Hey there! Got into bowhunting three years ago and it has turned into my main fall pursuit. It has proven to be lots of work and has helped me gain ton of patience figuring things out but all and all I'm happy with it. That first year I didn't harvest anything because I was purely figuring things out whether that be animal movements, choke points, or bedding zones. Last year I was able to harvest my first whitetail and that was a blast and really got me hooked. Since then I have put a lot more time into scouting and figuring out places that deer move and how to intercept them while they're in the dawn or dusk periods of the day. When the frustration began to boil over I remembered reading Fred Bears 10 Commandments of bowhunting and realized that rule number 9 was where I was screwing myself..."Hunt where the deer actually are, not where you’d imagine them to be.". After shifting my hunting focus to reflect that quote I have taken four deer this season thanks to a generous whitetail doe limit on the Bitterroot River bottom and have really been enjoying it!! Filling that freezer! The reason I have joined this forum first and foremost is to gain knowledge and second is to meet like minded people. Thanks for having me! -Owen
Welcome and congrats. I was surprised by the number of whitetail when I was out in MT in Sep. Though we also saw quite a few muleys.
We're know for our Mule deer and elk but the river bottom hold too many deer...the reason I can buy 7B tags for does over the counter and that's not counting my general license which can go either sex whitetail or mule deer in the unit I hunt.
Welcome to the forums Owen! Give it a chance and you'll really like it here. Incidentally, my wife would just about die to visit the Bitterroot Valley.
Come on down, it's a beautiful place! Lots of hikes and fishing in the summer although I'll say that anyone that tubes the Bitterroot has a death wish...the clark fork and blackfoot are more friendly for that stuff!
Actually it would be up. WAY up. My wife loves to hike. I honestly think the reason she's so obsessed with the Bitterroot Valley is because she's always been a huge John Denver fan and Montana Skies is one of her favorite songs. Probably the best gift I could ever give her would be a trip to hike there. Any suggestions on a good 30-50 mile hike there?
There are definitely some good hikes around here! The most scenic hikes exiting the bitterroot valley leave west the Selway Bitteroot side of the valley as opposed to the Sapphire side which incidentally holds most of the elk that winter in the valley. Starting from Darby there are some great longer hikes you can do up the Tin Cup drainage. If your into fly fishing triple lakes are great. I spent more time with a fish on than off the line up there. Actually, bring a fly rod on all of these hikes as they all go to lakes. Mill Creek to Fred Burr is a pretty good hike although the last 5 miles of the exit is on a forest service road but the scenery from Heinrich lake is fantastic and I've never camped with another party up there because they all go to Mill which is a reservoir feeding a ranch in the valley. Side note: If you arrive after a wind storm that has downed trees keep in mind that the ranch that owns the water rights to mill lake clear the trail every weekend (it was sunday last year) for their stock so they can get up there to lower the damn level at the exit. This can be a lifesaver as it sometimes takes weeks for other trails to get properly cleared. A great hike that has less people than a lot of other bitterroot hikes is the Big Creek Lake to Bear Creek and there are a few options once you get up into the high country including whitesand lake which was very buggy when we were there but still beautiful. If you roll into town or even before you get here I would suggest you buy the Cairn Cartographics maps. These maps have excellent detail and outline many hikes that you could make into longer loops because all the hikes in the bitterroots start in valleys than run parallel to each other allowing for easy entry and exit to the high country if your willing to put in a 10 or 12 mile single push at the start or end of your stay. If you find yourself out here and have question just ask. There are lots of options! -Owen
thanks Owen, I'm planning a trip to Montana next year to do some fly fishing, gonna ck out triple lakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome to the site, alot of great ppl here. LC and Fix are Two of them.
I appreciate all of the info. I will pass it on to my wife. Since it's in Montana she has no choice but to wait until after deer season is over to go.
