Montana elk hunting- picking a unit-key things to consider?

[tbowers]

I'm heading to MT next fall with a general tag for elk. I've been pouring over Excel sheets of harvest estimates, staring at OnX...all your standard items you can do to prepare from afar. Curious as to what the top things folks look for when picking a unit to start in- % successful, number of hunters, number of overall elk taken, etc.

Obviously its a combo of all these things but do some folks give priority of one over the other? I would be looking to kill any elk so i've been looking mainly at overall success % and number of hunters. And cross referencing the regs to see what the gen tag allows to be harvested. I have been looking at the sum of both NR and Res hunters.

Appreciate any tips/tricks- I'm just trying to pick a starting point to hunt next fall and gain some experience. I'm sure plenty others have gone down t his same road with planning from afar and not having any experience or knowing anyone with first hand experience.

 

[TexasIcon]

Following...

I'm headed to Montana in a few weeks for my first elk hunt up there.

 

[Pgohil]

Gotta remember Montana stats are worthless. There are no requirements to report harvest or hunting days or units hunted. Supposedly they randomly call so many hunters at the end of the season and ask them. But there's no way to know for sure how many animals were killed in any hunt district, or number of hunters per district. So it's really a crap shoot.

As far as picking units. Generally speaking the closer you are to the major metropolitan areas the more pressure there is. But that's not always a bad thing remember everybody's pushing deeper and deeper don't overlook the close stuff that's easy to hunt. I killed my bull last week less than a mile from the truck!

 

[tbowers]

I know the numbers are all 'estimates' which is frustrating for a guy from WI where they can tell you exactly how many deer were killed and number of hunters.

That said, the numbers are what we have and its better then nothing and at least gives a rough idea of whats going on in the unit.

Trying to see if theres a decent unit in central state so I can spend more time hunting then in the truck. I know the SW part of the state has higher densities(elk and hunters). For example its 14 hrs to around Unit 411 near central state or 18 hours to around the Dillon area.

 

[tbowers]

After months digging around I've noticed pretty much any forum post you read on units say the same things like 'high pressure, tough access, all elk go to private, there are better units nearby, etc, etc'

I get it, people generally arent going to publicly notate that they went to a unit and there were piles of elk running around them everyday and no hunters around. If you have a crappy hunt there is no harm in telling the world as what do you care of others go there and also have a crappy hunt? The other thing is misery loves company, so if someone asks for tips on 'X unit' you typically will get a dozen responses telling of negative experiences.

At the end of the day I imagine a guy just needs to pick a spot on the map and give er a go and see for himself what its like. It can burn a guy out , especially if you are trying to pick a unit for the first time in hopes of returning there year after year to get more and more familiar with it. What if you go the first year and there are 25 trucks at each trailhead and you see no elk or sign...then you are basically starting over the next year. I suppose that is part of the 'fun'!

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I just returned from a 8 day hunt in the Bob in NW Montana. This is a huge wilderness area and one would think that due to its remoteness and difficulty in accessing/hunting there would be droves of elk. That was not the case. The access/hunting challenges have made it difficult to control predators, and right now the overall elk and deer populations are very low. The 8 hunters in our party saw a total of 2 elk in 6 days of hunting covering thousands of acres of wilderness.

My best advice to you, as a fellow midwesterner that is going DIY, is to get out to MT and try to scout/glass several areas before the season starts next summer. That is the only way to confirm the estimates and effectively narrow down your unit selection. I know this requires additional burn of vacation days, but if I were going DIY and driving from WI, it would be worth it in the end.

P.S.- My brother and I had phenomenal experiences with local residents when we were in MT. It may not hurt to simply knock on some doors or make some phone calls in the areas you plan to hunt to see if you can get some local intel.

Good luck!

 

[Maidenfan539]

This year was my first elk hunt and a buddy and I hunted Montana. I contacted the regions biologist via email and talked to her on the phone in June. She provided me with some general info. The email was pretty specific on locations and questions. She answered the questions and applauded me for doing my research.

Started marking way points and made a 4 day trip to scout those way points. During that scouting trip we ran into a few local ranchers who pointed us in a general direction.

Opening day we hunted hard and had a 5 point just outside of shooting range. The bull was about 150 yards off a 4 wheeler trail that was heavily used. Had 3 other "in counters" with elk that week but didn't fill the tags.

I'm going back solo first week of Nov to see what happens.

I learned a ton of info from people on this site (thank you). The best advice is to just pick a spot, be mobile and go. There are huntable elk in every general unit and there's no "magic place" you will find on the internet.

Good luck!
Lance

 

[Superdoo]

I'm in the same boat and going this year. I had all of the same feelings as you. At the end of the day I decided Dillon was too far and found a spot with a large amount of public. I have spent around 60 or more hours staring at a computer screen marking access points, water, feeding areas and verify what roads actually exist. I have a plan for warm weather and a plan for cold weather. Within each of those plans are are several areas to hunt. At the end of the day you just prepare for everything you can think of and get after it.
I honestly can't wait to get out there and watch all the time I've spent planning go right out the window on day one!

 

[bsnedeker]

At the end of the day I imagine a guy just needs to pick a spot on the map and give er a go and see for himself what its like. It can burn a guy out , especially if you are trying to pick a unit for the first time in hopes of returning there year after year to get more and more familiar with it. What if you go the first year and there are 25 trucks at each trailhead and you see no elk or sign...then you are basically starting over the next year. I suppose that is part of the 'fun'!

What you actually need to do is pick 7-8 spots (at least 1 per day worst case scenario) and see for yourself what they are like. No sign? Too much pressure? Move to the next spot the next day. Even if you had success in a spot the previous year you would be foolish not to have 7-8 spots picked out because hunting pressure changes from year to year.

 

[Dos Perros]

After months digging around I've noticed pretty much any forum post you read on units say the same things like 'high pressure, tough access, all elk go to private, there are better units nearby, etc, etc'

I get it, people generally arent going to publicly notate that they went to a unit and there were piles of elk running around them everyday and no hunters around. If you have a crappy hunt there is no harm in telling the world as what do you care of others go there and also have a crappy hunt? The other thing is misery loves company, so if someone asks for tips on 'X unit' you typically will get a dozen responses telling of negative experiences.

At the end of the day I imagine a guy just needs to pick a spot on the map and give er a go and see for himself what its like. It can burn a guy out , especially if you are trying to pick a unit for the first time in hopes of returning there year after year to get more and more familiar with it. What if you go the first year and there are 25 trucks at each trailhead and you see no elk or sign...then you are basically starting over the next year. I suppose that is part of the 'fun'!

Pick a unit that is compatible with your style of hunting. It's as simple as that. Glassers don't hunt much dark timber. Callers don't hunt much wide open prairie. Backpack guys aren't scoping units with roads all over them. And fat dudes aren't peeping steep and deep.

I think it's unreasonable to expect to find a spot you can hit year after year because places change. We have seen an area kinda go to shit in just a couple/few years, with increased pressure and burns. You have to be flexible, build a portfolio of spots, and respond to the changes you perceive each year. You have to be comfortable with the idea that you can do everything right and it won't work out, or you could do everything wrong and get lucky. Sometimes you won't be able to tell the difference!

Do your due diligence, don't stress over it, go hunt, learn how to actually hunt, adjust fire, repeat.

 

[tbowers]

You just see so many posts saying to stick with the same area year after year to really learn it, but as you say it would seem to make way more sense to have a handful of spots pre-determined across a few units in your pocket...

 

[Indian Summer]

I look at regulations. They can tell you what’s going on with the elk. Either sex elk means the population is probably better than a “bulls only” area. Longer seasons tells you something. Learn to read between the lines a bit.

 

[Dos Perros]

You just see so many posts saying to stick with the same area year after year to really learn it, but as you say it would seem to make way more sense to have a handful of spots pre-determined across a few units in your pocket...

I don't think that means go into the same drainage year after year. Maybe same range or area of a range. With more experience in an area you'll expand your list of spots within an area. You know an area really well when you can predict where to find the elk depending on the circumstances.

 

[tbowers]

I look at regulations. They can tell you what’s going on with the elk. Either sex elk means the population is probably better than a “bulls only” area. Longer seasons tells you something. Learn to read between the lines a bit.

Yes I've been cross referencing the regs and the pop. charts and putting together one heck of a spreadsheet. I also have the square miles of each unit, av number of elk killed per mile, et,c, etc. I know i can get this stuff via GoHunt and others but I am a analyst by trade so I dont mind assembling it up and running some pivots.

 

[slick]

Grizzlies.

 

[Xprmntl]

You just see so many posts saying to stick with the same area year after year to really learn it, but as you say it would seem to make way more sense to have a handful of spots pre-determined across a few units in your pocket...

This works until it doesn't. A 25yr hunting spot has recently become very difficult to find animals, likely due to wolf pressure, plus widespread burn changes, and drier conditions in general, on habitat.

 

[Indian Summer]

Yes I've been cross referencing the regs and the pop. charts and putting together one heck of a spreadsheet. I also have the square miles of each unit, av number of elk killed per mile, et,c, etc. I know i can get this stuff via GoHunt and others but I am a analyst by trade so I dont mind assembling it up and running some pivots.

Elk per mile isn’t worth much. I know units where all the elk are killed on 1 end. If there’s private land around that figure is really misleading! And to repeat what others have said harvest stats are useless. To say they are better than nothing actually isn’t true. I don’t know why they even bother to publish them. My advice would be keep digging for reliable word of mouth information.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I was surprised that MT doesn't have an electronic reporting system for elk. In IA you are required to report any deer killed within 24 hours. You can do it over automated phone system or online. Of course there will always be those that fail to report and risk the penalty, but a vast majority of folks comply, and it provides at least county by county harvest data.

 

[Werty]

YOU, is the biggest factor in being successful. You have to adapt to the conditions, no elk move, bad weather keep hunting, too many people move, stop walking down the trail at last light.

 

[tbowers]

I was surprised that MT doesn't have an electronic reporting system for elk. In IA you are required to report any deer killed within 24 hours. You can do it over automated phone system or online. Of course there will always be those that fail to report and risk the penalty, but a vast majority of folks comply, and it provides at least county by county harvest data.

Right it just baffles me that all the Western states dont have you register your kill. Its a completely foreign concept for folks like me and you in the midwest.

I would disagree the numbers are useless. As I said I get the data isnt overally accurate, and calculating things like elk per sq. mile, hunters per sq. mile isnt the greatest indicator but its at least something. Some data is better then no data- take it all with a grain of salt. Its a snapshot of whats going on. People kill elk in units that on paper look like they would be terrible.