Elk hunting Montana's snowies

[Stixbowdrew]

Hey gang,
I'm doing some research for a future elk hunting, been looking at areas with high bull to cow and high cow to calf ratios. In y searching for a quality archery area I came across the units in Montana's snowy mountains. How are these areas for public access and has anyone Hunted these in the past, thanks guys!

Drew

[L. Perry]

No public access that isn't overrun with people, Wilks brothers own most of the Snowy mtns. If you don't own it don't ask permission. What they don't own is leased out.

[Stixbowdrew]

Perry it is my understanding that there is about 118,00 acres of Lewis and Clark there, have you hunted this?

[Stixbowdrew]

Was also curious about the terrain looks to be pretty thick and steep from the arieal

[L. Perry]

Yes, Used to hunt there just like everywhere else in central MT. The elk are mostly on private ground, they do their level best to keep them there also. Public land holds few elk and lots of people. Would be hard to do without a lot of luck and footwork. There are huge bulls there though. The  national forest is thick and steep.

[longbowman]

I lived in Montana and hunted the Snowies but Like Perry said, the only open country is completely over run with hunters.  I hunted the Little Belts and my last hunt there I tagged out on elk, bear and mulies and the only other hunters I saw were from my camp.  Two years later one of my friends went back to the same place and had to look hard to find a place without people on  ATV's.  Good luck!

[L. Perry]

Yes, the draw for the breaks ruined the Little Belts, Currently overrun, That's where I live. Thank god I own my ranch! Very few big bulls but no people on my own land. Used to be able to hunt anywhere I wanted with a phone call, my son will never see that in his lifetime. So glad to be a rancher, not much money in it but can hunt everything in MT but sheep and goats on my own land, will die on this place just like my father.

[Stixbowdrew]

Is there anywhere in central montana not overrun with people? Sounds like the selway, westfork, and areas around the big hole need reestablished elk populations

[Tutanka]

Drew,

I was born and raised in MT and still go back their to hunt every year.  However, the hunting over the last few years has gotten to be very challenging.  My parents own land in the Big Hole valley and my Dad has hunted that area for his entire life.  He has seen great hunting turn into very hard hunting.  Not only that the fish and game are trying to further reduce the herd size in that area.  We where told by the local biologist last year that they want to decrease the heard size from 3000 elk to 1000 elk.

On the flip side, I currently work and live in Denver.  I personally feel that at this time that Colorado offers far better elk hunting chances than Montana.  Plus, out of state prices for Colorado are cheaper than Montana.

Not tryting to bring you down, but the elk hunting in MT is getting tough.

[Stixbowdrew]

Thanks guys, I know Colorado provides better opportunity for an elk hunt, but I've always been intrigued by the terrain of the upper breaks and central montana, and not to mention the potential it provides, I'm certainly not afraid to get dirty and work harder than the next guy, I'm gonna keep doing some digging and research some more areas.

[Jeff D. Holchin]

Drew, I was in that area last fall for another hunt and had several extra days, so I checked out the Snowies and one other area whose name escapes me right now - I was disappointed.  There was snow on the ground and I drove lots of roads and glassed a good bit from high points - VERY little elk sign on the public land.  One of the areas I checked was recently featured in the RMEF Bugle magazine in glowing terms, but I saw that area and was not impressed.  I hunt almost exclusively DIY on public land and based on what I saw, crossed this area off my list.  Almost ten years ago I had 2 good elk hunts in western MT, not sure if that area is any good now or not, but at least I had access to unlimited thousands of acres of public land with little private land.