Montana Archery Whitetail Deer Hunting

Montana Archery Whitetail Deer Hunting Trips

We are located in region 3, deer hunting district 315 in Park county, Montana along the Shield‘s river in the shadows of the Crazy Mountains. Elevation ranges from 5100 feet to just over 5600 feet on our leases. Montana river bottom deer hunting is some of the finest you will find anywhere in the country at providing you with an excellent opportunity in taking a Pope and Young class trophy whitetail deer. These river bottom whitetail deer hunts are hard to put into words as they are simply very, very exciting. Bow hunting for these Montana whitetails are truly an experience every bow hunter should go through at least once in there lives, and then it usually is not there last....there hooked!


Some states such as Iowa, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin and a few other well recognized “record book” states can offer a chance at a world class whitetail in the 180"-200" + category, but are limited to a few animals of that caliber over a broad range. Not saying it is not worth a try, because hunting somewhere with at least even the slightest chance of seeing a whitetail of that size is exciting. However, we offer here in Montana a larger quantity of whitetails in the 120"-150" range concentrated in a much smaller area with a chance at something in the 160"+ range--an excellent trophy whitetail deer with a bow. And they are usually concentrated into these river bottoms that are perfect for bow hunting. The shear numbers of deer are something to laugh at sometimes. If you love whitetail hunting, this is a very enjoyable hunt.

Our whitetail deer hunting is done from elevated tree stands ranging from 15 feet to 25 feet high. This area consists of mostly soft wood trees such as cottonwoods, poplars, and aspens. Ladder stands make up the bulk of our tree stands for obvious liability and safety reasons. These stands are placed in year to year high traffic areas that provide plenty of excitement and opportunities. We have a very high success rate from these ladder stands as you will be hunting in a very low pressured atmosphere for these Montana whitetail deer. We monitor buck movement all week to help you stay on top of the best bucks that are active during your weeks hunt. We also have some lock-on stands that provide us the versatility if needed, by capitalizing on repetitive buck movement that will be observed throughout your weeks hunt. These stands can be set up more quickly and most important, quietly for these quick-set ambushes. All stands are set up by bow hunters that provide high percentage shots taking full advantage of the unique travel corridors that Montana’s lush river bottoms create. Most shots should come between 10-30 yards. A range finder is also recommended. We have stands set up to accommodate just about anyone and are very flexible when requested a certain stand type or, someone that wants to hunt from a ground blind. If you want something, just ask and we will do whatever we can to make your hunt as enjoyable and successful as possible.

Staying up to Date: Each spring new stands will be set up while existing stands are trimmed, moved, marked, prepared, along with some yearly maintenance. You can check out our latest newsletter for important updates and photos from these spring outings. Plus, we will try to update which dates are available for the upcoming season along with other information that may be of interest to you.

Limited Hunters: We take 8 hunters per week, but limit the number of hunters to 47 per year. With this limited number of hunters on the vast area of 20,000 acres of private property, we can offer a large area to each hunter that you can hunt entirely by yourself. This gives us the flexibility to move you within the area to fresh activity without disturbing other hunters. Some ranches are large enough we can split them up north/south etc. and still maintain a quality hunt for everyone.

What to Expect: Our land has an excellent whitetail deer population with a buck-to-doe ratio that is very healthy, mature bucks being the rule, not the exception. Very limited pressure ensures a quality hunting experience in which hunters should expect to see between 50-100 bucks during their weeks hunt with us. By limiting this hunting pressure, we are able to increase the age structure of our bucks in the 3-1/2 to 5-1/2 year age class. We have now reached a point where we have a very healthy, sustained age group of mature bucks of this caliber on our leases. This unique opportunity gives our bow hunters a high success rate on trophy class bucks along with the interaction of observing a large whitetail deer herd in a relaxed atmosphere.

Success Rates: Our success ratio with bows average above 65% with close to 100% shot opportunities. Average field dressed weights on our harvested bucks continue to be in the 160lb - 180lb range. Check out our photo gallery for some truly impressive Montana whitetails taken on our leases and note the body size of some of these bucks.

Your Hunt: Once hunters arrive in camp, each whitetail deer hunter will be assigned to a ranch through a drawing and can hunt that ranch through the week. Bow hunters will be placed in our archery only areas which covers roughly 90% of the river bottom on our leases. Gun hunters will be placed in our gun hunting areas. All stands on every ranch will provide opportunities on one day or another. We are strongly focused on increasing opportunities for our hunters. New stands are set up to adapt to conditions that develop from year to year and week to week. You are not restricted to the same stand day after day, under the right conditions, giving each stand a chance to produce for you usually pays off big. These are wild free roaming whitetails and different bucks will be passing by these stands with each new day. Being patient is certainly hard when hunting is narrowed down to a weeks period of time. Rest assure that your guide will do everything within his knowledge and experience to allow you to harvest your buck within your weeks hunt. You will be placed according to wind direction, pre-week & current observations, crop rotation, up-to-date buck sightings, past travel recurrence such as yearly travel corridors as in fence lines, field edges, points, & river bottom bottlenecks. Hunters will benefit from long distance scouting by the guides after hunters are dropped off to pin point new buck (daylight) travel patterns that are changing and can be adapted too quickly under the right conditions.

Our Ranches: We lease some of the best whitetail deer habitat in southwestern Montana. We are continually managing these ranches to produce a healthy deer herd and lots of trophy class whitetail bucks. Each ranch varies in size and contains several hundred acres of river bottom mixed with cottonwoods, poplars, aspens, some agriculture, thick bedding areas, and lots of whitetail deer. With this much diversity in such a small area, It's no accident that Montana continues to produce solid Pope & Young bucks. Whitetails have everything they need to grow big here on our leases. With low hunting pressure, quality food, and lots of quality habitat, we will continue to produce big bucks like the ones you see in our photo gallery. Every ranch we lease has pope and young trophy whitetail deer on them. We do not over hunt anyone of our ranches. Our river bottom whitetail ranches are limited to 1 hunter per week. Within each ranch, areas are carefully rotated to assure hunters are hunting fresh areas each week for a quality hunting experience. Whitetail patterns are changing throughout the fall hunting season. If we feel the need to move you, rest assure it is for the better as we will continue to place you in the most productive areas to provide you with an opportunity at a trophy class whitetail deer during your hunt.

Antler Restrictions: I firmly believe a trophy is in the eye of the beholder, and a bow hunting trophy is simply that--a trophy that creates a memory that will last a lifetime. Although, we still suggest that you restrain from harvesting a young buck. We do have a 115" minimum here at Montana Whitetails, Inc. as proper buck management is vital to the success of our future clients, and business goals. A buck is just reaching its potential at 3.5 years of age and is most evident at 4 and 5. It is our intent to give each one of our clients an opportunity at a buck of this size or larger. This will assure our age structure of mature bucks to be sustained for years to come and to give future bow hunters the same rewards of harvesting a mature trophy Montana whitetail buck as you have today. A good rule of thumb to stick with: A buck with an inside spread that is to the tips of it’s ears is 15-16", along with good mass, and better than average tine length should put the buck at 120" or better which is what we encourage our hunters to shoot for. This may help you in the field when considering a buck is a shooter. As far as field scoring a trophy whitetail buck on the hoof, this only comes from experience. Young bucks have long legs, a thin neck, a slim body and an overall lanky appearance. Characteristics of a older whitetail buck often appear more structurally mature, fully muscled shoulders, legs that appear more proportional to their increased body mass and heavy swelling in their necks during the rut. They also may have a sagging back and a belly line even with their chest. Following these guidelines and management principals, combined with our experience and resources allows Montana Whitetails, Inc. to provide one of the most rewarding bowhunting experiences in the country today! There is no trophy fees applied for harvesting any buck over the 115" minimum. Bucks under the 115" minimum are subject to a $500 charge.

Get More Information on our Montana Whitetail Deer Hunting Trips:
September Archery | October Archery | November Archery | November Rifle

DATES & RATES

Prices include meals, lodging, and transportation pick-up/delivery to camp from Bozeman airport. License cost are the responsibility of the hunter/client. License costs subject to change yearly outside the control of Montana Whitetails, Inc.

7 Day Archery Trophy Whitetail Deer Hunt: $2,995.00

5 Day Rifle Trophy Whitetail Deer Hunt: $3,495.00

* All rifle hunts are conducted outside the archery only river bottom areas.

TYPICAL HUNT DATES:

Archery hunts are from Saturday to Saturday - September through November.
Rifle hunts are from Saturday to Thursday - October and November

ARCHERY WEEKS
Hunt #1 First week in Sept.
Hunt #2 Second week in Sept.
Hunt #3 Third week in Sept.
Hunt #4 Fourth week in Sept.
Hunt #5 First week in Oct.
Hunt #6 Second week in Oct.

RIFLE/ARCHERY WEEKS
Hunt #7 Fourth week in Oct.
Hunt #8 First week in Nov.
Hunt #9 Second week in Nov.
Hunt #10 Third week in Nov. (Rut Hunt)
Hunt #11 Fourth week in Nov. (Rut Hunt)

(Please check with us for the current dates set by Montana FWP)

*All hunters, including bow hunters coming during the rifle/archery weeks must bring at least 400 square inches of orange to be worn at all times (equivalent to a vest).