Mule deer hunt in the Powder River Area

[mtnmikem]

Hello all,

I am planning a hunt this fall to the Powder River area of Montana, south of Broadus, around Moorehead I'm thinking. Thought I would start a thread to get some input and see what you guys think of the area. I am planning on opening week of archery season, mainly because it's my 10th wedding anniversary that week and I asked my wife where she wanted to go for the big event,and she said she wanted to go on a week long muley hunt! Well, not wanting to disappoint her, I have started the search for a good place and a great experience.
I chose this area, mainly because I've seen some good mule deer come out of it and I think it would be a good place for spotting and stalking. Also, if we find it to be good and didn't fill our tags, we could always come back during rifle season. I'm also thinking about getting us antelope tags because it also looks like pretty good goat country. I've never been there, but I've been doing a lot of scouting with maps and trying to find as many articles on the area I can. I would love to get some input from anyone who has hunted down in that area, what to expect as far as weather, terrain, animals, etc. I'm planning on making a couple of trips down there this spring and summer to do some scouting and get a better look at the area.
I've seen some great threads from guys who start a thread early in the year and continually updated through the year, culminating with the actual hunt itself. I plan on doing that and would love to pass on any knowledge gained through doing this to anyone thinking about hunting this area down the road.
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[ceby7]

You should have the area practically to yourself first week of archery, not many bow hunt mule deer in eastern MT, if it's public land it will be crowded come rifle season though.

 

[Againstthewind]

I don't have a lot of info, but its kindof close by, so I thought I would give it a try. I haven't been hunting on the Montana side, but it seems like a lot of the antelope stay to the east of that Moorehead area. There are some for sure, but I seem to see more east of there when driving through. They seem to like the flats in between the broken up areas, but that is pretty typical for them I think. It is pretty good deer country I think. I think they call that type of terrain "the breaks" kindof like the Missouri River breaks except smaller, lol. It starts to get pretty hilly towards the Custer NF with more and more timber as you go North towards the forest. You could probably find that all out on google earth, or something. There was a big fire in that general area a couple of years ago. I am not sure exactly where, but it was pretty close to the reservation border. There is some irrigated hay fields and stuff right along the river and the main road that goes to Moorehead. As far as the weather, the first week of August or there abouts is kindof our "monsoon" season when we get a good portion of our rain along with the first week of June. Archery season I would be prepared for 100 degrees and thunderstorms. I guess I don't know Montana hunting seasons at all. Of course there is the wind on this side, too. Its not nearly as bad as Livingston, but its something to think about for archery for sure. Well, good luck.

 

[mtnmikem]

Thanks for the info Againstthewind. I have been looking at Google maps and I've seen what you are talking about and the fire too. I looked at the weather for that area over the last couple of years and looks like it can be on either extreme. I figure we'll have a base camp and mainly hunt deer, but probably head east for the day, like you said if we decide to go for some antelope. Thanks again for the reply.

 

[Againstthewind]

That is pretty sweet I didn't know it actually showed the burned areas. I had to look, too.