As far as traveling to and from the truck while camping goes... Generally you will probably be less than 2-3 miles from the truck ever. To me this represents a 30-45 minute walk out at night, a lighter pack (>20# per day), and a comfortable place to sleep. It's a no brainer for me. Yes, the allure of camping in the woods is overwhelming at times but I promise you a backpack hunt throws a lot of systems into play. Try that on your second hunt. Location: 1. Yes Bozeman does have a lot of hunters, it is our epicenter for the hunting industry in MT. But, Bozeman also has a lot of elk! This is where careful planning to put yourself in that 1.5-2 hour range from town will help. 2. Generally speaking, anywhere within 1 hour of a major town (Billings, Butte, Bozeman, Helena, or Missoula) are going to be hammered by road hunters and the like. But, success can be found. I found and hunted a 7x7 pushing into the 360's two seasons ago within an hour of Missoula. I have him at 6 yards one night! He would later be poached and confiscated in late September. Bastards. 3. Region 3 can be a great place to hunt, lots and lots of elk. Lots of wolves as you move towards Yellowstone though. As far as specific areas I would probably point you around Helena or Bozeman. I have never personally hunted these areas but I know several guys who do. If you feeling up to it, you can brave the Rocky Mountain Front area that is loaded with Grizz but offers some decent hunting and breathtaking country. I live and hunt in Region 2. Some great hunting can be had but there is also A LOT of people. The Bitteroot is not what is once was. To the eastern side of Region 2 (HD292,298,210,212) the land is predominately large ranches that hold several thousand elk with ZERO hunting access. But, I can certainly help you out more with Region 2 than any others. As far as your truck camping, we are loaded with logging roads here in Western MT. It's entirely possible to set up camp and really have little to no climbing to do. Some of my spots I hunt down from the truck (****ty pack, less people) and others I will climb, though that is usually less than 1000ft in gain. You want have to kill yourself beasting up the side of a mountain. Keep 'em coming!
Just to add my .02. As some of the guys on here know, I went the DIY route to Colorado last year. I worked, and worked, and worked to make sure that everything was right. It took some work (and some help from others), but I did my homework and settled on a unit and place to go within that unit. I got in the best shape of my life. It was me, my brother, and 2 friends. We checked and double checked our gear and made pretty decent time driving straight through to get out there. The weather wasn't the best when we got there, but it turned nice and we hiked in. We backpacked in approximately 6.5-7 miles. Everything was going as planned. Then the weather turned on us. Long story short, within 36 hours everybody except for me was ready to leave. I had no choice but to go. I was and still am extremely disappointed with what happened. I did learn some things from the whole experience though. 1. Make sure that if you go with somebody, that you do it with the right person(s). I cannot stress this enough. 2. Buy the highest quality gear that you can afford. Sleeping in leaking tents and wet clothes is no fun. 3. Don't count on the weather to be your friend. It can and will change in a matter of minutes in the high country. 4. If you have an opportunity at an elk on public ground, you better go for it. I had one opportunity in the short time that I was there and I didn't think that I could make it to the bull in time. I found out later that I could've. I still regret not going for it. 5. Don't hesitate, just make the trip. You are gonna learn a lot from your first trip. I know I did. I regret not going years before. Like I said, my lifelong dream didn't turn out quite like I expected, but it wasn't because I wasn't prepared. I was mentally and physically ready to handle anything that got thrown my way. The other guys, not so much. I will be making the trip again, I'm just not 100% sure when. Go as soon as you can, you won't regret it.
Good info. Unfortunately, a lot of guys got hosed in CO by those rains last year. Hope your return trip is better!
That's right where I was looking when you responded. Are you saying that Region 2 (HD292,298,210,212) are predominantly ranches? There are a lot of elk being pulled out of there for sure. I was looking looking at the eastern 200's (280) east to 422 and up to 442. But if they're ranches, then that's scrapped. Montana's State Website is a great tool. I wish Michigans was half as good. What I'm doing is working up the success percentages from NON-RESIDENT for each Region/unit. 280 has one of the lowest numbers of hunters (67) and 11 Bull kills 1 cow kill. total (12) That's an 18% success rate. (not shabby). I assume by the low number of hunters, it's either a ranch or very hard access. Unit 442 had (138) NON-RESIDENT and a harvest of (32) percentage kill of 28%. Why are the low 200's so overpopulated with hunters? Is the access just that much easier? Do you have any idea how I can find out what are ranches and what is open? I'd really like to find a place that's not stacked asses to elbow with hunters. That would bum me out after driving half way across the planet. I don't mind working for it. Throw a couple of numbers at me in the 200's that you think I should take a serious look at.
Snake_03, thanks for the input. I completely agree, and it's always a crapshoot with the weather, especially September in the mountains. Most of the family vacations that we do are outdoors. I just always expect to get rained on or snowed on. If it doesn't happen it's a bonus. I think sometimes are hunting buddies are more interested in drinking beer and what's happening at camp, if the weather gets a little rough they're ready to pack it in, because in reality, they can drink beer anywhere. Then there are some of us that are going for the adventure of it. Bad weather is part of the adventure.
I'll have to give you more to read on tonight, just got to work. I will give you some in depth stuff.
You clearly work too much. How am I supposed to plan a proper hunting trip with you running off to work everyday? You're being a little selfish. I'm taking the wife and kids out to dinner and a movie tonight. Take your time.
Backcountry...it seems to me that camping out of the truck would be the easiest and best way to go, and thus have the highest number of hunters in areas where that's possible. Am I wrong? Also, is it hard to get permission to hunt on private ground out there? In my experience hunting waterfowl, and I know its totally different, that the farther you get west of the Mississippi river the more friendly the farmers are to allowing hunting.
We got caught on top of the mountain is a thunder storm. Ive never had lighting hit that close to me in my life. On top of that it was an hour and fifteen minutes of down pour. That was a long five miles out that night. A good rain suit is a must. I thought mine was good until about 30 minutes into that rain. I am looking for a replacement now. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk
What were you using? I picked up the C4E rain torrent suit off of Camofire for like half off. Super lightweight, and actually relatively quiet for bowhunting. I tested it in the shower and it's definitely waterproof but haven't had the chance to put it through the ringer for a durability test yet. Sitka, Kuiu, FirstLite, Kryptek, and C4E all get pretty good reviews for their raingear. Some are extremely pricey though.
I was using the Bone Dry from bass pro. It worked great for white tail hunting in light rain. An hour plus down pour an it sucked. The Sitka an KUIU is what I have been looking at. I'll check the others out as well. Ive never been on camo fire I'll check that out also. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk
Generally, you'll find that out west, elk hunting is big money and knocking on doors is not very effective. Hunting is either leased out to outfitters or ranchers sell guided hunts on their own property. Not impossible, but very difficult.
Predominately 212, 210, and 298 are massive ranches. You will not get on them. There are some public areas that surround these ranches but as you can guess they are absolutely plugged with people. Avoid these areas. 292 does hold elk but it is swamped in logging roads which can make it extremely tough to get away from people, not to mention the wolves. Up north (283,283,280) you can find some good hunting and lots of public land, but there will be Grizz and lot of them. Low number of NR can mean a number of things; Lack of outfitters, lack of access, or lots of private land. Personally, I would put more merit into the success rates of resident hunters as they will be hunting under similar conditions as you, DIY. The low 200's are overpopulated due to the vicinity of Missoula. Like I've said, anything within an hour of Missoula will be loaded with guys. I would say, rule out 240 completely. Most of it is a Wilderness (only foot or horse travel), the country is absolutely ruthless and elk populations are low. Honestly, it will be tough to get away from hunters completely. That's where having 3-4 potential spots in your immediate area really pays off. Beings I hunt region 2 I will send you a PM of some units to look at. While your researching, check out this link, it is a map of MT that will allow you to look at private lands, hunting districts, and individual unit success rates along with topo, aerial, and terrain maps. Montana Sportsmen's Atlas
All kinds of great info here! MIHunter...think about how much further up the learning curve you are compared to last week - I'm sure this extra effort will pay off for you! Already looking forward to your story this fall...Good Luck!
You don't know the half of it. BackCountry has given me some real schooling. I can't thank you guys enough. Especially Tembry for posting his Alaska thread (which put the thought of this trip in my mind) and BackCountry for all of the help/advice/tutoring he's given me already. I believe we've already narrowed down a GMU for me! Everyone who's posted on the thread has given me stuff to think about. I originally was going to do a guided hunt. I've decided to do a DIY hunt. It's going to be quite a bit more planning, but for me, I think it's the right way to go. I'll definitely keep everyone updated on my progress with video, pics and posts.
Yep, lots of info in this thread. Its encouraged me to keep learning and trying to put an elk hunt together. I'm leaning more to CO,even though I've always wanted to go to MT, because CO is closer for me, the elk heard is larger and OTC tags.
There are a lot of areas of MT that are OTC tags too. I also applied yesterday for Elk tags in KY. $10. for the application. Doubt anything will come of it, but $10 isn't gonna hurt.
I can't wait to see you behind a stinky ol' elk! You might check out Bowsite or Rokslide for CO info. I know some guys from here have done it but honestly I can't remember who at the moment. The scenery down there is gorgeous! I always thought a KS or PA elk hunt would be a blast.
I put in for the Ky elk tags to. I've never been to any of the Rocky Mtn states so I have nothing to compare it to, but that is some rough nasty country where KY elk are in the south east part of the state. Heck, maybe i'll get lucky and get my first elk right here in my home state. And its only about a 4-5 hour drive. I've even got a buddy that has family out there.
