So Bill wrapped his hunt up and now it’s my turn up to bat. Our hunt is booked as a two on one meaning two hunters for our one guide Myles Gardner.
I’m sure Myles questioned his father on this one, especially after putting up with my smart-alec remarks and me always hinting at wanting to hunt in the slow-poke Kayser style.
Uh, Mark. Aren't you the Whitetail Columnist? I don't think that's a whitetail.
Regardless, I had two days left on the hunt with questionable weather for the last day as a major snowstorm was edging dangerously close to southeast Montana. On the first morning of my hunt we went high as snow fell and the wind blew. We hoped to find a remote mountain buck exposing itself on a mountainside as it fed up for the upcoming storm. After Bill dropped the nice whitetail we determined it would make a great show to shoot a muley next. At midday we had only seen a smattering of deer and no bucks worth stalking so we dropped back down to the river valley to hit hotspots where we spotted good bucks during Bill’s portion of the hunt.
Finally, late in the afternoon we spotted two “shooter” mule deer buck and the stalk was on. The bucks were sandwiched in a hayfield with more than 50 other muleys and whitetails. To keep our presence to a minimum, Bill decided to hang back and watch the action from afar.
Most of our hunt was crawling through irrigation canals and under fences as we circled the field downwind. When we finally reached brush on the downwind side, we battled whitetails as they jumped up during our last few yards of the stalk. Twice we thought we were within shooting distance of my TC Triumph muzzleloader , but twice we had to back out and move aggressively forward again. A thanks goes to Myles for prodding me on. I often sit and wait deer out hoping they’ll move closer, but with shooting light fading Myles prodded me to follow him to another vantage point.
This time we reached shooting range, but I still had to crawl out on the field to avoid shooting through tall grass. Several curious does watched my slithering body, but they didn’t blow and finally I was able to get my muzzleloader on top of my Crooked Horn Outfitters backpack for a steady rest. Lonnie Garland, my good friend and cameraman gave me a thumbs up and the smoke belched from the end of the barrel. The buck ran off into the tall grass and we found him shortly thereafter.
Montana is one of those fantasy deer hunting locations. You have a good chance to get a jaw-dropping trophy, but the sheer amount of game guarantees you a trophy. You’ll never be bored from not spotting game and it’s one of my favorite places to hunt deer, whitetail or mule deer.
Next stop: Kansas!
Mark Kayser
Comments on this entry are closed.