2 weeks......

[Ghost]

Heading back to Montana for elk. Man I cant believe we are only 2 weeks away from leaving !! Seems like we have 2 months of stuff to do in 2 weeks.
Who else is heading out for rifle season?

[wvelkhtr]

I'm headed to Montana on the 30th, gonna be there for the whole month of November. I can't wait. Good luck to you and your crew.

[ElkNut1]

Good luck guys & be prepared for any kind of weather both for yourselves & rigs! Keep us posted!

ElkNut1

[Ghost]

Good luck to you as well WVelkhtr!

Wise words Paul, Ive got chains for all 4 tires, tow straps, shovel, chainsaw only thing I might need is a comalong, saw a huge one at TSC.

[six]

Leaving for Gunnison, Colorado October 28th at 7 pm. Cant wait. I'm liking this thread already. Be prepared for anything very true.

Good luck guys. How much snow are you expecting in Montana? That's a lot farther north than southern Colorado.

I don't want ducks in a barrel, but it sure would be nice if there is enough snow up high to move the elk down a bit.

[Ghost]

How much snow are you expecting in Montana

Thats a darn good question, last year we got a 3 inches of freezing rain and then 8 inches of snow on top of it, man that really hindered our ability to move till it melted. I dont start looking at the weather till we are a week out. Have to check snotel for whats on the ground now.

[Toothy]

good luck.. we'll be heading out to MT on the 22nd. Long range weather looks about normal so far, but I'll sure be watching it the days before.

No chains here, I'll do my best to grab some when we get in town.

[Ghost]

Toothy, how long of a drive is that for ya?

[WapitiTalk1]

Twitch, twitch... fidget, fidget I know you rifle hunters are ready and raring to go after the looooong off season. Best of luck to all you cats heading out in the coming weeks and wish you a safe and productive hunt.

[Toothy]

Toothy, how long of a drive is that for ya?

39 hrs.. if I was that brave.

but, we'll be flying in and renting a couple trucks.

[GoGriz1234]

I'll be there on the 22nd, somewhere in the Bighole Region. Gonna stay out for 10 days and see what happens. Good luck to all!

[Ghost]

Down to 1 Week!! Gheez its coming at us like a freight train!!

[Toothy]

yeah it is !

I'm packing all my gear this weekend and weighing it to be sure it meets Delta's regs. I have just a few minor items to pick-up, but other than that I'm ready. I'm confident in my rifle, about 90 rounds through it since August from 100 -300yds. It's cleaned now and ready to go.

I'm still working out 5-6 days a week, but I lowered the intensity this week hoping not to injure my one crappy knee.. just enough exercise to keep me in shape without screwing something up.

[GoGriz1234]

A week from tonight I'll be sitting in the woods of Montana waiting for dawn... It's gonna be really hard to get anything done this week at work!

[Elkduds]

I drew 4th rifle in CO-Nov. meat hunt for cow. So there are 4 weeks for the weather to change and the elk to mosey down to winter range in GMU 49. I'd appreciate hearing from any that hunted there during rifle season.

[Ghost]

We're leaving Wednesday morning, driving to Big Timber, crashing at a friends house and then off to the mountains, 36 hours of total drive time ugh!! That's the only problem with the west, it's to far west

[Ghost]

Out of PA, it's a bad thing when your gps has days on the ETA

[Indian Summer]

Good luck Cort and Deb!

[Toothy]

All packed.. flying to Helena at 540am EST. good luck Ghost.

[WapitiTalk1]

Twitch, twitch ..... I know you guys are jacked to get into the elk woods!! Best of luck to you and we're anxious to hear how your hunts go. If you have commo "up there", please let us know how it's going.

[raxafarian]

I'll be headed down to unit 34 in NM for my first attempt at Elk later today. Picking up some helpers at the airport on the way. Lots of recent rain but the next week looks like 50's with low's in low 30's. Looking forward to getting away from work and we'll have fun regardless of the outcome!

Good luck to all

[Ghost]

Thanks Joe! Best of luck Toothy and Rax!

[jddog]

Leaving on the 12 th for 2 weeks flying into kalispell

[WapitiTalk1]

Leaving on the 12 th for 2 weeks flying into kalispell

Good luck jddog. That's my old stomping grounds....

[Toothy]

Slow start for us 3 days in and I've yet to spot an elk in our area.. The ranches are loaded with elk off the Forest, I've seen a herd of 30+ and a herd of 110!.. yes I counted them all.

I see muley's ever day and a couple nice bucks, but I'm holding out. Today 2 in our group had a shot at some elk, one saw some cows and the other a nice bull. Tomorrow is another day as they say, 5 days left.. some snow chance tomorrow. Hopefully that will help, it's been warm here.

[Toothy]

I got back home Saturday night and I guess I'm still pouting

4 of us ended with 2 Muley's, no elk.. it wasn't like we didn't try, I think I covered about 40 miles in the National Forest on foot, saw sign .. mostly old scat, some of it maybe a week or 2 old. But in all, our group saw just 3 elk in our area, like I said before the elk seemed to be off the Mountains and on the ranches. Don't get me wrong we had a great trip and I look forward to getting back next year. People in town said the dry conditions in the area this summer was the reason, idk? I'll be honest, it's not easy to see people at the store and hear there stories of them shooting a 6x6 or a 5x5 or whatever from the ranches and you're not seeing squat! lol

I did glass up one really nice buck one day across a canyon (1038yds), it was neat to watch him for 40-45 minutes feeding ( I had no reasonable move on him).

I did take a small buck on the last day for meat, it'll get shipped next week after hanging for a bit. We scouted 3 different areas for another trip, one looks really good and worthwhile, there's so much land.. it will take some time.

We shot a couple grouse and caught over 15 trout, that fishery is amazing.




and I did find a great new beer!

[WapitiTalk1]

Glad you had a good trip and hunt Toothy. I'm one of the group that believes it takes at least two, more like three years to really get to know an elk area. Heck, you shot a MD buck, hunted and saw elk, shot grouse, caught trout, drank a few cold beers in elk camp, and scouted some new areas for future trips.. Not too shabby of a way to spend some vacation time Looks like you had two rainbow, two brown trout, and a whitefish on the grill

[Toothy]

Thanks for the Fish ID!

haha.. it tasted a bit "muddy". but, wow the trout were great.

[WapitiTalk1]

Thanks for the Fish ID!

haha.. it tasted a bit "muddy". but, wow the trout were great.

You're welcome. Whitefish eat the same stuff stuff as the trout do and if prepared correctly, they're darn good table fare. We used to smoke them more than anything else, but, on a backcountry hike/hunt, we've filleted whitefish (they're very bony) and fryed them up with just grease/salt/pepper and they worked just fine.