Ronin75
Member
I'm trying to get an idea how the mule deer hunting is near Silver Star area in unit 340, any info would be appreciated
Montana unit 340
- Thread starter Ronin75
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Carnage2011
Well-known member
Um...awful. I live right outside of silver star and I think I've seen 1 buck over 140 in the last five years lol
Mthuntinfool
Member
Very few deer from what i have seen, most are on private and there is little access.
Brian in Montana
Well-known member
There ain't many. It has always seemed a little odd to me because I think the habitat seems pretty good for mulies, at least in parts of the district.
Imho habitat is not the problem - I could find a picture from the 70's that would make you drool a bit.
Chucknduck
Member
I've hunted that unit my whole life and have killed 3 bucks in 25 years of hunting. I've actually gone whole seasons without seeing a buck. They rarely live past a forky
What a shame. The combo elk deer tag cleaned them out right about the time you started Chuck.
I remember EVERY out of state camp had multiple forkeys hanging due to the elk hunting being tough.
Those boys were issued a free buck tag, no going home empty handed. Wiped out.
Do some research on a guy named Pete Zimlichech out of Butte America. (spelling is wrong) Atckinson wrote about a 340 buck he killed and it had pictures.
That is what the habitat can produce.
What a shame.
belly-deep
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Many a fork horn buck has met his demise because of slow elk hunting. I've seen it in quite a few other SW MT units. It's too bad the FWP doesn't address it.
Many of those mountain ranges kicked out whopper bucks back in the day. Now it's rare to see one over 150" but I'm not totally sure hunting pressure is the entire problem. Even the more remote units and the LE units don't hold bucks like they did in the 60's.
Bambistew
Well-known member
There were big bucks coming out of that country up into the mid/late 80s. I know of a handful of 170-190 class bucks that came out of there at that time. The range management has remained pretty much the same, but encroachment of conifers has really changed the habitat, and logging pretty much ceased in the early 90s.
No doubt the combo tags hurt, but the blame isn't all on NR. Many a resident also whacked those forkies given the chance, or punched out a couple doe tags that they gave out like candy. Couple that with easy access to winter/rutting range, increased hunting pressure, ATV access, etc, along with the typical MT management and you get what you have. The final nail in the coffin was the mass die off of muledeer in South West Montana in the early 90's... coincidentally the same time the elk population was at its peak. Deer populations plummeted. I remember as kid i nthe 80s seeing 100s and 100s of deer throughout the Madison and Ruby Valleys, to nearly zero. I used to count over 120-150 mule deer from my front porch in the summer/fall, then a few dozen, then down to none... it was crazy to see the population implode.
The deer have never recovered, and never will at current conditions. I don't think the habitat could sustain it anyway.
The Gravelies used to produce some world class elk as well. The state record typical (and former #4 WR) was from the Ruby. I have a rack off a bull my grampa shot up there that scores over 380. He also killed a number of really nice bulls, but that was the best one. Its the broken one in the middle. The others came from the Madison and Gravely ranges. I need to get that thing restored and mounted up. Its an impressive bull, with 55" main beams and crazy mass.
No doubt the combo tags hurt, but the blame isn't all on NR. Many a resident also whacked those forkies given the chance, or punched out a couple doe tags that they gave out like candy. Couple that with easy access to winter/rutting range, increased hunting pressure, ATV access, etc, along with the typical MT management and you get what you have. The final nail in the coffin was the mass die off of muledeer in South West Montana in the early 90's... coincidentally the same time the elk population was at its peak. Deer populations plummeted. I remember as kid i nthe 80s seeing 100s and 100s of deer throughout the Madison and Ruby Valleys, to nearly zero. I used to count over 120-150 mule deer from my front porch in the summer/fall, then a few dozen, then down to none... it was crazy to see the population implode.
The deer have never recovered, and never will at current conditions. I don't think the habitat could sustain it anyway.
The Gravelies used to produce some world class elk as well. The state record typical (and former #4 WR) was from the Ruby. I have a rack off a bull my grampa shot up there that scores over 380. He also killed a number of really nice bulls, but that was the best one. Its the broken one in the middle. The others came from the Madison and Gravely ranges. I need to get that thing restored and mounted up. Its an impressive bull, with 55" main beams and crazy mass.
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Carnage2011
Well-known member
The gravellys still produce some great Bulls. Two years ago a 388" bull was killed up there by a NR that had hunted the bull for multiple years before killing it. There was a 6x7 in the 370-375" range shot opening day last year. It may not produce the same number of quality Bulls that it once did, but sometimes a good one sneaks through.
As far as 340 goes for mule deer.....it's terrible.
belly-deep
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Suppose those big Gravelly bulls move in from somewhere else or what? I can see one surviving the orange army for that many successive seasons, but I suppose it's possible.
Carnage2011
Well-known member
After opening weekend I rarely see a hunter in the field. There are roughly 6 million road hunters, but very few actually hunt. Bow season seems to have more hunters these days. A lot of timber and not a ton of outfitting pressure definitely give the bulls a fair shot.
Mtelkhunter3
New member
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Not any different in 2024 still sucks, killed a nice 4x4 mule deer in 2020 but I haven’t seen nothing but spikes and 2 points since then, great unit for elk
MtEngineer
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