2020 in Montana

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Montana 2020

Besides all the other craziness of 2020, hunting season has been about normal for me this year. I started the 2020 season off on turkeys in Montana in April. I finished that off in the SD Blackhills in May.


I bought a used 2012 Tundra to use in place of my 2006 Tacoma that my youngest son is now driving. I feel sorry for the Tacoma.








Elk rubs always pop out at me while hunting turkeys.


Deadheads are always interesting but this one was a little too old and chewed on for me to carry it out:


My favorite photo from turkey season of my Blackhills bird:

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We did a couple hiking days in the summer but nothing too crazy.


Due to daycare issues, I spent a lot of time with my granddaughter this year and worked remotely from home a lot.

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I also had a cria born later in the year than I’d have liked, but he’s been doing good. Hopefully he, Marco, and Pedro will be solid pack llamas in the future.






He loves his momma.


I had removed my previous shed because of wind damage and because they wouldn’t use it. I decided to try again and put up a small metal shed for him to have protection from the winter. They’ve started using it.

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I look forward to archery elk all year, but I was really looking forward to getting out of the house after this summer and getting into the mountains more. I decided to use a base camp this year instead of packing in.

For the most part, the elk have kicked my ass in archery season. It’s actually to the point of being both discouraging and embarrassing. I got on a few bulls and thought one or two of them was going to commit, but I had nowhere near the encounters that I feel like I should have had and heard nowhere near the bugles that I think I should have heard. I still got some nice photos of my days in the mountains.

Opening weekend with my oldest son:







Granddaughter around camp:

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Second week vacation was filled with heat and smoke and the occasional bugle and close encounter:

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The following weekend was much cooler weather, but I still struggled to get on many elk. My wife stayed in camp with me again.

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I did a few day hunts too.

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Antelope and Pheasant

While archery season is still in, I probably won’t make it back out for elk again until rifle and even then it won’t be a lot. I did however do a 4 ½ day combo hunt for pheasant and antelope. My wife and my griffon traveled with me for this hunt.

Finn:

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Roosters:

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I spent one evening then a little more than half the next day trying to catch up to an antelope. The rain and hail ran me back to the truck on the second day but I sat around in the truck then took off again about an hour and a half before dark. While hiking back to the truck I had an opportunity to shoot a little buck just before dark. He was only 7 tenths of a mile from the truck in relatively flat ground and I’d already decided to not be picky. Yes, I had to clean milk off of his mouth for the photos.


With editing:


Without:

[Hognutz]

Crazy awesomeness, Shane. Pictures are off the charts, as always!
Good stuff!!

[guesswho]

Cool! Enjoyed those.

[SwampDrummin]

Couldn’t find a limb to hang that rooster off of eh?

[Tail Feathers]

Looks like 2020 hasn't been too bad to you! Good luck on that elk!

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Couldn’t find a limb to hang that rooster off of eh?

That may be the longest pheasant spur that I've killed. Needle sharp too. It's definitely not a bird from this year's hatch. I think it's a better spur than most of the Merriam's that I've killed.

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I still have quite a bit more hunting to do this year, unless something out of my control happens.

I'll hunt the opening weekend of the general elk season with my youngest son. I'd like to go stay at some friends' wall tent elk camp because I love the camp, but my son wants to try to find a bull. The wall tent camp is set up in a spike only unit.

Between now and general elk, I'll likely get out at least once with one of the other two bird dogs and look for local birds. I'll do that mostly so they can have some time afield.

In November I'll elk hunt with a rifle as often as I can, but my main hunt for that month will be a combo mule deer rut/pheasant hunt. I've done this hunt the last four years. I left the bird dog home one of the years because I took a buddy along to look for his first mule deer. My oldest son will likely be going with me this year. I think I'll just update this thread as a semi-live hunt instead of doing a stand alone mule deer thread this year.

I'll take my youngest son out locally to look for a mule deer also.

Between then and the end of the year, I'll do at least one more multi-day pheasant hunt and I'll look to fill a cow tag that runs until January if I've not already filled the tag.

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Pheasant parmesan:

I'm going to try a stew using the legs and thighs.

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I was planning to take one of the dogs out locally this weekend, but I've changed my mind.

I spent at least half the day winterizing our pool and prepping my yard, driveway, and patio for snow. I usually like to let the first snow bury everything then wait until it melts to clean up, so I'm ahead of the game even if it was last minute.

[hoobilly]

Outstanding pictures!

Granddaughter at camp is precious memories righ there

[Hognutz]

Looks like she's a Grampa's girl!
She's cuter than a bugs ear!

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Looks like she's a Grampa's girl!
She's cuter than a bugs ear!

I rate pretty high, but Mamaw is still a notch above me.

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A couple inches of snow here at home so far.

[Hognutz]

Ouch!!

[Swampstalk]

Shane, your living many man's dreams out there! Amazing turkey season and not too shabby on the scenery as well! Yup, getting some granddaughter time as well here being retired and living within 4 miles of both son's families. We've had some fun hunts here in South Florida. I didn't get to connect on turkeys this years, but my son got a nice one on a quick hunt on second week of the season that I posted back then. We've done several archery and muzzleloader deer quota permit hunts. No luck on them. But back in September I hunted with my son and daughter-in-law at the new place in East Central Florida just off the St. Johns River. Archery opening weekend we didn't an early morning hunt. I took a really nice 8pt that we had seen on camera several times at 7 yards less than 100 yards from their RV trailer within 45 minutes of set up with my new crossbow as I have disability permit.

By the way, your country reminds me of the scenery I've seen on the FireboxStove YouTube channel. Check it out. Some awesome backcountry trout lakes the company owner hits with his dogs and pack goats! Promotes his stuff but great views.

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Shane, your living many man's dreams out there! Amazing turkey season and not too shabby on the scenery as well! Yup, getting some granddaughter time as well here being retired and living within 4 miles of both son's families. We've had some fun hunts here in South Florida. I didn't get to connect on turkeys this years, but my son got a nice one on a quick hunt on second week of the season that I posted back then. We've done several archery and muzzleloader deer quota permit hunts. No luck on them. But back in September I hunted with my son and daughter-in-law at the new place in East Central Florida just off the St. Johns River. Archery opening weekend we didn't an early morning hunt. I took a really nice 8pt that we had seen on camera several times at 7 yards less than 100 yards from their RV trailer within 45 minutes of set up with my new crossbow as I have disability permit.

By the way, your country reminds me of the scenery I've seen on the FireboxStove YouTube channel. Check it out. Some awesome backcountry trout lakes the company owner hits with his dogs and pack goats! Promotes his stuff but great views.

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That's a good looking buck, probably even more so for Florida. I've had a development on trying to get to Florida next spring. Friends of ours here in MT have moved back to Florida. Her dad has been a real estate agent down there for years. I've met him a couple times before. Apparently he's got a lot of land connections. He found out we were planning a visit next spring and that I was going to turkey hunt. I have no idea how good it will be, but says he'll have private land lined up for me to hunt. I know it's Osceola country but not sure if it's far enough south for the earliest season or not.

I suppose it could be a flop, but this guy is a good guy and seems pretty sharp. I think he's really happy we are coming to visit because my wife and his daughter are good friends and he wants her to be happy back in Florida with his grandkids.. I think he knows I put his son-in-law on his first tom and mule deer buck when he was having some struggles. The son-in-law will hunt with me on this trip too.