Home From Montana

[Ratdog68]

An average sized Mule Deer buck (cut/wrapped) fits into two 45 qt. coolers.

Left the SE corner of MT yesterday morning, 1,200+ miles to get home, plus, had to drop the head/cape off at the taxidermist, and chase down some dry ice.

No video of the kill, but will post up a few pix tomorrow. My cousin has most of them and I need to get them from him.

We didn't see a single Whitetail on this hunt, saw lots of Mule Deer does, a few bucks. I passed on a Texas Heart Shot on a little buck, and did want to take a shot at one ol' boy who was in a NASTY to get to place... but, connected on the morning of day 4. About a 3yr old 4x5. Saw him at 200 yds. and let him wander in to 165 before I perforated his lungs and dropped him in his tracks. I am VERY impressed with the Nosler 125 gr. BT in my Remington 700 .30-06. It groups well (cover 4 rds. with a quarter at 200yds. off a bench), and killed this deer quickly. Small exit wound, did more tissue damage on the entrance wound than on the exit wound. Bullet was not recovered. He's no monster, but, should be a great eating 9 pt. (first Mulie).

We DID see a BUNCH of Speed Goats, however. Neither one of us had a tag for one (drawing only), but, they're recovering very well from a rash of Blue Tongue about 10yrs. ago.

Saw bunches of purdy country, walked some gnarly ridges/bottoms... found mine while sitting/glassing... up over a rise he came, he never knew what hit him.

More on those coolers (later) too. A company out of Bozeman, MT called Permafrost. They're claiming to be bear resistant, and look like they'll give a yeti a run for the money... at MUCH less cost!

The taxidermist I chose... also makes fly rods... so.... I also have a new 7' 3 wgt. 'glass rod, almost opted for the bamboo (but, double the price)

 

[Chopperdrvr]

Congratulations RD. It’s been a long time since you put some venison in the freezer. Memories to last a lifetime too.

I’m sitting in a motel room in West Texas right now waiting to report to a private ranch tomorrow for a two day Whitetail hunt. I’m limited to 8 points or less, but it “could“ be a nice 8 point.

Anyway, I’m happy for you and I’m sure you are proud of that deer.

 

[J BAR K]

Sounds like a fun and successful hunt! That’s pretty cool indeed. Congratulations!

 

[Ratdog68]

Choppr… thanks, great time for me... it has been a very long time (19yrs) since I had fresh game meat in the freezer. Best of luck on your hunt, hope you find yours!

J Bar K... thanks. It was a lot of hard work to find this one. I saw lots of fine animals, wasn't able to get a clean shot on a Mule doe, never even saw a Whitetail, but one shot/one kill on this one.

 

[gshock]

Sounds like a good hunt!! Now for some pics!!

 

[Ratdog68]

My cousin, Joe and I rolled into Baker, MT on the 18th to get settled in... and to verify hunting locations we'd be working. I was very thankful I'd opted to buy a Garmin Rhino 750 and the OnX Hunt chip for Montana. It made life SOOO much easier as we were navigating the areas. Between privately owned lands, Federal (BLM), State of Montana, and County lands... as well as "Block Management" permission areas, the GPS was an invaluable tool.

While fueling up, I spotted the Baker "City Jail" (from back in the day), and got a pic.




On opening day, we were in the hills at first legal light, and I spotted a Mule Deer doe off in the distance. On this land, the owner does not permit the taking of Mule does, bucks only. But, we were given the green light on any Whitetail. As the light changed, and this doe moved further away, and over some juniper, I was able to determine that I was seeing a buck! No shot-op before being too far away and such. So... I went "high", to the right and Joe went left (lower). It was STEEP, 400' elevation changes from ridge to bottom... and my old legs were feeling it. I was following a fence line, keeping myself within the boundaries of where I could hunt, reached the corner post and saw movement two ridges away. There he appeared, peaking over the rocks/ridge line. Too far, and no shot. He looked at me and bounded off to the NW from there. I wasn't able to see him again. My spirit remained high though, I'd laid eyes on a legal buck on day #1 (opening day). I'd never had such an opportunity while deer hunting.

 

[Ratdog68]

The next morning, after doing some research with my GPS, I found an area (small) which wasn't quite so strict (as far as what could be taken), public land which did not appear to be allocated to a private holder's control. We saw some Mule does wander on this piece, and I worked on following them, to see if they'd bed down, or pause in an area which would allow me to close some distance. They stayed about 600yds. ahead of me, and pulled a vanishing act on me onto some land we weren't able to follow onto.

Soon, a doe/buck (Mule) appeared, about 600yds. ahead of me and took off, up the slope to a ridge. Joe was working the ridge, so I backed off to let him have a chance at them without me spooking them. As it turned out, there were a couple of ridges between them/him, and he never saw them appear. But, we were seeing animals, and we were seeing "legal to shoot" animals in the area. I named this area "The Prayer Room". There was a small herd of Red Angus cows residing in this area and were continually balling. But, deer were moving through here at first light... noted.

We wandered around some other areas, did some scouting, and grabbed a bite of lunch in Ekalaka (south of Baker). This little café consistently has some good soup (as we learned).




During our scouting, we crossed a section of privately owned (w/permission) and entered some State of Montana land. On the State land, we found a '37 Chevy, which is just rusting away. Shame to see it in such condition.




The next morning, we returned to "The Prayer Room", but parked the truck next to a pen which had bales of hay stored. We were watching the BLM land, sitting on some County land. It was on the BLM land which we'd seen those does/buck the previous morning. As legal light came around, we were getting out of the truck, and Joe spots a couple of does and a buck which had wandered behind our truck in the dark. We hopped out, loaded up, and all I had was a Texas Heart Shot... and nothing was turning to give me a clean kill shot. Over the ridge they go, and onto some privately controlled County land (which we had no permission to hunt on). I was still quite encouraged though, we were seeing legal to shoot animals every day, the right opportunity just wasn't being presented.

So, we did some more scouting and sight seeing the rest of the day before another end of light hunt. We saw some good sized herds of Speed Goats each day (we didn't have a tag for them), and we happened upon an old cemetery, named after an old/lame Buffalo Hunter who lived in the area... hence, the "Lame Jones" sign.

 

[Ratdog68]

Ugh... the pix were oriented correctly for viewing, prior to posting. I hate when that happens.

 

[lonepunman]

Very well written narrative…

Good for you to read a few years from now – though I suppose a lot of it will be forever imprinted.


Your descriptions remind me of a parson chiding a parishioner for not being in church on Sunday:

"You didn't miss the service to go hunting, did you?"

"Actually, Pastor, I did.

I figgered God would be happier with me in the woods thinking about Him than sitting in a pew thinking about hunting."


Disappointed that I'm not able to see the photos – sends me to a site where I am not able to view them.


I didn't realize that hunting public land was so complex up there – I was under the impression was that are millions of acres to be hunted if you could just get there.

I'm fairly certain that ol' "Lame Jones" could still pretty much kick the ass of most modern hunters. RIP


Do me a favor and ask around… I'm curious to know what they call a "Texas Heart Shot" up north...

 

[Ratdog68]

Very well written narrative…

Good for you to read a few years from now – though I suppose a lot of it will be forever imprinted.


Your descriptions remind me of a parson chiding a parishioner for not being in church on Sunday:

"You didn't miss the service to go hunting, did you?"

"Actually, Pastor, I did.

I figgered God would be happier with me in the woods thinking about Him than sitting in a pew thinking about hunting."


Disappointed that I'm not able to see the photos – sends me to a site where I am not able to view them.


I didn't realize that hunting public land was so complex up there – I was under the impression was that are millions of acres to be hunted if you could just get there.

I'm fairly certain that ol' "Lame Jones" could still pretty much kick the ass of most modern hunters. RIP


Do me a favor and ask around… I'm curious to know what they call a "Texas Heart Shot" up north...

The cows balling in that area just reminded me of an old time prayer room. It had the sounds of the cows simply giving thanks for another day as the sun rose... and, reminded me to do the same as I listened.

Montana appears to be rather unique in the farming/ranching areas. Lots of privately owned land, and public lands which are leased from varied Govt. agencies, with varied levels of control... as well as what they refer to as "block management areas" (public and private) where land is opened up to hunters with a sign-in box, or by written permission only. The complexity of how it works made for the GPS and program I have... very useful in navigating.

If pix are not visible (by others)… please sound off and I'll see what I can do. They're posting/viewing just fine for me, so I wasn't aware of a problem.

"Texas Heart Shot", as used around here, would be sending a bullet right up the rectum of the animal. It's been a locally used term all the years I've been shooting. Don't know where it originated, or, how wide spread it's used. But, most anyone in these parts seems to've grown up hearing/using the term. "?"

 

[lonepunman]

I am well familiar with the term…

Allow me to rephrase:

What do hunters in other parts of the country/world call this type of shot?

 

[Ratdog68]

On the fourth morning of the hunt, we were granted permission into a section of land, which is not accessible from a road, and is more than a mile away from a public road. This was very encouraging news for us.

My cousin and I did a sweeping arc of this area. Soon, I was the pivot of this sweep, so, I decided to grab a seat on a rock and glass for a spell. The previous day, many of the ranchers had sent the young steers off to the feed lots, so, there were many balling cows searching for their youngsters from last year. A LOT of the cattle around there are Black Angus (a few Red Angus). It was while hearing all this balling from the other side of the plateau we were on that I saw some dark hair begin to appear at the rise. My first thought was, ok, another balling cow wandering about looking for her lost youngster... and then I saw antlers. Time to HUNT.

I ranged him at about 205 yards, he was west of me and I was a little north. I was also part of an outcropping of rocks. Things were looking very nice. My scope had been on 3x, so I zoomed it to 15x to eyeball him well. He was feeding and slowly wandering my direction (and, towards the truck), so, let it happen. When he got to 165 yards, it appeared he was about to drop down (out of sight) in the terrain, and I wasn't going to lose this opportunity to that. That's when I settled my crosshairs onto his lungs.

About this time, my cousin happened to look over my direction with his binos and saw something drooping infront of me, realized it was my sling... and said to himself, he doesn't glass with his rifle. From his vantage point (about 3-400 yards to my right and behind me) he couldn't see what I could, but watched me absorb the recoil of the shot and noted that "Smokeless" powder isn't (smokeless).

The report of a Remington 700 .30-06 in the field is just sweet music. Following through on the shot, I settled back on him with a second shell ready to fly... but, saw only one hoof flailing up in the air and knew my shot was true. I took a bearing to allow me to follow straight to the deer, called my cousin on the Garmin Rhino to let him know I had a buck down, and headed on over to claim my prize. I took this time to give thanks to God, and to savor my first buck. I have no idea how many caribou I've taken, have taken a couple of Alaskan moose, Fallow deer, Sika deer, and Mouflon sheep... but, was enjoying this moment, 58 years in the making.

 

[der Teufel]

Impressive set o' antlers on that thing!

 

[Ratdog68]

Once at my buck, I waited for my cousin to catch up. He had been insistent from the start that he’d be calling the hunt a success if I got my buck. And was giving me first opportunity to shoot. For that, I waited for him to get there before laying my hands on the deer. We had our moment to tell each other what our perspective was for the kill, and then set to work to get him gutted out. He wasn’t stinking, and I was careful to not handle the glands. He headed back to the truck and placed a call to the land owner, who was gracious enough to bring her side-by-side. She backed it right up to the shelf where I shot him, and I simply dragged him into the bed. When we got to the truck, again, she backed right up to the tailgate and I simply dragged him into the truck. Easy-peasy. A trip on into town to drop the buck off at the butcher’s and we went to a local joint for a great burger


I had mixed feelings about the butcher. Kind of surly (only game in town, and knows it), and refused to do me the simple courtesy of weighing my deer for me. Just to the side of where he hangs while being caped, the scale is to the right. However, his pricing was fair, and I believe he was honest with the meat.


That afternoon, we headed to an area where my cousin has taken whitetails, and the plan was to see if we could fill a doe tag or two. We didn’t see anything more that day (other than Speed-Goats galore), but, I did manage to find a bleached Speed Goat doe skull, which came home with me to live on a bookcase.

 

[Ratdog68]

Impressive set o' antlers on that thing!

Thanks, good size for a young buck. He lacked the mass, his teeth were white/sharp, and lacked the broad, Roman nose of an old dude... but, a nice 5x4 with a fairly good sized body.

 

[Ratdog68]

Gear on this trip, which I purchased and tested netted me the following thoughts:

Vortex Viper PST Gen ii 3-15x FFP performed to expectations. Glass clarity and light gathering was brilliant.

Vortex Viper 10x50 binos equaled the scope in performance. Glass clarity and light gathering was great.

Vortex Ranger 1300 laser range finder proved accurate and reliable.

Garmin Rhino 750 GPS worked beautifully. My only concern was that the battery charge lasted only a full day. My cousin’s Rhino 550 lasted him 3 days. Will need a back-up battery. Ability to radio communicate with him (and his unit) was another very nice feature. Ability to track his location when separated, as well as all the usual tools like way points, etc. were great helps.

OnX Hunt chip for the GPS made the GPS an invaluable tool, providing needed information as to land ownership: names, boundaries, type of Block Management enrollment (if enrolled), in addition to the topographical help (and such). The chip covers the entire State for which it is purchased. Well spent money.

Nosler 125 gr. BT in .30-06 proved very accurate in my rifle (four shots at 200 yds. covered with a quarter). And proved to be equally lethal on my deer. I hit him high in the lungs and he dropped in his tracks… kicked a few times and it was done. I did not see massive amounts of blood-shot meat at the entry/exit as the deer was being caped.

“Kwik-Klip” conversion for my Remington 700 ADL functioned beautifully. I snagged a BDL stock for cheap, sanded the fore stock to enable a dollar bill to slide between the stock and barrel (to the recoil lug). The fitment of the hardware was spot on, required no special work to the stock and used the OEM screws to secure the new trigger guard/bottom metal. The magazines functioned as they should. This modification to my rifle made loading/unloading so much better as I was getting in/out of the truck. I have their new “short action” model ready to be installed for my .22-250 next.

“Ridge” boots used were light weight, 6”, side-zip in desert tan. I think I bought them from Tactical Gear’s website. Weather was in the 60F range during the day, it was dry. I could feel a hotspot beginning early on, but I laced them a little tighter and had no issues afterwards. The boots held up well while carrying my bulk around.

“Permafrost” Coolers is a Bozeman, MT based company. This cooler is aiming for Yeti, and at about half the price, has impressed me a LOT. Metal reinforcement at the front corners serve as bottle openers, and give the cooler a “bear proof” rating when padlocks are used. Non-slip rubber feet have provided a sure grip. The handles are easily removed without the need of tools, and are very secure. A divider inside (middle) is also a removable cutting board. A metal basket for near the top is included. It also has a small bubble compass inset into the rim, visible only when the lid is opened (odd choice of placement). It has the ruler molded into the lid, and the drain plug is held to the cooler with a chain. The meat was put into the cooler on Friday morning (0830) and was nearly frozen hard. By 1530 that afternoon, I’d located some dry ice and put 01 pound in. The cooler remained sealed until I unloaded it Sunday afternoon at home, and the meat was in the same condition as when I loaded it into the cooler. I was very impressed. 60F during the day on the return trip, and was stowed in the bed of the truck with an aluminum tonneau cover.

Ridgid makes tool cases/baskets which stack and interlock with one another. The base unit also serves as its own hand-truck. I had my gear stowed in these for the trip. In spite of the rubber seal for the tonneau cover, the dust from travelling dirt roads was brutal and got everywhere in the bed. The cases’ seals worked flawlessly and none of the dust got into my gear. I love these things. It makes for a convenient way to kit out your gear, they’re weather proof, and when stacked/secured to one another, make for great camp seats too.

 

[Ratdog68]

Oh my! Lime Juice for red meat, Lemon Juice for fish/fowl. Took some round steak, gave it some lime juice to tenderize, and a sprinkle of Montreal Steak seasoning and let it sit in the fridge all day. Took out a chunk this evening and slapped it into some hot cast iron with butter in it. Amazing!! First Mule Deer venison I've ever tasted, absolutely amazing. Have a couple more chunks from that package still marinating. I think I'll toss one of them on the charcoal grill, and the other, try it in an air oven. Might have to do up some wild rice and green beans to go with it.

 

[RattlesnakeDan]

Good job RD, Mule deer is my favorite of the deer family to eat.

 

[Ratdog68]

Last night, "Old School" (cast iron, hot/butter). Tonight, while some wild rice was steaming, I fired up my "Air Fryer" oven and did 360* for 8 minutes. Also steamed up some green beans to go on the side. Ya know? Either way of cooking this venison is a winner. I like mine a bit rare, this was on point.

 

[Chopperdrvr]

Don’t eat it all up before Christmas. Enjoy!