2023 in Montana - 02/15/24
I had a great year of chasing around the various critters I had licenses for here in MT. To start with, I did some fishing with a good friend that is a phenomenal walleye fisherman. He invited me out on a beautiful summer day on Ft. Peck and we absolutely slayed the big walleye. The top five fish for the day weighed in at over 55 pounds!
Next up was archery elk season. My son and I gave it a good shot, but the bulk of the elk were on the next ranch to the west of us during archery season. The crop ground there was absolutely crawling with elk and they took some good ones out of there. Regardless, we had a good time and were on elk most days, they just didn't cooperate.
At the start of October, upland bird, waterfowl, and rifle antelope got rolling. I couldn't get away to get up to my son's place and get after the huns and sharptail up there, but he had his dog on birds several times a week and had an outstanding fall.
I got out a few times chasing waterfowl here at home and had some excellent hunts.
When rifle antelope season opened, I had a couple of buddies come down that like to chase them around. We had a good weekend of BSing and looking for a buck for each of them. They each managed to take a nice, 14" buck and went home with some good meat. I had spotted a heck of a good buck on a place just south of mine during the summer. I called the landowner and asked if I could chase after him all the way back in early August and he said that was fine by him, but I had to wait until he had moved his cows out of there. The Monday following the opener, he called and said that the cows were moved and if I wanted first crack at him, I better get after it. Well, having never set foot out there, I did a little looking around that afternoon. I saw several bucks, but not what I thought I had seen back in July. I decided to just get up high and glass away the last couple of hours and no more than 10 minutes after getting on the little rocky knob overlooking a large part of the ranch, I saw a group of 14 bucks make their way into the stubble field below me. I moved down to a lower vantage point and gained about 200 yards, but they were still out there a good long poke. They set about grazing in the stubble field and were not going to get any closer, so I looked them over and picked the one that appeared to be the best, although there was another that may have been a little better mixed in with the main body of animals. The one I chose was off by himself to the side of the group and was right at 720 yards. The wind was at next to zero, so I dialed him and settled in for the shot. At the break of the trigger, the 6XC recoiled and I watched through the scope as the bullet impacted exactly as anticipated and the buck crumpled to the ground. One tag down!
The next hunt on the list came by way of a phone call from a buddy with a cabin in the mountains. He said that he had a pretty good bear that had been coming out on the hillside above his cabin every day for the last couple of days. I told him I'd be there the next day and packed by gear up. I rolled in to his place that evening and we sat around and visited for a while before I went up the hill to wait for the bear to show himself. It was two days before the opener of general big game, and I had a date with a cow elk spot, so I needed to make something happen. Well, nothing happened. Despite the lack of a bear that evening, we cooked up some steaks and had a little whiskey while enjoying a beautiful evening in God's country. I figured I'd give the bear one more chance to mess up in the morning before heading home to get ready for general big game. The next morning, I was back up near the tree line on the hillside and waiting for daylight. About 15 minutes after the sun came up, here came the bear. He stopped on the edge of the trees and was pawing at a stump when the 180 gr. ELD M smacked him in the side after a 250 yard trip from my muzzle to the bear. Beautiful boar that squared 6'5".
After a quick trip home, I got him skinned and cut up and was ready for the cow hunt the next morning. I arrived at my neighbor's place about 30 minutes before daylight the next morning and we had a little coffee. He lets me hunt and trap on his place and in exchange I help him out with carpentry projects his ranch and a little bit of haying. Well, he is a little late getting going, so we ease up to the top of a hill right at daylight and see that the elk are already on the way off the neighbor's field and on to his place. He is a self described terrible shot, so he told me I was up first. All I had was a cow tag, he had a rifle bull tag and there really wasn't anything great out there anyway. Maybe 100 head of elk were congregated just across the fence on his place. I spent some time looking things over and picked a young cow out on the edge of the herd. She was broadside at 740 yards. With another beautiful, calm morning, I dialed her and held about 1 MOA of wind. The resounding thwack of the bullet impact was followed by a 30 yard sprint and spectacular crash right at the neighbor's fence.
To be continued...
Next up was archery elk season. My son and I gave it a good shot, but the bulk of the elk were on the next ranch to the west of us during archery season. The crop ground there was absolutely crawling with elk and they took some good ones out of there. Regardless, we had a good time and were on elk most days, they just didn't cooperate.
At the start of October, upland bird, waterfowl, and rifle antelope got rolling. I couldn't get away to get up to my son's place and get after the huns and sharptail up there, but he had his dog on birds several times a week and had an outstanding fall.
I got out a few times chasing waterfowl here at home and had some excellent hunts.
When rifle antelope season opened, I had a couple of buddies come down that like to chase them around. We had a good weekend of BSing and looking for a buck for each of them. They each managed to take a nice, 14" buck and went home with some good meat. I had spotted a heck of a good buck on a place just south of mine during the summer. I called the landowner and asked if I could chase after him all the way back in early August and he said that was fine by him, but I had to wait until he had moved his cows out of there. The Monday following the opener, he called and said that the cows were moved and if I wanted first crack at him, I better get after it. Well, having never set foot out there, I did a little looking around that afternoon. I saw several bucks, but not what I thought I had seen back in July. I decided to just get up high and glass away the last couple of hours and no more than 10 minutes after getting on the little rocky knob overlooking a large part of the ranch, I saw a group of 14 bucks make their way into the stubble field below me. I moved down to a lower vantage point and gained about 200 yards, but they were still out there a good long poke. They set about grazing in the stubble field and were not going to get any closer, so I looked them over and picked the one that appeared to be the best, although there was another that may have been a little better mixed in with the main body of animals. The one I chose was off by himself to the side of the group and was right at 720 yards. The wind was at next to zero, so I dialed him and settled in for the shot. At the break of the trigger, the 6XC recoiled and I watched through the scope as the bullet impacted exactly as anticipated and the buck crumpled to the ground. One tag down!
The next hunt on the list came by way of a phone call from a buddy with a cabin in the mountains. He said that he had a pretty good bear that had been coming out on the hillside above his cabin every day for the last couple of days. I told him I'd be there the next day and packed by gear up. I rolled in to his place that evening and we sat around and visited for a while before I went up the hill to wait for the bear to show himself. It was two days before the opener of general big game, and I had a date with a cow elk spot, so I needed to make something happen. Well, nothing happened. Despite the lack of a bear that evening, we cooked up some steaks and had a little whiskey while enjoying a beautiful evening in God's country. I figured I'd give the bear one more chance to mess up in the morning before heading home to get ready for general big game. The next morning, I was back up near the tree line on the hillside and waiting for daylight. About 15 minutes after the sun came up, here came the bear. He stopped on the edge of the trees and was pawing at a stump when the 180 gr. ELD M smacked him in the side after a 250 yard trip from my muzzle to the bear. Beautiful boar that squared 6'5".
After a quick trip home, I got him skinned and cut up and was ready for the cow hunt the next morning. I arrived at my neighbor's place about 30 minutes before daylight the next morning and we had a little coffee. He lets me hunt and trap on his place and in exchange I help him out with carpentry projects his ranch and a little bit of haying. Well, he is a little late getting going, so we ease up to the top of a hill right at daylight and see that the elk are already on the way off the neighbor's field and on to his place. He is a self described terrible shot, so he told me I was up first. All I had was a cow tag, he had a rifle bull tag and there really wasn't anything great out there anyway. Maybe 100 head of elk were congregated just across the fence on his place. I spent some time looking things over and picked a young cow out on the edge of the herd. She was broadside at 740 yards. With another beautiful, calm morning, I dialed her and held about 1 MOA of wind. The resounding thwack of the bullet impact was followed by a 30 yard sprint and spectacular crash right at the neighbor's fence.
To be continued...