Region 7 Deer

Hey everybody, I am just curious how the mule deer are doing in region 7 of Montana? Are there any signs of populations coming back yet or is it too early to tell? I haven't had any time to get down in that area in a while so any info would help. Thanks a bunch.

Well...region 7 of MT is a pretty big area! Biologists say that it varies throughout the region. General consensus is that the populations are recovering, though.

Haha yes it is! Sorry I guess the areas around Ekalaka or Broadus.

I would agree they are recovering but still have a ways to go. Most of the does I've seen have had a fawn with them and a few had twins. Not seeing near the bucks we used to 5 years ago and the whitetails are almost as bad.

I was pleased with the number of deer I saw in 7 this year. Whitetail numbers in the public pieces are still way down . The hunter numbers were way up.

I was there a week, and my buddy was there pretty much the whole season. We covered tons of ground and saw way less deer than we did a few years ago, especially older bucks. I did see quite a few fawns, twins, and forkies. I can't remember ever seeing that many forkies in the 8-9 times I've hunted out there. Seems like they weren't as far back away from the roads as previous years since there weren't as may deer in general around Broadus. Outfitters and their suburbans were shooting plenty of bucks off the river bottoms and private. Not sure that those are $4,000 deer but to each his own.

We saw a few hunters out in the field which is rare since we usually get off the roads where most people don't want to go. Can't say that I actually saw anyone more than a mile though. Maybe cutting down on the doe tags will help at in the future? Feed conditions looked good and water was ok.

Like a lot of guys I talked to there, I'm probably going to hunt somewhere else next year. Maybe go back again in a couple years maybe not.

Same as above for the most part. I think the elk are doing better then the deer.

Thank you for the info. We are starting to come out of our bad winters here as well. Maybe in two years things will be on the right track to normal, weather permitting of course.

I spend a lot of time in this region and finding a 150+ is not an easy task. There were TONS of hunters from Baker to Broadus and I saw a lot of young bucks riding in truck beds. I covered a lot of different country and found many large group of does middle of the rut with a 120 ish buck. It was quite normal to see 6-8 does with 1 younger buck. Again, the amount of hunters was pretty crazy. It was mainly ND, WA, and MN plates up until Thanksgiving weekend. I hunted deer in this region for 14 days in November

How did the lopes look in that country? I hunted there up until a few years ago (2009 was last time, I think) before the hard winter. Thinking about applying again this year.

.280 Remington said:

How did the lopes look in that country? I hunted there up until a few years ago (2009 was last time, I think) before the hard winter. Thinking about applying again this year.

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They looked OK to me. Nothing remotely close to anywhere in WY obviously but I did come across 4-5 fairly large herds throughout the deer season. Better then a few years ago that's for sure! I would think two more mild winters and you would have a solid hunt IMO.

Elk look to be doing better as we saw more elk than in the past and a couple of HUGE bulls but we couldn't shoot them since we were off the Custer. Seems like most of the hunters were on the roads or stayed really close to them. Didn't spend much time in the NF with the ATV crowds.

I also noticed lots of little bucks with does that in the past would never had a shot at getting action b/c they'd be run off by a bigger buck. I did see some decent bucks in the taxi shop. Most came off private but at least there were some out there.

I saw antelope in places I'd never seen antelope before which I took as a good sign since there were a couple years where we barely saw any. Quite a few had already shed their horns but I did see quite a few good ones with really solid mass. I've never considered this area a top area for big bucks. More of an opportunity hunt that I can go on if I don't fill up with draw tags.

You could make a decent combo hunt with deer and antelope if you go over earlier in the season than I did. Hoping deer quality and numbers improve the next few years b/c it's a fun place to hunt with lots of gorgeous country. Just a long trip to take for poor deer numbers and marginal quality. I'm leaning strongly toward chasing elk somewhere else and if I see a good buck then it's a bonus.

I have lived next to the Custer all of my nearly 50 years and I would say the other posts are accurate. Two years ago was as bad as I have ever seen the hunting. I am now seeing more does and small bucks on the private land the Custer is also coming back but not as fast. The number of big deer has been declining since the early 90s. It is very hard to find a 180 buck. Not impossible but it takes a lot of scouting or getting very lucky. Some examples of the decline; In one creek in the 90s that I was able to locate at least one 180 buck in every year and some years two or three. In the last 15 years I have seen two, the last in 2006. I spend hundreds of hours a year looking for shed antlers. I still average 300 a year. When I first started looking for antlers in the early 80s I would find an 80inch or better antler every 30 to 40 antlers. Now I may find 3 to 5 hundred antlers before I pick up and 80 inch antler. I don't want to sound to discouraging. South Eastern Montana is a great place to hunt. You will see some deer and it is not to difficult getting around. Some of the best hunting is not far from the roads. I get a chuckle out of hunters that tell me they are get as far in to the back county as possible. There in no place on the Custer that a good hiker can't get to in about two hours. A buck traveling during the rut will cover the ground in twenty minutes. If you do come to SE MT expect to have a good time and see some great country, you could get lucky and find a big buck but if a big one is what you want it is likely you will leave a bit frustrated.

Antlerradar

Wapiti23 said:

Haha yes it is! Sorry I guess the areas around Ekalaka or Broadus.

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That area has been mostly effected by the past couple winters. Access outside of block management is an issue within that area. Several block management ranches in the area north of that area have pulled out due to the future and potential bison issues.

These former BL ranches are not being 'heard' my the MTFWP and this is their stand against the MTFWP by pulling out of the block management program.

Do your homework in advance.

FAIR CHASE said:

That area has been mostly effected by the past couple winters. Access outside of block management is an issue within that area. Several block management ranches in the area north of that area have pulled out due to the future and potential bison issues.

These former BL ranches are not being 'heard' my the MTFWP and this is their stand against the MTFWP by pulling out of the block management program.

Do your homework in advance.

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Its seams funny to hear about this again as I run into a landowner near circle this year that was taking his signs down for the same thing. He seamed like a decent guy but was not happy with FWP involvement in the bison issue.