jsc

Me and my dad are planning a Montana whitetail deer/Bird hunt in North eastern Montana. I am curious to know how the deer and upland birds faired with this last winter. I heard that it was a rough winter for Montana all around but I am curious about numbers and what to expect. This is our first trip to this part of Montana and we were thinking of trying around the Culbertson area. Is access on private ground fairly reasonable and how are lodging accomidations for that area. Any information on hunting in this area would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks,
Curt

speeddmn

I'm orginally from NE montana (Opheim area) aroud 50 miles north of Glasgow. The area is flat windy and cold! If you stay around the Milk river bottoms it is more priviate but most folks are nice and allow access if asked. I will be headed back that direction in november for some rifle hunting and will be the first time home in a few years. Lodgeing would be best in the bigger (ha) towns, like Wolfpoint or Glasgow. Lots of deer up north around the Scobey area also.

Again it can get cold, and I havent heard of how the herds are from this last winter. Can call the dept of fish and game and ask.

jsc

Thanks for your reply.

Nemont

Opheim, just like the rest of NE East Montana had record snow and cold last year. They had to postpone Schmek Fest in Lustre in March because the roads were drifted in. The road between Glasgow and Opheim blew closed almost every day in January and February. In Glasgow we had 108 inches of recorded snow, which blew away the previous record of 72 inches.

On top of that there is on ongoing EHD out break:
http://billingsgazette.com/news/stat...1a5435ae7.html

The mule deer and antelope took the brunt of winter and EHD is killing off alot of Whitetails all over Eastern Montana. The upland bird population, especially pheasants are down way below normal.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/stat...ec51a9566.html

We are setting up to have another tough winter according to all projections coming from the Weather Service. So it could be cold and snowy by Nov. and there will not be much game available to hunt. The upside is that there won't be much competition either as the word gets out that our deer and antelope herds are in tough share and the upland bird population is way below average.

I wish the news was better but it is not. I hunt upland birds all over Eastern Montana and It is going to be one of those times when there is alot of waling in between shots and those days of hunting a half our and limiting on pheasants are over for awhile. Thank god for duck and goose hunting and walleye fishing.

Nemont

speeddmn

Well I know it will be hard hunting, but all I need is for that one buck to get with in range, and maybe a doe. All depends on the way the deer are behaving.

gonewest

Montana Man

I work in Malta all summer and drive all over Phillips County. For the most part the deer numbers were down a lot. The mule deer were hit with the hard winter, the whitetail along the Milk River got blue tongue, and the antelope couldn't get back to their birthing ground and a lot of them died. Hunters would call and ask what their was to hunt and all we could say was waterfowl and elk. So far this winter has been very mild so if it stays like this their might be higher numbers of young stuff around, but not a lot of mature animals. You'll probably have to hunt a lot and if you see something that you like you should probably take it. I'm not sure if you'll see something else.
Good Luck and Good Hunting