Montana unit 652 buck tag

Thanks for your info! I suppose there is a fair amount of luck involved, but 160 plus I would be hoopin and hollerin! I noticed on the fwp hunt planner only about 50% of hunters were successful. Wondering if some ate the tag waiting for a 200 or if there just isn't much deer. If it isn't very good hunting I'm not sure why it's 10% odds. I will post pics of my hunt. Anyone have any pics of deer from 652?

mtmiller said:

Opening day a few years ago. Shot it because he was bigger than anything I had at the time. Always wondered if I should have shopped around a little longer. I have gotten better at the solo field shots.

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Are you kidding?! That is a helluva buck! Bigger than any ive shot. Just curious, any idea of inches? Congrats though I'd be proud as all get out of that buck!

Montanahunterjon said:

Are you kidding?! That is a helluva buck! Bigger than any ive shot. Just curious, any idea of inches? Congrats though I'd be proud as all get out of that buck!

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IIRC he was 169'ish.

I love that deer mtmiller cool looking non typical love the trashy ones...... I would say the 50% harvest is people being picky you should be able to find a good deer in a week of hunting in there.

Taken last year unit next door 160ish my best yet in the area seen better though. I was very happy with him.

mtmiller, you might have found a bigger buck had you shopped around but it would have been hard to find a buck with more character than that one.

brownbear932008 said:

Taken last year unit next door 160ish my best yet in the area seen better though. I was very happy with him.

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Very nice! My buck fever is already starting, I can't wait!

Photographed these two bachelors a few years ago in 652. Few miles north of Rock Creek. How's the scouting going?

Cool pic good luck

brownbear932008 said:

Taken last year unit next door 160ish my best yet in the area seen better though. I was very happy with him.

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Got this guy in 650?

How did the hunt go?

MontanaHunterJon got a real nice buck on November 19th. I'll post some pics here In a couple days. Hopefully he gets on and can tell the story!

mtmiller said:

Opening day a few years ago.

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Amazing how the older we get, how loosely we use the term "a few."

Nice buck BTW, would have popped him too. Character abounds.

I drew that permit in 1994. Killed a 180", 28" wide buck that was 6 1/2 years old.

There are still some good bucks in that unit. "Bucks Only" is really going to help the quality in there. I've ran into a lot of guys hunting in there that didn't even know it was a permit area for bucks...

I'd like to see the permits cut back to 25 total, or so.

Bambistew said:

Amazing how the older we get, how loosely we use the term "a few."

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Even though I painfully self-identify with that ......................... that's funny!

12 years = "a few"

Look it up.

20 years= "a while back"....still in my 30's.....grin!

I saw 33 bucks … let 1 go that was a nice 5x5 in the mid. 150 range but he was a young deer and will be a GREAT buck in a few years. It was hard not to shoot him but being in a draw area I thought it would be good to let a deer like that live and be around for the next guy. I hope he made it through the season. -22 is cold when you are in a Wall tent! I had a great time and hope the area can grow a few more big bucks in the future.

Howdy fellas, Im new here but just thought Ide offer a little insight. I live and work in 652. Though i moved here just this past spring i have had the opportunity to scout this area intensively while tending to the ranch and our cattle.

My first obvious observation is that deer numbers are drastically lower than what a fella would expect and the neighbors confirm this observation. Deer numbers in 652 are down significantly in this district.

My second observation was far more encouraging. Though numbers are down the numbers of bucks over 200 was incredible. There are true giants here. In fact i saw the two biggest bucks ive ever seen in my 44 years this past fall.

Another observation that i made is that All of these bucks disappeared from Nov.20 th until the end of the season. When I say disappeared, i mean they disappeared from within sight of any of the roadways or two tracks. Fortunately, they didnt truly disappear they simply moved and i was lucky enough to find where many of them moved to.

Starting about a week before Thanksgiving the amount of traffic (hunting traffic) increased substantially and consequently the bucks i had been observing moved to less noisy environments. Of the 50 permits issued I witnessed at very least half of those hunters drive by the ranch within a week of Thanksgiving. Most of the hunters i spoke to complained of not seeing big bucks but alot of little ones and i agree with their findings entirely. Of the bucks i saw that other hunters had taken one broke the 150 mark and all were taken within 7 days of Thanksgiving.

The big bucks simply moved away from the roadways and retreated to areas only accessible by foot. I know this because i found the big bucks while i was tending to the cattle.

From what i witnessed I would say if a guy is a real hunter willing to do a little walking, not just drive around the county roads all day, the best time to have a chance at one of the real trophy bucks would be to avoid Thanksgiving all together. If a guy hunts from say November 10 th to the 17th the big bucks are cruising then and havent been disturbed near as much as they are from the 20th on.

If you are hunting around Thanksgiving sure you will see alot of bucks from the road, but i promise you the vast majority of them will be younger bucks in which case if you see a 150 or better you should take him.

If you want to maximize your chances of taking a true giant, and believe me they are here, I would try to hunt this district well before Thanksgiving. Hope this helped.

Cowman would love to see your buck..... I have hunted 630 for years and I agree on several of your points I see few people with boots on the ground in the areas I work. I have watched nice bucks lay flat on the ground hiding from trucks in the juniper. Although I haven't seen very many really great deer lots of nice ones though hope the numbers are coming back last time I was out it was terrible.