Elk Hunting Montana

Adventure Information

Species: Elk
Type of Hunting: Archery
Location of Adventure: Montana, USA
Guide/Outfitter: Self-Guided
Lodging: Cabin
Would you recommend it?

I would recommend this experience

Adventure Review

In September of 2006 we headed to Deer Lodge, Mt. for an archery Elk/Deer hunt.  Nonresident Archery Elk hunts in Montana are selected via a draw system and we were blessed to get tags on our first ever try.  We hunted in Unit 202.  We had 4 hunters in our group and we stayed in a Cabin to the east of Deer Lodge.  Through a friend of a friend we gained permission to hunt a ranch just a few miles out of town in the foothills.

In these lower elevations we saw a multitude of white-tailed deer.  My friend did take a shot at one white-tailed buck and missed.  There were plenty of elk that migrated down from the mountains each evening.  We tried multiple methods to get a shot at a mature bull with no luck.  We called a couple of bulls in  close but couldn’t get them inside of bow range.   The only exception to this was on the last day of the hunt,  I called in a nice spike bull within 30 yards.  The problem was only bulls with brow-tines are legal to shoot.  We also set up on some heavily used trails and had one bull coming in but he ended up changing directions at 100 yards.  Those swirling winds will get you every time.

Overall, we had a great time and saw lots of elk and deer.  We would go back today given the chance.  We would change our hunting strategies to improve our shot opportunities.  On the downside, the bulls only responded to calling 2 out of the 6 days we hunted in mid September.