2011 Montana Deer Thread

[robbi]

Nice job Chrissy!!!!!!!!!!  and a hellava shot too..........

[OUTHNTN]

Great shots everyone!

Ended my season with this one...

[Bullelk34]

Very nice!

[Deposit]

NICE

[Raquettedacker]

Great pictures everyone...   Congratulations to all...

[upstatehunter]

That is some ending!!! Congrats!!
Great pictures of some of our most beautiful country!!

[sra61]

I ended things last season with this Whitetail. Where we hunt back in the brush, you have to decide quick. It's kind of like how the Benoit's hunt. There's nothing better than being back in the woods in the snow going slow.

[Green Mountian Hunter]

know that is a real dandy got some nice head gear ; where have you guy's been 

[sra61]

We hunt in the Swan River drainage mainly. We usually wait until the last week of our season, the week of Thanksgiving, before getting too excited. We saw the most bucks the week before Thansgiving week last season though. I shot this buck on 11/22/11.

[30-30]

           Sure is a nice buck you have there, it's been a long time that I've been able to hunt in snow like that.

[drobertsinMaryland]

Nice buck, congrats.

[upstatehunter]

Great deer!!  Some will say dragging in the snow makes it easier....until they have to drag one through a couple feet of wet heavy stuff....LOL
Bet it was a fun hunt!!

[sra61]

My brother shot this buck in the 2010 season on the last day of rifle season in the same area. This buck was young, only 4 yrs. old I'm pretty sure. The last week is always kind of post peak rut. I think it's what they call the bedroom phase where we are. These bucks are always with does and secluded. This year we hunted the week before Thanksgiving week and I saw 8 bucks one day just stillhunting along. That's the week to be there. There are also a few elk that come through when the snow gets deeper up high, and if you're there and have a tag you can nail one of them too. We had snow coming every day, and came across fresh elk tracks one day, I had a cow tag so we followed. They were headed into thick cover so I figured they were looking to bed. We had only gone about 150 yards maybe. The tracks were wandering, and found a set of beds. We were moving way slow. I saw elk bodies standing in the brush maybe 30 yards away. I could see no antlers, and it looked big so I shot. It ended up being a big bull calf. I could have sworn he was as big as the cows! I would have loved to have seen him when he got big. A shame, but damn good eats. That's one thing about hunting in the timber, you have to decide NOW! We love the snow.

[30-30]

             Good story, & nice pics.

[Cornbread]

A lot of you know me from iceshanty and the Montana fishing forums as well but this is my first post here. The property I shot my 2011 buck on is outside Lakeside and has been sold to a resort development company but I got permission to hunt it one last year before the sale closed. Not much of a story the property is across from my old house from before I moved to Sanders county so I just walked across the road and back across the ridge and sat down that morning before light in an area where I had jumped some deer the evening before. It was nearly waist high grass and by sitting in a small depression you couldn't see me at all unless I was in a high kneeling position. This guy came up the trail a half hour later and I let him have one behind the shoulder. Waited 20 minutes then found him dead about 45 yards from where I was sitting. I didn't have any tape with me to tape the tag to his antlers so I had to tie the tag in a ziplock bag to his antler with my bow stringer(I shoot a longbow). Not a big buck but had a good body on him and because it is just me I only have a small freezer so he filled it up. I didn't go elk hunting at all last year, simply didn't have the room. I need to get a small to medium sized chest freezer though because only being able to put one deer worth of meat away is kind of ridiculous. Anyway I do all my own meat processing, always have since I was a kid growing up on our families farms in ND and MN, so this guy hung three days and then most got made in to burger because that is what my kids eat the most of, I made a couple of steak packages for myself but pretty much everything I kill gets made in to burger and I make sausage and jerky from the burger as needed. I used to get my pure pork fat to mix in to this from Farm To Market Pork up outside Kalispell because you can get organic pork fat from them so I know my kids aren't eating meat with antibiotics in it. If anyone knows a similar place to get pure pork fat in Sanders county please let me know.