Eastern MT Mulies?
 

Anyone have any eastern, southeast MT mule deer experience?

I've heard trophy quality is pretty terrible, but considering coming back during gun season to try to get one. (well a couple)

How hard would it be to get a decent 4x4? 150" 160" ??

This would be public land, or some block management.

Any help/suggestions/knowledge appreciated, trying to get a plan/ideas for 2012 together...

Thoughts on opening day vs. any other time period?

Also thought about getting an antelope tag too just in case I would spot a nice antelope while mulie hunting, although I suspect good mulies are in different areas from good antelope, and not looking to just take any antelope, ie I'd want something nice/wall hanger or nothing. I'd be less disconcerting for a mulie buck though, still would want to put him on the wall though.

For starters whoever told you the trophy quality of mule deer in Region 7 was terrible doesn't know their butt from a hole in the ground. There's some great trophy mulies there, probably some of the best in the state, but like any area there's certain places that have none and some have a bunch. The Diamond Cross has a lot of trophy mulies...the Crow Res, not very many at all. Bottom line you can't pigeon hole an area as huge as Region 7. Your odds of getting that dandy 4x4???...pick a number between 0 and 100%.

There's plenty of places you can find both mulies and antelope in R7. Some places that are so timbered you'd be surprised to find antelope and others that are so flat and wide open that you'd be surprised to see mulies.

The one thing you want to take into account is that eastern and northern MT were absolutely hammered last winter and there were huge die offs of both deer and antelope. There are still quite a few animals overall, but some areas have had drastic reductions in tag allocations. It will likely take several years before populations as a whole rebound to the pre-2010 numbers. So far this winter has been very beneficial to big game numbers.

AK Jeff pretty much nailed it. I live in region 7 of Montana. Some areas are better than others just as mentioned. Do your research if you want a wall hanger. Theres some out there. For example the general area where I like to hunt the mulies are doing good, however the antelope are few and far between. Its in pockets. Another area where I like to hunt, good luck finding a decent deer. 2 years ago that area was awesome but after last winter took a major toll in that pocket... Looking back this years hunting season, I would say this is one of the best years my family has had deer hunting here. Good moisture this last spring and summer yielded some of the best bucks we've killed over the years.

Salukipv1, Honestly Im surpirsed your considering hunting Montana. I remember last year you had a fit about Montana raising there non resident lic fee's on another thread on this same forum and now your wanting to hunt Montana this upcoming year?

ha, I mostly just hate the multipliers, especially MT, I think I calculated a non-res pays like 43x more than a resident?

I hunted elk in MT twice before, I'm planning to be there this fall for elk with the bow, and thought about drawing the big game combo instead of just the elk combo and coming back to try to get a decent mulie, I still don't have a mulie buck.

I did boycott it last fall, didn't want to hunt elk in MT last year anyway nor had any time to.

Honestly though if I hadn't hunted there before and didn't have a spot picked out now, to try to randomly DIY an elk in Mt for the 1st time for $950 or whatever, I would probably choose against it. But I feel like if I go again between the 2 of us, 1 of us should at least get a shot at a decent bull elk, if not both of us.

This winter sounds awfully mild so far... might be a decent fall for most of the west?

Remind us what the multiplier is for a non-resident, free range elk tag in Illinois???

same price for residents and non-residents, ie. 1x multiplier.

Yeah, and how many non-resident elk tags has Illinois given out in the last hundred years???

The point is you should thank your lucky stars that Montana gives you any opportunity at any price to hunt elk in their state, because the opposite certainly isn't true.

Actually the multiplier is any number you want to pull out of thin air because any number multiplied by ZERO = ZERO. You can argue that Montana's 43x multiplier is unfair, but I can argue that Illinois multiplier is truely unfair because it's a 1,000,000 times the resident price. Your mathematical argument isn't doing you any favors.

Hunting SE Montana
 

I live in the SE Montana and if you check my site here I have posted some pictures of what we have been taking off our ranch. If you plan on hunting public and block then you probably won’t see a whole lot of trophies. Those always get hit the hardest and fastest. We offer hunting on our private property for a fee that is less than most outfitters, but we don’t guide so you can go out and hunt your way either by yourself or with a group, we can accommodate both.

By doing your research you can find some good deer. Give the region 7 FWP a call and ask to talk to the deer biologist to get some advice as to where to hunt.