Unlimited deer

I have been curious about unlimited draw areas in Montana for mule deer. Does anyone hunt these regularly. I'm not looking for specific units just thought I'd see if I could start a dialogue on whether they provide success for some. I'm assuming u can draw these as second choice?

I've never hunted one because being stuck in one unit for the whole season turns me off.

I think most of them are made to cut hunter numbers, not necessarily grow trophy deer. I know that may seem like the same thing, but its not.

MTsage said:

I have been curious about unlimited draw areas in Montana for mule deer. Does anyone hunt these regularly. I'm not looking for specific units just thought I'd see if I could start a dialogue on whether they provide success for some. I'm assuming u can draw these as second choice?

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Yeah, you can draw them as a second or third choice. The big catch is that if you have that permit, you can't hunt mule deer anywhere else in the state.

I know a handful of these units, and they're each different. A couple that I've been in have a ton of deer, but not a lot of trophy potential. Two of the other ones I know have pretty low deer numbers, but the potential to have a giant in them. You need to look at the detailed drawing statistics report F&G puts out. Some of these units have just an insane amount of people drawing on their second and third choice, and get hunted harder than a lot of general units. Others not so much...

I've only had an unlimited permit once. I scouted the heck of the unit and was really looking forward to spending some time in it during the rut. I ended up killing an awesome whitetail before I ever made it to the mule deer unit during season.

I think it's kind of a wash on whether or not it's better to have an unlimited tag or a general tag. The general tag gives you so much more flexibility it's ridiculous.

If you're willing to commit to one unit for the entire season though, I think you could probably do pretty good in an unlimited unit. Especially if you're putting in multiple seasons and get to know the deer herd well.

I keep thinking I really ought to put in for one every year. Spend a week in the rut, then plan on shooting a whitetail later in the season. I know I'm going to kill a whitetail anyways, so it's kind of pointless for me to worry about wasting my general mule deer privileges.

What Randy11 said.

I often will put in for the limited draw areas with an unlimited as my second choice.

This last year was the first year in almost ten that I didn't put in for the unlimited unit I typically hunt. I wanted to try some general units and hunt some new country. In hindsight I should have stuck with what I know.

If you really feel good about an area and will be limited in your traveling, hunting an unlimited area can be fantastic. You can always pursue whitetail elsewhere. But if you plan on pursuing elk in a general deer area, you may kick yourself for not having the option available to you. (The opposite can be true too) I do know a couple unlimited areas I would NEVER hunt for deer though. You gotta do the research.

Next year I'll be hunting an unlimited permit area. In it I can expect to see numerous 130-140 inch deer, but I would be surprised if anything approaching 170 even exists in the district.

Good insight guys, that's about what I thought. It hadn't occurred to me that you can still hunt whitetails elsewhere, seems obvious now that you mention it. Nameless or anybody have pics of an unlimited unit buck?

The only pics I have on my phone are truly craptacular.

This is my wife's buck from this year, which is a typical buck for the unit in which it was killed.



This is one I shot a few years ago. Mid 150s, and a good deer for the unit.

Nice bucks I'd shoot the second one, almost anywhere.

With moving this summer, the pictures of these deer in the field are on the SD cards of yesteryear, which are in boxes in my basement, which I am not up to taking on - so I took some pictures of the heads as they are today.

These came from a couple unlimited Mule Deer districts in the last five or six years.

2010ish



2012ish



2011ish



Those that didn't get boiled

Pretty much ditto to what nameless and randy said. I applied for an unlimited tag near helena once, but didnt like the fact that I couldnt shoot a mulie anywhere else. had to let a 160 class 4 point walk while elk hunting because he was in a different district. trophy quality is minimal from what I have seen in the unlimited areas, but the limited areas are a different story.