First Deer Hunt- Two Great Bucks from Unit 250

Cody and his dad Ed joined Montana OutWest for Cody's first big game hunt. With Bart as their guide the three set out in search of a trophy mule deer. Cody passed on some nice deer before harvesting this great 3x3. The buck presented a shot but by the time Cody got lined up the buck was on the move. Bart bleated at the deer getting it to stop offering Cody a shot. It was a great first buck and a great hunting experience.

The next day Ed was fortunate enough to harvest a huge buck. When Bart spotted this buck there was no questions it was a shooter. The buck had a heavy 4x4 main frame as well as a forked cheater. Including brow tines this 5x7 officially SCI scored 175 with a 170 inch typical frame. Both Cody and Ed's Bucks came out of unit 250.

Montana Elk Hunt for Gradutaion

Justin took this great 6x6 bull on the first morning of his first elk hunt. We spotted this bull at over five miles away at sun rise. We worked our way in on the herd and got set up 250 yards away. something spooked the elk while we were set up and sent them over the ridge. We moved in to find two good bulls 100 yards below us in the timber. Justin got set up and took a well placed shot at this bull through the tree's.

Justin's dad Randy also shot at a nice bull two days later in a different area. After closing the distance from a 1/2 mile to 300 yards, Randy took the shot as the bull moved from the timber to the open (video to come).

Ratteling and Calling Mule Deer

Hunting during the rut in a limited draw area has its advantages. This unit 270 mule deer was rattled and called in using a combination of grunts and doe bleats.We had to use calling tactics to call the buck over a property line to where we could shoot him. The big rutted buck came stomping in tearing up everything he could along the way, raking his horns on fences, a tree, and some sagebrush. He gave us a show before the hunter Art Hinckley took the buck. We captured the hunt on film with three different camera angles (video coming soon). The buck scored over 180 B&C Typical.

Photo update of some of the animals

Week one Success Broken Down

Elk kill Success 60%
Hunters shooting at a bull 5x5 or better 80%
Hunters with bulls in the crosshairs 100%
Hunter success on killing both an elk and a deer 40%
All of the hunters this week saw elk every day of the hunt.

Father and Son Elk Hunt

Opening day found Joseph, Luke and their guide Bart in the mountains with a group of multiple bulls bugling in the timber. After chasing the group up the steep mountain and many miles to the top, Joseph got a shot at a nice 6x6 bull through the trees.

Two days later Luke took a Monster 5x5 bull at over 500 yards. The bull he took we had encountered numerous times during archery season. It was a mature bull with a wide heavy rack and great length on the front tines.

The two also each harvested whitetail deer to take home with them.

Montana Elk Hunt Opening Week

Opening morning found Cameron and Doug 200 yards from a heard of elk 30 minutes into the hunt. there were two bulls in the group and close to 30 cows. Cameron had the shot and took a nice bull at 200 yards. The rest of the week was spent locating a bull for Doug. He saw elk every day and had a close encounter with a nice five by five that would not give him a shot with all the cows around.

Overall it was a great opening week with lots of snow and quite a few elk.