Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 2014 Montana Whitetail Hunt

Warning: Long winded and picture heavy!!

Me'n Jeff been planning this trip for a couple years now and this spring he applied for his non-resident Montana deer tag and I got my Non-resident Native deer tag.

My sister still lives in the Alder area, so the 21st of November we embark on the ten hour drive from Craig (CO) to Alder (MT). As soon as we got over Reynolds Pass from Idaho into Montana we started seeing whitetails, with a rather nice one standing in the grass next to the rest area at the West Fork turn-off. This is getting poor old Jeff all excited!! On the way over the Virginia City Hill we stopped at my friends sporting goods store in Ennis and bought a few things, then hit the grocery store and headed over the hill to a my sister's house arriving just about dark. A quick call to my niece in Twin Bridges assured me that all was set for our $2 dollar tour of their property at about day light before she headed to work in Dillon.

Day 1 November 22nd, After a 30 minute drive we arrived at my niece's house about dawn, we all load up in my truck and get the "$2 Dollar tour" of part of "The Novich Place" It's about 280 acres of prime white tail ground on the Big Hole River with hay meadows, cottonwood "forests", wild rose bush patches and willow thickets. We were introduced to "Piglet" one of the tamer yearling heifers that were grazing in the pasture we were to hunt. (more on her later) Kristin's $2 Dollar Tour and map (written on a 3 inch square sticky note) turned out to be very accurate but not very thorough as we would learn later.

After getting the "lay of the land" we took Kristin back to the house and went back in to again be greeted by Piglet and her "sisters" thinking that we had brought them "food" this time. (it's now say 8:30) We parked the truck and took our seats under a old cottonwood about 3 feet in diameter with a good view of a likely meadow.





(distances ranged with Jeff's Leopold range finder)

It started to snow/rain/sleet so we hot footed it back to the truck and had some more coffee and glassed from the truck. About 15 minutes later the storm ended but we remained in the truck as there was another storm brewing.

"Hey Jeff, lookee that big black cow over there, Must be one of the neighbors." (it's still kinda raining)

"Yep, it's sure a biggun'." . . . . . . "THAT"S NO COW, it a MOOSE!!!"

Sure enough there's this 48-50 inch moose ambling through the willows and cotton woods. We're pretty intent on him and we watch him 'til he disappears into the thicker brush. Not ten minutes later Jeff spots a rooster pheasant in the tall grass and we watch him as he treks into the pasture where the heifers are grazing and it doesn't take long for him to be spotted and the silly heifers follow him as he hunts 'n pecks for food in the hay meadow. We tire of watching him and are glassing again when I spot about 25 small "black things" (it's kinds foggy now) that turn out to be TURKEYS!

Now the sun is out and there's a skiff of snow on the ground and I spot a doe (by the log in the center right of the picture) and we spot 8-10 drifting from right to left further back in the brush. I get out my grunt tube and give a few grunts as Jeff is watching. The doe is till standing there, now in front of the log and I spot a dandy buck in the brush behind the log.

"Jeff, there's a buck right behind that log where that doe is and he looks pretty nice." Jeff gently opens his door and I'm instantly reminded that I forgot to remove the key from the ignition!!!! BING BING BING goes the alarm as I fumble around trying to get the key out!! The deer freeze as Jeff leans across a handy fence post, takes aim and fires with his Sako 25-06 . . BLAM, the deer stand there. (Jeff's deer was standing on the far side of the log where the red "dot" is on the extreme right side of the picture)

"You missed but they haven't moved . . . BLAM and the buck goes down but gets back up and I can see him run to the left, then circle and go back the the right and out of sight.

"You got him that shot I'm sure of it."

"Naw I couldn't have, I didn't hear the bullet hit!!"

"Well let's sit here a while and give him time to lay down just in case." (it's now 11:30)

Well, another storm blows in and we wait for it to blow over, but we decide to drive down the fence a ways so we can go through a handy gate instead of climbing over the fence. We give the buck a good hour to "die" and now in bright sunshine :rolleyes: go in search of Jeff's buck. We find where the buck was hit, evident from the buckets of blood on the leaves and skiff of snow, but we don't spot the buck. Sure that he'd gone to the right I scour the willows and rose bushes and look under every down cotton wood. After a good hour of searching it starts to snow again and we head back to the truck. Luke calls and asks if we've got anything and we give him the "bad" news and we assure him that we won't give up. (It's about this time I realize I've forgotten my camera at Sis's house so all the pictures have to be taken with my cell phone)

I ask him "Is that your property across the fence" (you can just make out the posts between the 300 and 360 "marks" in the second picture)

"Oh yeah, the boundary is the next fence. Give him some more time."

Another hour goes by and the sun is out in full force now and we decide to resume our search. we're about to leave when Jeff spots a couple does in the meadow (out of frame) to the left. We decide that he'll go in along the fence and I'll sit by another log just in case he flushes deer out while he's looking for his buck. I get to my spot as Jeff disappears into the brush. I'm glassing when I hear "HEY!!! GET OUTTA HERE!!!" Jeff has stumbled onto the moose again only this time he's between a cow and her calf!!! I hear the fence squeak as the moose go through and over it in their escape. I give up on my spot and head in Jeff's direction. crossing a frozen slough. He's found another blood trail and where his buck laid down during his search but no sign of the buck. Jeff is pretty low about now thinking he's lost the buck. Now I don't know what prompts me to back track but I take about 10 steps back towards the slough and spot his buck laid out in some cattails with just his head on the ice.

"Hey Jeff, here's your buck."

"You're kidding!! You better not be kidding!!"

"Nope, here he is."

Jeff runs over and starts jumping up and down yelling, we're pounding each other on the back and shaking hands and whooping it up and here's why!!!



He's a sure 'nuff dandy five point!!! A good 16 inches wide with heavy main beams, tall points and brow tines about 4 inches tall!!! The 100 grain Barnes TTSX did it's job!!

Now the part about "Piglet". We get back to the truck to find it surrounded (yes surrounded) by the thirty head of yearling heifers and they have literally LICKED every square inch of it they could reach including both the drivers and passenger side windows AND mirrors!!! Silly cows!! The slobbers are still wet so we get out the paper towels and clean the windows so we can see. THIS time we drive through the gate, unload Jeff's four wheeler and go fetch his deer. I call Luke and tell him we found the deer. (it's now 2:30)

He says "Well I just got home from hunting camp so bring him over and we'll take a look". (Hunting camp is up Trout Creek on the west slope of the Ruby Mountains)

I says "Jeff wants to have him mounted so would you mind doing the cape on him?" (Luke is also a licensed Montana Outfitter)

"Sure, bring him over and we'll hang him off the tractor."

I didn't get any pictures of this part so you get a reprieve. Luke gives us the name of the taxidermist he uses but as it's Saturday we haul the deer back to my sister's and hang him in their garage.

We can't hunt there the next day (Sunday Day 2) so I decide I want to go up Barton Gulch in the Upper Ruby just to look around. It's where we ran cattle and hunted a lot when I was a "kid". We make it to the Marietta Mine after chaining up and I decide to turn around as the going is getting kinda tough as we have to traverse a couple sidling switchbacks and some steep pitches where nobody has gone since the last snow.





All we saw was a few muley does and a couple pine squirrels but it was good to get to see the old stomping grounds again.

Monday Day 3 November 23rd: We call the taxidermist and tell him we've got some buisness for him and head to Dillon after getting directions. (I remembered the camera and it turns out I've know the guy since he was knee high)



and he's busy as a cat covering poop on a tin roof. He does very good work and his specialty is (yep) whitetails. We get done and decide to stop and see if there's any deer on Luke and Kristin's place. I get the truck parked (in the same spot) and comment that we "might be here a while" as it's noon and pretty warm and the deer might not be moving until evening. We haven't been sitting (almost nodding off in the sun) for maybe 20 minutes when Jeff spots whitetails moving through the brush.

"Hey, get your gun ready, there's a nice buck in there!"

Once again I forget to remove the keys but the alarm only goes off once before I could remove them. I grab my 700VLS in .243 (forgetting to load it) and lean across the same post Jeff used two days before. The buck comes out of the brush (just past the 300 yard mark) by the fence I snick off the safety and I squeeze off the shot CLICK!!! :rolleyes: I crank one in and level on him again . . . BLAM!!! I"VE MISSED!!! The deer are not even worried and my buck goes behind a tree, turns, heads back to the right (the red dot between the 300 and 360 yard marks) giving me another quartering away shot at his right side . . BLAM!! The buck humps up and runs out of sight as the rest now take flight into the thicker brush only to reemerge walking towards us!!! About 10 seconds pass and they take off again. The agonizing wait begins again as we get back in the truck. I'm shaking like a dog passing peach seeds (much to Jeff's delight) so to pass the time we eat some jerky, have a few sips form our sodas and glass hoping to see the moose again. To our surprise the silly deer COME BACK!!!! I'm just sure I spot the buck I shot at and I'm starting to think I had to have missed the second time, but Jeff reassures me he heard the bullet THWACK and we'll find my deer right away.

This time we go through the gate to park the truck! No more slobbery windows!!! It's a short walk and much to my relief we see this.

[img]http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h191/recoil_junky/021_zps88e334f2.jpg[/img]

Jeff ranges back to where I shot from and it's 334 yards!!!! The 85 grain Speer has done it's job well!!

[img]http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h191/recoil_junky/022_zps6e904d74.jpg[/img]

I found the bullet (58 1/2 grains) in the meat between the ribs in front of the off (left) shoulder

[img]http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h191/recoil_junky/043_zpse6956df1.jpg[/img]

I text 't missus to get "permission" to get him mounted and call the taxidermist and tell him we're on our way with another nice whitetail!!! This will be the first animal I've ever had mounted!! He's not as heavy as Jeff's but he's a bit wider and maybe taller. Both will score in the low 140's according to the taxidermist.

What a hunt. We had a great time, the hunting was easy and we both got respectable bucks. Hope you enjoyed the story.

Fast forward to November 2016 when our mounts were done.

[img]http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h191/recoil_junky/006_zps5ca4ewbw.jpg[/img]

RJ

I'm not sure why some of the pictures you can "see" and other show up as gibberish yet you can "click" on them to view. Sorry for any inconvenience.

RJ

Great story, nice bucks and congratulations on a successful hunt.

Recoiljunky: I am glad you had such a successful Hunt and enjoyed your stay in "my neck'o the woods"!
I have Hunted the areas you mention since the 1970's and still Hunt some of those areas today.
One observation of the Barton Gulch area is back in the 1970's I would usually see 100 to 150 Mule Deer per day consistently!
Sadly today (like you experienced!) the norm is 5 to 10 Mule Deer per day.
I attribute this decline to increased populations of predators (mainly Cougars and Wolves) - sad this current lowered population of game animals.
Back in 1979'ish one of my Hunting partners took an enormous Boone & Crockett all time records book Mule Deer buck there in Barton Gulch!
That would be virtually impossible today - again sadly.
The "licking" by cattle of my VarmintMobile I attribute to the "odor" of the suds I used to use in washing that truck.
I mean they will lick through the wax down to the paint given enough time.
I have switched car soap and that problem seems to have gone away.
In the past few years I have gone to (switched over from Mule Deer Hunting in the Powder River country of eastern Montana) Hunting Whitetails around my home in the Alder, Twin Bridges to Dillon areas.
I find it very rewarding to Hunt the Whitetails and to tell the truth when the rut is coming on and in full swing (November 8th through the end of the season - usually about November 27th or so) the Whitetail bucks I harvest taste noticeably better than the Mule Deer bucks harvested during the same time period.
I took my typical 12 point Whitetail buck to that same taxidermist during the 2,015 season - he does good work.
By the way the last four Whitetail Bucks I have harvested here in SW Montana were all taken at ranges in excess of 300 yards!
So I use a swiveling Harris Bi-Pod attached to my Remington 700 Sendero in caliber 270 Winchester constantly while I am Hunting Whitetails anymore.
Again I am so happy for you having such a great Hunt.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Lions have been a big problem in that area for decades, add to that the years of game mismanagement by the MDOFWP and yeah that's why we didn't see any mule deer. Up there at the heads of Idaho Creek, Barton Gulch, Davey Creek, Sailor Creek, Williams Creek, Browns Gulch, Hungry Hollow and Alder Gulch was some of the best deer hunting in the Ruby Valley except for maybe across the valley in Hinch Creek and the old iron mine area.

Now the whole area has been bought up by big money and the new owners have locked it up so you can't even drive up Williams Creek, over the top across the head of Browns Gulch into the head of Barton.

It started when the Page place got sold out from under us in '76. Not the the new owner was "big money" he just had big ideas that turned out to be bad ones, like logging Williams Creek.

But I digress.

RJ

Nice deer

Thanks T Inman for making the garble into pictures!!

RJ

Good stuff recoiljunky.

Congratulations to you and your partner on two nice bucks...

Pair of very nice deer you got there....great pics too.

Thanks gents (I use the term loosely)

Thanks again to T Inman!!! My computer genius is limited to PEBCAK, "Sorry, your page cannot be displayed" and "error 404" what ever that is . . . . .

RJ

No problem...it was easier than you think.

This site only allows 6 pictures from photo bucket to be posted at once (I presume to save bandwidth, but am not totally sure).

Good thing to know, thanks.

I think the heifers were licking off road salt or mag-chloride. The county road I live on has mag-chloride applied to keep dust the down and as I never wash my truck . . . . . . . .

RJ

Nice work those are some beautiful bucks!

Great story and deer - thanks for sharing.