Hope hunting is going well for everybody. We're right in the middle of Montana's 5-week rifle season for deer and elk, with prime-time coming up, both to increasing snow in the mountains and the deer rut just starting.

One interesting phenomenon that's been happening the past few years, though, is many if not most elk have already moved out of the mountains before the snow falls, due to LOTS of elk up there, without as much feed as down in the valleys, plus really hot, dry weather in late summer becoming a very common pattern. This year we had the driest July on record in our area, and August wasn't much better. Consequently herds of hundreds of elk were already congregating on irrigated hayfields down in the valleys even before the bow season started on September 1st.

I headed out yesterday afternoon to check a couple areas for mule deer. We don't need an elk, since Eileen killed a big cow last year, and there was still some meat left from a younger cow she'd taken a couple years before, but as I drove toward the first mule deer place, the highway passed one of the big elk herds, at least 200 head, feeding about half-a-mile away in a center-pivot field. It was just before shooting light so I didn't bother to stop and glass them, continuing on to the deer spot--where the only buck I found amid the does was a 2-1/2-year-old 3x3. The big boys aren't quite involved yet.

On the way back I discovered FIVE pickups on the highway, watching the elk herd. These days a lot of local elk "hunters" do it this way, hoping the big valley herds will be spooked from non-hunting land onto one of the smaller chunks of state or BLM land, or a hunting-friendly ranch. I stopped and looked at the herd as well (it wasn't going anywhere), finding half-a-dozen small bulls, and the rest cows and calves. In this particular hunting district, antlerless elk are legal on the general tag, mostly because there are so many down in the valley that landowners often complain to the game department--even the landowners who don't allow hunting.

After looking at them briefly I headed home--where I discovered Eileen had just dragged a big whitetail doe into the garage, taken on the local riverbottom Wildlife Management Area while I was out looking for a mule deer buck. She also saw one small whitetail buck, which was definitely looking for love, but this coming week the rut will be really coming on, so she'll be out on the WMA looking for a bigger one, while I fool with the mule deer.

Good luck, wherever you're hunting!

Guess what John? I got a few more elk tenderloins yesterday. We were in that group, waiting for the elk to cross over but couldn't wait any longer and just shot a few of them...

I'm sure the landowner was grateful!

Two whitetails in the can so far, with a crossbow of all things, and me with a barrel of rifles, including a new Barrett. I bought the crossbow to have more time in the woods while the deer are actually there, as opposed to the other side of the Shenandoah where they go when the pumpkin brigade arrives. Nice fat adult doe and a buck that probably had 30 pounds on her, but a tiny 8-point rack. Now I can relax a bit and might do a bit of woodcock hunting before the rifle, doe, and ML seasons. There's a week before Christmas when only point-ed sticks are legal again, so I may save my last tag for then.

My first season with the crossbow. Both deer were taken at ranges similar to what I shoot deer at on that ground during rifle season: 35 and 32 yards; one from the ground and one from a low treestand.

Best of luck to all, and be safe.

Only one doe so far with a muzzle loader. It's been really warm here in September and didn't get out until October. Been passing up does left and right with only scrub bucks around. Last week the real bucks started showing themselves and had a decent 8 point coming in, but he winded me. They cut back on our bucks this year, we're only allowed 3, so you have to pick wisely. We had really hard rain yesterday, so I didn't go out. But today I'll be out with the crossbow this afternoon, but the wind is blowing 30mph. The rut will really kick in next week.

Good luck hunting Y'all.

Banner acorn crop in the piney woods. Hunting should get better when they are gone. Even the pigs aren’t hardly coming to the feeders. They aren’t hitting the oat patches either. These three decided they wanted a little corn Monday.

do you walk up on the trap, or drive up? Or is there a stand?

I park about a 1/4 mile away, wear rubber boots, use corn oil for scent killer on boots and hands. No stand, just a trap pen, if you drive up close to pen before setting, you probably won’t have much luck. Feeder goes off one a day.

does it keep them thinned out, or are you doing it for the meat?

Love the elk pic with the scopes and bipods on each side and the old easy carrying iron sighted lever gun in the middle. What the heck is that contraption with the fence and dead pigs? A few years ago some poor guy a few miles from here had his hogs break out of their enclosure in the winter. The local fur and feathers authority told the public to shoot them as catching them was not working. So for one brief moment in time we had a hog season in Alaska. I would of looked for one, but my darn work schedule interfered.

I felt bad for the guy as he probably had a few bucks tied up in them.

Mule Deer, the....uh....mule deer aren't quite in rut yet either here in the Bitterroot. I saw 3 lone mule deer does this morning, but I did talk to two guys cruising around in an UTV that said they saw a good buck chasing does, but he supposedly never gave them a shot.

Montana isn't the only place hunters park on the side of the highway and watch for elk to cross onto public....it is just as bad in Wyoming and everywhere else I have chased them.

The deer season ends tomorrow for behind my home and a week from tomorrow at our cabin. I have a nice doe in the freezer with one more tag to fill. It rained pretty good with high winds for a couple of days keeping me inside and some family commitments had me missing out on two evenings so I am happy with what I have so far.

Bucks have been few and far between which is unusual at the house. The neighbor did not shoot a bruiser so I am hoping one wanders by. The cabin is pretty short on bucks as we have had 3 years of buck only limits and two of buck only or a doe if one draws a permit. That put a hurt on the QDM efforts regarding buck numbers with few older ones. It'll probably take 4-5 years until buck size and numbers get back to norm, providing the tag does not revert back to buck only.

As soon as I can fill this tag I can go back to my true love- chasing birds. The cold weather has the marshes freezing up allowing access to the roosters. If the fields dry out the farmers should get back to harvesting and the birds will have fewer places to hide.

Well, Archery season for Deer has been on since mid-Sept, here in CT. Landowner Rifle has been open since the First of November. So far it's been a bit slow. It's been very warm and very wet as well so far we got one doe tagged and we have no plans to shoot any more does. I let three walk by this morning. The trail cams show that there are some decent bucks on my property but my guess they are laying down during the day. It's been warm. Things should heat up with the Rut, so the next week or two should be good.

No way I could butcher all the pigs I catch. I clean one every now and then

What caliber was the lever action Shrap??? Off for whitetails tomorrow.. Did mule deer and antelope.. Elk will have to wait.. No fun just work.. Just spent a week shooting birds.. Wonderful.. My dogs loved it.. So did I.. One of my friends offered a super cool hunt on his club.. But I have to round up a double for that.. Could borrow, but no fun in doing that.. Have a great one fall is about over..

2 deer down in GA so far. 10 more left on the season limit. Got some venison chili bubbling for the fam!

Thnx for the encouragement.

1 Doe in Oct, antlerless only season.
1 8 pt on Opening Day, 11/10/18

This is also 5 weeks (6 weekends) of Regular Modern Gun season. I have several tags to go.

Jerry

Hang in there Jwall, I only hav e two deer tags left one doe and one any deer.. Hope to fill them in the next couple days, the the chore of elk.. What bastards they are.. Shooting is fun, but when they hit the ground, [bleep]!!

W C H

I can only imagine but I’ve always wanted to hunt Elk. I enter our permit drawing every year but ...............

Good Success to you & yours.

Jerry

The lever action is a 45-70 1886 SRC. It is also a photo of opportunity, because he didn't have a tag and didn't even shoot. That never stops him from adding to the story in the picture...

It's a bit tough reading about all these deer adventures taking place right now. Our deer season doesn't even begin for two more weeks.

Best of luck, John. No deer yet but I have a late season whitetail hunt coming up. Tagged a 5x5 bull in Colorado last week so the freezer is full anyway! Happy Trails

I don’t know if you’re in the same PA I’m in, but “deer season” has been in since the last weekend in September here.

Good luck everyone. Missouri has been unseasonably cold. I have seen some does and little bucks. But there has been some real good ones killed by other I know. Two of my buddies daughters killed nice ones.

Took a doe a 3 weeks ago to stock the freezer. Now I can hold off a little for a buck. Our season runs through mid January so there’s plenty of time to fill the freezer.

Ours ends the first weekend in January. Plenty of time yet.

Indiana's firearm season opens this Saturday, the 17th. Open for 16 days.

Temperatures are forecast in the 30s days, 20s nights..........perfect meat hanging weather.

Come to Daddy, deer!
I gotta test out this 7x57mm Mauser!

God Bless

Iv shot a 7 pt whitetail but the coyotes ate most of him, took a doe last monday, rifle opens on thurday! cant wait!

Yes, the elk in my neck of the woods apparently are becoming a bunch of big pansies. A couple 2" snowstorms in the days prior to our third season and all but a few elk vamoosed from a hotspot that has not let me down in 15 years. My dad and son both drew cow tags, my dad shot the only elk he saw (on public land), and for the first time in his elk hunting "career"my 19 year son didn't score. What made it more difficult to figure out was this year--despite being a dry winter and early summer--the grazing permit on the NF allotment surrounding our high country place was reduced significantly and there was still grass up there in a lot of places. I had planned on doing some elk hunting with a OTC license in an adjacent unit but ultimately spent my time "guiding" my 88 year old dad and son.
Sheesh.......

I had to cut my normally 9 day hunt short. I killed a nice bull opening morning.It took me Sat an Sun .to get it packed out,but I was home by Monday. I much prefer to kill an elk mid week after I have hunted a few days.

Alpinecreek. There was indeed grass up high,but at 8-9000 feet it was grazed downed to the dirt.I was going to pack in a few miles,but there was no grass for the mules and I didn't have enough pack animals to pack in feed for them.I didn't want to camp at10,500 feet where the elk were.

My club lease is crawling with button bucks. That said, one of my usual stands (which for some reason I didn't sit Saturday morning) produced an eleven point buck for a guest hunter. No hard feelings though, I took a really nice buck off that very same stand when I was a guest there in 2005.

Filled a tag yesterday here in Missouri. Still have one tag left. Now that the pressure is off i think I will go out again. Should be fun we have lots of snow on the ground.

Our seasons end way before the rut and big boys show up. Oct. 10-24 for many areas. Takes a lot of luck to find a big mule deer buck the second week of October. Add to that hunting on public lands in open hunt areas and your chances of finding a truly big buck are slim. Did shoot a pretty nice 3 point, but no true giants were spotted by anyone in our group.

No hunting for me yet this year. Rifle season opens the 17th. I am really looking forward to getting out.

I'm a rifle hunter.

My Son and one of his friends tagged bucks on Saturday and does on Sunday. I was guiding them and didn't see any bucks that were either big enough or unique enough to justify a trip to the taxidermist, so I tagged a couple of RIVER WMA does. Those 4 deer and the 2 that I tagged in October will fill our freezers. My Son and his friend are planning to go out on Saturday AM, which means that I'll be guiding again, and try to punch their remaining RIVER WMA doe tags.

7mmMato,
How are the deer numbers in NW MO? I hunted Nodaway County last year and was taken aback by how few deer I saw.

Had a successful NL moose hunt a few weeks ago. If my calculations are correct, that meat, in the freezer, cost about $35/lb. and worth every penny.
Local whitetail gun season opens Saturday, and looks promising. Might even get some snow.
Spent the last 3 mornings taking one of my grandsons out with his crossbow. Saw 5 different bucks and a few doe, but no good shots. It was enough to get his enthusiasm up, mine too. Kid wants to use my old 300 Savage for the opener instead of his 270!
Good hunting to the rest of ya'll.

Well I suck. I went out Saturday night in the wind and a doe came through and winded me and took off. Then a little 4 point came through after her and winded me and put his nose down and got back on her trail. Then a real nice 8 point follows him, winds me and follows the doe. 15 minutes later the doe and 8 point return. The doe leaves and the 8 point goes under a tree and scrapes. Then very slowly grazes his way towards me, gets 25 years and stops behind some trees. He stands there for 20 minutes and doesn't move. I watched the sun go down and it's getting dark. He finally steps into the clear, but he's facing me and continues to stand there. I'm running out of daylight, so I take the chest shot and hit him high. The bolt was all of the way in to the fletchings when he ran down into the creek bottom where it's swampy and thick briars. I looked for him down in that mess in the dark, but but couldn't find it. That sucks and I hate it when I lose deer. I should have been more patient and waited for him to turn, but I let it rip. It was about 45 minute of heart pumping action.

So I went back to the stand Sunday morning to hunt and look for the 8 point. It was 25*, frosty and calm. It was a beautiful morning. Right after the sun came up, I noticed a buck walking across the grassy field at about 60 yards. He's headed away from me, so let out a couple of short grunts and he came to me. After I shot him, I went back down into the briar thicket and looked for the 8 point. I found some blood, but not enough to track. So Sunday morning was bitter sweet.

After two days of driving I’m in Missouri visiting my sons. Got a non-resident deer license yesterday, got 3 days to hunt . We’ll see how it goes.

Thanks for telling one on yourself for the team. Might keep someone else (me, for instance) from making the same error. I just began using the xbow this season and am two for two, but wasn't really tempted with any questionable shot opportunities. These things are hammers, but frontal shots are tough even with a rifle at times. I took that shot with my ML a couple years ago, and while he dropped like a rock, penetration of the X-Bullet was less than I expected, and it lodged in his spine between his shoulders. I was worried it would churn up his guts, but it never got close.

Even broadside shots can go bad. My son had an arrow bounce out of the shoulder of a buck a couple weeks ago, from a bow set somewhere in the high 60s, I believe.

It has been an interesting season. I had no particular plans, but got a couple of last minute chances to hunt.

The first was an opportunity to close a chapter opened in 2004 when a mountain goat hunt in the Chugach ended without a goat. The terrain and the goats won. This time I had a chance to hunt the Coastal Range in BC. Despite 14 more years on the old bones and less than perfect conditioning due to the last minute plans, a great guide made the difference.
Tough terrain. great hunt. I am happy with the experience.



A chance to hunt MD in ID. A great area with a lot of game. A lot of deer but it took work to find a mature buck. A good chance to use the old classic 270 Win.

Well done! Congratulations.

Our rifle season begins Saturday. I have a few nice bucks on my cameras so I'm pretty excited. I've noticed a couple bucks that must be from the same gene pool as their brow tines go up and the tips point forward. Pretty cool. Good luck to everyone!

Thanks, John.

They are getting better but no where near what they were 6-7 years ago. Used to be if you had a place with a little cover you would see a lot of deer. Since we had the big blue tongue outbreaks those marginal areas are pretty thin on deer. They have limited the amount of does you can shoot and the population is increasing.

They are getting better but no where near what they were 6-7 years ago. Used to be if you had a place with a little cover you would see a lot of deer. Since we had the big blue tongue outbreaks those marginal areas are pretty thin on deer. They have limited the amount of does you can shoot and the population is increasing.

Missouri update: shot a Missouri-legal buck this morning, but a trophy by no means. Cold weather, halfway through my 3 days to hunt, expensive non-resident tag to fill, and a need to show my boys that the old man’s still got it...

W C 264

ALLLLLLright ! So Nice !

Love the pix, thnx for posting.


Jerry

Tough climbs, relatively long shots, but the experiences of a lifetime. I feel very fortunate to have had this chance.

Dang, Dude, I'd say you did pretty well for yourself!

Sheep get all the glory, but goats are amazing-looking animals, almost like something somebody dreamed up. That buck'll do too. What a great season for you!

I’m very fortunate to have married a woman who tells me that the next 5 years - now that I’m retired - are important for me to do those hunts done that require a signficant level of physicial effort, while I still can. She’s also responsible for me going to Africa.

Agree that Rocky Mountain goats are very underestimated. The hunt was definitely tougher than my Dall sheep hunt in the Talkeetnas. They offfer the challenge of a sheep hunt at a fraction of the cost. A great experience and a phenomenal trophy.

Sounds to me like you have a ....

TROPHY of a wife ! !

Congrats on both counts.


Jerry

Opening weekend of rifle season in the delta zone of Mississippi, saw plenty of deer but nothing that I wanted to tag. Hunted some really thick cover Saturday night and busted this 165 pound sow running through the woods right before sundown:




145lrx @ 2925fps from my 7mm-08AI punched both lungs, heart and exited through the shoulder. She ran about 40 yards after being shot, I had no difficulty following the blood trail:





Hopefully I'll have an opportunity on a nice buck later this season.

David

Early evening on Michigan opener the 15th of Nov. Dropped an eight point with my Ruger 77 MK II in .257 Roberts. Very satisified with the terminal performance of the 110 gr Nozler AB. Love my 257 Bob

Adding meat to the freezer. Took a nice doe opening weekend (11/3/18) and took a doe again this past Sunday (11/18). Brought a friend along and he took a 3 1/2 year old 8 point that was pretty nice and a doe. I've got 5 tags to use so I'm spreading it out a bit to enjoy the season more.

Hey Mule Deer,
I was in the breaks last week and the mulie bucks were chasing the does like there was no tomorrow. Saw some descent ones but non I wanted to pack 5 miles back to camp. Did not see any elk though. It was cool at night, about 7 to 15 degrees and during the day warmed up to a sweltering 25. just another great time to be in Montana.

killed a decent 9 point with a bow in mid oct.
killed a decent 11 point with a rifle last week.
wife killed an awesome 145" 9 point with a rifle 2 days ago.

we did well

BluMtn,

Thanks for the Breaks report! Love that country. Have passed up quite a few bucks there, not just because of the pack but because I want to go look at some more! Breaks country anywhere in the West is just such a fine place to look at mule deer, even if you never pull the trigger.

Killed some more pigs

A small tom turkey.

Got one that's good in that regard as well. Not only does she encourage me to get out there and do what I enjoy, she also acts as a brake when I try to do too much. Rare gal, this one.

I'm not going to any distant climes, but am fortunate to live very close to decent public land and have the time to go when I want to as opposed to trying to cram my hunting into a week or so of vacation and weekends. I spent a bunch of money on tags, not so I could kill mountains of deer, but rather so anytime between the end of September and the end of the year, I can pick up a rifle, crossbow, or muzzleloader and go deer hunting. I'm just about half-way through the season, have two down, and am very casual about taking more, but not about getting out there. I'm hoping that this year will bring a number of light snows as opposed to the occasional two-three footers we've been getting that shut down all the fun. Thought about getting some snowshoes, but when we get a big dump, I can't get to the WMA to use them.

Last Saturday opener saw 2 small bucks being rounded up by a mature 8 pointer, probably 4 1/2 years old. Had him cold at 20 yards in the crosshairs and put the rifle down to take some pics of his behaviour.

Nothing all week but squirrels until 3 does working their way through the forest 70 yards in front of me yesterday morning. Held off waiting for a buck to follow but nothing.

Fortunately, I still have ammo left for the next outing.

Deer season was a 12day lodgepole thicket search for a giant buck. I never saw him. Elk season was a 33% success. I had an Elk tag, Bear tag, Cougar tag. This is what I tagged. Well I would show what I tagged but file attachment is not available on 24hr

I got my copy of Gun Gack II, and then drove to Montana from San Diego for a mule deer hunt south of Miles City. We were hunting on the LO ranch, and it was way cool to see their brand represented on a wallboard collection of Montana brands. I passed on a nice 4X4 on the first day, and then shot an above average 4X4 the second day. My hunting buddy shot a nice 5X6 whitetail buck the following day.

My lesson learned was read one of John's books before hunting.

jim

well just got back from Montana we got our tags filled with average Mule deer bucks this year ,also got 42 Canadian geese ,had a few beers and I made a thanksgiving dinner for the 4 of us, that Thanksgiving day we got 10 honkers too . hope all had a great blessed thanksgiving week and did well if you hunted that week too as we did again ! Pete53

I picked up a couple new guns this year that I wanted to kill some stuff with. After it was all over, the locker is more than full; 3 deer, 2 turkeys, 2 elk, 1 antelope and rabbit season hasn't even started yet.

This is the new Creedmoor in 257 Roberts with a couple trophy whitetail fawns...





Then the new Shiloh 1887 Creedmoor in 45-70...





Even Rick Bin showed up for a few days of deer hunting in eastern Montana...



And of course the main meat in the pot 300 WBY and a couple elk...

shrapnel, wouldn't your last post and pics be better suited for the dinkathon thread? (kidding of course)

I do have the winning entry in the dink-a-thon with that tiny buck...

I didn't see any bucks that were worth shooting when I wasn't guiding my Son and his friend, so I punched 4 antlerless tags.

My Son got a nice 4x4 and a doe and his friend got an even nicer 7x6 with 8" brow tines and a doe.

Here's my final trophy of the 2018 Montana big game season--the biggest-bodied forkhorn mule deer I've ever taken. It weighed 135 pounds field-dressed after a week of aging, so weighed around 175 on the hoof.

It also topped off the freezer--well, except for the birds we'll kill now that big game season is over. Started that off right this evening (the first day after the Montana rifle season closed) by taking a rooster pheasant with Lena the Labrador, who worked the old bird perfectly on a little spot of public ground about 5 minutes from our house.

I think that's the first picture I have ever seen you post MD.

Good eating sized deer too! Nice work!

Thanks!

I've posted a few other photos fairly recently, due to Rick Bin making it far easier.

John,

What are the details of the rifle and load?

Canada Geese.

Took a little freezer filler upper with my 375 Ackley and the 250 TTSX...

Elk season resulted in tag soup. Did get a bull to within ~50yds screaming at me but couldn’t get a shot. Did have a great adventure with my bride. She’s quite the trooper.



Did get some meat for the freezer during deer season. It was a cool hunt as I hunted the mountains where I grew up.

This season was the most memorable season of my hunting career as I was able to watch my 10 year son harvest his first ever big game animal. He made an awesome 312 yard shot on a nice 22" 4 point....Best of all he loved every second of it and is absolutely hooked...His deer by the way was one of the larger body mule deer I have seen harvested- It hung at 143 pounds at the processors . It had almost as big as body as the 181" toad I killed last year.



I managed to draw a good antelope tag with 3 points in Wyoming and was able to take this nice heavy buck...Pics don't do it justice as it was 14 and 14.25 with heavy mass - grossed right at 79"




My wife seems to be a pretty consistent deer killer the last few years and continued the streak with a nice little 3 point this fall...



I chased around a nice 170 class buck up to the last day and was closing in on him when he was shot out from under me....So that afternoon on the last day, I notched my tag on a meat buck...



Elk never did cooperate...I jumped a 330 class six point walking out a ridgeline, but he was two steps and into the dark timber before I could get my rifle up for a shot....Watched two other sixpoints fight each other at about 900 yards, as I crested the last ridge of my stalk to settle in for an apporx 350 yard shot - they were gone...Just how elk hunting goes...lol

Killed another damn pig!

Well since we're posting pictures, I may as well join in.

Had a pretty good year myself, and while big game here is about done (only a late season extra cow elk tag left), I have an absurd amount of pheasants and chukar left to kill, which is the absolute best part.

I'll also be chasing lion hounds over Xmas and New Years, but will just be a dog handler. Then it's on to Spain in January for Mouflon sheep and Iberian Red Stag for myself to hunt, plus two bison hunts I'll be helping out with.

So, as far as big game: here goes

Alaskan elk


Wyoming mule deer


Wyoming antelope


Wyoming moose


Wyoming elk


Montana whitetail

Lots of sage and forest grouse, plus some bonus predators:


Turkey from this past spring, if that counts:


Don't ask about the bow....long story

Bad picture of a Montana wolf another guy shot, but I called in (so I am claiming it here).

That's good shït right there...

Not so fast, sidepass. Those geese could've hatched in and migrated from Canada, making them Canadian.