Montana 2021

[hobbes]

My wife is good, so the trip is on. My truck is loaded, bed and the extended cab. We are leaving early in the morning. Neither of us wanted to do all of the drive in the dark to arrive at 2 AM.

We probably don't lose hunting time because we'd be beat and sleeping in.

 

[mt100gr.]

My wife is good, so the trip is on. My truck is loaded, bed and the extended cab. We are leaving early in the morning. Neither of us wanted to do all of the drive in the dark to arrive at 2 AM.

We probably don't lose hunting time because we'd be beat and sleeping in.
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Good luck this year!! I enjoy your MT threads.

As the chips fell, I'm currently "isolating" with no symptoms in mule deer country!

The bucks are starting to get excited! You should have a fun week ahead.

 

[hobbes]

Good luck this year!! I enjoy your MT threads.

As the chips fell, I'm currently "isolating" with no symptoms in mule deer country!

The bucks are starting to get excited! You should have a fun week ahead.

Good luck!

 

[hobbes]

Finn is happy to be traveling.

 

[hobbes]

Sun coming up earlier this morning from the road.

Finn can't get comfortable


Came upon a sad sight this morning. Authorities and a rancher were pulling a dead horse off the road. I don't know condition of vehicle, I'm assuming a semi. The sad part was a colt that was walking around its dead mother trying to figure out what to do.

 

[rooster440]

Sun coming up earlier this morning from the road.
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Finn can't get comfortable
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Came upon a sad sight this morning. Authorities and a rancher were pulling a dead horse off the road. I don't know condition of vehicle, I'm assuming a semi. The sad part was a colt that was walking around its dead mother trying to figure out what to do.

That’s sad.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hobbes]

We are unpacked into our hotel room now. We are going to give Finn an hour or two run so he can wear some steam off then glass for deer for two or three hours. We'll likely do a relatively close hunt this evening. It sounds like some folks here had gotten fed up with the wind and left early. They must not have been seeing deer.

 

[hobbes]

We got Finn out for maybe 45 minutes in a marginal location that was easy to check out. We saw a good size covey of huns and three sharptails. They all flushed wild from very low grass. We went straight from there to some BLM to glass for deer. I've driven by this spot previously while deer hunting but we killed a coyote there back in December and I thought it had some potential. We only saw one doe in an hour and a half of glassing. I wasn't impressed, but the wind was brutal and we ended up back in the truck before dark. We'll be glassing for bucks at daylight tomorrow morning in one of my usual spots.

 

[hobbes]

We've seen a good number of deer today but only 5 bucks and all were small. We've moved to another spot to glass this evening.

Sunrise

 

[hobbes]

We saw a lot of deer tonight but only because we were in a spot that let us look at some private hay fields from a long way. All those deer were off limits. We did see a buck with a doe that was fair game but he was another small buck. On the walk out we ran into a big group of does without a single buck. I didn't take any photos tonight.

The wind is supposed to pick back up tomorrow. If it calm in the morning we'll hike a couple miles to glass some stuff a little farther in that I've never glassed before but wanted to. If the wind is too crazy we'll glass a different area where we can find a wind break.

 

[hobbes]

The morning started nice besides the steady breeze that we already had.






By the time we'd hiked two miles to a glassing spot, the wind had increased to gusting to 20 ish mph. We found some does and a little buck then two three pointers that need a couple years. By 9 the wind had to be gusting to 40 and the clouds had rolled back in. We started towards the truck by 10 exhausted from the wind and seeing the dark clouds. The rain started about a mile from the truck. We walked right into around 15 deer bedded in a depression just as it started. They looked at us a while before finally leaving. There were 15 does and three tiny bucks. I'm not getting why we've not even seen a borderline shooter with all these does.

The rain varied from head on to pelting our left side. Our gear was good and wet by the time we dove in the truck. It's cleared off now so we are heading back out but the wind is still rocking.

 

[hobbes]

No photos tonight but we did actually see a buck trailing a doe this evening. I didn't get the spotter on him quick enough to tell if he was a shooter and he was too far that late to try to make a move on a buck that we couldn't determine size.

I'll hunt with my son until about 10 tomorrow then bring him back to hotel. He'll head home and I'll hunt until Wednesday. The wind is supposed to be better tomorrow but still mid 40s and rain from 8 to 1. This is just stupid weather for Montana in November.

 

[hobbes]

There is a steady rain already this morning. It was supposed to be snow flurries and not rain until 9 or 10. I know some high points in the road where we can glass some pretty good expanses of country from the truck but that's not my preference. After yesterday, neither of us want to get soaked again unless we see a buck. I'll probably push harder the next few days on my own.

Isaac will head home by noon. I'll miss him when he leaves. He's sleeping in the passenger seat now. I'll start glassing within a few minutes. I can see a slight pink on the horizon.

 

[hobbes]

I found a buck as soon as it got daylight. He was around a mile and a quarter straight line. I could not get a read on size. The rain had died so we took off to get closer. We got close but it turned out to not be a buck that he was willing to shoot.





You don't want to crawl or sit on these.




This was slicker than snot.






We saw one other little buck and 4 does while back there but nothing we wanted. We were wet again by the time we made it back to the truck and it was time to start back so he could get on the road. I've changed hotel rooms and Isaac just left around 20 minutes ago.

Its still raining some and I've had a linkage of some sort in my wipers break. One is dead and the other sounds awful and hangs up half way. I'm going to look at that then take the dog out. I'll hunt deer all day the next two days. The rain is supposed to stop. I don't want wind but a little would be good to dry this out.

 

[hobbes]

Youtube indicates that the wiper problem is one of the few things that Toyota needs their ass kicked over. Although, I've not pulled the cover yet.

I probably can't do anything to fix it while it's raining without getting soaked again anyway. The meager set of tools that I have on hand probably can't get it done, but I'll see tonight when the rain stops.

 

[hobbes]

I ran Finn around a block management area. We saw some birds but they were running and flushing well ahead of us and diving into a No Shoot Zone. We mostly just got wet and muddy. I hate this mud out here.




Tomorrow's temps are unreal. I prefer cold and frozen.


Cleaning guns tonight.


I'll leave out early tomorrow and try an area that's a little farther drive. I've yet to see a good buck, let alone a big buck.

 

[hobbes]

Nice morning so far. Glassing now.

 

[hobbes]

Saw a dozen does and three bucks. One of the bucks was the first borderline buck of the trip. He was chasing a doe. I thought he was a shooter at first then decided not. If Isaac was still here the buck would be in quarters by now.

I killed a buck here 2 years ago. I first found the borderline buck within 100 yards of this.


Tailgate lunch.

 

[hobbes]

This evening was pretty disappointing with very little to report. I did glass a shed that I first thought was a buck bedded in the brush until I noticed how white it was.

The shed is in this photo



Zoomed


It was still a little brown on the ground side, so this year's she'd. I'd have passed last season but he may be a shooter this year.

 

[hobbes]

I needed to have gotten it done today. This will be a problem tomorrow. They are talking about 65 mph gusts. I may not even be able to hunt.