fish the fall tourney, are in the 18-25 inch range. The lake is huge so you can fish a lot of places. Try a new place each day. Fishing on the reservation takes a cheap license that you can pick up in the Polson Walmart. When you fish the tourney days, you can keep the fish or donate them to the food bank at the tourney headquarters at Blue Bay. If you want to keep them, you can trade the guys filleting fish for fillets in zip lock bags. Pretty cool people. Stay in Big Fork at the Timbers Motel. Eat some great food in Big Fork. Drink some good beer at the Flathead Lake brewery in Big Fork or their original taphouse in Woods Bay, about 5 miles south of Big Fork. Walk across the street from the Timbers to the Whistling Andy distillery. If the wind blows you off the lake, you can put in on the river at the bridge between Big Fork and Lakeside. Or head in to Kalispell and Whitefish area to check it out. If you want to camp, lots of state parks around the lake to do that at as well. One right outside of Big Fork, Wayfarers.

 

[HJW]

I would do spring skiing for sure, and you could do a fly fishing trip on a tailwater or a freestone if it's still in pre-runoff.

 

[muledhunter]

Id do spring sling also. At big mountain or whatever they call it now. Best snow I've ever seen is on that mountain. And they have some fun bars on the mountain

 

[2ski]

Spring skiing at Big Mountain(whitefish Mountain resort) is hit or miss. I skied there once as a kid on easter where the backside was cold and snowing and there was no snow on the front except for the cat tracks to get down. Skiing around bozeman in late March is much more consistent. Big sky will close easter weekend but won't need to because of snow.

 

[6mm Remington]

You should stop in Lolo Montana which is about 8 miles south of Missoula on Highway 93. Turn on Highway 12 and go half a mile to the Lolo Creek Steak house. It's a large cabin structure and they cook over open flames inside using Larch wood. Great atmosphere and good food. They also have some outstanding mounts of deer, elk, sheep, etc inside.

A stop at the Boone & Crockett club which is just off the Higgins Street bridge and located in the old Milwaukee railroad depot is a great stop. The building is on the Historical register and is really cool. They have some amazing mounts in there along with the World Record display. IT has the largest Stone, Bighorn, and Dall sheep in addition to the record typical mule deer and whitetail deer. Also has the world record antelope. Forgot that one.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is a great stop too. Just north of I-90 taking Reserve Street. It is located on the left about half a mile up and is off Grant Creek. They have some great mounts and stuff to look at.

Just thought of Three more great stops. There are some really fine rifle makers in Montana and here are just some to consider maybe stopping in for a peek.

Cooper Arms: 3662 Highway 93 South Stevensville, MT. (406) 777-0373 (If you call ahead they will set up and give you a tour of the facility. I did this once and loved every minute of it. Stevensville is only 30 miles south of Missoula.)

Snowy Mountain Rifles: 9889 Garrymore Lane Missoula (406) 546-8732 (Just west of Missoula at I-90 and Hwy 93. (Well worth a stop.)

Montana Rifle Company: (406) 756-4867 3178 Highway 35 Kalispell, MT. (They will let you poke around and show you some of their fine rifles.)

Shiloh Sharps: 201 Centennial Drive - Big Timber Montana (406) 932-4454 (They build some awesome old single shot Sharps rifles. I have not made it there yet to look, but it's on my to do list.)

C. Sharps Arms: Big Timber Montana (406) 932-4353 (Okay you must see this one also. They build some amazing firearms.)

How am I doing so far??

 

[Cant hit em]

Killed it 6mm Rem

 

[muledhunter]

You should stop in Lolo Montana which is about 8 miles south of Missoula on Highway 93. Turn on Highway 12 and go half a mile to the Lolo Creek Steak house. It's a large cabin structure and they cook over open flames inside using Larch wood. Great atmosphere and good food. They also have some outstanding mounts of deer, elk, sheep, etc inside.

A stop at the Boone & Crockett club which is just off the Higgins Street bridge and located in the old Milwaukee railroad depot is a great stop. The building is on the Historical register and is really cool. They have some amazing mounts in there along with the World Record display. IT has the largest Stone, Bighorn, and Dall sheep in addition to the record typical mule deer and whitetail deer. Also has the world record antelope. Forgot that one.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is a great stop too. Just north of I-90 taking Reserve Street. It is located on the left about half a mile up and is off Grant Creek. They have some great mounts and stuff to look at.

Just thought of Three more great stops. There are some really fine rifle makers in Montana and here are just some to consider maybe stopping in for a peek.

Cooper Arms: 3662 Highway 93 South Stevensville, MT. (406) 777-0373 (If you call ahead they will set up and give you a tour of the facility. I did this once and loved every minute of it. Stevensville is only 30 miles south of Missoula.)

Snowy Mountain Rifles: 9889 Garrymore Lane Missoula (406) 546-8732 (Just west of Missoula at I-90 and Hwy 93. (Well worth a stop.)

Montana Rifle Company: (406) 756-4867 3178 Highway 35 Kalispell, MT. (They will let you poke around and show you some of their fine rifles.)

Shiloh Sharps: 201 Centennial Drive - Big Timber Montana (406) 932-4454 (They build some awesome old single shot Sharps rifles. I have not made it there yet to look, but it's on my to do list.)

C. Sharps Arms: Big Timber Montana (406) 932-4353 (Okay you must see this one also. They build some amazing firearms.)

How am I doing so far??

Might as well go up to trophy taker as well! and see dan's trophy room. Its pretty impressive

 

[gmajor]

This thread is awesome, thanks for the responses guys! We're getting in a good amount of skiing out here (around donner pass - sugar bowl, squaw), so probably will leave that gear at home. Will definitely eat and drink at the suggested establishments and pop over to rmef and a rifle maker or two. Maybe cottontails in MT are our best bet for a feed?

 

[gmajor]

Update: we're heading to Boise for easter and will head out from there the morning of Tuesday, March 29th. We'll be in Missoula by Friday, April 1st for BHA Rendezvous (brew fest on Fri then banquet on Sat).

That leaves all day Tues, Wed, Thurs and half of Fri to get from Boise to Missoula. I'm hoping for an overnight backpacking trip in beautiful mountains (will snow make this impossible?)...Frank Church? Selway-Bitteroot? The Bob? Also hopeful for an opportunity to hunt some cottontails in MT (anyone here want to go bunny busting??), and then pop by RMEF and the like on Friday morning if we have time.

Any backpacking suggestions? Areas for bunnies in western MT near missoula? Can't believe my buddy and I have each spent most of our lives running around the mountains all over the country and internationally but have never gotten outdoors in ID or MT. Seems downright unpatriotic.

As always any suggestions are welcome!

 

[Nick Muche]

Go steelhead fishing instead, be more fun than trying to hunt something when there's nothing to hunt. Good luck.

 

[Rizzy]

You can probably do a backpack shed hunt in the mid elevations.

 

[gmajor]

Go steelhead fishing instead, be more fun than trying to hunt something when there's nothing to hunt. Good luck.

Might be able to swing that in Idaho with some family. Would still be cool to pack in and take a look at some beautiful country, even if it's without a hunt going on.

You can probably do a backpack shed hunt in the mid elevations.

I should have thought about that!

 

[gmajor]

Going to shed hunt in Idaho after seeing some family then do a 2-night snowshoe backpacking trip in Grand Teton NP. Will chase some bunnies in creek bottoms in driving distance of Missoula the weekend of BHA rendezvous. Hope to see some of you guys there!

 

[scottpage88]

End of March should be a good time to shoot some whistle pigs around Boise if you are wanting to shoot stuff.