Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Draw Odds For Montana

Yep..plus state income tax plus..plus....

You pay for the privelege of living here.....

yeah for a NR speed goat hunting is gonna be better in Wyo.....well Wyo has better goat hunting period but we had blue tongue go through the 700 district recently and it will take a few years for them to bounce back.....just one of those things that happens every so often.....

the gas tax needs to be factored in to cause its a long [bleep] drive to anywhere, especially if yah live on the east side of the state.....my back dock is a 4 hour drive away even with a lead foot.....

after the way the white man [bleep] the injuns how can you blame them for being greedy??

imho they deserve their cut of more than cigarettes and casinos..which is all they get here in the N.E.

holy [bleep] now we're getting WAYYY off topic!!!

Not sure on specific's but just like any other business owner, Montana farmers and ranchers pay a healthy property tax.


Pretty much every little town in the state is supported by natural resources be it agriculture or timber/mining etc..

there is a whole lot to the story your not aware of.....suffice to say even alot of the tribal members think whats going on is [bleep]....

Don't worry we have all that plus 10%+ sales tax.......Makes me want to rent a apartment.

Dink

still in April it aint MT.gov share that bugs me....the US.gov share is still quite a bit bigger......

as to your last real question on the original topic CBB......the overall success rate for elk hunters in the state is roughly 20% for bull, cow and calf combined......only 4% get a good sized(6x6) to monster bull and for any elk at all you have to average 10 to 12 days of hunting to get an elk.....thats not NR stats thats everyone combined......

speed goat numbers in the easiest district for a NR or Resident to pull a tag are down due to an outbreak of blue tongue, if yah want to hunt goats, head to Wyoming.....Wyoming is the best place to hunt goats anyway as they have more than everyone else combined but the good places for NR to pull a tag most the time here are at a population dip at the moment....

as for mule deer......the hunting is good.....

Headwatermike, thanks for the response, no need to apologize. I have been part of hijacking threads myself..
I appreciate the info you passed on.
Based on the amount of time..5 days for my prospective hunt an elk and a deer may not be realistic given there may be 2-3 of us in the hunt.

Thanks Rattler...

the fact of the matter is unless you have access to a real good area be it a private ranch or a chunck of public land you know really well and have hunted alot, elk hunting takes time, unlike deer they have no problem packing up and heading out to see new country when pushed......a mule deer buck even when pressured will often hang out in the same general area for a 6 week season....

Yeah, you had better have your poop in a group if you are going to fill elk tags in 5 days. Hopefully you will have alot of the groundwork laid. Elk are not like deer either in how they are dispersed. Deer are sort of all over--you really can't go anywhere here and not see them. Elk are in groups, and you are either in elk or you are not. It is really easy to not be in elk. Be prepared to find elk where you least want them to be, and to go there with little time to waste, b/c the extraction will usually take time too. That being said, you have alot better chance of getting trigger time with a deer tag.

You could also be out here in some of the low open valleys in weather like we have right now with alot of other road hunters and take elk the easy way, in the flats. I wouldn't drive to MT for that prospect alone, but it is there. Alot of tags get punched that way. Personally, I usually get my elk when the weather is still pretty good.

Breaking news!! The elk will be down out of the mountains any day now as we will be ass deep to a tall giraffe in snow. Yah, and we can play golf on snow shoes with big orange golf balls. Good 'nuff! I will out mid week on my snow shoes, if necessary, to try to rattle up a WT buck as they are going nuts here in NW MT. MTG

More breaking news. I just completed plowing my drive and barn drive up. We have 8" of new snow and more coming down. Weather lady says it will snow thru Wed. morning. Calling for 1'-2' in the Mission mtns. Great! Guess I will have to chain up to get to my elk grounds. Good 'nuff! Snow shoes, warm gear, 300WSM and all day to hunt. Life is good! MTG

MT is double excited!!....grin!

CBB,
I would slow down your expectations a little. Just getting a license doesn't mean the animals will be beating a path to you.
After you win a license, depending on location desire, you then have to try and draw a permit to hunt that area. NR's are allowed only limited numbers of these. only 10% in many cases. In residents cases if they don't get drawn then they are out a big $20 but you will be out hundreds.

And all those ranchers who had their arms twisted by the outfitters may not be willing to let you hunt since they were part of the exclusive hunting rights and the money they got paid by the outfitters. And remember most of the land is privately owned and hunting is controlled by the owner.

Block management will be your best bet along with the public land but of course that is where most of the residents also hunt. Given that fact also understand it is a very big place and even though there are other hunters you may never see them.

Good Luck MTG, and be sure to take some pics!!

I hunt NF here in NW MT. If I get nothing other than a good day afield that is good 'nuff for this old hunter. I got my yearly meat, WT doe and a good 'loper buck. I am hunting for a good rack now. I am not that crazy enuf to expect them bulls and bucks to come out of hiding without lots of hard hunting. The best part is that I get to go and will hunt hard. Hunt hard for small rewards. MTG