Montana's Unit 7 Elk hunting question.

Srogers · Jul 15, 2013

LAST EDITED ON Jul-15-13 AT 06:40PM (MST)[p]I drew my archery elk tag for region 7. I was wondering if anybody has had luck elk hunting in the "Long Pines" in the eastern part of the unit?

mnmthunting · Jul 16, 2013

Few elk and they are scattered in that area, on the private land mostly. There's a growing population of elk a little farther West in the Custer NF SW and West of Broadus.
North of High Way 200 and the Breaks country would have good elk populations from North of Jordon West.

Carnage2011 · Jul 16, 2013

It will take a ton of work and some serious luck to shoot a bull without getting on a private ranch in unit 7. One of my best friends is from that area and shot a monster last year...however, he hunted very very hard and finally got a private ranch and got lucky. I talked to him extensively about this hunt, and he said he would never put in again if he didn't have access to some private. If it was me I would look into some of the other places that this tag is good for. Maybe the breaks....Good luck on your hunt though and keep us posted.

Stubaby · Jul 16, 2013

Isn't that two separate tags?

Unit 7 north of Jordan is the 798-15 tag. The area pretty much from Judith Gap to Alzada is all part of the 900-15 bundle tag.

Or am I mistaken?

Anyway, good luck on your hunt. Ive seen some good bulls out East, but they were out of season and on private land.

"That's a special feeling, Lloyd"

SPAZ · Jul 16, 2013

Not true.

SPAZ · Jul 16, 2013

>It will take a ton of
>work and some serious luck
>to shoot a bull without
>getting on a private ranch
>in unit 7. One
>of my best friends is
>from that area and shot
>a monster last year...however, he
>hunted very very hard and
>finally got a private ranch
>and got lucky. I
>talked to him extensively about
>this hunt, and he said
>he would never put in
>again if he didn't have
>access to some private.
>If it was me I
>would look into some of
>the other places that this
>tag is good for.
>Maybe the breaks....Good luck on
>your hunt though and keep
>us posted.

Nope.
"YOU'RE NOT WORTHY"

Srogers · Jul 16, 2013

Thanks for the info guys. My buddy and I are planning on hunting our butts off. The tag we have is 900-15. We made a scouting trip over to the Custer national forest around the Ashland area. We talk to a couple of ranchers. One of them told us they haven't seen an elk in 10 yrs. and the other one told us they had tons of elk in the area. So I don't know really what to think of the area. We saw a few elk just before dark. I hope we can find them in September.

Carnage2011 · Jul 16, 2013

There are definitely elk in the area. My buddy's bull last year went 372 and he was after one that was bigger. Don't get me wrong there are definitely bulls to be had there, but I do believe your best chance will be on private. However, elk can't read maps so I'm sure there are some good ones on the public as well. Best of luck!

mnmthunting · Jul 17, 2013

900-15 gives you a lot of area. 401 and 403 are at the Canadian border. Almost all the 400's are included, some 5's and the 7's mostly South of the Yellowstone River to the Dakotas border.
Not the Missouri Breaks though.
I think the Custer Forest area would be a good choice. During the gun season there would be a problem with elk holed up on the private. Not so bad during the archery.