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I hunted Montana for the first time this year as a non resident.

I was supposed to into the Bob Marshall but the fires put the kybosh on that deal.

The tag was about 850 bucks, included tag, archery,rifle, fishing,bird hunting. Statewide.....cows,mature bulls, no spikes. Ample rifle and archery season. It beats the ever loving snot out of Idahos ( my resident state) hands down. I absolutely loved it! Bought the tag on line during the excess tag sale in May. If I can afford it.......I think I am gonna keep going. Highly recommend Montana 4 elk!


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Originally Posted by shrapnel

Just for the statistics, in Montana the average for a hunter to kill an elk is around 17%. Out of that 17%, around 80% of those guys do it almost every year, so that means that 3.4% of the hunters that just get lucky, actually get an elk. Out of that 3.4% the amount of bulls varies from raghorn, to decent to large. Even then, there isn't a very large % of the 3.4% that actually get a decent to big bull. Tough statistics, but it is real. Las Vegas has about the same odds, but the people keep going to Vegas hoping they will be the next big winner. The lights in Vegas are paid for by the people that hope to strike it rich.

MUCH wisdom here.

I hunted Roosevelt elk on public land in Washington state off and on for a loooong time. I read books about them, asked wildlife biologists and park rangers about them, looked at them in the zoo, scouted hard in the summer, all of the stuff that you're supposed to do. Some years I actually saw an elk during the season, but never anything legal.

When I finally hired an outfitter, I got to spend several days with people who actually knew how to hunt elk. We hunted less than a dozen miles from where I had done my self-guided hunts, and on Opening Morning, I saw more elk than I had in all of my previous elk hunts combined. These guys had grown up in the area, and the hunt was purely fair chase. They were just a lot smarter about how they hunted, and they approached the problem in a completely different way than I ever had. Pretty much everything they did was different, and all six hunters in camp got bulls that year. Based on what I learned hunting with them, I realized that while I'm a pretty good deer hunter, I had no freaking clue about how to hunt elk.

As a result of what I learned, I believe that I could now go out and get an elk on my own around here. So you might think of the cost of a guided hunt as an investment in your future hunting success.

You can read about that hunt here: https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/11892277/1


Okie John


Originally Posted by Brad
If Montana had a standing army, a 270 Win with Federal Blue Box 130's would be the standard issue.
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Originally Posted by saddlesore
Originally Posted by rosco1
Originally Posted by saddlesore
Originally Posted by pete53
I have a few sets of elk horns one even scores 374 typical that I shot with bow, give me a cow elk any day now the cow elk meat is so much better.ya I was young once and had to always go after those bulls ,now I evjust want a medium cow elk shot close to the road.


That's for sure. I let the young guys kill those stinky old tough bulls. They appreciate them more.


Hunting big bulls never gets old..tell yourself whatever you want


Wait until you have killed 4 dozen or so elk and you will change your tune. I have killed big bulls,small bulls and cows. Now I only want a nice young, tender, tasty, cow to fill the freezer. As stated , younger guys get the thrill and fulfill their dreams.I have already done that. I would rather help one of those young guys kill one that do one myself now days. You won't appreciate or understand this for several more years yet.


Yep. I sure haven't killed that many, but got over antler fever a long time ago.

After packing out enough antlers that serve no purpose other than taking up space, it's not hard to come to the conclusion that bulls just aren't worth the trouble. Cows = better meat and less useless headgear to pack out of the hills. Or just leave the antlers there. Less crap taking up space in the house or wherever.

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I'm kind of surprised that none of you guys in the know have not recommended muzzle loaders in the Colorado early season. As I understand it from the guys who have been out there that muzzle loader season follows the bow season when the bulls are still bugling and there are more of them on the hoof because it is before the rifle seasons. We always hunted the third gun season out there and needed the weather to push the elk. We were out there with a bunch of guys with cow tags and when everyone in camp fills up with their cow, there is lots of pressure to be thinking any bull will do and then we can all leave together. Our group leader with the ranch in Wyoming said the same thing about the best meat being from the cows and he was always hunting for a calf of the year.


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Originally Posted by Windfall
As I understand it from the guys who have been out there that muzzle loader season follows the bow season when the bulls are still bugling and there are more of them on the hoof because it is before the rifle seasons.


Muzzle Loader season is during archery season. Archery opens about the last weekend of August and runs thru the last week of September almost.Muzzle Loader season usually opens the week end after labor day. So it is about mid way thru archery season.It is not quite peak rut yet,but elk will be bugling some, but it varies.

Best bet is to draw a "B" cow tag for muzzle loader season and then buy an "A" left over or OTC bull tag for one of the rifle seasons. You could also buy another left over "B" tag which is usually a cow tag. That way you can hunt two full seasons.. I do that,not so much to shoot two elk,but to be able to hunt longer in the fall. Lot of different combination scan be had.

Spike bulls are fairly good eating,but there are not many areas that they are legal since lot of the state is 4 pt or better.Yearling elk are about the best.There is a lot of good meat that turns out bad due to poor field care after the elk is down


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Originally Posted by saddlesore
Originally Posted by rosco1
Originally Posted by saddlesore
Originally Posted by pete53
I have a few sets of elk horns one even scores 374 typical that I shot with bow, give me a cow elk any day now the cow elk meat is so much better.ya I was young once and had to always go after those bulls ,now I evjust want a medium cow elk shot close to the road.


That's for sure. I let the young guys kill those stinky old tough bulls. They appreciate them more.


Hunting big bulls never gets old..tell yourself whatever you want


Wait until you have killed 4 dozen or so elk and you will change your tune. I have killed big bulls,small bulls and cows. Now I only want a nice young, tender, tasty, cow to fill the freezer. As stated , younger guys get the thrill and fulfill their dreams.I have already done that. I would rather help one of those young guys kill one that do one myself now days. You won't appreciate or understand this for several more years yet.



I dont know saddlesore.. I edited a long post, that more/less made me look like a prick. Guess I'm not ready for the Internet.

Last edited by rosco1; 11/14/17.
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I sure didn't take it that way Roscoe. I chased bulls for 20 years or so with a culmination of a tag in CO 201 unit that took 21 years to draw..After that I figured I had done it enough .That is why I commented that young guys appreciated them more. No worries here


If God wanted you to walk and carry things on your back, He would not have invented stirrups and pack saddles
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