Winging it DIY Montana Elk General Rifle

[Preston]

I would plan hoping to get some snow and serious cold weather, which does happen ever few years and hunt really close to the private boundaries. Its gotten really difficult to fill general tag up here on public land the last 5 years. Best of luck and stay safe. Which region are you planning to hunt?

 

[jjordan355]

Well, my buddy flaked on this hunt (new job with limited PTO + his wedding), so I'll be going at it alone the 1st week of Nov. I was able to borrow a 8-man SO Tipi with a stove, and have identified a few 'Brow-tined Bull or Antlerless' units in the southwest to target.

If there's someone in a similar situation who wants to team up, I'd be more than happy to chat and see if it'd work out. I'm totally comfortable hunting on my own, but it's always nice to have someone to chat with in camp and it adds some safety factor.

I’m located in SW Montana. If you find yourself in need of help and I’m free I can lend a hand. Or if you need some advice on units/areas message me.

 

[CMF]

We've only hunted one season in MT, but we hunted archery and rifle. I saw 9 bulls the last day of archery, but never saw a bull once the rifle opened. It sounded like a dove shoot open morning. My advice would be to scout before season and try and be on a bull opening morning.
I would not count out block management. I would not count on elk moving off private. We watched a herd many days during archery on private and only once did they venture off to the small block of public.

• If we're car camping, is it better to camp light/mobile or set up a more comfortable camp? If the latter, are campgrounds worth while? Generally in our home state we just boondock somewhere on BLM/National Forest.

We've car camped in cold weather with a dome tent a large buddy heater. crank the heater on while getting in and out of bed and leave it off at night. Even with an air mattress this setup doesn't take long to move