Montana is unreal, let’s just start with that. My wife and I just returned from a great trip to our good friend “Bearman’s” house in Southwestern, MT, where the Bitterroot Valley abuts two mountain ranges. It’s been a few years since I was out there and since then, Bearman has been telling me unbelievable stories of his outdoor adventures (some of which you may have previously read about). September is an awesome time of the the year to visit the mountains. The temperature is brisk in the morning, then typically warms up to a comfortable mid-70s.
What to do in September?
Fishing- Traditionally the Bitterroot river is most well known for it’s rainbows and once the water calms down after ice-out (later May/early June) the action heats up. In September, fishing can fire up with larger trout hitting trico hatches. The pressure from tourists is limited and you can have exclusivity on certain parts of the river. During our trip, I fished the west fork a few times, but enjoyed non-stop action on some of the local mountain lakes. I primarily used elk hair caddis drys, but the cutties in those mountain lakes would have probably crushed anything.
Epic Scenery and non-stop cutthroat action
Hunting- If you are from the Northeast, the time September comes around, the hunting itch becomes almost unbearable. Montana and many other western states, can be your remedy to get back into the woods early. The more popular species for the 2016 Montana archery season shown below:
Elk- September3rd – October 16th Whitetail- Same as elk Black Bear- September 3rd – September 14th Mulies- Same as elk Antelope- September 3rd – October 7th
Bearman’s father with his first Archery Elk harvest
Hiking- Aside from the hunting and fishing options Montana offers for the outdoor enthusiast, the Bitterroot Mountain ranges provides excellent hiking terrain for beginner to expert trailblazers. Click this link to learn more.
Next year, I hope to get back out to Montana and fill an Archery Elk tag. The Big Sky Country is beautiful and I highly recommend a trip out there. If you have any questions about the information in this article or would like to be pointed to the right direction in planning a hunt, please feel free to contact me. Be sure to check out more stories and pictures on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Thank you for reading!
-Michael
My wife and I, enjoying a nice Coors after a long hike
Bearman with a nice Montana bull on a do it yourself public land hunt
Yesterday I posted the first part of the Montana Success Story where we read about “Bearmans” first mulie harvest. The story only gets better! Please enjoy “Bearmans” recount of this awesome Elk hunt.
“Elk season is a mythical window of time that calls to me all year. From the day the season ends until the day it opens again I am constantly hiking, scouting, and dreaming of my adventures for the season to come. This season in particular has been a roller coaster ride to say the least, and not just the kid’s roller coaster, but the really high go upside down kind of thing. September bow season is my favorite time of year without a doubt. The weather is perfect, scenery is fantastic, and the bulls are singing. As far as I am concerned there are few things more pure and exciting than a bull elk screaming at daybreak on a calm fall morning. Fortunately, I got into that familiar scenario multiple times in different locations throughout the season. Not only did I hear elk, but I had some close calls; really close; head to head at 3 yards close. Talk about an exhilarating experience. Then there was the lowest of lows where an animal was wounded and not recovered. Even after all possible efforts have been taken to ensure that the animal is not immediately dead; the possibility always exists that he will die eventually. Anyone who has hunted long enough knows this awful feeling and can just hope that the animal heals from a non-lethal shot. Needless to say, bow season ended with mixed emotions, some great memories, and lessons learned.
A week between seasons and it was rifle time. After five weekends in the bow hunting woods with no meat to show for it, I was ready. My rifle was dialed in, shooting a clover leaf at 100 yards and four inch group at 300 yards. Opening day I returned to my favorite bow hunting area and saw a few elk but from over a mile away and no way to get in on them in time. The following day I put my rifle to the test on my first mule deer buck which performed flawlessly. Very satisfied to have a buck tag filled, I felt less stress to pursue a bull until the snow started sticking. With one week between daylight savings time, coaching Junior High football after teaching Shop at the high school, I decided to take some friends out hunting and try to have them fill their deer tags. The plan was to put them on what I thought to be the better spots and I would circle below and try to push some deer in their direction. So with no real intention on hunting too seriously I set off to break in my new boots and exercise my rifle. A few miles in I jumped some does that ran back uphill towards my hunting companions. At that time I stopped and contemplated the strange gut feeling to change my course that I have felt on many successful hunts before. Without hesitation I turned off the trail and slowly wandered down through an old logged out area of timber with some old ponderosa pine trees mixed with new fir tree undergrowth standing about ten feet tall. I still hunted down through the area until I broke a stick under my boots when I stopped. Looking out about 150 yards on the edge of the cut I spotted something tan behind a small fir tree. Bringing up my scope I could see the definite outline of an elk butt and hind leg frozen in place listening to the stick I had just broken. The elk had not yet seen or smelled me so I cow called a few times to make me seem like one of the herd. Sure enough the elk turned his head showing me that he was in fact a bull. A few minutes later he started to walk again. Now I could see that he was in fact a legal bull with at least a four inch brow tine but had no shot opportunities through the timber. The first available shooting lane was nearly 100 yards in front of were the elk was headed. If he stepped out there it would be roughly 225 yards and I would be ready. Three cows seemed to appear out of nowhere right in that spot and looked very uneasy. The wind began to hit my neck and the cows must have got a little whiff of me and turned back into the timer out of sight. Meanwhile the bull was approaching the opening where I would hopefully be able to make a shot when he stopped to look at his cows. I thought, “Oh no he’s going to follow those cows and be gone for good.” He only needed to take two more steps but he looked like he wanted to change his mind so I cow called one more time to get his attention. It did the trick. I was sitting down with rifle rested on my knee. He looked back uphill out of curiosity and when he walked two more steps to get a better look I sent a bullet down range. Now twenty cows joined him and were running through the clearing. I racked a round, found him in the scope, fired and watched him drop. I could still see him alive with his head up so I quickly finished him off with a neck shot. My after work tromp through the woods had just ended with a magnificent creature on the ground.
Well it didn’t end there. Anyone who has ever killed and elk knows that the work really starts when the shooting stops. I got it gutted out as the sun finally sank behind the mountains and headed back to the truck to meet the other two and tell them the story. There’s a song that says, “…you find out who your friends are”, but I think Tracy Lawrence left out a verse about finding a pack crew when it’s miles from nowhere and dark out. Being the lucky guy I am it only took an hour and there were four of us with bikes and pack frames ready to roll down an old gated road. The date was October 27th with clear skies, temps in the low 30s, and a big full moon. For me, the memories of the pack out have been comparable to that of some of my best hunts. Four guys brought together by the common love of hunting headed through the woods with mountain bikes and only the light of the moon casting shadows through the trees. The whole time my dog Angel running beside us as part of the team. This if for sure a memory that I will not soon forget. Tagged out and time to make summer sausage!”
Awesome story Bearman, thank you for sharing. As I said before, this guy is a great example of how to work hard, scout often and put your time in the woods to harvest some quality animals. Thank you for reading and be sure to check out our Facebook and Instagram pages for great pictures.
Green Lake Chronicles 