I'm going buffalo hunting in Montana this summer and trying to figure out a way to combine it with some tourism.

We'll be based in Bozeman during the hunt.

I think visiting Yellowstone (we never have, if you can believe it) is a must.

Also, we were thinking of visiting the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument and maybe Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons (never been there, either).

But we really don't know this area except superficially, and I would be grateful for any recommendations of things to do and places to visit.

Many thanks.

Since you're going to be in the oroximity, I highly recommend seeing Mt Rushmore.........

How about the United States first national Monument in Wyoming, Devil’s Tower?

Fly fishing the Yellowstone or others. Trail ride/fishing?

Looks like you've got a pretty full plate.

Who are you hunting buffalo with, and what are you doing with the meat and cape? When I shot my buffalo I think the meat processing took a couple of weeks, enough time to do some of the things you mentioned.

BozAngles is about 100 miles from Yellowstone through either West Yellowstone or Gardiner.

If I were you, I'd go through Gardiner, see Mammoth, Norris Basin, then Old Faithfull. If your timing is right, there are several other geysers in the Old Faithfull basin that are worth seeing. Castle geyser isn't as high as Old Faithfull but it's eruptions last for about 1/2 hour.

From Old Faithfull go south to West Thumb, then down to Jackson Hole and the Tetons.

Then backtract to West Thumb, continue north to Lake and then north to Canyon. The Artist Point view of Yellowstone Falls is spectactular. Also do on the north side of the river toward Inspiration Point and take the train down (10 switchbacks)to the brink of the Lower Falls where you are just feet from the water going over the falls.

From Canyon continue north (over Dunraven Pass if it is open) to Tower Falls. From Tower Junction go east to Cooke City and maybe stay a night there. There are old mining roads and trails near Cooke City. There is a short trail (Kersey Lake Trailhead?) a few miles east of Cooke City that has a nice overlook of the Clarks Fork Falls.

Continue east over the Beartooth Highway to Red Lodge, then back to Bozone.

The Custer Battlefield is just off I-90 about 200 miles east of Bozeman.

Continue south and east on I-90 through Sheridan WY (maybe stop at the new Weatherby headquarters there), and then east through Gillette and stop at Devil's Tower just before crossing into South Dakota.

Then on to the Rapid City-Deadwood-Mt Rushmore area.

Have a great hunt and trip!

Wow! Thanks for these great ideas. We're going to be limited to less than two weeks, so maybe just Yellowstone, the Tetons and the Little Bighorn for now.

We'll be hunting with The Montana Hunting Company on the Flying D Ranch. We'll take all of the meat after processing. The outfitter recommends a local processor and taxidermist, and I'd like the hide tanned with the fur on, as well as a head and shoulder mount.

We are really looking forward to this.

I found the Custer Battlefield riveting. Nice walking trails that put you, " boots on the ground", gives you a much different perspective that the tv.

You'll be well taken care of at the Flying D. Through a friend I took a 'nuisance' sub-trophy bull there 20+ years ago, a shoot not a hunt but as-advertised, meat was outstanding.

Recommend the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, people always more impressed than they thought they would be. BuffyBr is right on the Yellowstone trip! A drive up the Beartooth Highway is a great experience.
If you have time, and maybe staying a night in Cody, the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum in Cody is always good.

Just my opinion, if you're not "in to" Custer/history, the battle field can be underwhelming after a 3+ hour drive each way. If you like that era of history, it's a well worth the trip and drive.

Per others, fly fishing the Yellowstone or a spring creek near Ennis can be a great day.

Many good ideas so far.

Most important, breathe the free air...

After 40 years in MT, I would second Buffy's itinerary for Yellowstone with one extra point- Be at the entrance as it is barley breaking light. Two reasons- first the wildlife viewing and second the simple fact the Park is averaging over 2 million visitors per year. Most of those folks hit the road between 9 and 10 AM.

Thanks, again. I really appreciate the help.

Spend a couple extra days fly fishing the small streams ,nature viewing at the flying D and enjoying the fine cuisine Then head down HWY 191 to BIG SKY for the night , then the next morning you will be close to entering the scenic West Yellowstone entrance to the park and be close to Teton NP and Jackson.
Enjoy your trip.
4WD

Cody....
the park is just trees, tourists, and some hot water. [and takes like 7-10 days to see halfassedly]
J-hole is a money suck hole if you take the wife.
but you can find all the spots where clint eastwood beat up that guy in the every which way movie.


Custer NM is a couple of hills and some brown grass up above the freeway.
there is a fort down to the next exit south by the river that'll be happy to take more of your dollars too if your interested.

the big mountain is to the north a bit.


advice?
satellite radio and someone you can talk to... a lot.

Lamar:

"Freeway you said?

Amazing how things change, back in the early & mid 70's it was just a narrow two lane hwy and no place to park other than on the grass next to the fence. Barely much of a sign then either. I drove thru there several times those years.

George

One of the neatest things my wife & I saw was Custer State park in SD. The scenery & rock formations were astounding. In Arizona the scenery was always vista like....way over there, like a post card. In the Black Hills you are in the middle of it as it seems to hang right over your head at all times. We stopped on the road in the park as a large herd of bison flowed around us in their travels, saw the native sheep closer up than I thought possible, and had wild asses surround the car looking for tourist handouts. Mt Rushmore was cool & so was the Crazy Horse monument, the scale of which is amazing. Still ticked at myself for not going to the Devil's Tower.

I have found that most of the national parks are best seen in the fall when most of the tourists are gone. They are very crowded in the summer months (think carnival and theme park atmosphere). 'Camp' grounds are not peaceful, they are very noisy with generators, loud music, people hollering.

YNP Always crowded, be prepared. Custer NM is off I90 georgeld, has been as long as the freeway has existed. Jhole is an Ahole for tourists.

In my travels, I found out, traveling along the roads less traveled with local guide book you will find places just as beautiful as NP’s and lot less people
But of course NPs are icons of country travels and they give you bragging rights when you get home

As several have mentioned, be prepared for lots of people. I have been to Yellowstone three times. The first two times were in the fall after the offspring are all back in school. Those two sessions in the park were wonderful. Hardly any people and tripping over the local fauna.

The third trip was in the summer to take the short people. I figured it would be busier, as our national parks are up here. I was not prepared for how bad it turned out to be. Just a ZOO. Make sure when you have planned the route you are going to drive to see the various places you have selected, to determine where you are going to stay over night and then book hotels in advance. We didn't do this and it was a disaster. I ended up sleeping in the back of the truck a couple nights while the wife and kids slept in the truck as we could not find a single hotel/motel with vacancies anywhere.

Vowed I would never go state side again to visit your national parks unless it was while all the kids were in school.

A friend of mine just retired this year from being a hunting guide on the Flying D. He told me that the Montana Hunting Company just sold and this year will be the first for the new owners. He didn't say how many of the old guides stayed on, but I don't see any reason that you wouldn't get the bull you want.

The Flying D has all of the land between the Gallatin and Madison rivers, some timbered, some hayfields, some open or lightly timbered hills. Spanish Creek that flows into the Gallatin River on the east side of the Ranch is a great looking trout stream that is closed to public fishing, but as a hunter thay might let you fish it.

I shot my buffalo on the D in 2004, and because shooting a buffalo is like shooting a parked Volkswagon, I used my .54 Hawken BP rifle.

The guides like to shoot the buffalo in areas where they can drive a tractor to it, and when I shot mine they lifted it up with a tractor, gutted it, and put it in the back of my pickup.

I then took it to Amsterdam Meat Market where they did an outstanding job of processing it. My bull was an old one, so I told them to make the hump and tenderloins into steaks/roasts and everything into burger. A couple of weeks later I picked up 495 pounds of nice 1 1/2 pound packages of frozen burger and a box of steaks and roasts,

The first package of steaks that we cooked looked and smelled great but they were as tender as the proverbial shoe leather. I ground all of the other steaks/roasts up and made jerky with it.

I had my usual taxidermist do my buffalo shoulder mount and he did an excellent job. He used to do most of the Flying D mounts, but he only does a few of them now. When he asked me what I wanted with the rest of the hide I said nothing and he replied good.

My GF and I go to Yellowstone 2 or 3 times every year. Mostly just day trips although we have overnighted in Cooke City, Red Lodge, and Jackson Hole. My geezer pass gets us in free, and we never get tired of seeing the sights and animals there. A spotting scope often comes in handy.

The Custer Battlefield is only a mile or so off of I-90. You can see it from a long way off as it is the only hill with some trees on it.

I like Yellowstone and want to go there again. If you get bored, pull over and get out with your binoculars and look at a field that has nothing in it. You'll have cars stopped for blocks with people looking at the empty field.

I call it a freeway..
I usually drive through there with both feet on the dashboard.

but it's 2 lanes both ways now.

I would definitely recommend the Buffalo Bill History Center in Cody. The gun museum there is great, and if you like art you will enjoy a really nice art museum.

Yellowstone is great. The Tetons are great. I think you might enjoy "Going to the Sun Road" a little further north in Glacier Park.

A stop in Big timber Montana to visit the Shiloh sharps rifle manufacturing and c sharps rifle manufacturing is always a good trip! Also on the main road is a gas station that has a nice gun shop in it! If you're traveling without a camper I definitely recommend staying at Billings if you're going to visit the Little bighorn battlefield there's not much in Harding Montana for places to stay.

Can’t add much to the great suggestions you have received. But if you are renting a vehicle, make sure it’s Tahoe like in size and comfort. It’ll be worth it at the end of the day. Have a great time.

quote:

A stop in Big timber Montana to visit the Shiloh sharps rifle manufacturing and c sharps rifle manufacturing is always a good trip! Also on the main road is a gas station that has a nice gun shop in it

Was just going to post this. Both are really great companies with amazing rifles and you'll pass right through Big Timber if you go to Little Bighorn, just about the half way point. And if I'm in town when you pass through we can go shoot.

Bob

Once you get through Yellowstone you can stop in Cody and visit the firearms museum. We enjoyed that

Greybull Aviation museum.. ah hem. It's small but very cool. Cargo planes mostly.

https://www.museumofflight.us/

Should you get to Cody make sure you stop at the Irma Hotel and get some Rocky Mountain Oysters. After the Cody Museum visit the frontier town that is there (where 'Liver Eating Johnson' is now interned).

Just thought of something; the art museums in Great Falls and Cody are terrific! Mark Young sent me to the Cody museum and while in Great Falls I stumbled into the Charles Russel museum. Both really great!

Nat. Wildlife Art Museum just north of Jackson is about the best stop in Jackson, not withstanding the park scenes and wildlife.

For a first time all the touristy things well be fine. You well see a lot and should enjoy it.

Montana is a great place and has lots of interesting areas.

The information center and overlook for TR NP on the way out. Just off the free way is always a good place to stop.

Devils tower and Custer battle field then the SD badlands on the way back make are other good stops.

So much to see so little time.

Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman is worth a few hours. Tons of amazing dinosaurs. Its neat to not just see say, a triceratops skull, but to see a dozen in a row arranged by age from young to old, different sub-species, etc. Any elephant hunter will have a grand time pondering shot angles, placement etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Omnivorous_Bob:
Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman is worth a few hours. Tons of amazing dinosaurs. Its neat to not just see say, a triceratops skull, but to see a dozen in a row arranged by age from young to old, different sub-species, etc. Any elephant hunter will have a grand time pondering shot angles, placement etc.

I moved to the Bozeman area in '78. I think that I've only been to the Museum of the Rockies once and that was over 30 years ago.

I think it's time for a re-visit.

I really appreciate these recommendations. Time will be a factor, as it always is.

I'm thinking of booking a car with a guide/driver for YNP. They offer a two day package including a full day tour of the northern loop on one day, and the same for the southern loop on the second day.

They will pick you up at your hotel (it would be in Gardiner) at 5 AM, to beat the rush later in the morning.

It's not cheap, but I'm thinking it may be worth it.

Local knowledge is a good thing.

One way of getting it, is to spend years acquiring it.

Another is having someone local, show you about.

If you only have a short time hiring a guide could be your best way.

If you are interested in driving take a day and drive over the Beartooth highway. It's all two lane and a spectacular drive. If you like battlefields another one to visit is the big hole battlefield up by Jackson MT.

If you visit Mount Rushmore, go to the Borglum museum in Keystone before hand. You'll appreciate the monument more. I'm biased though. My father owns it.

“My lands are where my dead lie buried.”

Mike are you going to take the Friz along as your carry gun.