Highwood, Montana whitetail

[flat9999]

Dates – October 23rd to October 28th

Outfitter – Startup outfitting service, no official name yet.

Booking Agent – Wade Derby of Crosshair Consulting - Crosshair Consulting - World Class Hunting Trips with the World's Best Outfitters

Guides – Kurt and Scott

Area –Mixed agriculture, cattle and high mountain properties

Rifles – Weatherby MarkV Ultralightweight in .257 Wby Mag.

Ammo – Weatherby factory ammo – .257 110 grain AB.

Game Taken – Whitetail

Animals Seen – Whitetail, mule deer, elk, eagles, falcons, owls, coyotes, ermine, antelope

Equipment - Kuiu Guide series pants/jacket, Kuiu down jacket/pants, Sitka Downpour raingear, Icebreaker core layer, Stone Glacier pack.

Just got back from a 5 day hunt in the Highwood region of Montana, and what a great trip it was! Earlier this year, a group of 4 of us submitted for the Montana deer lottery as a group, and were lucky enough to draw tags on the first try. The area we hunted had good populations of both mule deer and whitetails, so it would be up to the hunter to decide which he wanted to take.
We arrived at Great Falls, MT and were picked-up by our outfitter for the 1 hour drive to Highwood. Accommodations consisted of small cottage once lived in by the ranch owner and was very comfortable, with running water and electricity.
Day 1 had us hunting high ridges for most of the day. Animal density was abundant, we saw approx. 50 deer with several buck throughout the day. The terrain is both very rugged and beautiful.

Days 2 and 3 were pretty much the same. Lots of game seen, tons of hiking, hours of glassing. We were seeing bucks, but not the mature deer that I was looking for.

Bull at 40 yards.

Day 4 brought some pretty nasty weather. Low clouds and snow/ice kept us to the lower elevations for much of the morning. Once it cleared, the temps plummeted down into the low 20s.

Day 5 brought beautiful weather with it. We were very hopeful that deer would be moving throughout the day due to yesterday's weather. We set up on a hillside and decided to glass a large expanse for most of the day. Several bucks were spotted, but not what I was looking for. We even had a coyote chase a 10 point whitetail to with 50 yards of us, but we decided to let him walk once the coyote broke off his pursuit. With about 20 minutes of legal shooting time left, my guide and I decided to begin our hike back to the truck several miles away. It was a great hunt overall and I was perfectly fine with going home empty-handed, even contemplating rebooking for next year. On our way out, we spotted two deer feeding on a distant hillside. We were only able to determine that one of them was a buck, and we made a 1/4 mile sprint to get a closer look. As we came within 150 yards, my guide glassed him and said that he was a shooter. So I set-up and took the shot; he went around 40 yards and cartwheeled down a hillside. While dressing him out, we saw that only about 1/4 of his heart remained. Green scored at 151".

Recovered Accubond bullet weighed in at 55 grains, impact velocity was 3100fps.

 

As a bonus, this area also holds a tremendous number of coyotes, we were seeing 10-15 of them a day.

 

 

 

 

[LittleM]

NICE Pics.  I love Montana.  The hunting is the icing on the cake.  Great buck.  Awesome elk pics.  Very jealous.  Heading out there next fall - not to hunt, just to be there.  Thanks for sharing.

[bigwuhead]

Great pics.  Congratulations.  How did you like the Kuiu?  We talked a lot about their stuff on my caribou trip.  The icebreaker stuff is my go to now too.

[flat9999]

What can I say about Icebreaker. Very comfortable, keeps you dry, and after 5 days, no stink.

 

The Kuiu gear is great, and works exactly as advertised. Stretches well, DWR finish keeps rain off, very lightweight down layer. The guide series is meant for temps. around 40°, and our week had highs of around 60°, so it was a little warm during mid day. Otherwise, it was perfect.

[BowhunterNJ]

Wow what a hunt!  Magnificent country out there!  Great report and congrats on a great buck!

[Bearcrazy]

Great deer. Congratulations.

[Lonewolf76]

Congrats on a real beauty! Nothing like working hard and being rewarded! Congrats again!

[Matty]

Wow! Incredible trip.

Congrats....

[Rusty]

What great country!  Thanks for sharing the pictures.  

 

Fantastic deer too, congratulations!!    

[Silver Belly62]

Congrats 

[tcook8296]

Congrats. Nice looking whitetail