Montana general deer and elk tags are a great way to extend the hunting season. Long rifle seasons put you in the mountains with a rifle in your hand during the rut for deer. This year, I planned to mainly go for elk and I wasn’t too worried about deer. I had been wanting to hunt quality whitetail deer at some point, and I planned to hunt the river bottoms of the general units for whitetail in Montana if I was able to connect with an elk first.
I scheduled three days for my first foray into Montana this year. Units that have intrigued me have been the ones along the Idaho border for two reasons. They are relatively close to where I live, and I enjoy finding obscure border areas to hunt using available GPS technology, like onXmaps. Some of these border areas can be overlooked by the masses.
Wednesday night, I towed my old camper up into Idaho and right up to the continental divide between Idaho and Montana. The going was slow, and I was afraid I might have bent an axle on the camper with the rough roads. I learned my lesson. Next time, I won’t drag the camper through such rough terrain. Putting a camper on the continental divide practically barren of trees a nightmare due to the constant gale force winds. The few scraggly trees that survive have branches only on the leeward side. All three nights up there were long with the jostling, whistling wind through the old camper.
Thursday morning, I was glassing over the edge into Montana. Nothing seemed to be moving, at least not what I could see. As the day progressed, I moved east two miles to another vantage point. Along the way, I came within 100 yards of six moose, including three bulls, one of which was very big. I set up to glass on a high knoll but couldn’t stay out long. The cold wind was blowing through me, and I hunkered down in the trees to warm myself by a fire in between glassing sessions. At about 5:30 in the afternoon, I stood up to brave the wind again. As soon as I brought up my binoculars, I spotted a great buck about 750 yards away. He was super tall, and I knew immediately that he was a shooter. I was hoping for elk, but I could not pass up this opportunity. I quickly doused my fire and stowed my gear in my pack, heading out to close the distance on the buck.
I kept pinyons between me and the buck and closed to 300 yards. It was then that I noticed he had a buddy. His friend was a really nice, heavy and symmetrical 4x4 about 24” wide. I struggled deciding which to shoot. Ultimately, I wanted the super tall buck because he was unique. I dialed in my scope and set up on my bipod. The bucks disappeared behind a pinyon and never came out the other side. I waited for 15 or 20 minutes, but they had vanished! I dropped my pack and began to stalk closer, but I was crossing a wide-open sage flat with wet grass. The wet grass kept me quiet, and I moved slow, trying to mimic the pinyons. I did a left hook, keeping the wind in my face. It turns out, the bucks fed straight away from me over a rise and also circled left. We almost met head on. By the time I spotted the bucks, they were only 100 yards away and to my left. Luck was on my side because I spotted them before they noticed me. I dropped, using my bipod, and settled the crosshairs on a buck’s shoulder. I noticed, with joy, that the buck I was aiming at was the super tall one. When I squeezed the trigger, there was a click and no bang! I racked the bolt and held on target again. This time, we had ignition and I heard the smack of the bullet. The buck hadn’t quite gone down by the time I reloaded, so I tried to shoot again. Another click! (I’m going to look into my reloading process.) The fourth shell exploded, and the buck went down. I was pleasantly surprised to see the extra points I hadn’t noticed before. Due to his height and tine length, he is the best buck I’ve been able to connect with to date. I packed half out that night and the other half Friday morning. Friday afternoon, I had fresh tenderloin for lunch.
Friday evening, I was able to glass up my first elk, two miles west of the camper. It was a lone bull. After having seen six moose, only two deer, and one elk, I decided to try to put a move on this bull. It was too late to close the distance, so I marked the spot and made a plan for the morning. That night was miserable in the camper with the howling wind.
I started my hike the next morning more than an hour before light. It was 34 degrees, and the wind was still howling. On top of that, the fog was so thick I could barely see where to put my feet with my headlight. I hiked two miles west and north in those conditions. Following my onXmaps, I got to a good point at first light and set up near where I had seen the bull the previous evening. The fog was starting to clear a little, but I couldn’t see more than 50 yards. I hadn’t been sitting more than five minutes when, suddenly, the fog parted to my left. Down the hill, 250 yards away, I spotted a bull! I think he smelled me because he was on red alert, scanning the country, and moving out. I set up the shooting sticks and he paused long enough for a quartering-away shot. He dropped as soon as the bullet hit, and he didn’t get up again. As soon as I shot, the fog rolled back in and I couldn’t see him anymore. I’m 90% sure he was the same bull I had spotted the evening before. I packed some of the meat two miles back to the camper and then loaded up and drove south into Idaho and made a four-hour drive around the mountain to a Montana road that was only a half-mile below my bull, making the last of the pack out possible with a game cart in one trip. I was ecstatic that I could fill both tags on the same hunt. Montana was good to me, and I look forward to spending more time there.
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