2016 Eastern MT mule deer?

Tim McCoy · Dec 22, 2015

A rut hunt in SE MT is a good choice in my opinion. Population has seemed better the last couple years. Block mgmt. can work well, lean towards those that take reservations to limit hunter numbers. Order the paper 2015 block management guide or get on-line and study the 2015 properties, before they are no longer available. Some BMA's are mostly contiguous, some not so much. Some big, some small, ... but looking now will give you an idea, should they be enrolled on 2016, which one (s) you want to try for.

Either gun will work fine to 500, if you are capable. I'd take the most accurate one.

joens · Dec 22, 2015

Tim gave you some good advice . I would lean towards the BMAs that take reservations as well. they usually limit the hunter numbers pretty tight . in august the game and fish will give you the contact info for the land owners. call them and reserve your days. before they fill up. some of the better ones have the same people come in year after year. Like Tim said download the BMA maps to your computer now before they get taken down to prepare for next year. There are isolated chunks of BLM and state land as well but there is no guarantee how many hunters may be there. One of the BMAs that I like limit it to 10 hunters but most of them stay along the river leaving the Badlands and the sage covered hills and the high meadows surrounded with ponderosa and juniper empty except for deer. another favorite spot I have there was only 1 party that went there all season. I am hesitant to recommend a particular place not knowing what your expectations are . The area I scout and hunt is primarily south of Miles City but there are good places all over.

missjordan · Dec 22, 2015

The block book for next year doesn't come out until august, so just like tim said I'd find one from 2015. You should be able to find it on fwp website too. The online book will tell you basic information about each unit but I don't think it will have the individual maps

joens · Dec 22, 2015

missjordan is right the book wont have the individual maps they can be downloaded or viewed one at a time from Montana fish and game website. Go to the website and view the regionwide map showing all the areas here is the page for region 7 http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/hunterAccess/blockman/region7/default.html a little way down the page it gives you links to the main maps and a link to a page with individual maps

TimberJunkie · Dec 22, 2015

I would start calling the FWP wildlife bios about late spring in the area you want to go. They are really pretty helpful. Ask the right questions, ask about deer herds, places with better populations, best access, etc... Good block management areas that would be worth making reservations on. I have had good luck with Montana FWP. I have hunted the Ekalaka area a few times, we saw some really nice bucks on private land, and several of the ranchers allowed us to hunt. They were all cordial even if the answer was no. I have had the best luck on private land and BM.

As for the gun, a 270 is plenty of rifle for eastern Montana. If you plan to shoot out to 400 yards it should do the trick just fine. Several of my hunting party shoot a 270 and are successful every year. I generally always carry a 30-06 and have shot deer out to 450. Similar ballistics.

I have some areas that are more specific around Ekalaka PM me if you are looking into that area. I can be more detailed.

Ridgerunner · Dec 23, 2015

SE Montana in the rut is a fun hunt. Expect to see lots of deer, but not alot of huge bucks, we hunted a private ranch for several years, we were the only ones hunting it, bucks under 150 were pretty common, once you started to get above that the number of bucks in that category was rare, that being said we did take some good bucks and I had a chance at a legit 180 buck, but it was definately a fun hunt and one I looked forward to yearly.

joens · Dec 30, 2015

If you and the son are just wanting to get your tags filled you will be fine especially if you pick one of the later weeks of season. season ends the weekend after Thanksgiving. if it were me I would pick the week of thanksgiving but if you have family obligations that week pick the week before. any of the areas mentioned will likely put you on deer, Miles City, Ashland, Ekalaka, Baker , Broadus, Wibaux Terry or even some north of the interstate. . If you were able to come out this summer shoot some prairie dogs and narrow down the options. I know you are a ways away so if that is not an option and if you wanted to hunt south of Miles city PM me and I could give you some specifics on some of the BMAs and public areas around Miles City.

Retterath · Dec 31, 2015

i hunted sw of mile city a few miles on a ranch that was block management and we took a 165 off of it and two other guys took a couple very nice deer off of it. It was 3 years ago but dont know what it is like now but if you want the name of the ranch pm me and i will give it to you.

BrettKoenecke · Dec 31, 2015

Thanks to the OP and the rest of you for the posts. Been thinking about this myself. I've not taken a good mule deer and 2016 would be a great time for me to make such a hunt. SE MT is close by so if plans change, well then they change. I like this idea a lot.

Would probably take my M70 Westerner just a bit further west...

What are the draw odds on this? I can't discern them from the MT FWP website. I really can't discern a whole lot from that website

johnsd16 · Dec 31, 2015

BrettKoenecke said:
Thanks to the OP and the rest of you for the posts. Been thinking about this myself. I've not taken a good mule deer and 2016 would be a great time for me to make such a hunt. SE MT is close by so if plans change, well then they change. I like this idea a lot.

Would probably take my M70 Westerner just a bit further west...

What are the draw odds on this? I can't discern them from the MT FWP website. I really can't discern a whole lot from that website

Draw odds for the general deer "combo" license were 100% last year, and there were 1000 leftovers. They sold out by july sometime. Most likely it will be the same next year. From the sounds of it, when the tag prices went up, the odds ran to 100% but this was the same time the population took a hit so I'm told. In the future, if the hunting improves and other states tags creep up closer to MT the demand may well increase and it won't be a basically OTC any more. Who knows.

joens · Dec 31, 2015

BrettKoenecke said:
What are the draw odds on this? I can't discern them from the MT FWP website. I really can't discern a whole lot from that website

Here is a link to the Montana Draw statistics http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/planahunt/drawingStatistics/default.html
However that is only the ones that are an actual draw many areas are general tags or OTC

Bonecollector · Jan 2, 2016

Husky,
Aren't the Co deer tags draw only, and usually require a pt in Co? Not sure, but that is a big deal if time is of the essence.

BrettKoenecke · Jan 4, 2016

Hey thanks to you guys who pointed me in the right direction on the license "odds"
They're quite proud of their licenses there in MT, aren't they?

TimberJunkie · Jan 4, 2016

BrettKoenecke said:
Hey thanks to you guys who pointed me in the right direction on the license "odds"
They're quite proud of their licenses there in MT, aren't they?

Yes they are. They used to be about $300, in 2010 the Montana legislature put a new law to vote. The state voted to do away with Outfitter Guaranteed tags, in an effort to protect private land hunting opportunities. Well..... the repercussion of that was an increase in nonresident tag prices. the outfitter Guaranteed tags were almost twice the cost of the a regular tag before, and the money lost was recouped in the general nonresident tags. I think Montana added a little extra at the top as well to pad their pocket. The numbers didn't quite work out. Then they had a number of years that they didnt sell all their tags and lost money.

I love Montana and will continue to buy my tags every other year. (pre-arranged agreement with my wife, mexico on the off years...lol)

BrettKoenecke · Jan 5, 2016

Can't take it with you! Thanks

Reas · Feb 10, 2016

I'm in the same boat Retterath. My son will finish basic training in September and we are planning a mule deer hunt.
Any blocks you could recommend that would be helpful. Wolves in Northern WI have reduced our deer to a few night time trail cam pics....

TimberJunkie · Feb 10, 2016

Reas said:
I'm in the same boat Retterath. My son will finish basic training in September and we are planning a mule deer hunt.
Any blocks you could recommend that would be helpful. Wolves in Northern WI have reduced our deer to a few night time trail cam pics....

Montana state deer populations seem to be recovering from the major kill off in 2010 and 2011. This winter has been pretty average for snow and cold weather which is a good thing. Water should be plentiful and feed should be decent. Fawn recruitment has been great over the last few years which has really helped to boost deer numbers. I know the area around Ekalaka pretty well and talked 5o some hunters that saw a lot of deer last year out there. Some of the block management around there is fantastic. Really fun areas to hunt and see lots of deer. We hunted one just northwest of the town of Ekalaka in 2013 and saw a hundred deer in an afternoon. No huge bucks but some decent bucks. Anywhere out there can be good. Research the forum and do some searches. You'll fid some great info here.

oldschool.06 · Mar 11, 2016

I hunted SouthEast Mt last November and saw tons of Bucks .. not B&C bucks but definitely saw some nice ones .

2016 Eastern MT mule deer?

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