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2010 Montana Antelope Hunt

October 15, 2010.

The last time I set foot in Montana was around 1986, and that was on a sight-seeing trip through a corner of Yellowstone Park with a girlfriend. So when HTW pro-staffer Paul Vanderspek and I got an invitation from a rancher in Miles City, MT to come up and hunt antelope on his property, I jumped at the chance.

It took us 2 years to draw the tag, but in 2010, we were finally able to head up for the season opener. For both of us, this was our first Montana hunt.

Opening morning, we checked in with the rancher, then started heading out to the portion of his ranch that he had given us permission to hunt. He had warned us that populations were down from last year's harsh winter (I had previously heard estimates of a 30-40% population drop), but we remained optimistic.

On the way to the property, we drove right past a herd of antelope on public land, less than a 100 yards off the road, validating our optimism.

We drove past them, bailed out of the truck and crawled back over a hill, and in a matter of minutes a solid 13-inch buck was centered in my spotting scope and the crosshairs' of Spek's .30-06.

The buck was broadside at less than 100 yards, but we quickly decided to pass on him -- neither of us wanted to stop hunting after 5 minutes of effort, especially when we didn't have a feel for the trophy quality this area might offer.

Within a few hours, we were kicking ourselves for passing on that buck.

Populations were indeed down, and we were seeing very few antelope. As it turned out, that buck we passed on was the only stalking opportunity we had that day.

We're used to hunting in Wyoming, were antelope are very, very plentiful. The lack of antelope we were seeing was discouraging. But we got creative, and started scouring a mix of private land, Block Management Areas (private land leased by Fish Wildlife and Parks for hunting, funded primarily by outfitter-sponsored license revenue), and State and BLM land.

Midday Sunday offered another stalking opportunity, when we spotted a buck on Block Management land that was open to self-registered walk-in hunting.

The buck was way out in a seemingly open area, but as we studied the terrain with our binocs, we pretty quickly identified a route for a stalk.

It was a long stalk on a buck of unknown quality, and not one we would have invested time in in a more antelope-rich area. But we were having a tough time finding better opportunities, so we made the stalk.

It was a long, dicey stalk that required our full attention, but was ultimately successful. In short order, we found ourselves 200 yards from the buck.

I had already shot buck antelope in New Mexico and Wyoming this year, so wasn't too eager to drop another one. I urged Spek to take the shot, and he eventually relented.

He crawled up through the grass and settled in on his bipod.

After about 5 minutes of being locked on to the buck, he raised his head slightly, shook his head "no", and started crawling back.

It turned out that the buck was only in the 10-inch range, not what Spek had come to Montana for. I was really hoping that we'd get at least one buck out of this trip, but agreed with his call.

We hunted the rest of the day without luck. When we ran out of options, we started driving back to the hotel, even though there was still some shooting light available. As we did, Spek spotted a herd wandering through a hilly, wooded area.

It was not at all where we expected to see antelope. Even more surprising, it was on an isolated section of public land where it was legal to hunt.

After verifying that the antelope were on legal ground, we made a short stalk and very quickly found ourselves hiding behind a juniper tree (a tree in antelope country!) and looking over the herd buck.

He was 12+ inches with a very pretty shape, and I lobbied for Spek to shoot him. After watching him through the spotting scope from 150 yards for 20 minutes, Spek was comfortable in his decision to pass again.

Monday, our last day, we drove out to an area where we had seen some distant antelope the day before. On our way, we got lucky ... a mature buck was wandering alone across a quarter-section of public land, just off the road.

We drove past him, parked the truck, and started planning a stalk.

In that short time, the buck crossed the road and entered a larger section of public land.

We looked him over and figured that he was 13 inches with unusually wide horns. A great buck for the area, and definitely a great buck for the last morning.

A quick but exciting stalk ensued, and Spek pretty quickly had the buck in his sights. I was about 100 yards back from where Spek had circled, watching the buck from a different angle.

I was in a great position to watch Spek's shot hit the buck, but from where I was, the shot looked a little far back. The buck ran off a 100 yards or so and stopped to look back before cresting a rise.

We didn't know what would happen if the buck went over the rise, so both Spek and I readied for a follow-up shot.

I got mine off first, anchoring the buck with my 7mm-08.

He was 13+ inches in horn length, with a distinctive wide flare to his horns. A solid buck anywhere, and one we really appreciated in what had been a fairly tough hunt.

Eastern Montana has some very beautiful country, but it does not have the numbers of antelope that you might expect if you're used to hunting good areas in Wyoming. Some other hunters we talked to expressed great alarm over the population loss that occurred this winter -- in 2009, they told us, they had all easily shot a buck and 2 does each. This year, they hadn't manage to tag anything after 2 days of hunting.

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