Our Montana Adventure

In 2016 I decided it was time to start planning an adventure out West. Mule deer have always intrigued me and the colors of their face look great on the wall. I started doing a lot of research into outfitters...there was no way I was going to be able to swing the cost of an outfitted hunt. I asked Wendy if she was interested in going on the hunt and she was. Also my buddy Shawn was on board as well. A lot of people looked at me like I was crazy when I said we were going to go DIY. I spent a lot of time researching the pros and cons of each state. I spent a ton of time reading on forums like this one. We decided Montana was going to fit the bill quite nicely. In the Fall of 2017 we bought a preference point as the # of NR applying for the tags seemed to be going up every year and we were set on going in the Fall of 2018.
For our first trip we decided that we were looking for good representative animals, they didn't have to be world class animals. We also decided that flying was the better option for us and we would stay in a motel at night. These things all added a little bit to the cost of the hunt but it just made the most sense for us.
Planning continued into early 2018 and we applied for our tags along with purchasing another preference point, all but guaranteeing that we would draw our tags.
The place we decided to stay was nearly booked, so our dates were determined by their schedule more than ours.
Our schedule was set and all that was left to do was make sure we had the right gear for the trip.

We flew into Billings on Sunday 10/28. We were spending the night in Billings due to the motel was not available until Monday. We picked up the rental truck, did some shopping for breakfast/lunch stuff, had a good dinner, and I was fortunate to meet up with a friend for a couple beers that night. He lives in Billings and spends time hunting the area we were headed.
Monday 10/29 - We left the Hotel early and headed out for the area we were going to be hunting. The plan was to arrive out there around daybreak and drive around the country looking at different places I had picked out on OnX maps ahead of time until we could get into the motel and empty the truck and our gear out. The country was gorgeous, we found a couple of other areas that looked good to check out when we had more time. We checked into the Motel, ran a couple errands and headed out for our first evening hunt. Shawn went West and Wendy and I went East from the truck. Shawn saw a mule deer doe that night, Wendy and I saw cows...moo cows...and lots of them.
We headed back to the truck at sunset when the coyotes all broke loose howling.

Day 2
On Day 2 we made the long drive to an area we found the first morning. It was a beautiful morning but no deer were seen. We moved to another spot that had more thick timber, more like the area around home. We found some sign and decided to hunt it again the next morning. For the evening we headed to a section of BLM that we liked the looks of. Shawn saw 3 does, Wendy and I saw 10 different does (it could have been 12-13 but there were definitely 10 different ones) but no bucks. Wendy and I really liked that area, but we saw a few other hunters in there as well. We planned to try and hunt it one morning trying to catch the deer moving off private back to bed up in the hills for the day.

Day 3 Wednesday AM and Midday
In the morning we hunted the "thick timber" spot we found on Tuesday mid day. Wendy and I got dropped off about a mile before where Shawn was going to head in. We ran into 3 does about an hour into the hunt but that was it for the morning. We made our way up through the timber to some high sage flats which had feeding sign but we saw no deer. We headed out a different route and ran into a waterhole that was still full and the amount of elk sign on it was UNBELIEVABLE. It had been so dry, all the other water sources were dry as a bone...if we had an elk tag, I bet we could have filled it there.
We drove around mid day and didn't like the looks of anything we saw. Shawn was getting a little frustrated but I told him we would figure it out, we had a ton more spots marked on the maps and we are good hunters...we would figure it out.

Day 3 -Wednesday afternoon hunt

Wendy looked at the maps and asked about a spot about 30 miles away that I had marked on the map. It was a piece of public that was on the river bottom. I told her it would most likely be a whitetail area (Tags are good for a buck of either species). She made the decision that we should try that for the evening.
We got there and Shawn dropped us off. We had about a mile of BLM to cross before we got down to the river. I wasn't thrilled when we got down there. It was a big waist high hay field and we were still 200-600yds to the willows along the edge of the river. There were some bushes and big cotton woods but I wished it was a little thicker. I didn't want to bust down in there either in case deer were bedded right in the hayfield. I found a little earth dyke to set up on that was like 1.5-2ft taller than the ground around it. We just plopped down right there for the evening (not very comfortable and not a lot of cover. Almost immediately I saw a doe and skip stand up from under a bush about 150yds out and they made their way towards a private ag field. Some times you could see from mid body up, other times you could just see their heads or the top of their backs walking through the hay. Throughout the afternoon we saw pheasants flying all over th place and saw a few more does come out of the willows along the river. With about 20 minutes of shooting light remaining, I scanned the edge of the willows off to my left and saw a BIG buck step out of the willows.
Me "Wendy get your gun"
Wendy "Why is it time to head out"
Me "No, there a big F'n buck standing over there and someone needs to shoot it"

We got her turned around and lined up on the buck in the scope. He was over 300 yds away and heading towards a bush that I ranged at 250yds, two does had also joined him. We dialed her scope for 250yds. As he approached the bush the 3 deer started getting bunched up. He would stop and there would be a doe in the way, or a doe would be in the front then the buck would be in the front...it was getting a little frustrating. I'd feel her ok, he's stopping, get ready...then he would stop but not long enough for her to squeeze off a good shot. (sidebar...we shot a lot this summer out to 300yds, and to be honest she shot better with her 7mm-08 than I did with my 270wsm. She would consistently shoot 3" groups at 300 but I was worried about how much time it took her to shoot each shot). At this point it was getting darker and he was starting to quarter away from us a little. I told her "Wen, when he stops next time you need to get a shot off before he gets out of range" He stopped, she asked to make sure she was on the right deer which I confirmed. I heard BOOM followed by a LOUD SMACK!! The deer trotted/walked/wobbled about 20 yds and toppled over!
I couldn't believe it. I had a good landmark so we headed over in the last 10 minutes of shooting light. We found the deer dead in the hayfield right where I thought he went down. She heart shot him...you know, no big thing!!! He was a beautiful mature 9pt. We estimated him at 170-180lbs and 130"...just an absolutely beautiful buck.
Shawn was able to drive to within 300yds on a BLM road, making the drag nice and easy.




We got him to the butcher that night and made plans for the morning

Day 4 Thursday morning

Shooting the deer the night before had us rerun to go the next morning. We decided on Thursday morning we were going to head back into the forest and hunt some of the rolling terrain and ridges/draws. On the way out we saw 2 nice bucks in the headlights on the side of the road. It was still an hour until shooting light. Decision time 3 options...do we 1) Stick with our original plan 2)Take a road that will put us way out in front of them and hope they make their way back into where we are hunting or 3)Go in right in the area we saw them and hope they didn't go too far to bed down.
We drove down the road discussing the pros and cons of each. We decided to go in after them right around where we saw them.
At first light I dropped off Shawn about 1/2 mile East of where we saw the bucks, and Wendy and I parked about 1/2 mile West of where we saw the bucks. The area was burned and had a lot of ridges and draws. The plan was to get a few ridges deep and do some glassing looking for a buck to move through.
About 15 minutes into the woods I was just poking along when I see a deer walking about 75 yds up a draw. I got the scope on him and saw it was a buck, but he disappeared behind a ridge before I could get a better look at him. He had no clue we were there, so I kept the wind in my favor and swung up through a saddle on the next ridge. As soon as I got through the saddle, I looked down to my left and saw a deer standing there staring at us about 125yds away. I got the gun on the sticks, cranked the scope up and stared...I just couldn't tell how big his antlers were. Wendy was looking through her bins, I was looking through scope and bins...but we just couldn't size him up in the early morning light. He finally turned his head and we saw that his left side was real good with 4pts but still couldn't figure out what his right side looked like. Finally he moved his head just right and Wendy said it was either a 3pt or big fork on the right side. I looked at him for a few more seconds and decided he was big enough for me.

Day 4 AM hunt cont'd

He was still face on/hard quartering to me. I lined up on his chest and steadied for the shot. At the shot he turned and started trotting off quartering away hard...I knew he was hit, but if they are on their feet, I'm shooting. I got him in the scope and pulled ahead of him a little and touched one off right before he went out of sight. I made a mistake here and didn't get a good landmark where he was standing and where he ran. We headed over there but EVERYTHING looked the same...there were blowdowns and burned trees everywhere. We looked and looked but couldn't find any blood. We went back where I shot from and couldn't find that spot either...I was getting frustrated...real frustrated. I finally found the spot where I shot from and made Wendy stand right there. Again I didn't go far enough to where he was standing and couldn't find any sign. Shawn had come over and looked around with us. My blood pressure was through the roof..."Shawn the F'n thing has to be dead right here somewhere!!!!" Sure enough I looked over and there he was...right where I had seen him last. He had a BIG BODY and 5points on one side and a big fork on the other. We only had a 350yd drag out but it was down hill through a bunch of blowdowns then steep uphill back to the truck. We were at the butcher's for the 2nd time in 14 hours.
(Sidebar: My 1st shot took out 1 lung, liver and exited the guts...he was a dead deer walking. My 2nd shot entered his eyeball...yes the middle of the eyeball without touching an eyelid and exited between his eyes. Thankfully, there is no damage to the cape that the taxidermist would have a problem with)

Day 4 Cont'd
We left the butcher, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed back out to hopefully fill Shawn's tag. There was a road that he found near where I dropped him that morning. We took that about a mile in and liked the look of the country. Shawn left the truck at 1:00. We were still getting coats on and left about 5 minutes behind him. As we followed up the same trail that Shawn took, we came around the corner and saw him with his bins up. We turned around figuring he found a spot to glass for a while and we would go glass something else. We didn't take 10 steps when we heard POW right behind us. I went walking around the corner and Shawn looked at me and said "Got One". It was a beautiful 3x3. Shawn saw the buck bedded down and was sizing him up in the binos when we first came around the corner. The buck got nervous and stood up and started walking away. At 160yds he stopped to look back and Shawn sent a 140gr accubond out of his 280AI into the boiler room. The deer went about 20yds and dropped dead after leaving ONE HELL of a blood trail. Even though we still had 2 days left to hunt, there was some crappy weather moving in...Shawn figured this buck fit the bill quite nicely!




We dragged the buck the quarter mile back to the truck and headed to the butchers for the 3rd time in 18hours!

The next morning we drove around and looked at some other spots. We spent our final day doing a little sight seeing. The trip could not have gone any better. We did a lot of research and prep which led to no big surprises while we were out there. We got all of our meat home with no issues and no ridiculous baggage fees. We never even made it to a lot of the spots we had marked on the maps. We learned a lot in the short time we were there and can't wait to go back in a couple years. The country is BIG and BEAUTIFUL. There is about every type of habitat you can imagine out there from WIDE OPEN prairie, to coulees, to burned out areas, to thick timber. From what we saw at the butcher shop, we shot some respectable deer for the area...there were definitely a lot of forks and very small 4x4 bucks waiting to get cut up or racks waiting to get picked up...to people from out West the deer might be very average...but to us they are true trophies!
Thank you to all the members who answered questions on previous posts. The people we met in MT were 2nd to none...some of the friendliest, most down to earth people we ever met. I can't wait to get back out there in 2 years.
This trip also marked the end of my hunting season...We returned home on the 4th and I had rotator cuff surgery scheduled for 11/14. I am stuck in a stupid robe cop looking sling until January. At home things were just busting loose and our gun season also started the Monday after Thanksgiving...I'm really missing that

Thanks for the story, I liked all the detail. Glad you had a fun trip. I'm looking forward to hunting mt some day.

Good job and great story !

Congrats on your success and sharing a great day by day write up

Read the whole post! Good write up!

Great trip and write up!! Congrats and thanks for sharing.

Looks like a great trip. Congrats

Congrats on a great hunt

Congrats on some good looking deer! Sounds like a great trip.

Great story. Great Hunt. Hope your recuperation goes well. Thanks for sharing.

Congrats on such a good hunt. Thanks for the detailed report also, it's a good read for someone like myself considering the same first time DIY trip.

Great Story. Excellent job harvesting your bucks. I really like Montana myself if I could find work that paid enough for us to live off of in Montana I'd already be living there . The people are awesome salt of the earth type folks and as nice as can be . I had a vehicle brake down and could not believe how many locals stopped to lend a hand I was amazed.