read

Does anyone no of any good places to hunt whitetails in Montana.We would like to hunt on our own.And just have a great time.But would like to be were the whitetails are.

Speedgoat

Read,
There are a couple ways you can go for whitetails in montana. The continental divide splits the state with the West side being mountainous and heavily timbered with lots of public land. I personally have hunted the Lincoln area south along the blackfoot river and up the drainages on either side of highway 200. The drawback is the timber, it is thick country, and can be quite steep. You don't see alot of deer in a day of hunting, although you can come across a very nice buck. The east side of the divide is more open country, and whitetails are found along the river drainages. This land is mostly private. This is the area i like to hunt whitetails in the most. They are found in the river bottoms, on out to the wheat field country up off the rivers with nary a tree in sight. It is more a spot and stalk game rather than stand hunting. Asking politely to hunt can sometimes get you on, or, The mt. dept of fish wildlife and parks also has a block management plan in place with private land owners. You can get a list of open block management land from the dept of fish wildlife and parks. They are listed by region, in my case, i look at region 4 and 6 and get booklets for both. They will give you a list of co-operative land owners, how to contact them, and a map of how to get there. They will also list what species the land owner allows hunting for, such as whitetails, pheasant, mule deer, elk, etc. You need to do some research, and mark out the ranches listing whitetails, and get a more detailed map of each ranch. http://fwp.mt.gov/default.html, this is the site you need to start with, you can also get info on how to get a deer tag.
Good Luck

121553

Read, filling a deer tag is not really a problem, but it just depends on how choosey you are.
Go to montanas homepage and look in the regulations on previous
year(s) harvest reports may be of some help. Also you may want to cheque P/Y and B/C for counties may help you narrow it down if trophy hunting.
Good luck.

Bobby

Dirt2

You've gotten some good advice from the previous two fellows. Also, check out the Quality Deer Management website, they've got a density map that can be a lot of fun and a useful tool.

I'll second Speedgoat's general summary. West of the divide you'll find lower deer densities, but the potential for true monster bucks is higher. East of the divide, you can get into areas where you just can hardly believe how many deer you'll see. I once saw 13 whitetail bucks in the first 30 minutes of daylight on a heavily hunted BMA piece.

If you choose western MT, you're going for a true monster, with 140+ bucks being a real possibility, and 160+ bucks being theoretically possible (but don't count on it). You also may go home empty-handed. If you tackle the dark timber of western MT, thinkNORTHwest MT rather than SOUTHwest MT. Here in southwest MT, we have more human population than anywhere else, and thus our buck age structure generally doesn't match the rest of the state. (One exception is if you wish to bowhunt ONLY, and can get down onto the bow-only zone in the Bitterroot River bottom. In that area you can get into some monster bucks.) In northwest MT, you can get into areas with lots of 4 1/2, 5 1/2, and older bucks. Remember though, you won't see as many deer, and these deer aren't eating soybeans and corn, or even wheat and alfalfa. They're scraping out a living on forest browse, and they need 4-5 years to grow a good set of antlers. Bucks in the 3 1/2 year old age class in western MT will usually net score 105-120 B&C, rising to 125-150 at 4 1/2 y.o.

In eastern MT, when you zoom in on an area, it's important to call the local F&G guy as late as possible and check on the status of the deer herd. We get blue tongue epidemics that can knock a local herd down to where it's not worth hunting for a year or two. (I had this happen on a Region 7 hunt I was hot to go on in '03, blue tongue decimated the herd the summer before I was headed there to hunt. Since I really target 4 1/2 y.o. bucks, I've got to give that herd a few years yet to rebuild the older age classes.)

Regions 4-7 cover eastern MT, that's a lot of country. Get a DeLorme's gazette of MT, and get the BMA books, and start shopping like a little kid getting ready for Christmas. Most of your hunting will be on BMA lands, and you'll likely see lots of deer, whitetail and muley mixed.

In eastern MT, don't be so picky about waiting for the monster, because they are rarer there. The deal is this, lots of deer, few hunters, but not tons of cover either by whitetail standards. As a result, bucks seldom live past 3 1/2 years old here. (That's a mature buck by most standards, but hey this is MT.) Hunters let the 1 and 2 1/2 y.o.'s go pretty much, but they start blazing away at the 3 1/2 y.o.'s. Realistically, you should probably target a 3 1/2 y.o. buck, which will typically net score 110-125 in eastern MT.

On a good hunt, with say 3 guys, your northwestern MT hunt might go something like this: You see 1-3 bucks per full day in the woods, maybe one guy gets a 130+ buck, another gets a 110-class buck, and the third gets skunked.

Same hunt, eastern MT: you see 5-10 bucks per full day in the field, probably all three guys score, probably none of the three bucks scores more than 120, but they're all nice.

Obviously, your actual results will vary, but the relative comparison between eastern and western MT in valid. If you want to see lots of deer and do good, go to eastern MT. If you want to go for the homerun, and risk striking out in the process, go to northwest MT.

shed33

Growing up in Northern Idaho and living in Dillon Mt. for 5 years....Northwestern Montana is a lot like Northern Idaho. Very good read Dirt, Bobby, Speed..thanks guys I enjoyed the info..you guys are right on.