SW or SE MT?

[FlareBlitz91]

As this years seasons come to a close and application season is around the corner, I'm starting to plan out next years hunts.

I live in East Idaho but my father is in Wisconsin so we try to get together for a hunt every otherish year somewhere in the middle, normally WY but it looks like this year we're a point behind for the area we typically hunt so are looking to maybe save the points and hunt MT on a general tag.

If I was doing it alone I'd hunt SW MT because its an hour and a half from my house, if my dad was doing it by himself he'd probably hunt Custer NF or similar because its the closest to him.

I hear doom and gloom about deer populations in both corners of the state, everything close to me people say there are more deer in the east, all the people in the east say the hunters outnumber the deer 10 to 1 at this point and time would be better spent driving father into the state.

Knowing that I've got realistic expectations about pressure and age class of buck, what would you do? Don't name unit numbers or anything like that, but just ballpark regions.

If anyone wants to talk specifics I'm open to DM and trade intel.

 

[Pony Soldier]

Can't vouch for all of sw montana but I hunted portions of it in the early 90s and enjoyed good herds. By the middle 90s. The p-rade was over. I killed my last buck in that country before 2005. After that all I found were pilgrims and wolf tracks. I would spend some time on the ground before I would commit to a hunt.

 

[The Guide]

I live on the eastern border and I'm originally from Butte and hunt south of there yearly. Both areas were pretty dang poor for deer this year. Really low population density on mule deer and on the eastern side whitetail got hit by EHD right before the start of the season. It won't be easy to fill tags but I would rather spend time with my dad in the outdoors making memories than wish I could have when he's gone.

Jay

 

[NRA4LIFE]

My last couple hunts in the SE were terrible. Deer numbers down big time. I won't go back.

 

[Mt Al]

Only thing you'll get in SE MT is more easily accessible public land to cover. Both places will have tons of people. I hunted both areas this year, saw deer but nothing even close to the past. If it's time together with dad, you can't go wrong either place and, IMHO, I'd have one of you take a shotgun for birds just for variety.

Driving a few more hours, even for both of you, going to North Central or Central MT might be somewhat better.

 

[AHayes111]

You have a much better chance at drawing the elk/deer combo license. Right now the NR deer tag is not worth the paper it is printed on unless you are hunting private. If you are willing to hunt for a cow or spike on State or BLM, SE MT could be an option, If not hunt SW MT.
Better chance of drawing, still get to pretend to hunt mule deer, get to hunt with dad, might actually have a chace a putting some meat in the freezer. Wins all the way around.

 

[Glendon Mullins]

hunted eastern montana this year and it was nothing like it was 6 or 7 years ago, ehd hit hard

 

[willfrye027]

My buddy who is from SW Montana and spends a lot of time in the woods kills his elk in SW and then goes east for the deer rut. I’ve done the combo in SW Montana and deer hunting is fairly tough. Lots of effort to find very small deer. My buddy does much much better than us in eastern Montana although I 100% believe it’s doing poorly right now..but still better deer hunting than SW.

 

[ELKhunter60]

We tried SE Montana for deer this year for the first time. Three of us hunted hard for 5 days. I saw a couple smaller bucks within shooting range that I let go. One guy in the group (three of us) shot a 20" wide 4x4. It was pretty tough hunting. We did a lot of hiking in deep trying to get into places most folks wouldn't normally mess with. We had fun, but it wasn't a slam dunk on harvesting animals. I'd do it again, but my expectations on killing something would be tempered.

 

[FlareBlitz91]

The back and forth about who’s been hit harder has popped up here like i knew it would.

I appreciate the perspectives thus far.

SW does have an advantage for me in that i can spend way more time going up there camping and scouting all year.

I will say my dad is in good shape for a retiree, so it is entirely about spending time in the field together while he’s still got it.

Whatever we do, i always bring my shotgun for some bird hunting.

 

[BRTreedogs]

Use you tags to shoot whitetails.

 

[FlareBlitz91]

You have a much better chance at drawing the elk/deer combo license. Right now the NR deer tag is not worth the paper it is printed on unless you are hunting private. If you are willing to hunt for a cow or spike on State or BLM, SE MT could be an option, If not hunt SW MT.
Better chance of drawing, still get to pretend to hunt mule deer, get to hunt with dad, might actually have a chace a putting some meat in the freezer. Wins all the way around.

I actually will be getting the big game combo myself. But i have the time to break it up into different hunts.

I also don’t have much interest in shooting a cow though, i was fortunate this year and have both a moose and an elk in the freezer that I’m 100% sure I’ll still be eating next fall.

 

[FlareBlitz91]

Only thing you'll get in SE MT is more easily accessible public land to cover. Both places will have tons of people. I hunted both areas this year, saw deer but nothing even close to the past. If it's time together with dad, you can't go wrong either place and, IMHO, I'd have one of you take a shotgun for birds just for variety.

Driving a few more hours, even for both of you, going to North Central or Central MT might be somewhat better.

Not sure which areas you mean specifically but haven’t the breaks been hit hard too by drought? I know a couple of the units have gone to permit only for mule deer, which i don’t want to limit myself to.

 

[CasNed]

22’/23’ winter. SW wasn’t good for deer prior, only worse the last couple seasons. Taxidermist in the area said 23’ fall was the worst he’s had in 20 years.

 

[FlareBlitz91]

View attachment 814891
22’/23’ winter. SW wasn’t good for deer prior, only worse the last couple seasons. Taxidermist in the area said 23’ fall was the worst he’s had in 20 years.

I’m acutely aware of that winter kill. I live in the extra dark blue of Idaho there where we had nearly 100% mortality on fawns.

I will say i saw good numbers of does with fawns this fall even if there weren’t many bucks.

Hopefully we have another relatively mild winter and numbers continue to bounce back a little.

 

[BH107]

SE is 40% below the 10 year average on mule deer numbers and FWP knows it… I expect they’ll be limiting tags down there this year like the started in the Breaks this year. I normally hunt down there and spent a 3 day weekend there this season… even the locals we know say they hardly see deer anymore yet there are just as many hunters.

 

[FlareBlitz91]

Use you tags to shoot whitetails.

I’m considering making it a whitetail hunt for myself at least.

 

[curtbird95]

Still deer to be had in the East, don’t expect a giant. Hunt later part of the season, glass groups of does bucks will filter in and out just check on them daily. Can’t tell you how many hunters I saw drive by and not even see deer because they don’t use their optics and look for a deer 300 yards from a road. Be surprised what getting just out of eyesight from a road will do. That being said deer numbers are def down.

 

[AHayes111]

Still deer to be had in the East, don’t expect a giant. Hunt later part of the season, glass groups of does bucks will filter in and out just check on them daily. Can’t tell you how many hunters I saw drive by and not even see deer because they don’t use their optics and look for a deer 300 yards from a road. Be surprised what getting just out of eyesight from a road will do. That being said deer numbers are def down.

looks like an old buck

 

[FlareBlitz91]

Heard that. The buck in my profile picture I killed on foot while about 50 people drive within 400 yards of him on ATV’s.