Bowhunting deer in the Bitter Root valley out of Stevensville

[Stay Sharp]

Im contemplating bowhunting the Bitteroot river valley out of Stevensville Montana in 2017. Ive never been there before but have relation that wants us to visit so thought I would couple it with an archery hunt.

Im clueless about the area and the regs so I have more questions than I can list and Im sure the list of questions will grow. Im really only interested in archery and deer but understand you have combination tags. I don't know what non-resident fees are so Im hoping somebody can educate me on that and on over the counter tag availability, and every other thing I would need to know. (like are there archery only areas near Stevensville and what is the public land situation and what is the likelihood I would be able to find private land to hunt)

Are there any deadlines I need to know about? What sort of non-res fees am I looking at? Did you settle the lighted nock issue yet?

It looks like my out of state (non-red) fees would total $642. Does that sound right?

 

[Tim McCoy]

Fee looks very close. It is a draw tag, for deer only, has been 100% draw of late, not sure about 2016. I want to say the deadline is mid-March, but best to check that. Once you have a deer combo license, you often can buy antlerless tags for an additional deer. The general tag allows both archery and rifle seasons last I checked, very long seasons.

Be sure and check for block management areas near your area, private land one can hunt. I prefer the ones that take reservations.

Pretty handy hunt planner here, along with a bunch of other info. http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/

 

[Bitterroot Bulls]

It seems like you have the non-resident "license" figured out. Besides the license you need a "permit" to hunt mule deer in the Bitterroot. The Bitterroot is managed for trophy mule deer. Two of the district's are nearly impossible to draw. One more is very hard to draw. One unit is a guaranteed draw, but does not hold a lot of deer.

If you are looking for whitetails, the opportunities are plentiful. In most Bitterroot districts you can use your general license on either sex whitetail.

Furthermore, there are multiple archery doe licenses available for draw (and possibly OTC), and even another whitetail buck license (archery only) on the river bottom district only. This license is a draw, but not terrible in odds of drawing.

The river bottom is mostly private land, but there are some block management areas available and a small amount of state land.

So, in short: The Bitterroot offers a lot of whitetail opportunities to the bow hunter, but is really limited on mule deer hunting opportunity.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

My Grandfather was born in Stevensville and talked a lot about the WT hunting. But as mentioned, lots of private land. I've only been there a few times, never hunting. Just visiting relatives, my great Uncle was Lee Metcalf, a US Senator from Montana. Still have relatives in the valley.

 

[missjordan]

The river bottom is surrounded by lots of private but there is also a decent amount of state lands you can access if you know how to work your way around the private. The Lee Metcalf Refuge has deer hunting that's open to the public and is worth checking out. I'd also buy a doe tag too for the river bottom if that is where your interests lie for hunting deer, but first and foremost apply for the second buck tag as well. The deadline is march 15th to put in for the draw system for Mule deer buck and June 1 for the "B" tag whitetail buck for the 260 river bottom. Whitetail buck can be hunted with a general license but why not try to draw the second tag? If your unsuccessful in the draw you can purchase the doe tags OTC. There are a few block management areas down the bitterroot and a couple require you to get on a waiting list right when those regs come out in August. It wouldn't be a bad idea to research those right now and start planning if you find a piece of land your interested in hunting for next year


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