Fishing in Montana
 

I'll post up a few pics from my end of September trip to Montana to fish the Upper Clark Fork and the Big Hole:

First pic is overlooking the Upper Clark Fork. We had access to some private ranch land from a friend of a friend. The big browns were in prespawn the whole trip, and the weather was warm. That equals slamming big browns on hoppers. Awesome stuff.

The rest are various fish pics from the Big Hole and Clark Fork.

Final one is the night life. Nothing like drinking good scotch out of a cut-off plastic bottle because your local buddy forgot to pack you an actual cup.

So I'm sitting a chair in a food plot of corn two rows deep waiting on some Prairie Chickens to come in and I here something coming down the edge of the corn. I think one of buddies has gotten board and is trying to sneak up on me. Then at about 15 yard away I realize it's a deer. It doesn't see or smell me so it just mosies on up right in front of me, it's four feet right in front of me. It stops and looks me right in the eyes.....at four feet away....I'm holding a 16 guage loaded with #6 shot. It staired at me for about two seconds and then it startled. It jumped up and and back about ten yards and stopped. It staired me down again. Then it saw my buddies moving around and it just kinda hopped away. It was about 5x5 Mule Deer and he was thick. I'm lucky he didn't gore my ass. So he wanders off and I'm sitting there and then I here the corn behind me start crashing around and I'm like "he's come back to get me!" LOL It was a doe however, one I'm sure he would have gladly kicked my ass for. Cool experience.

PhilFree:arrow:

Its' been a tough, tough bow season so far. My log shows 58hrs in a tree so far in the past 2 weeks and my deer seen counts are way, way down.

I think the warm weather, standing corn among other things are really making it tough hunting. I've also had other factors on farms I hunt...trenching waterlines and building fence now...(worst week of the year for that), another they're combining and bailing corn stalks, another I've had an asshole poacher(same one as previous story) shooting deer with a rifle on the next farm over pretty much every day I've sat there.....one day after hours of sitting and a deer finally coming in....an effing Helicopter came right over the top of me about 1000'...It's been *something* every day...and then monday night(week of the rutt) had an email with work project due friday......meetings, parenting, work and shitty hunting have taken what has historicallly been my mind clearning and re-engergizing month and turned it to stress and pressure.

I'm going to get my work done today.....and prepare to spend the long weekend trying to unleash death from 20' above.

Pheasant season in 3 days.... I'm pumped!

Now if it would just cool off a little bit...

back when, oldtimers used dogs and axes to hunt deer.


Lots of movement in my area, looks like the population is up(seen about a half dozen youngins).
Guy who hunts my place killed a nice doe.
I think things are just now gettin back to normal in the woods after the ice storms a few years back.

Had backstrap stir fry lastnight & deerburger helper the night before.

Does are down but I have seen some very nice bucks. This one I have seen the last 3 times I have went out - going back tonight. He is a monster, I say Boone & Crockett or Pope & Young easy. He was next to a round bale and all you could see was antlers above the haybale. Trouble was with a bow he was way to far, heck with a gun it would be a stretch. Hope he comes a little closer this weekend or today.

Ever seen an elk in Kansas?

My buddy just sent these to me.

SID RUN HIM UP 50YDS IN FRONT OF HIS COMBINE WHILE CUTTING MILO!!!

I saw this bull yesterday morning just north of Hays. Jude Gottschalk rousted him up from his bed in the middle of one of Jude's milo fields. Enjoy the pictures, hopefully as much as I did taking them


http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/803...com1172270.jpg

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/949...com1577587.jpg

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/305...com1586715.jpg

That’s pretty damn cool, KC Fish. :thumb:
I’ve heard of moose migrating this far south but that is very rare.
Never heard of elk making it down here before.

QUOTE KC FISH
Ever seen an elk in Kansas?

My buddy just sent these to me.

SID RUN HIM UP 50YDS IN FRONT OF HIS COMBINE WHILE CUTTING MILO!!!

I saw this bull yesterday morning just north of Hays. Jude Gottschalk rousted him up from his bed in the middle of one of Jude's milo fields. Enjoy the pictures, hopefully as much as I did taking them


Interesting pics....can you verify the pics? I don't doubt your telling the truth but I saw similar pics last year that were supposedly taken in a different part of central KS and it turned out to be a hoax. Just sayin', cool if it's true though.

For what it's worth there are Elk in far western KS and Hays is pretty far west overall so it would NOT be out of the question for Elk to migrate that far.

That would suck boals. I'm guesing you knew dudes who knew those dudes
that were in the pick up truck.

Heh, cool.
I didn't know that.

Well I can't say I was there when it happened. But I do trust the source. My little sis goes to school in Hays, and I know exactly where this is at. You can see the Hays water tower, along with the radio tower near it. I know those landmarks well. This was over behind the Home Depot in Hays.

I hear ya' man, it's just so easy to fake these things nowadays. I live near Great Bend and about this time last year a buddy of mine had pics of an Elk running across a field just outside of Ellinwood that supposedly someone else took with their camera-phone. Pics were very similar except for the Hays water tower pic. It's probably legit though dude, I'm not picking on ya.

man are the deer movin now. Saw 12 last night, including 2 different bucks, but none in bow range. Gonna try again tomorrow cause after that we all know they get all rifle shocked and sort of disappear. Going to a farm for rifle this season near Mt. Sterling, Mo.