Want to go to the next level

[WEKILLDEER]

Hi everybody,

I am from NW Montana and am in desperate need to find bigger deer. I always hunt the east side of the state during rut and shoot reasonable 165-180 class deer. My new focus will be finding deer closer to where I live. If anyone is familiar with the Kalispell area you know how hard this will be. I am willing to put some miles on my boots in order to find a quality buck, I just need to know where to start. If anyone has any info on how to find muleys near Kalispell I would appreciate it.

BTW: I have been lurking around this site for some time now, Thanks everybody for the tips as well as the great pics!

 

[TFinalshot]

Dude, all you gota do is watch the news papers and check the record book to see that flathead county kicks out some great mule deer by any standards, youre living near some of the best mule deer hunting (for big bucks) in all of montana. . .

 

[gemstatejake]

If you are routinely shooting bucks that approach 180, I'd say you're doing pretty damn good and you're in an excellent area. The "next level" from bucks like those are once in a lifetime type trophys for most hard core deer hunters.

 

[Foxbow]

I can tell ya, but just tell me where your killing them little 180" bucks first.
Then I'll tell ya where the big ones are.
(If I ever get that figured out) LOL.

 

[old_man_of_the_hills]

I feel for ya. I lived in NW MT for 21 years; while it may kick out the most B&C bucks in MT, they don't come easy and most of them are shot by pure luck. You could say that about anywhere, but NW MT is especially tough. I hunted that area for 6 days this year during the rut...and saw a total of four mule deer. Was I in the wrong place? No. Was I hunting the wrong way? No. That's just how it goes. Thick timber and usually crappy weather (rain and fog) make it tough, but anything east of 93 and 83 hold a majority of the mule deer.
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This is my post

I've just pissed in my pants.......and nobody can do anything about it.

 

[TFinalshot]

LAST EDITED ON Nov-26-07 AT 04:48PM (MST)[p]
a 180 buck or better a 190 (all time typical BC buck) is tough no matter where youre at, sure NW MT is thick, but there's a lot of country up there and nothing about NW montana is any tougher than anyplace else that holds a 200 inch buck. There are places in that area that hold big bucks and are "easier" to hunt, the tough part is finding where those places are, and how to hunt them.

Home work is the best way, but you might get lucky too and have a someone show you where the honey holes are . . . Every year a few pigs get shot and the one's I hear about or see are NOT shot by lucky hunters. Sure a few big ones' get shot buy luck, but there are guys who consistently shoot good deer but they work for them!

Good luck. . . .

BTW, love to hear where in eastern montana youre passing up all these 180 bucks?

 

[6Xsix]

i know where and how to find muleys near kalispell. I killed a 4X4 that was 26 in wide the first day, it was the biggest mistake i made this year. I hunted that area for elk and with my wife the rest of the season and saw a huge buck, and my wife couldn't find him in her scope ......heart breaker(first year in montana, got lucky finding this spot) Anyways if you wanna tell me where these deer are you are constantly killing over east i dont think i would mind too much sharing this spot.

 

[Foxbow]

Them big bucks are where you find them, for the most part.
Where I hunt you can find lots of deer in easy open country,
but you will be lucky to find one with horns longer than his ears, no less wider than.
The mature deer are in the nasty stuff, and in the dark timber.
Unless your on private, or a place like Alberta, a big muley is tough to find.
If there is a secret to consistintly getting them I don't know it. Unless your related to Doyle Moss. ha/ha
I shot my biggest this year, but it may be another 5-6 years before I find one again.
If I ever figure how to post pics I'll get him on here.

 

[WEKILLDEER]

Thanks everybody for the replys. I know that finding and yet harvesting a 180+ mule deer is especially tough. I have yet to shoot my goal of a "book deer." I guess that is just another excuse to spend yet more time in the field , I will post some pics of past deer as soon as I figure out how. Also, has any of you hunted the Jewel Basin area near Kalispell. I have heard of a few nice deer coming out of there. I will probably hunt that area a bit next year.

 

[old_man_of_the_hills]

Don't expect to kill a book deer ANYWHERE!!!

There's a gunsmith in the Flathead that has hunted that area for his entire life. He's now about 50 give or take a few years. He's got a whole wall of muleys anyone would be proud to tag....but no book deer. Most book deer in MT are shot by luck.

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This is my post

I've just pissed in my pants.......and nobody can do anything about it.

 

[TFinalshot]

What's luck when hunting book mule deer? by luck to you mean a guy who's meat hunting driving roads, or just lolly-gaggen around and happens upon a big antlered deer and shoots him later to find out that he's just shot a book deer?

OMOHS, what do you consider luck?

 

[old_man_of_the_hills]

>What's luck when hunting book mule
>deer? by luck to
>you mean a guy who's
>meat hunting driving roads, or
>just lolly-gaggen around and happens
>upon a big antlered deer
>and shoots him later to
>find out that he's just
>shot a book deer?
>
>OMOHS, what do you consider luck?
>

That's exactly what I consider luck. I talked to a B&C measurer in the Flathead a few months back. He said that the last two entries he has measured occurred as follows:

1) An older hunter, 60+ was driving around looking for a deer when a doe jumped across the road. He got out of his truck and the next deer across was a buck. He shot it. It was a book head. He said he would have shot the buck WHATEVER it was.

2) A younger guy, in his 20s, was out hiking around, and once again, happened upon a deer, shot it, and it turned out to be a book head. Would have taken a 160 deer...but got a 195 instead.

Tfinal, if you think that big deer are always killed by the best hunters, you need to quit drinking that Browning water. Good hunters consistantly kill very nice deer...every once in a while a real whopper...but most of the time killing an absolutely HUGE deer, barring a LE tag, is the result of being in the right place at the right time and nothing more.
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This is my post

I've just pissed in my pants.......and nobody can do anything about it.

 

[TFinalshot]

easy turbo, no one said anything of the sort, I just wanted to know what you thought was luck. BTW, I know of plenty of "book" bucks taken from flathead county that are NOT IN THE BOOK and taken by head hunters.

In any event, two does not a pattern make, and I'm more than sure some big deer are taken by lucky hunters, that said, your closing statement "being in the right place at the right time" is exactly right, and as I suspected, what you meant all along. I agree, being the right place at the right time is the key, good luck or bad.

I agree that some book bucks are taken by lucky hunters, your case in point. In fact, if youre using the work "book" that tightly, it might well look to YOU and others that only book deer are shot by lucky hunters. Maybe it is true that in recent times, the last two flathead entries into BC were taken by lucky hunters, but, as I said, there are many "book" bucks in those woods that are NOT in THE BOOK and over the years are taken very good hunters. In fact, it seems to me that fewew guys want to make public the areas where they kill their deer, so they are NOT telling BC about them.

Anyhow, I'm not saying youre wrong, I'm saying there are big mule deer in the flathead and there are places where you can kill one, if you do your homework and are willing to put in the time and effort it takes, I would not rely on luck, some is good, but I would not suggest to anyone that they give up and just pray for a big buck. . .

 

[old_man_of_the_hills]

>Anyhow, I'm not saying youre wrong,
>I'm saying there are big
>mule deer in the flathead
>and there are places where
>you can kill one, if
>you do your homework and
>are willing to put in
>the time and effort it
>takes, I would not rely
>on luck, some is good,
>but I would not suggest
>to anyone that they give
>up and just pray for
>a big buck. . .


I agree wholeheartedly...that's why I still spend a few days up there every season. But I somehow got the notion that you were implying a good hunter, in time, would kill a book head in the area. From what I know, that is untrue, witness the gunsmith I mentioned in the above post. A fine hunter, and he has quite a reputation as a big muley killer in the valley...but has never killed a book buck. I do agree that a good hunter could take a nice buck every year there...but book bucks are pretty rare, even for good hunters.

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This is my post

I've just pissed in my pants.......and nobody can do anything about it.

 

[TFinalshot]

agreed. . . but back to the purpose of the post, no need to travel far to be among a big buck, there are places in the country where bigbucks live, where those places are is up to you to find. . .