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

Mt I hunt all the states in the west. The guys (5 of us) were going to put in for muledeer tags this year but I think we are either going to cash in our points in wyoming or go to texas.

My state charges $225 for a any deer tag (buck) and I think $7 apiece for all the doe tags you want to buy. I do not think this unreasonable. I did not think that Montana's $328 for a muledeer tag was out of line. Even after we bought all the other stamps/tags we would have had about $350 in the tag. Even the $75 for a doe tag was not all that bad.

The money on motels,food,and fuel adds up to quite abit of money why we are there. Then we have always paid the tresspass fee for the ranch which is almost 8k to 10k. I am going to guess the ranch owner spends most of the money in montana. Now the state of montana wants a addtional 1k (between the 5 of us). I say [bleep] that.

I am sure the state of montana will not really miss our money in the scheme of things and probaly someone will take our place.

As of right now I think we are going to pass on hunting in montana and I hope alot of other guys tell them to take there $200 increase and shove it. Won't happen but I can dream. I might change my mind when its time to apply but I doubt it.

The people of montana voted. It does not mean we have to spend our money there.

Dink

Wow I really open up the proverbial can o' worms here didnt I......

no worries, far from a new argument.....

damn ppl spend $10K in trespass fees to hunt private land for deer? [bleep] me i need to buy a chunk of land......hell i can get on some decent private land for free and choose to hunt public.....to chase elk i can understand, hell i would shell out some cash to chase one of them on private ground but mule deer? [bleep] me.....think im gonna shut up now before more ppl start hunting where i do.....

LOL...Rattler we would rather not pay either but when only have five days to hunt we try to make the most of it. I think we spent about $800 in fuel alone last year out there and back. You have to remember to hunt five days is a nine day trip for us.

Dink

i saw 150 head in 3 days.....just [bleep] around showing a guy thats never set foot in eastern Montana around....im just healing up from a year of back problems(finally had surgery in Sept) and ive lost more muscle mass in the last year than i care to admit to and didnt do any walking...didnt see any great bucks but a buddy of mine that did some walking back into some of our spots did....

this is a serious question that aint loaded, what kind of bucks are you and your buddies getting on for that kind of money?.....

[bleep], I'll come out next year and you show me 150 mulies in 3 days and I have a new BFF!!!!!

When times were better for Mule deer, he coulda showed you that many in a "lite" morning....

ive had an open invitation to most 'fire members....you need to figure most those were does and dink bucks.....and last weekend we were road hunting and not seriously hunting and covered a huge area.....good bucks usually require alot of miles under your boots and a bit of luck.....i can pretty well guarantee a chance at does and dinks if the weather cooperates but good bucks alot of it is out of my hands....if it rains you cant get to them.....

Don't tempt me with dinks......

i coulda shot a fork that was shorter than his ears.....and a 3 that was barely above

[bleep]!! Guess I shoulda applied sooner in life..But Oh well, I'm 31 and in good shape theres no better time than now!

Rattler we have not hunted muledeer on this ranch but have antelope hunted it a couple times. I would say the averag buck was 22-24 inch 4 pont if you looked hard enough. They did have pics of some 170-180 inch deer that other hunters had taken but we did not see any.

Dink

gotcha

Dink, if you are paying that much $$ to hunt a private ranch, what is the problem with the increased tag fee? You seem to be tossing around a lot of $$ to hunt. Me thinks your case is full of holes. Somehow this all doesn't figure. Maybe it's just me. I hunt hard on my small piece of land and hunt public land in the breaks country. I see lost of mulies, wt and elk. Altho', I haven't drawn an elk tag for this zone for many yrs. But, now with the extra tags available perhaps I will draw another coveted elk tag for this zone. BTW, I have seen many a good mulie buck, 4 point and better, and not taken them. Public land to boot. I personally don't think MT will miss your $$ and poor attitude. MTG

thats kinda what lent to my reaction.....hunts fed land and pays $10K to trespass but just for goats......he could do it without the trespass fee and hunt federal ground free of charge.....

All 5 of em' could go on an outfitted goat hunt for less than $10k!!! I bet the guy that owns that place gets a good chuckle out of the MO boys that lease his goat hunting for $10k.

First off goat hunting does not cost that much. Its alot cheaper. Its only 5k for all of us. Those prices do include a place to stay and meals. By the time we paid for a motel and bought food for the week it does not cost alot more for us to have a place we can drive around on instead of walk. We drive by public land everyday we are out there and we get to avoid all those guys by paying a fee. Like I said before its two days out and two days back for us. If we try to scout public ground for a couple days that makes a very long trip for us.

MT its not that $200 is something I can't afford its the principle of thing. The state thinks that they can just steal from non-residents. Everyone bitches about health care cost rising 9% but a muledeer tag can go up by 60% (roughly) and I am supposed to say thank you montana. I really hope there are alot of empty motel rooms and no one around come hunting season.

Hunting and shooting is all I do. I don't fish, drive fast cars or build chit. I am not going to let montana steal from me because they think they need more of my money because I don't live there.

Dink

Well, DINK, you've changed my views on the subject. I am now deciding that I WILL put in for a MT deer tag and hope my 4 points cost me $527. And I will probably shoot a smallish buck like I did in MT in 2006 and be all the happier for it. Now if I could just find a resident with a bird dog...

still forking over $5,000 and not even hunting mule deer on the property? i know locals that will fork over decent cash to get a good shot at a decent bull elk without having to climb to high cause bull permits are scarce on the east end of the state and us flatlander sometimes dont like the vertical chit to much.....but $5,000 for goats? especially with all the federal land crawling with good goats and then chasing mule deer on the public land....its insane and throwing money in the garbage....