Headed west! Report back in a week and a half (updated)
 

Well, right after work we start the 1700 mile drive to western Montana. The plan is to arrive by mid-evening Saturday so we can grab some sleep before driving the last hour to our staging parking lot. We'll hike 2 hours in the dark through an area of high grizzly concentration so that we are waiting at the first possible spot for elk when the sun rises Sunday morning. From there it is another hour in to where we'll camp below where I shot my elk last year. The plan is to focus on elk while opportunistically keeping an eye out for big muleys Sunday thru Wednesday. Last year I got nervous about not seeing much game and shot a small muley then saw 2 trophy-class ones the next day. If we do not tag out on bulls by Tuesday we would probably shoot at cows on Wednesday. Thursday will be for hauling meat or a last-ditch effort at a cow in an area with more elk and closer to the truck but where our tags do not allow bulls. Then we will go out for what should be a relatively short antelope hunt either Thursday or Friday morning before starting back.

I will be going centerfire in the backcountry but I will have my Omega when we hit the pairie. If I still have a deer tag this will let me go after a whitetail, but I really hope to take the antelope with it. I will only use the centerfire for antelope if we get short on time and I need to take an opportunity where I can't get in range for the ML.

Good luck Spaniel. I hope you have an excellent but safe hunt.

Good luck sir

Good luck and good hunting, Spaniel.

Good luck, take lots of pics.

Good Luck Keep your bear spray handy they told me when I was in Montana it makes us easterners taste better to the bears. Any way good luck and safe hunt.

Well, we ended up coming back a day early. We humped a camp back into the back country planning on 3 days, ended up only staying two. There was more snow than normal this year, and when we got in we found that snow in the pass we planned to cross had already turned back guys on horses. We tried to go over anyways, and a quarter mile short we could not see the trail, it was getting dangerously slick, and visibility was horrible. We thought we could make it over but we afraid we'd be snowed in back there. We turned back and set up camp at a lower elevation, than made an attempt to run up the pass on the other side of the mountain with light packs to see if it was passable for the following day; it was not.

By now we were exhausted and slept for 12 hours, getting up in time to return to the base of the first pass where elk frequented the slope above and we could shoot 400-800 yds at them. We watched all morning but saw only 6 muley does (I shot a muley buck there last year). Then the weather was so nice and sunny I thought maybe the pass had thawed somewhat, so we made another run at it with light packs. It was still treacherous but we made it over. We went as far as our intended campsite, where I shot my bull last year, but saw no animals. It appeared that in the full moon that night or the afternoon before, after we had left the first time, a sizeable herd had come into the top of the pass but instead of coming down into the area we were watching had gone along the top and off to the north. We decided to leave a day early, go try to fill our deer/antelope tags, and think about coming back. The hike out was terribly windy and we were happy to reach the truck two hours after dark.

The next day we scouted around some state and BLM lands on the pairie, and signed into a blcok management unit. We spotted 3 whitetail bucks bedded down in a winter wheat field and put a mile plus stalk in to get around downwind of them to glass them. On the way, we spotted another group of deer bedded and watching us. They were does, but with my spotting scope I spotted another deer off to the side and it was a buck. We got within about 250 yards before the does got nervous. We set up the camcorder while I prepared to shoot. The does actually got up and tried to circle upwind of us to investigate, getting within 50 yards. Finally the buck got up and followed, and somewhere around 300 yds turned broadside where my 300WM put him down. He was an ok 7-pt. The camcorder footage was not great but it caught the shot.

Then we went for antelope. We met some local farmers and got permission on thousands of acres (they HATE antelope). The 'lopes were a LOT more skittish than last year, and had herded up into bigger herds on flatter ground where approaches were impossible. Typically we could only close to 750-800 yds before they'd move off. My hopes to take one with my Omega evaporated. I ended up trying to set up on a herd at about 750 yds, they got nervous and trotted "away" but ended up crossing 400 yds out and got my doe there.

The next day we went to a flatter elk location where our tags were good for cows. We climbed a butte and were a few hundred feet up on a ledge, glassing over an open and swampy area we later found full of moderately old elk sign. Daylight found no elk anywhere, but we did spot a couple muley does and a decent buck. My buddy still had his deer tag, so we decided to take him. He came in to 550 yds, and we got our scopes dialed up and wind dialed in (only 5mph). I told my buddy when he turned broadside to take him, and if he was hit but did not fall I'd back him up to make sure he could not run where we would be unlikely to find him. Finally the deer turned and my buddy shot, and I saw the deer hunch up. He took three hops to quarter away and looked around; I was afraid he'd run after the does so I sent one downrange and he fell. We both made perfect shots, three inches apart, through the lungs and out the opposite shoulder. I realized after that I forgot to set up the video camera, I'm still bummed as it was a great hunt.

After packing him out we climbed into the high front range for a last chance at a cow. An hour into the hike my buddy saw a cow blow across the trail silently. We dropped our packs and stalked into the brush bit she was gone. I heard a crash behind us and turned, getting my gun up as two more elk appeared on the hillside through the quakies. I found myself staring at a raghorn through my scope. I hoped the second was a cow, but when it stepped into my crosshairs it was a nice 6X6! Darn tag, I could not shoot a bull there. So we went home without elk. There were wolf tracks everywhere (friend of our local friend had shot one near there just days before to punch that tag as it scavenged the bull he shot).

Very challenging hunt, we had a lot of fun despite no elk. I'm trying to negotiate opening morning of deer season so I can get SOMETHING with a ML this year, we'll see how that goes.

Well you had a safe and successful hunt anyway. Maybe you did not get an elk (which is a shame) but the deer will be good eating and the enjoyment of the hunt with friends will always be remembered. Glad you did not get snowed in.

congrats. I was hoping you wherenot going to come back killless. GOt me worried at the begining glad you got one. Hope next year is better.

When I saw the weather reports for that area I thought about you. Ya` done good considering the conditions.