Wanted:

Any recommendations, pointers or suggestions regarding do-it-yourself (DIY) Montana Region 7 buck antelope opportunities and/or antelope game damage or management hunts. Looking for a “good representative animal”, not a record-book buck. Never hunted them, but ready to give it a try. Late October 2020. Among other things, I am retired military so if there are military reservations or lesser known properties open to hunting in that southwest area of the state I’d appreciate that as well.I will be contacting Montana Fish & Wildlife and speaking to the biologists and game wardens for any info they can give me. Thanks in advance.

Tentative plan:

I have a 5-day buck mule deer hunt that begins Nov 4 near Forsyth MT (Region 7, HD 701). I take one vacation a year and this is it, each year hoping for better hunt than the last – even better if I shoot a buck. If I tag out, I spend the rest of my time chasing those beautiful “western silky” coyotes. This will be my 5th trip out there, so pretty comfortable with the weather, terrain, cactus, etc.

Anyways, last year I did some venturing on the nearby Block Land Management (BLM) lands and have since done a fair amount of online research. I applied for a Region 7, either-sex antelope tag and will find out if drawn about August 6th. If I draw, I will head out the last week of October (before my deer hunt) and exploring BLM and other opportunities in Region 7 for antelope and any coyotes that wander by – probably closer to the Broadus area. Tent camping / sleeping in truck bed or cheap hotel is fine with me, and I can live on protein bars and pop-tarts for a week if necessary. I can walk all day if needed but understand the effectiveness of driving ranch roads for western style spot and stalk hunting. Won’t cost me any more $$, so I will also be applying for the Montana “Hunt Roster” for Game Damage Hunts, Management Hunts or Supplemental Game Damage Hunts, primarily for antelope and maybe for deer, but not elk. Those hunts are "HD specific" and are due by July 15, so I'm trying to make a good choice. Likely just using my deer rifle - 30-06 w/140 gr Accubond handloads and confident to at least 350.

Ok, so your wired in on dates,you have been out there 4 times before. You are on the right track contacting the biologist. You will be putting down a lot of shoe leather that late in the season as everything will be pushed off onto private land. The antelope buck start dropping their horns usually the first weekend in November. Nevertheless, you'll enjoy the country and might find a straggler. Best of luck.

Thanks. I'll have good binos and spotting scope but confident I could to multiple 10 mile days on foot if it came to it. It's a 2000 mile drive each way so I'm only making only one trip this year. It's more about the adventure, taking interesting pictures and enjoying the USA as it is about killing anything.

There are a few quiet canyons (coulees?) between Circle and Jordan that are public land.

Drop down to Colestrip.Lots of Block Management areas. Lodging available as well.

Ok. First off I've lived and hunted Montana for over 3 decades and we've taken 60 of so antelope. Many years taking both a buck and doe. They are great eating and I survive primarily on game meat. Just to establish that I have some experience. I have found the week between the end of bow season and the beginning of general rifle to be ideal for hunting antelope if you are willing to work at it. By this time most of the antelope have been pushed out into big flat open areas where getting within even 500 yards requires luck or intimate knowledge of the hunting area's topography. You may have to walk several miles to get into position on a group due to wind and terrain. The up side during this time is no one else is out there.

However;I would assume that you are coming out during the first week of the season. This could be an issue as many Block Management areas will generally be booked solid the first week of the season for deer hunting but by mid week things could be OK. Same can be said for BLM land, plenty of competition in the form of locals trying to fill deer and antelope tags on limited vacation time.Your best bet would be Block Management areas that are not known for their deer numbers and have few hunters on them during the first week of the season. Sometimes these areas are located a few miles from more popular deer areas. One way to explore is to ask Block Management office in Miles City what areas don't have any bookings for opening week but have antelope on them.

Paul,read erict !st post. He is coming the last week of the season.

Ok, confused here, first he mentioned late October 2020, then a 5 day mule deer hunt near Forsyth starting Nov 4th. So, is the mule deer hunt guided? or he's just staying 5 days total? Silly me I was assuming he was going to be there before the 4th since antelope closes Nov 8th and he did mention "late Oct" initially. Anyway, no good deed goes unpunished... sorry for trying to be helpful, in the future I'll just keep my mouth shut.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul Tunkis:
Ok, confused here, first he mentioned late October 2020, then a 5 day mule deer hunt near Forsyth starting Nov 4th. So, is the mule deer hunt guided? or he's just staying 5 days total? Silly me I was assuming he was going to be there before the 4th since antelope closes Nov 8th and he did mention "late Oct" initially. Anyway, no good deed goes unpunished... sorry for trying to be helpful, in the future I'll just keep my mouth shut.

it was just a little mix up …..you cant be that thin skinned......bob

OK...sorry for being snarky. Must be PTSD from trying to have a rational discussion with someone on 24hr Crapfire...I still don't understand how John Barsness puts up with it.

Forsyth area has some large Block Man. areas within a couple of hours drive at worst. A couple of these are excellent for late season antelope. Unfortunately not a lot of easily accessible public. Lots of leased outfitted property.

I have had good luck on antelope south of Broadus, but I'd emphasize the word luck, on both the Nat. Forest and scattered bits of BLM for antelope. There is a lot more Block man. and public northeast and east of Broadus, I've seen antelope on these areas but never hunted them.

"Hunt Roster" hunts are generally a waste of time for out of state hunters. The hunts are generally conducted after regular season and on short notice for does only. I've gotten a couple weeks notice on a few hunts but mostly Weds night calls for a Sat. hunt. On the up side the 700's do have a lot of management hunts every year and if you're lucky some are even during regular season.

One thing about that area - I hope that you do not get a big rainfall while you are there. You might have to hunt off a darn highway as the gumbo is beyond unbelievable.

Beautiful country. Good luck !

Thanks for the info so far.

Paul - I am already driving 2000 miles for my Nov 4 deer hunt,so might as well arrive a week or so early and give public land / BLM / other opportunities a shot. Not the best time for antelope, but it's when I'll be there. A week is a lot of extra time for Lady Luck to appear. I'd be lying if I didn't admit I'm looking forward to calling in some coyotes as much as anything. Maybe the Hunt Roster will work for me, maybe not. Whatever I learn this year I'll use next, as I enjoy hunting Montana.

Right now I'm hitting the maps on Gaia and still have to call Montana biologists next week. Thanks


PS - I do have a question - last season after I got my buck I spent a long day on a chunk of BLM land. There is a small pond in the middle of it with water year round. I walked several miles of fenceline and found a very heavily used fence crossing where the dirt was scalloped out from so much use. A horn was found at the spot, and a herd of 80 or so were off in the distance. Would you guess that the antelope only use this one location to cross under the fence? Oddly, the tops of the metal fence posts on either side were painted white, unlike any else on the border.

quote:

Originally posted by scruffy:
One thing about that area - I hope that you do not get a big rainfall while you are there. You might have to hunt off a darn highway as the gumbo is beyond unbelievable.

Beautiful country. Good luck !

Driving in gumbo is a little like driving on grease, except that grease doesn't stick to your tires until it jams the wheel wells...