Montana 2021

[hobbes]

Did I ever tell you how much I don't like the wind?

 

[hobbes]

One tiny buck, three does, four fawns. That took walking a couple coulees. I don't know how they get away from this. The wind pounded me everywhere I went regardless of which direction the coulee ran. It was especially bad head on walking back across top to truck.

November 16, 2021

youtube.com

 

[hobbes]

I slept in the truck a couple hours regardless of the wind rocking it back and forth. Afterwards, I moved to somewhere that I could glass the east side of some hills from the truck. The wind was strong enough that I could not glass outside of it. It was and still is brutal.

I spotted a buck and a couple does at 2:45 that were around 1.25 miles away. I had the spotter set up inside my truck looking through my driver's side window. I was rocking back and forth so an accurate guess was difficult. He looked to be a potential shooter. He was a 4 point at his ear tips with pretty good height. I couldn't tell anything else.

I took off with the wind pounding me. I covered the distance pretty quick considering the weather but he wasn't there when I got there. I slipped around trying to find him and only found a doe and a fawn. I could not have shot crosswind past about 50 yards. I've not hunted in wind that strong and hope I never do it again.

November 16, 2021

youtube.com

Tomorrow morning is it for my annual mule deer hunt. The wind is supposed to die down a little but still be low 20s tomorrow morning. I'm paid up at hotel and have most everything in my truck so I don't need to come back at any certain time. I'd like to be on the road by noonish, but I won't walk away from a buck that I want to kill.

 

[hobbes]

The wind was still rocking this morning.

It was also a lot colder.

I found a buck around 7:30 near where I saw the buck yesterday evening but I couldn't tell if it was a shooter or not. I lost track of it because it was on the move.

Around 9:30 I found another buck bedded in the sun and out of the wind. I watched him a little while and thought he was a little wider than his ears but the wind was making it tough to judge at approximately 1.5 miles. He got up and moved but It looked like he didn't go far because I never saw him come out anywhere (not unusual in this country).

It took me 30 minutes or so to get there and I slipped around looking and glassing into everything but couldn't locate him. Just as I decided to go back through and peek over another hill, we ran into each other at 20 yards. If this was him, he wasn't past his ears and was not a shooter. He may not have been the original buck.



I saw two more little bucks before heading back to truck and getting on the road.

After about an hour of driving I spotted a really nice buck coming toward the road. Too bad he wasn't crossing onto public land. This is a really bad zoomed in photo. He was out past his ears and had good mass.

I'm home now and really wish I had a few more days to hunt. I think I was around 4 or 5 days early this year. I don't know if it was the warm weather or wind or what. Regardless, I think given a few more days without wind, my odds would go up to find a shooter.

 

[hobbes]

I've woke up this morning really wishing that I was still hunting. This is the weather in the region today.



I'm pretty low on vacation time but I'd burn it all to keep hunting. However, regardless of how understanding my wife is, she wouldn't have been okay with more days away.

 

[hobbes]

I've almost completed a counter height farmhouse table for my wife and I'm fairly caught up at work, so I'm trying to go look for a buck tomorrow in some new country.

I'm no furniture builder so the table has some issues that drive me crazy, but it'll have to do for now.

Unfinished:


Stained:


Weathered wood stain on top (may add a second coat):


Legs painted and distressing started:


Now the important stuff. The weather looks nice tomorrow for hunting. I'd prefer colder, but I'm happy with no wind.

 

[Dos Perros]

Last year I hunted the first week of November, which was the second week of the season, and the week after the big snowstorm. I feel like I timed it perfectly for me, bucks were showing up with does and we were able to kill two mature deer in 4 days. This year (same week) we struggled to find bucks, I don't think we saw a single mature buck aside from one roadside private land whitetail. Makes me think the snow helped us last year, and indeed we were early this year.

 

[bsnedeker]

I drew a MD permit this year and spent almost 2 weeks hunting it and didn't see a single shooter. I think EHD and the draught this year had an impact on the number of good deer. All my buddies ended up shooting whitetails this year. I've definitatly seen some people take some bruisers out of MT this year, but this is the hardest I've ever hunted for a buck and the biggest deer I saw was a middling 4-pointer. The rest were all forks and threes.

 

[hobbes]

Last year I hunted the first week of November, which was the second week of the season, and the week after the big snowstorm. I feel like I timed it perfectly for me, bucks were showing up with does and we were able to kill two mature deer in 4 days. This year (same week) we struggled to find bucks, I don't think we saw a single mature buck aside from one roadside private land whitetail. Makes me think the snow helped us last year, and indeed we were early this year.

Same experience here.

 

[hobbes]

I drew a MD permit this year and spent almost 2 weeks hunting it and didn't see a single shooter. I think EHD and the draught this year had an impact on the number of good deer. All my buddies ended up shooting whitetails this year. I've definitatly seen some people take some bruisers out of MT this year, but this is the hardest I've ever hunted for a buck and the biggest deer I saw was a middling 4-pointer. The rest were all forks and threes.

Ive seen quite a few deer just most of the bucks were young.

 

[hobbes]

Today's hunt didn't go as well as I'd hoped. It was a lot farther drive than I should have done for a day hunt. I left the house at 3 AM and wasn't hunting until almost 8 AM. I saw some does right away but did not like the country. It is not the typical sage/Badland type country that I hunt. It wasn't quite what I was thinking. I'm sure there are some bucks around but I didn't see any with the does that I saw.




I did not stay there long before moving to look at some other country. I was surprised how many folks were out hunting the next area that I checked out. I saw one decent rack sticking out of the bed of a truck but. It was midday at that point, so it was mostly pairs of nonresidents, Washington, Idaho, North Dakota, driving around trying to decide what they were doing for the evening, same thing that I was doing.

I didn't like this country either, the number of hunters and the terrain just didn't impress me. I'm sure there are some deer there. I'd be happy to shoot a big buck in any country,but it just wasn't what I had in mind. I drove back to some country that I've glassed before but still isn't my usual hunting area. I saw several deer but no big bucks. I saw four bucks this evening, two that were chasing does but neither were shooters.

A buck with a doe in a sage flat that I put the spotter on to confirm that hec as not in any way a shooter.






At one point I thought I spotted an awfully tall beef cow. It turned out to be a bull moose in mule deer country. I didn't get a photo of his antlers. They weren't real wide and were not palmated. They looked more like a heavy deer rack than moose.





I saw a dozen or so does this morning and around 15 does and 4 bucks this evening. It was a disappointing day. Considering how far I drove, I should have drove a little farther and hunted country that I'm familiar with and spent the night.

Walk back to truck. I got home at 9:15 PM.

 

[hobbes]

 

[hobbes]

This weekend will be the end of general deer and elk. The weather forecast is almost unbelievable.


I've not hunted elk since opening weekend of rifle in elk camp looking for a spike. I need a miracle this weekend to kill a bull but I'll try.

I have a cow tag that runs for a while (Jan 01 in some districts and Feb 15 in some) and an archery deer tag that runs to Jan 01. Montana also has a new muzzleloader heritage season, Dec 11 to 19 for general tag holders with unpunched tags. However, I've got bird dogs that need to be hunting and that only runs to January 1. I need to be retired to hunt as much as I want but that's not happening any time soon.

As far as muzzleloader season goes......I now have a couple muzzleloader rifles that were a part of Dad's guns. I have a Knight MK85, the first inline muzzleloader, and a Thompson Center Renegade, both in 50 cal. The inline is not legal in the muzzleloader season but the TC is. Dad killed deer with both. He'd be incredibly happy for me to kill an elk or a mule deer with one of his muzzleloaders.

The MK85


The TC Renegade

 

[hobbes]

I had a good friend from back home call today to see how I've been doing and ask about Mom. I saw him at Dad's funeral but didn't get to talk to him much. He brought up some of his interaction with my dad at church years ago that he said meant a lot to him that I didn't recall. It's probably a combination of that and Thanksgiving that has me looking over some of Dad's guns today.

Here is the Knight MK85. I noticed last night when going through the two muzzleloader boxes that he had 209 primers and I didn't know why. However, it looks like he'd installed the 209 conversion kit on the Knight. I'm sure he told me about it in the past and I just don't recall it. Oh how I wish I could call him and ask.


There is still a cheap Simmons 3x9 on it that I'm sure he installed in the 80s, same scope as above with the first buck pictured. I still remember when he killed that buck. He was so excited. He took me to where he killed it and walked me through everything he and the buck both did multiple times. That rack is in his garage. I think I'll bring it home next time and do something with it.

He had a TC Hawken 45 that he killed several deer with and it hung on the fireplace forever. At some point he sold it and bought this TC Renegade 50 cal.




It's actually a nicer looking gun than the Hawken was. He also shot at least one deer with a 40 cal Kentucky Long Rifle. My brother has that gun. The KY doesn't show up too we'll in this cropped photo.

Here's the Kentucky Long Rifle buck

 

[hobbes]

I did not get to hunt this long weekend as planned. Between typical family duties and honey-do's, I was booked up. This thread has turned into a house repair thread as much as a hunting thread. I have my days where I could blow a gasket over it, regardless of how much I typically get away with.

I did watch mallards pour into a wheat field down the road that I'd loved to have hunted but the rancher doesn't allow it. I've also watched a couple whitetail bucks trailing a doe behind the house and another buck trailing a doe down the road. I also broke ice for my buddy's horses a couple days. I love these big draft horses. They are giant babies.


My wife finally talked me into a TV on the fireplace in the living room. It's a real stone fireplace, so mounting options were limited and I've been okay with just having a smaller TV in our bedroom. (There is a TV in the basement that may as well be a gaming room for my youngest.) I opted for increasing mantle size and just standing it there. I bought my oldest son's 65" and he bought a new 75".

The latest hint for another job was "how much would it cost to replace the 80's insert with a modern gas insert?".

Before mods:


Increasing depth:


Boxing it in:


Staining:


Side view:



TV is higher than I like, but it was the best option. (Gladiator, if you must know.)



New table with temporary stools (new ones are on the way) and pre0aring for Christmas tree.


It's been a pretty tough season so far. I've actually not killed anything. That alone pales in comparison to losing Dad. Last year I'd killed an antelope buck, a mule deer buck, multiple roosters and helped my son kill a buck by now. I should be doing a pheasant hunt soon and hope to hunt a couple days with the muzzleloader. Maybe I can improve this season somehow, but I'm not sure that I've got it in me right now.

 

[hobbes]

I dug around in Dad's traditional muzzleloader box and found nearly a pound of triple 7, Pyrodex RS, and Pyrodex P. There are probably enough no 11 caps to dial it in and still have enough to hunt but I'd like to have more. They are hard to get your hands on now. The bullets are all for 45s and smaller, so for a previous rifle and the black powder pistols that I brought home. I picked up some Hornady 50 cal bullets today from Sportsman's.

 

[hobbes]

I drove out yesterday mid morning looking for roosters with Finn. We had one 45 minute hunt yesterday evening in a marginal spot along the way but no birds were found.


I killed one rooster this morning in some fairly miserable weather. Finn's work hasn't been the greatest today but he's not had much opportunity this year.






Walking back to truck into the wind.


Finn trying to chew ice out of his paws


This was my first shot with another of Dad's guns that I brought home, a Beretta A300. The weather was too crappy to carry the over and under. It was a young rooster but it'll do.

 

[hobbes]

We are drying off in the hotel for a little while then back out for afternoon/evening hunt. This is the weather that I wanted during my deer hunt.
Finn is taking a nap. Maybe I should, but I'm afraid I won't get up.

 

[hobbes]

The weather got worse this afternoon and I took one short walk and got beat to heck by the snow and wind. I'd planned to hunt another spot but when I turned around and came back, someone had pulled in to hunt. I like hunting after this kind of storm but not in it so much.








This sharptail was part of a larger group that wasn't sure what to think about my truck.


I should add that I saw two shooter mule deer bucks yesterday and one today. All three were with does. None of them were giants, but all mature bucks. Today's was the best. I may be tempted to come back out with the muzzleloader.

I started Friday morning with a plan to bowhunt for a whitetail buck. I was prepared to hang a stand and hunt all day, but there were no less than 5 trucks where I planned to hunt. I turned around and decided the hell with that, I'd just bird hunt. I spotted a nice whitetail buck trailing a doe before leaving. Maybe I'll go back middle of next week.

 

[hobbes]

Yesterday morning was supposed to be the end of the snow where I'd stayed but that apparently wasn't the case where I hunted. I killed one rooster right away, missed a rooster that I had to hesitate on and let clear Finn, and killed a second rooster around 2:00 PM before driving home on slick roads and blowing snow.

First rooster







It snowed harder as the morning progressed and the wind got harder. Finn and I had both had enough.

I stopped at another spot on the way home and killed a second:


It was a cold drive home