For you Tocs and for Brutal Attack if you're still checking in, may I ask a question? In your ID hunts, are you on public land? If so, how many whitetail bucks do you typically see in a full, dark-to-dark day in the woods? Do you see 130+ bucks? If so, how many do you expect to see per hunting season? Tit-for-tat, here's my dope from western MT.

Where I live in the Bitterroot, I'm averaging maybe 2 bucks per full day in the woods, and in parts of six season still haven't seen a 130+ buck. I have killed two 3 1/2 year old bucks there, and they net score 105 and 109. That age class will range from 105-120 in this neck o' the woods. This is on USFS land, now if a guy gets private land permission in the bow-only zone down on the river bottom the whole equation changes - that's where the big bucks are.

I've been scouting some country north of Missoula the past couple years, and it's just several levels better than the Bitterroot. You won't see many more bucks, still maybe 2 per day, but the age structure is better. Last season, with my tag already filled (the 140 eastern MT buck I mentioned), I went up there on the final weekend and just simulated a hunt, did everthing the same as I would hunting only left the rifle at home. I saw a 115-120 9-pointer on the last Saturday, and then really hit the jackpot on Sunday. I walked into 20 yards of a brute, even bigger than the buck I had tagged. This boy was 145-150. Man what a rush! I'm really psyched to hunt him. I've done some hard horn hunting up in that spot, still haven't found antlers off either buck I saw, but I have found sheds from two additional bucks, both 3 1/2 last year (est. gross scores of 105 and 120). Those two should score roughly 125 and 140 next year if my math is right, so I'm psyched.