Powder River Basin Area C Standards

[jpine]

We've drawn tags for Area C, we have 3 ranches we're hunting the first part of the week and hope to fill one of our tags. We then plan to hunt public land over in the Powder River Basin. Am wondering what to expect, am looking for something decent, at the same time I've heard the bucks in this area are small in comparison to the SW.

 

[elkaddiction]

Last year I hunted the Powder River in MT. I took a 281/2" 5X4 that would gross about 170 with decent mass. Saw lots of 25" to 27" bucks (including a few large whitetails down on the river). The only thing I observed was that most of the deer I saw, and the many of the racks I saw at the local taxidermist showed a marked tendency for short main beams. If score is important to you, this is usually a detriment. I was impressed with the quality of the deer--enough so that I'm going back this year. I am going to see if I can't find an exceptional whitetail. If not, I'll chase muleys hoping to find one at least as good as last year's buck.

 

[jpine]

tx much for the response, did you hunt public or private? We're pumped about the hunt!!

 

[rutnbuck]

I hunted it last year seen a lot of bucks. Most on private. But we all took bucks. The best bucks we seen were in area 25 but seen some nice bucks along the powder river. Don't get in to big of a hurry.
Rut

 

[chambero]

We have Region C deer tags and Unit 23 antelope tags. We are hunting a very large ranch for antelope I've waiting for several years for an opening on. They have very near B&C class antelope. I suspect other large ranches have similar sized antelope in the region. Public land will obviously be smaller. My brother-in-law killed a 11-incher on public last year, the meat locker said that was about average.

I was through the area week before last scouting a little bit. I didn't see that many deer in the Powder River Area but we spent most of our time farther east. Saw some very nice bucks in the Bighorns in 25 up on top. The BLM office in Buffalo was very helpful. Suggest you call them.