BY ANDREW MCKEAN
Do you find yourself heading to the same patch of forest or prairie drainage on the rifle deer and elk opener, even though it’s been years since you tagged out in the first week of the season? Maybe it’s time you
shook things up and found a different spot to spend the first light of the last Sunday of October.
Montana’s rifle opener has more unproductive tradition than the British monarchy. Hunters hit the same spots because that’s where their fathers hunted, or that’s where their camps have always been set up. Or that’s where the guys at the bar said the biggest bucks and bulls were killed back in 1974.
Tradition is great, but if you want to be making jerky instead of excuses the first week of November, consider these opening-day destinations, spots with generally liberal regulations and good numbers of both deer and elk:
Little Belt Mountains – Elk populations are sky-high, and liberal regulations allow rifle hunters to take a cow or a bull in most hunting districts. There’s abundant public land on the Lewis and Clark National Forest and decent deer hunting on Block Management ground in the low country. Yes, it’s better when snow moves elk around, but if you can hunt hard and quiet, you should have a good shot at filling at least your elk
tag here in the first week of the season.
Region 7 – It’s a long drive for most of us, but with over-the-counter doe tags for mule deer does, plus your single-region whitetail doe tag, and abundant Block Management ground on which to hunt bucks, you can
subsidize the gas bill with some good, old-fashioned meat hunting in this southeastern quarter of Montana. If you can’t make the opener, wait for mid November and your chances of seeing a whopper mule deer go way up. Plus, there’s decent pheasant hunting in the Yellowstone River valley and you may even get a chance to pot a Thanksgiving turkey.
Thompson River – You’ll find some restrictive regulations here that require most rifle hunters to shoot antlered bucks, but kids get to shoot either sex of deer and elk, so Hunting District 122 is a good spot to start new opening-day traditions with the next generation of hunters.
Butte Batholith – It’s close to population centers, but the west side of the Continental Divide east of Deer Lodge has that appealing combination of good elk and deer populations and abundant public access. Plus, it doesn’t get the hunting pressure of places like the Big Hole or Blacktail Creek. In District 215 you’ll have to hold out for a mature bull until later in the season.
Missouri River Breaks – Unless you drew a special bull or cow permit, you’re out of luck for elk, but the north side of the breaks hold good numbers of mule deer, and if you want to fill B tags you can find great
access and good deer numbers on Region 6 Block Management ground. Because the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge closes the last two weeks of the rifle season, the opener is especially popular here. Bring a boat if you want to explore the breaks’ remote expanse from the shore of Fort Peck
Reservoir.