Buck Hunting on Region 4 Block Management

I live in Missoula, but I'm thinking about trying out some of the Block Management areas in Region 4 for deer this year. Hoping to find some fun hunting with reasonable numbers of deer. The breaks and plains country is really attractive to me. Have been researching Region 4 Block Management areas primarily in the strip bounded by US 2 on the north and Great Falls on the south. If anybody has information or experience that would be willing to share I would be very greateful. Hoping to take my 9 and 13-year old boys out with me mid to late-November.

Mark


My hunting spot is so secret, not even the elk have found it yet.

Hate to break it to ya but if any of them are actually worth a ##### nobody here is stupid enough to ruin it by sharing it on an internet forum.

Thats why you have PRIVATE inbox messaging MTshedhez! Oh and I'm sure SOMEONE here would give ya info on the area...

muleyman

MTSHEDHEDZ,

You are certainly correct. However, I was hoping for a response by Private Message (PM), which is how this is typically done here on MM.

Thank you for your input.

Mark


My hunting spot is so secret, not even the elk have found it yet.

LAST EDITED ON Oct-24-11 AT 10:41AM (MST)[p]Your the expert here Muley,PM him your info.Regardless of the Pm the fact stands,if its good nobody is going to share it,they will however send you on a wild goose chase.Your going to have to put in the footwork to find oone that is worth hunting,truth is most of them are so overun and shotout they arnt worth the fuel,most of them have no restrictions on hunter numbers and places that were once decent have declined.

>[font size="1"]LAST EDITED ON Oct-24-11
>Regardless of the Pm
>the fact stands,if its good
>nobody is going to share
>it,they will however send you
>on a wild goose chase.


If that has been your experience I am truly sorry. However, I have never seen anyone on MM post that they have received intentionally misleading information from another MM member. On the contrary, there are many posts every year from people who have been greatly helped by MM members.


>truth
>is most of them are
>so overun and shotout they
>arnt worth the fuel,most of
>them have no restrictions on
>hunter numbers and places that
>were once decent have declined.
>

Now that is potentially helpful information. Thank you for passing it along.

Mark


My hunting spot is so secret, not even the elk have found it yet.

Muley numbers are poor all over it seems,I saw 6 deer total on the opener,thats on 2 different BMAs and a big piece of state land in the area you are wondering about.Couple years ago you could expect to see 50-100 on the same trip.One of the BMAs had people on it for the youth hunt the day before,the other didnt.The state needs to do away with the bonus system for Block Managment program that pays more for high numbers of hunters on the property.These BMAs that get paid per hunter do everything they can to bring in more people,they get paid per hunter and some of them know about hunting forums.There was a land owner that was a BMA agent on the Predator Masters forum posting pics of big bucks and bragging up his place to bring hunters across the state,truth of the matter was that it had been shot out by the locals by the end of the first week and unless you had a doe tag it was a complete waste of time and money to drive out there(Glendive).You should wait a few weeks before you make the drive and check them out,hunter numbers decline and the rut makes deer more accessible,they are out there,just not like they once were (5 years ago),these places used to let a handful of people on a year,now they fill several books with hunters names to turn in at the end of the year to get paid.I signed in at a BMA sat morning,after getting my slip the land owner informed me there were 7 hunters n front of me so "keep your eyes open",we were just trying to find a 2 point for my nephew and didnt see a legal buck all day.

Not what I was hoping to hear, but certainly very helpful to know. Sorry that things went so poorly for you nephew's hunt. For areas to go from 50 or 100 deer sighted per day down to just half-a-dozen is truly disapointing. Perhaps I caught this train a few years too late.

Thanks for the tip about waiting until near the peak of the rut before heading out. That was my original plan, and I will stick with it.

As for the number of hunters using these properties, that is a tough problem to solve. It is similar to the problem with public land - we love it because we have access to use it, but so does eveyone else, which makes it frustrating.


Mark


My hunting spot is so secret, not even the elk have found it yet.

Yep,these BMAs used to limit the number of hunters a day,that went out the window when they discovered they could make more money with higher numbers.The program needs some adjustment to keep these BMAs worth hunting,most are shot out.

>Yep,these BMAs used to limit the
>number of hunters a day,that
>went out the window when
>they discovered they could make
>more money with higher numbers.The
>program needs some adjustment to
>keep these BMAs worth hunting,most
>are shot out.

Some used to limit the number until they realized just how much work it was to babysit a bunch of adults.

They don't make all that much money. I think its $7 per hunter/day. Far less than they could lease it for if they wanted in most cases. BTW were does that money come from?

I've hunted a few and they're hit or miss. The good ones require you to walk, and even then tehy're no better than public land.

LAST EDITED ON Oct-25-11 AT 05:56PM (MST)[p]Most of them would lease it out if they could find an outfitter/club stupid enough to pay them more for a shot out spread thats almost worthless as far as hunting is concerned.They need to alternate them open/closed every year to keep them worth the money the f&g pays them for access.Block managment sounds great but it has ruined some of the best hunting spots around.