there is currently a thread going on here about public land hunting for Antelope in Wyoming. Seems like everybody goes to Wyoming for Antelope.

Anybody hunt them on public land in Montana with any success?

Montana doesn't have as much "antelope type" public land (as a percentage or accessible) as Wyoming. Of course we have lots and lots of forest service....

Like all critters, hunting antelope on public land is quite a bit more difficult than if you've got access to private land. I hunt antelope on public land in Montana every year and do OK. However, I walk WAY off the road in areas where, thankfully, no one can run their ATV across it. The last few years after shooting one I've had to quarter it, pack it up in game bags and walk a few miles (sometimes less :-)) back to the car.

If you've got the right pack (old Dana Design!) you can easily carry a decent buck back to the car in one trip (leaving all leg bones in, not fully boned out).

A few years ago I hunted very hard on public land and didn't get a buck but most years I take a decent one.

Mt Al

I am thinking about somewhere over by Broadus.
What do you think?

I know several people from Miles City that do fairly well when antelope hunting. I am not as familiar with the Eastern side of the state as I am with the west, but Broadus should be good country for antelope.

driving to NW montana last fall I have seen so F---g many goats from ths S.D. border to brodus in my life. I bet there was over 10,000

I used to hunt eastern MT each fall when I lived there. I would not go opeing day or even opeing week if I was you, the second or third weeks are best, lots fewer people running the goats all over the place.

I almost got shot the last time I was out there opening day and I was in my TRUCK... some half breed fugger in a burned out 1954 ford pick up was chasing down a heard of goats and jumped out in the middle of the road and started blasting away at them when the crossed the road... We were in the cross fire and fuggn took cover. I chewed his ass out when I caught up to him and he acted like he didn't do anything wrong. I turned him in but I don't think anything happened to him, be cause I never got a call from the fish cops about it... I can still see that ugly bastard standing there in his unwashed cloths and smelling like a fuggn homeless person

I hunted down by Broadas a few years ago. Saw lots of goats, but saw a lot of people too. That area is leased pretty heavily by outfitters for both goats and deer. So private land hunting is fairly limited. We used to do pretty well around Terry, but there was getting to be a lot of people there too... Personally I would get the info from the F&G about block management ranches in the 400 and 500 units. The tags are easier to draw for NR and the hunting is just as good or better because there are fewer people... Good luck with your hunt

Ivan has a good point, Broadus is getting very crowded. I, too, have seen lots and lots of goats between Belle Forche and Broadus. When you come back during the season the goats are replaced with ATVs and trucks, camping on the few public places where the goats once were. Pretty depressing (having gone through it, drive 400 miles and NOTHING!). The roads leading to public land have way too many vehicles.

I would check out the block management places EARLY. The 700 disctrict appears to be the best one to get an out of state tag and has the largest area, good public land and most block management properties conducive to antelope hunting. My friends from Bozeman who hunt near Jordan and Miles City on block management land almost always bring back some nice heads. Call the Miles City FWP office for a block management publication and book one as soon as you can. If you go with a limited entry block management area you don't have to worry about over crowding on opening day and you'll get first pick if there are some animals on the property. Some block management areas stink, others are excellent, you just need to put the time in searching.

The point about avoiding opening day is also a good one, bunch of crazies out there!

Have fun!

Your realistic information on Montana hunting is well received. I wish there was a way to put quality back in the game management equation and put a lesser emphasis on quantity. I wasn't aware of the block management option. Are there post-season statistics published for the block management areas to show which ones are productive?

Old Elk,

I don't know if "they" publish the block management success rates. I'd call the FWP and ask them. The cool thing is that the book for each region has the property number, speices allowed to hunt, total acreage, BLM 1:100,000 map name and if they do walk in or drive in and some other info. Each place is numbered and the number is on a map of the county. You can get a topo map and get a general idea of the area the property is in.

Some people do quite well on block management. A guy I know up by Culbertson has tons of acres in block managment and told me hardly anyone comes up to hunt becaues its so far off road. There are some good properties out there but it will take some research (driving time!).

Okay, I will admit to being a little slow. What exactly is this block management system in Montana. What number can I call to get the information you speak of.

My wife and I take 2 or 3 goats each every year, for almost 20 years, off public land and block management in region 7 here in Montana. The key is get out of your truck, off your ATV and walk. Get a game cart, Cabela's sells a nice one for about $125 that folds up is about 25 lbs. and you can pack it in on frame if you don't feel like towing it out. We generally get one of two animals a day. Opening day is OK if you find a spot a couple of miles from the road and sit there, the antelope will be along shortly when the shooting starts. For us long shots are the rule, 300+, though we have wacked a few at under 100. If you are serious about trophy size I suggest that you look at lease properties or day rate properties, $50 to $250 a day per hunter, generally for 2 to 5 days. We've killed mostly 12 inch bucks with a few 13 and 14 inchers. Public land hunting around Broadus is very tough now, although we took 2 there last year withing sight of the road. Block management is yor best bet, finding the sweet spot requires putting in some time during the season. Preseason scouting is generally worthless as the goats will move from high food value areas to high security values after opening day. My experience has taught me that these areas are not always in the same county!! That may answer the original question of why out of state hunters prefer Wyoming.

Stupid me, I still don't know what Block Managment in Montana is. Is there a specific number to call?

22,

Try this http://fwp.state.mt.us/default.html. Give them a call, should set you up.

Thanks MT Al. I appreciate it.

For anyone else that doesn't know what it is, here is the story.

Will the Sun Set on Block Management?
by Tom Dickson
This article appeared in Montana Outdoors September/October 2004

Set to expire soon, this popular program will require legislative action to continue helping hunters, landowners, and wildlife managers

When Clark Ward joined several out-of-state relatives to hunt a Block Management Area (BMA) south of Miles City last fall, the group had “a hunt we’ll never forget,†says the Phil-ipsburg hunter. Ward shot the “biggest mule deer of my life,†he says, while his nephew shot a five-by-five buck that scored 180 Boone and Crockett Club points. “And then one of my nephew’s friends shot an eight-by-eight muley that scored 211,†says Ward, who manages his father-in-law’s ranch a few miles west of Anaconda. “All in all, we had some pretty incredible hunting.â€

If Montana’s Block Management Pro-gram were a candidate running for office, it would win in a landslide. Hunters both local and nonresident love it, and landowners across the state give it high marks. In a 2003 survey, 85 percent of hunters said they were satisfied with the hunting opportunities provided by Block Management, and an overwhelming 94 percent of participating landowners said they want to continue enrolling their land in the Block Management Program.
“ Those results, which are similar to or even better than what we found in a 1997 survey, tell us this program is on the right track, that it’s fulfilling its main goals, and that our work to improve it is paying off,†says Alan Charles, who coordinates relations between hunters and landowners for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP).

The Block Management Program, established in 1985, grew out of concerns that public hunting access to private land was diminishing. Landowners were increasingly leasing their land to outfitters or closing their gates to all public hunting. Not only did that create fewer hunting opportunities, but it also increased public hunting pressure on other private farms and ranches.
It also put wildlife managers in a bind. “We manage deer, antelope, and elk mainly with public hunting,†says John Ensign, FWP wildlife biologist in Miles City. “If we can’t get public hunters onto private land, it’s next to impossible for us to fulfill our responsibility of managing wildlife, to keep wildlife populations at levels where they aren’t causing depredation problems for farmers and ranchers.â€

To meet the needs of hunters, landowners, and wildlife managers, Montana created a program in which interested landowners are provided with various benefits for enrolling land. These include compensation (up to $12,000 per year), limited liability protection, and livestock loss reimbursement. FWP also provides hunter management tools such as signs, maps, permission books, and sometimes the assistance of seasonal FWP staff to help manage BMAs.
The payments and other benefits help compensate landowners for impacts of allowing public hunting, such as late-night phone calls, the risk of errant shots, spraying for noxious weeds brought in by hunter vehicles, grading roads rutted from increased truck traffic, and erecting additional fences and gates.

FWP doesn’t lease the lands for Block Management but rather contracts with individual landowners to determine how they will manage public hunting on their property. (Incidentally, the program’s name refers to its goal of “blocking†together large areas of land under one system of access requirements, management objectives, and hunter-use rules).

“ When we made the decision to open the ranch to public hunting,†says Butch Gregory, director of the 20,000-acre St. Labre Ranch in Yellowstone County, “we knew we’d need help managing hunters, and we wanted at least some form of compensation for the extra work involved, so signing up with Block Management has worked out well for us.â€

It has also worked out for Doug Wilson of Ballantine, who hunts the St. Labre BMA with his son and grandson. “We get a lot out of hunting these Block Management Areas,†he says. “They are real convenient, and the way the state has it set up, you can head out on the weekend and know you and your family have a place to hunt that day.â€

Ward, the Philipsburg hunter, is also a Block Management cooperator. “It works for us because the BMA is walk-in only, so we don’t have to worry about patrolling the roads,†he says. “People get some nice elk here, and we get some compensation from the state, so it’s a good deal for everybody.â€

Not everyone is so enamored. Some hunters complain that the high-quality BMAs are overhunted and that many other BMAs lack game. And some cooperating landowners say they are inundated with hunters or that hunters only want to shoot bucks and thus aren’t helping them reduce an overabundance of deer.

Another landowner concern, even among some Block Management supporters, is the amount of compensation. “Our costs go up every year due to inflation,†says Gregory. “It would help a lot if Block Management payments could be reviewed every few years to keep pace with those increases.â€

Despite some criticism, Block Management has received consistently strong support and use in Montana from hunters and ranchers since its inception. During the 2003 hunting season, 1,251 landowners enrolled a total of 8.8 million acres into the program and received payments totaling $3.9 million. Roughly 80,000 hunters spent a total of 400,000 days pursuing game on BMAs.
Those hunters also spent money in local businesses. Many Montana merchants say that by attracting hunters to rural areas, Block Management has been good for their bottom line. “During the fall hunting season, we see customer traffic—resident and nonresident—increase by 25 percent or more,†says Dave Smith, co-owner of a Miles City sporting goods store.

Perhaps the program’s biggest benefit is that it maintains a traditional connection between hunters and landowners. Gregory says that while growing up in eastern Mon-tana during the 1960s, he never had trouble finding a place to hunt wildlife. “Our family knew several ranchers in the area,†he says. “We’d see them in the summer and ask to hunt that fall, and they’d say, ‘Sure, go ahead.’â€

Though such relationships still exist, they are much less common. These days, says Gregory, “the closest thing to that traditional relationship between hunter and landowner is Block Management.â€
The program’s popularity doesn’t necessarily mean it will continue. The legislation granting FWP authority to fund Block Management and other hunting access programs expires in early 2006. Lawmakers must decide in the 2005 session whether or not to keep the program afloat.

Recently, Montana’s Private Land/Public Wildlife Council adopted draft recommendations on the Block Management Program. The 15-member governor-appointed council, composed of hunters, landowners, and outfitters, has tentatively recommended that Block Management should be continued and improved.

Opportunities to provide public hunting access on private land may be narrowing. Many Montana landowners say they feel growing pressure to sell out to hunters or outfitters wanting to lease their land.

“ We’ve been approached many times,†says Gregory, “and we’ve been offered some large sums of money. But the ranch man-ager and I are Montanans, born and raised here, and we believe that keeping the hunting tradition alive and accessible to everyone is what’s most important.â€â€

Tom Dickson is editor of Montana Outdoors