Spring hunting in the Big Snowy Mountains, Montana

Hello fellow hunters!

I'm planning a bachelor party trip with some friends in the Big Snowy Mountains in Montana this coming spring, 2019. Some people wanna go to Vegas with their friends for their bachelor party, but I would rather spend it in the woods with my ultralight backpack and tent and chase some critters with my friends, lol! I personally have never been there before, but have heard wonderful things about it. I have done quite a bit of research into the area and it seems like a reasonable area for black bears, but I have a buddy in the group who wants to do some turkey hunting there as well. In my research, I haven't dug up much on how turkey hunting is in the Big Snowy Mountains, but it seems like the Little Snowy Mountains is pretty decent.

So I guess my question is, if there is anyone who has spent any time in the Big Snowy Mountains and if they feel like it may be worth picking up a turkey tag while I am out there at 7,000-8,000 ft? As a non-resident and on a wedding budget, i'm just trying to justify if it is worth buying a $115 tag or not while we are out there. Any help and advise would be great! Thanks !

I have spent quite a bit of time in the Snowies, and the only times I have seen turkeys, they have been below 6,000 and mainly on private. That's not to say they aren't higher, just my experience.

I did a spring MT bear hunt for my bachelor party as well, we had a blast. How many guys are going, if you have 6 guys I might get 2 bear tags and 2 turkey tags. Two guys can go look for birds while the other 4 split up into two groups and chase bears. I doubt you will see turkey's where you are hunting bears, you might encounter them on your way in and out though.

Used to hunt turkeys in the Little Snowies. The hunting was highly dependent on the snowpack, and we were still way down on the private around 4500 ft. There was often too much snow even at that elevation for them to have moved in there by the time the season opened. There’s typically too much snow at the elevations you’re talking about for them to make a living up there. They are called the Snowies for a reason

Thanks for the replies everyone! I assumed that most the turkeys would not be found at that elevation, but I still thought I would ask. I personally am going to be out there for a week (Saturday - Saturday) but my friends are going to be coming and going throughout that whole week do to family and work matters. My assumption right now is that at any given time there will be between 3-8 of us.

So a couple things:

First off, I don't hunt turkey's so don't take my thoughts on this as gospel or anything. From being in the Snowies only a couple times, I would think your best chances of finding a turkey would be gaining access from the east end. It's lower and what not. The other accesses that I know of, you pretty much start to climb right away. Maybe you could find them low before you get to Crystal Lake. Crystal Lake would make a nice campground for a bachelor party. I don't know that it holds fish, because its not very deep and may completely freeze in the winter. But you can camp at the access to the east I'm thinking of. It's a trail head and parking lot south of Lewistown on that end. I want to say there is an outhouse too. But all this depends on how you want to camp. Hike in and camp, or camp at a campground, or camp at a trailhead that doesn't have camp sites. If you hike in a short distance up the trail from that east trail head there is a nice area to camp shortly after you start paralleling the creek. Say in slightly less than a mile. Actually, now that I say that, we tried to go to Crystal lake one time and the road was closed because the bridge was washed out. So maybe they close the road now. Check into that before you decide on what you do. Not knowing anything about turkeys it just feels more turkeyish to me on that lower east end. And you can still climb up high from the east end. There is a creek on that east end for water also. It was mostly dry when I was up there in late summer, but it probably won't be in the spring. Once you're high, you should be able to move around the range easily. But I think you will always have to drop down for water no matter where you are.

If you go, if you find yourself down by the Ice Caves make sure to check them out, if you can get in. The entrance may be buried with snow. It's a cave that holds ice all year round. There's a few other ones that aren't marked that are big holes in the ground and you have to get off the trail to find them. I was going to drop down into one that's not marked, but I swear I heard growling down in it, so I decided I would just stand at the top and look down.

I went to google earth and looked up that trailhead. It's just south of Half Moon Canyon. Right across from Half Moon Ranch Road. You can see the parking lot pretty clearly. 46.823297, -109.262448 If you didn't know, literally pretty much no roads in the whole range. You're hiking everywhere unless you drive to Crystal lake. Then you're hiking from there.

Forest service website says the Crystal Lake Campground is closed because of hazardous trees. So take that into consideration.

Crystal Lake would make a nice campground for a bachelor party. I don't know that it holds fish, because its not very deep and may completely freeze in the winter.

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Crystal Lake Campground doesn't usually open until late June due to snow. It has been completely closed the past couple of summers due to dead trees being removed to mitigate damage and risk to campers. Crystal Lake is unusual in that it typically loses all water through seepage by late winter. It then fills by early summer but is not very deep. The lake is stocked with fish each year and includes some larger breeder stock fish. It is a clear lake with nice pebble beaches and water at the right temperature for fishing and for playing in the water. There is a great bike trail around the lake and other trails to hike up to the spine of the Snowies and to see the ice caves. We like to take grandkids up there as it's a perfect lake to let them bike, canoe and fish by themselves ... you can see and hear them easily. Ours "chased" the trout with the canoe and finally caught some fish. I cooked fish on the campfire with wild onions from along the lakeshore. It's a great place for kids and a quiet campground, so I would discourage the idea of a bachelor party there.

I was up at Crystal Lake in late September this year to check out why they closed it, and it looked like a bomb went off. There is hardly a standing tree within 100 yards of the shoreline on the east side.

codycoop95 said:

I was up at Crystal Lake in late September this year to check out why they closed it, and it looked like a bomb went off. There is hardly a standing tree within 100 yards of the shoreline on the east side.

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I drove up there in September too and thought the same thing. Not going to be very scenic camping now.