Well this hunting season will be different
 

Well to be blunt I'm in total shock. I don't know whether to be ticked off or just cry. Going of my 14 year of hunting I have never I mean NEVER got a Mule Deer Doe B Tag. Ever Ever. I always get one and usually buy another or two when they are on surplus. I found out tonight that I didn't get one. I just don't know what to say. I have never TROPHY hunted. Always needed the meat for my family. I didn't get any special elk tags which was ok, my odds were less than 1 percent for that. I don't know yet for Antelope. I don't know what to say. Just shock. Don't know what I am going to do for the coming year for meat. I have my general deer tag and elk tag. So I go from avg 3 deer a year to one. That hurts. I hope to God I get my antelope. IF that doesn't happen I guess for once I will TROPHY hunt. Never done it but there is a first for everything. Man this sucks. Come one ANTELOPE tag!!!

This year will be different for me also. normally i hunt a zone that i have hunted for years which is right down the road and the seasons "ends" in the first week of November, just as the bucks are starting to rut.i put in for a zone that is just across the highway from where i have hunted since 1986, also near the house and that zone "opens" in the first week of November. needless to say i will be hunting bucks that are in rut and looking for does, which i have never done lol.i am actually really excited about hunting rutting bucks and the fact i don't have to scout in the heat. i won't even start setting up cams and scouting till October. Ray

I'm not familiar with the system you guys have to live with 50Cal, and don't know what a "Doe B Tag" is. It there no chance of buying surplus tags this year? Do you have to have been drawn for a B Tag before you can buy surplus tags?

Everyone can buy a Deer A Tag. That is what we buy over the counter. Depended on the area you can hunt whitetail and Muley either sex or buck only. Just Depends on the area. A Deer B Tag is a special permit allowing you to shoot a Mule Deer Doe on private property or state land. There are specific areas through out the state. You don't have to draw a B tag to get surplus tags. But If I didn't get one I know that there wont be any surplus B Tags even for the different areas. Just means that alot a people applied for B tags. Montana does have a over the counter B tag on sale starting Aug 8 for whitetail doe. The double edge of the sword on that is there isn't much land open for the public to hunt whitetails. AND they are soo small compared to a muley that I would have to shoot three to equal one doe muley. But alot of the river front property that the whitetails are at just isn't open. ALOT of outerstaters bought the property and hate hunters. Just will be one of those years. And to be honest the damn wolves and griz have knocked down the population. I don't care what people say about MT it isn't the greatest place to hunt anymore. Every year it gets harder and harder.

Sorry to hear about your draw, or I guess lack thereof. I also do not know how Montana works, but I've seen here in MN where someone didn't draw a doe tag but there were still a few surplus tags for that area. I guess what I'm saying is maybe there's still hope.

I hope your right Kirby. FWP always releases whats for sale before you can buy them. So if they did make a mistake I can go to them and get the tags before the general public gets them. But I do have a light in all this. I GOT MY ANTELOPE TAG!!!! THANK GOD. I was going to be really bummed out if my second year of antelope hunting was going to be a dud. Now that I have the tag I can buy 2 Antelope doe tags. So I will do that and get those filled. See what happens next.

At least you have plenty of land out there. I realize you may not have the opportunity to hunt on a lot of it, but here in the small state of Maryland, it is especially difficult to find a place to hunt. Places I have hunted for years are now housing developments. That's one reason why the limits on whitetail deer are so high here. Just because they build a housing development where deer live, doesn't mean the deer just lay down and die. More housing means more people means more cars means more cars hitting deer. It seems like everywhere you go around here you will see a dead deer on the side of the road. This tends to have an effect on deer harvest limits.

My dad grew up in Helena and everytime we go back to visit, he goes on about how different of a place it is from when he grew up. I grew up in Seattle and now it's Northern California... I don't think the Helena area is much different either. It's such a shame though, Montana was the home of my favorite sign: 'Safe and Prudent'... well... before the feds steped in... :happy0001:

Just shows that times are changing. I remember the days when everything was on National Forest. Don't get me wrong there are still game in the forest. Just alot have moved down into private land. Montana has a program called Block Managment that opens the doors to hunters to hunt on public land. But the problem still remains. If you have one ranch that alows hunters and the others around him don't it wont take long for the deer to move on the other ranches. Just gets harder and harder every year. But I still have fun so I guess thats all that matters.

Here in cali there has been no Mountain lion hunting allowed since 1990. throughout the state the last 2 years mountain lion sighting have increased tremendously.last year i set up a trail cam in a small canyon i saw a really nice buck and lots of deer in.after 1 week of the i went back to pick the cam up and not one deer was in any of the photos, although there was a picture of 130 lb cat that strolled through.i have hunted the same zone since 1986 and areas that have held deer all this time are almost void of deer, but no lack of cat tracks. this is happening all over the state.hikers,bikers and joggers are being attacked on a regular basis and deer herds are dwindling fast.we also have the same problem with private property owners blocking access to BLM and National forest. best of luck on your hunting... Ray