Missouri Breaks River Running

[scarte81]

Good Evening,

A buddy and I are beginning some early planning on a DIY Elk hunt in the Missouri Breaks. I've read several forums and talked to a couple outfitters around the area. Do any of you guys know of some residents who run hunters up/down river?

 

[mTNhunter86]

I’ll offer this: I hunted the northern units (621-622) last year. I hiked in every morning from a camp near the edge of the cmr and was in elk everyday. Point being, I wouldn’t feel like you have to use a boat for access. I didn’t have any issues with other hunting pressure.

 

[waer0502]

We were fortunate enough to draw on the south side and did come in via boat. An incredible experience where we were able to harvest our first elk! Having a boat we feel, secured some areas we wouldn't have via foot. That being said, we are researching options to access something like mentioned above where we wouldn't need to rely on bringing everything down river in our 16ft boat and have a bit more luxury in a base camp with more amenities we could bring. I am looking forward to other opinions on this topic as the Missouri Breaks is something we intend to try and hunt more, if drawn of course.

 

[scarte81]

Congrats on the first elk! What weeks were you guys out there this year?

 

[scarte81]

How many pts did it take for you to draw?

 

[waer0502]

Hi, sorry for the delay! We were there the 2nd week if I remember correctly and I believe we were at 3 points to get there.

 

[waer0502]

Hi, sorry for the delay! We were there the 2nd week if I remember correctly and I believe we were at 3 points to get there.

I wanted to pass along more info as well:
- we "saw" elk everyday. We would hike in a mile or so each day to a relatively high location for the area and just glass. Morning and evening hours were best, naturally, but we did see elk. Granted, we would see them at night and they were miles away and we would be unable to make a move, but if we found them in the morning, we could make a play by mid afternoon and try some things.
- it was incredibly dry. 2 different days we ran out of water mid day. I always have a water filtration system on hand, but the lack of water left some options rather dirty and it plugged up my filter right away... making filtering water impossible. So, I learned something! Have backup options on the ready or at least a backup filter so that doesn't happen again... having no water was not fun.
- it took a solid 3-4 days before we first got into a solid opportunity. I think if we were to do it again, we would go later in the season or allow some more days for this area. We shot our bull on the morning of the 6th day and by the time we got him out and into town, we only had 2 and a half days left for our 2nd shooter's tag.
- this was a classic case for having quality glass. I had some decent Leupold binos and a Vortex spotter. 8x42's were underpowered binos. I will be looking at getting some bigger eyes and possibly just go big binos on a tripod adapter... could save some time and weight by leaving the spotter at camp or home.

Man... all this talk and conversation about elk hunting is getting me all fired up again!!!

 

[scarte81]

I’ll offer this: I hunted the northern units (621-622) last year. I hiked in every morning from a camp near the edge of the cmr and was in elk everyday. Point being, I wouldn’t feel like you have to use a boat for access. I didn’t have any issues with other hunting pressure.

So you hiked in from a base camp each morning? Any chance you can shoot me a DM? I'm unable to initiate a DM b/c of lack of posts- as I'm new to the forum

 

[scarte81]

I wanted to pass along more info as well:
- we "saw" elk everyday. We would hike in a mile or so each day to a relatively high location for the area and just glass. Morning and evening hours were best, naturally, but we did see elk. Granted, we would see them at night and they were miles away and we would be unable to make a move, but if we found them in the morning, we could make a play by mid afternoon and try some things.
- it was incredibly dry. 2 different days we ran out of water mid day. I always have a water filtration system on hand, but the lack of water left some options rather dirty and it plugged up my filter right away... making filtering water impossible. So, I learned something! Have backup options on the ready or at least a backup filter so that doesn't happen again... having no water was not fun.
- it took a solid 3-4 days before we first got into a solid opportunity. I think if we were to do it again, we would go later in the season or allow some more days for this area. We shot our bull on the morning of the 6th day and by the time we got him out and into town, we only had 2 and a half days left for our 2nd shooter's tag.
- this was a classic case for having quality glass. I had some decent Leupold binos and a Vortex spotter. 8x42's were underpowered binos. I will be looking at getting some bigger eyes and possibly just go big binos on a tripod adapter... could save some time and weight by leaving the spotter at camp or home.

Man... all this talk and conversation about elk hunting is getting me all fired up again!!!

I'm still interested in narrowing down units- as part of me wants to be in the mountains, and not on the breaks. Being that me and my hunting partner only have a point each, we're considering saving the points to draw the breaks in a couple years--- and using a general tag sooner

 

[Gene_The_Elk_Machine]

I’ll offer this: I hunted the northern units (621-622) last year. I hiked in every morning from a camp near the edge of the cmr and was in elk everyday. Point being, I wouldn’t feel like you have to use a boat for access. I didn’t have any issues with other hunting pressure.

I drew in the 700 unit, and I’m looking for somebody who would be willing to drop me off and do pickup at some point. Do you know if anybody does that in that area?


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