Putting together a western hunt next spring. Montana is on my list. I've read about the fires in Custer NF. A few years ago. Anyone know how bad they were? Thinking of trying around the southeast corner of the state on public. Any info on bird populations would be greatly appreciated
Hunted w/ an outfitter in that area 2 seasons ago. We stayed south of Broadus and hunted MT and WY. It was my wife and I, and we both killed in both states. We did have an 8" snow storm to deal with too. It seems like their numbers fluctuate a good bit. One guy had been hunting with them for 8-10yrs and said our year was average. But he did say he'd been a couple times and never seen a gobbler.
These guys had a bunch of land to hunt, but a good bit of it bordered or was close to public land and we only saw 1 other person hunting the public and we covered some ground.
Talked to a Montana rancher one day this spring when we were having lunch in the diner in Wyoming on our hunt. I don't know what part of Montana he was from. But he said that he couldn't figure out why anyone would hunt "these Wyoming birds" or how anybody could kill one of them. "Hardest birds I ever seen to kill !! Our birds in Montana are DUMB !!"
:D