I have been able to read some past advice on region Y deer hunting and it isn't the most rosy sounding area. What I was hoping to get advice on was whether the extreme NW portion of region Y, north of 14/14A near the Montana border, would be a waste of time for a deer hunt. I have heard the country up there is beautiful so it might be worth going just for the experience but I also would like to have a somewhat reasonable chance at harvesting something. I am not afraid of some hiking/work to get on deer and I'm not expecting to see record book animals. I like getting away from the crowds and just want to know if I were to bring a friend with that it won't be a waste of our time. I was also considering getting a cow elk tag as I read that this area is definitely good elk country. Thanks for any advice offered.
Region Y Deer Hunting
- Thread starter JeffyO_MN
- Start date
Topgun 30-06
Banned
That would probably be the best area to get away from a lot of the people that hunt Y, but I don't know about your chance of success on deer. Although the BigHorns are considered more of an area for elk and moose, there are deer up there and probably some pretty good bucks. However, finding them in that country would probably be a lot tougher than shooting a cow elk. If you want to see some gorgeous country and would have a good time whether you fill a tag or not, I think your idea has merit.
Thanks Topgun! I figured there are some deer up there since when my family drove through there in the middle of the night over the summer I saw quite a few on the side of the road hanging out. I think I will give it a try for at least a season to check out the area. What kind of tactics do you figure a guy needs to employ up in that country? I was figuring we'd need to get up on a high spot and do some glassing. Is there a lot of timber in that area which would make it challenging to spot deer?
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Musket Man
Veteran member
If you get to explore some new country with a 2nd choice tag its never a waste of time in my book!
Againstthewind
Very Active Member
I have been meaning to get some pictures of that area. It is a cool place. The terrain really varies a lot there. You go from up over treeline at Bald Mountain for an example down to foothills and plains within like 30 miles. The North end of the Big Horns doesn't get as high as the Cloud Peak area, but they get close to 9900 feet or something like that. There are steep canyons all the way down. They hang glide off the cliffs in that area right off the highway if that gives you an idea of how much the elevation and terrain changes. Up at the top of the road like Burgess Junction for instance there are big open parks, then you get into some pretty thick timber as you go down on the east side of the mountain, but the west side is pretty dry with sparser timber and sagebrush. There are aspens, beetle kill areas, and areas with just thinner timber, canyon, and drainages that are good for glassing, and then obviously towards tree tree line is open country or juniper scrub trees. Just some general descriptions, sorry I didn't get any pictures. I haven't gotten up there as much this year. There are probably better descriptions out there. I probably have some older pics somewhere. I will have to look for them I guess.
Topgun 30-06
Banned
That was a great description of the area and I think if he would do a Google Earth look at the area he would see exactly what you mentioned.
NDHunter
Veteran member
I hunted by Burgess Junction a few years ago and we didn't do worth a $#!*. Of course, my buddy and I were brand new to western hunting and we had absolutely no idea what the hell we were doing. With that said, I don't think I'd go back to that area. The timber is very thick and I just don't think there are a ton of deer there. I'm sure some guys do well there but I think it would take a lot of time to figure things out there.
If you want the mountain experience then yea, it's great. Otherwise I think you'd be better off buying the MT deer tag instead of going to WY. You will have a VERY hard time convincing me that there is a better OTC (basically) tag available anywhere for non residents.
If you want the mountain experience then yea, it's great. Otherwise I think you'd be better off buying the MT deer tag instead of going to WY. You will have a VERY hard time convincing me that there is a better OTC (basically) tag available anywhere for non residents.
NDHunter
Veteran member
I've also got a few pictures of the area but won't be able to post them until I'm home in a few days.
Musket Man
Veteran member
You will have a very hard time convincing me a basically OTC deer tag where deer numbers are way down is worth $600 bucks! Especially in a state that I have to worry about my animal being confiscated if I dont tag it within 15 seconds of it hitting the ground....
NDHunter
Veteran member
I'll admit the tag is expensive. When you start seeing 180" mule deer though, you'll change your mind real fast!
Musket Man
Veteran member
I hunted Eastern MT several times before they raised the prices. I would love to hunt there again but its to expensive now and I feel my money is better spent in other states.
Thanks a bunch for the description of the area guys! I've done quite a bit of looking at the area on Google Earth but it's tough to get a great feel for anything by looking at a computer screen. Region Y has a reasonable chance of drawing a tag without a PP so I'm likely going to put in for a tag. I will likely spend at least a few days up in that NW portion checking it out. Then if it seems like there aren't many deer there we'll put some miles on the vehicle.
Topgun 30-06
Banned
If you hunted around there, you were in an area that's really noted as elk and moose habitat, rather than deer. The deer numbers aren't great up in the mountains to begin with in most areas and that makes finding them that much harder. When you do though, there can be some good bucks to be had. I don't hunt up high because I find it much better down on the west slope at about 6,500 feet where we hunt every year.
Murdy
Active Member
That might be changing -- I think last year was the first year ever that you needed a point to guarantee a tag in Y, and with point creep, it probably won't get any better. I'd have a back-up plan just in case.
Topgun 30-06
Banned
You are right, as it took 1 PP for 100% draw in Y last year. 0 PPs was 81.45% and like you mentioned, I doubt it will go down as max PPs go up.
Topgun 30-06
Banned
Right in the draw odds stats, but we didn't say it took a point to draw Y. We said it took a PP for a 100% guaranteed success rate to draw it. There's a big difference in those two statements and you also have to remember that there are 4 NR draws.
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