Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Montana. Still haven't figured out where to go.

It is a little late now, but it really isnt that bad. My buddies just got back from MT near Livingston. 4 guys downed two 5x5 bulls and two cows in a week. Also, two mule deer bucks, one of which was a whopper 5x5. I couldnt go due to my wife being pregnant and due any day now. Anyways, here is the trick IMO. You need to get adjacent to private property, meaning vallet vs mountain. This is where elk come down from the mountains and feed at night... in the valleys. When the sun comes up, you need to be there on public land in the mountains waiting for them to start going up. On opening day, which is past us now, you can hear the fellas blasting away like WWII in the valleys on private property. That should be a clue on where some herds are. If you miss them, you can usually find fresh tracks to where they went up if you are late in getting there. If missed, you catch them in the timber or try to figure out where they will come down back to feed in the evening. My 4 friends covered about 3/4 along the mountain and had 2 bulls down by 10am opening day this way. We always see elk, though not everyday. Get it in your mind, especially since you had hard luck so far, that it isnt really that bad. IMPORTANT NOTE: You need to be able to move and handle slanted landscape. If you cant, then it is going to be tough. Watch out for the bears.

RAS

Thank you for your post.

The last three times I have been there I have handled my share of slanted landscape. Way more than my share.
MY findings were that the elk didn't seem to like slanted landscape that much (or at least not where I was).

Somebody can tell you that a lake is a great fishing lake, (just like a mountain is a great mounting for elk) but unless you know where the dropoffs and points and cover are, you aren't going to catch fish. Hence my request for some more detailed information from what I thought were some good sportsman here on AR. Many of whom post on here all of the time asking where a good place to go in Africa or Alaska or Canada, but when somebody asks them where a real good place to go in their state they start making foolish comments and jokes.

If you have spent 3 seasons hunting and not seen an elk, then you need to do more research of the area to be hunted,call wildlife officers,check the harvest reports.
Maybe you need to do a guided hunt or drop camp in an area known to hold elk.
Maybe its time to choose another state or change your style of hunting.
No matter what state I have hunted, I always saw game but then again, I spent month's getting prepared and doing the proper research. This did not always result in taking an animal but I've always seen plenty.

Well Jimmy, I guess then I have to admit that you are a much better hunter than I am!

And I agree with you. A person needs to do research. That is what this post was intended to do. The last three years that I have gone the places that I went were suggested by none other than Montana Game Department agencies.

This photo is a good example of the type of country I hunted last time I was out there. I climbed over this small mountain and hunted well into the next drainage. Nothing! (maybe its the way I smell)

My cardinal rule is if I don't see the anmimals, or fresh sign left by them, how good the country looks doesn't matter. They are either there or they aren't.
Elk move around alot. They are very sensitive to hunting pressure. They think nothing of traveling miles if they sense anything like that. That means they go where they don't expect to be bothered by hunters and it can also mean they take up residence surprisingly close to roads after the season has been on for a while.
I picked my elk hunting area in Montana by doing the reasearch, buying all the maps I could get my hands on, learning what I could about the animals, and, last but not least, getting out there a week before the season starts to see if they are there. E

Me too. Have hunted elk for 15 years or so.. and try hard. I've seen only one elk so far this rifle season - really wish I could have got him. If you come out and see some, let me know. I need help.

What's Bob's phone number? 867-5309?

Actually that is his daughter, Jenny's number.

If elk move around a lot, then it doesn't seem to me to be much good to see where they are before the season if one isn't going to hunt them until 3 or 4 weeks into the season.

I have been hunting for 45 years so I know how to hunt. Once again, this post was meant to solicit some advise on where the elk are NOW, not how to hunt.

I don't care whether I shoot one. If I do I do, and if I don't then I still had a good time out in the woods. What I care about is the opportunity or the chance to get one.

WTF , if you know so much about hunting you wouldn't be asking these DF questions,DUH!!!!! Sounds like you want one tied up waiting for you to arrive.
Elk hunting takes alot of planning and pre season scouting. As to the scouting it can be as little as 3 to 5 days before your hunt begins. As another poster said, there needs to be elk or sign in the area hunting otherwise you are just taking a hike in the woods.

As to me being a better hunter than you, I started hunting in the mid 50's up at Mt St Helens and killed alot of deer and elk. After the mountain blew we all had to search out new areas, took alot of scouting to get back in the game.
I really feel it would pay for you to go on a guided hunt so maybe you learn to hunt and find elk, they are no way even close to hunting deer.

Jimmy

What it sound to you like isn't what it is, so you might want to clean out your ears a little bit.

As I just stated, I don't care if I shoot one. Just want a general area where there are actually elk so I am actually hunting something. I have all kinds of information. Books, maps, etc. As I stated, they don't mean [bleep].

Thanks again to RAS for a very helpful post, with lots of good information.

A general area? Pick a mountain range and have at it. Any range in the western part of the state has elk at some point throught out the season. They tend to move around a bunch. One drainage I hunt is about 5-6 miles long by a mile wide... some yaears there are elk all over it, other years there are only a handful. It can also fluctuate from week to week.

Check out the south end of the Ruby Range, or the Gravely Range, or the Bridgers, or the Gallatins, or the... You never know what you'll see until you hike in somewhere. Of the nearly 20 elk I've killed in MT the average distance from the trail head was 3 miles. Many days I've put on 10+ miles and not cut a fresh track...

I really wish I could find a place that would consitently produce elk year in and year out on a regular basis outside of Colorado.

Montana's a huge state, lots of areas hold Elk, and you ask to be dropped right on top of a herd without any introductions, areas you;ve tried or interested in, how you hunt, etc. etc.

Like I said before, guys are more likely to give up their wives to you before they would put you on top of a shooter.

My hint - get out there in the mountains, look for sign and glass your ass off. If it's easy to get into, you probably won't find anything to shoot.

Also - DON'T WHINE.

I don't believe much in early scouting. In fact I don't believe that much in scouting a day or two early even. I do think that if you have time, learning the area is very good. Where rubs, wallows, water, saddles, timber, aspen etc... are and old sign is a good thing too.

What I do believe in trying to be these days is more and more flexible. Instead of picking an area from a map that looks good, and not having a clue what pressure might do, I'm working myself around to doing lots of mobile traveling in a different area each day until I find sign but always having just enough gear for a day or two out, IE a tarp, a down bag, and 2 meals and a stove. So that once I find them, I can stay with them.

That was the key the one time we hunted with rental horses, here today gone tommorrow takes on a whole nuther meaning... and the one morning last day of bow season we cut a set of tracks, the herd we had been into the last 2 days was moving, we didn't know where or how far so we parked and followed... buddy lost the trail while trying to get ahead of me.... I kept on the trail all day until sunset when I ran into a deer hunter who just had them with a 6x6 in front of him, no elk tag.... I was closer to a cafe so walked on out, and Bob and the truck showed up later on as I figured he might.... map later showed as the crow flew I'd covered over 12 miles... who knows how far I really went.

And one time that hunt we lost teh elk, and found what we thought was another herd back probably close to 10 miles away... but old clubhorn was with them so he either moved or it was the same herd...

Jeff

Rost495

Great Post. Thank you.

Call this number, tell them you have between 3-9 grand, and you're gold

(406) 841-2373

Elk get hammered hard during MT bow season (which runs right through the peak of their rut) so you won't find better educated Elk anywhere else on the planet. If I were you, I'd just go look for Mulies up high in the hills on the West Half and settle on a good 4x4, and maybe luck into an Elk.





Kurt, I'm suprised you ain't shot an Elk with a rifle in Montana ever?? I think you paid more dues than anyone I know.

From Rattler's Wife:

The year I had my cow tag in the east end of the Breaks (Montana), I drove 600 miles of driving cow trails in the hills to where I could hike coulees and ridges where we would be able to still get an elk out in a day without horses..... we were always a half-hour to an hour behind them and never could catch up with them... Every person we met in the hills said "you shoulda been here an hour ago... 100 head crossed the road right there!" The ditch was tore up terribly, but we could never outguess the suckers to get ahead of them. They had been run and run hard and weren't letting any grass grow. At the end of the season, I took my tag home and made some mighty fine tasting stew!

Ran into a half dozen bulls in those six weeks that we could have thrown a rock at and hit! Not a single cow, though.

The area we were hunting is special draw and covers an area about 30 miles by 10 miles or so....

I saw an elk around here last year:

Lat: 45.035935 Lon: -110.713703

Dan, are you talking to me about rifle elk? I've shot a few with my rifle in MT.. but have only seen one bull since rifle season opened this year. Flubbed it up.. coulda shoulda woulda..

Rost495, I totally disagree with your thoughts on scouting an area, but if it works for you, you should keep doing it.

Greenhorn, yeah you

I'm suprised you even saw a legal bull during rifle season. I see fresh sign and cows, thats it. I tend to push for them pretty hard during bow season. This time of year, I'm after a good Muley or Whitetail. Elk are a bonus if I see one.

We tried hunting the Cabinet Mountains for Elk in 2007, north of Noxon/Plains/Thompson Falls. Were ever you end up, you may try to get permission to access a drainage on public land that is land-locked by private land, we did. It's amazing how friendly these folks are and many of the locals will see elk on private land almost daily.

We ended up with two very nice Muleys. We saw elk, the herds were small, maybe 15-30, but never close enough or when we were close we didn't see a bull. A cow tag would have given us a 20 foot shot on an elk but we didn't have cow tags. I put video on youtube of the cows and 2 or 3 spikes that walked 20 feet from my dad and flopped down into a wallow that we still-hunted on for 2 days sitting about 200 yards away, seeing elk almost every few hours, but not that elusive "legal" bull, just some spikes and an Bull that looked very sick or very old, it had almost straight beams for antlers, no tines, just nubs, which we reported to the Forestry Service.

After those 2 days we did not see any more elk except on private land we could not access without paying $4500.00 to the guide who leased it out.

Having a good spotting scope is nice too. We saw a few Rams up close and personal and that was the best part of the trip.

There are so many logging companys and the road hunters use the logging trails all day (and night) so that method sucks for the area of MT we hunted, a spot my father has hunted on/off since vietnam.

About our camp...
We camped on private land with the permission of the owner and a small fee, they had a 40 acre mini ranch bordering the forestry land and they let us use their electricity in lieu of our generator -very nice. We used our Gold-Panning liability release form to setup a 10-day land use agreement with the land owner.

Each morning it was a short, but steep trek into the forest, then about 2 miles in we got up to a high spot for glassing, and there were no other hunters in the drainage...well we didn't see anyone wearing orange! We were in bad shape for this type of hunt, steep walking and blow-downs.

The mule deer were awesome and we must have seen over a dozen very nice 4x4 and 5x5 muleys. My dad got a 5x5 and I had a similar muley with thinner main beams but the meat in the younger buck was much better tasting. The mule deer we saw were always near watering holes or running water.