Hunting on the HiLine 2014, Volume 4: Week Of Hunting

Last week was the week of hunting around here! Jeff's friend Jeremy (remember him from This Post?) was here for the whole week. He's easy to host and fun to have around. Then, Jeff's Uncle Collin and Aunt Patsy arrived on Sunday and left on Wednesday, also for hunting purposes. They were staying with Tom and Carol, but we all got together in the evenings for meals.

Time was spent in the Lost River Wildlife Management Area and surrounding environs (again, read the post I linked to above for more info) and also in the Sweetgrass Hills, as the two primary hunting areas, with some excursions around old-standby coulees, too.

Because I was at work during the day, I did not go along on any of the hunting day-trips. Thankfully, Jeff shared some of his photos with me, so that's what we'll post on the blog this time, along with some info that Jeff did share with me about how the hunts went.

This photo (above) was from the hike into the Sweetgrass Hills. It had snowed a bit overnight, which typically means it's easier to spot elk. This particular view is looking back from the Hills to the surrounding flat-land. Pretty cool how the Hills just sort of rise up out of the prairie.

They guys actually did spot a group of elk right away, but were unable to take one home with them.

That's Jeff's Uncle Collin looking back at us.

Even though they day resulted in not bringing an elk out of the mountains after all, it sounded like everyone really enjoyed the hiking, as evidenced by the enthusiastic retelling of the day's events over dinner. Jeff said he learned a lot about what to do next time, and also that he just enjoyed being outdoors. He also said that it was cool to see the headwaters of Sage Creek, which is the creek that runs through our family farm, providing fresh drinking water most of the year to our cow herd.

At the bottom of this ravine is a very thin beginning of a creek, fed from a spring.
Thus, Sage Creek is born!

Much of the rest of the week for Jeff and Jeremy was spent driving around some of their usual haunts, looking for deer and elk. They did a lot of driving and A LOT of hiking in the coulees and along the Milk River. By the end of the week, Jeff and Jeremy had reached a number of conclusions about the deer population this year.

First, it appears as though the deer numbers are not actually less, as some around here have said, they're just spending their time in different places. With so much CRP having been taken out in recent years, it makes sense that the deer would seek different places to bed in safety. Namely, the coulee banks and ravines. Jeff is thinking they spend their day in the coulees, then feed on the flat lands at night.

Second, for some reason, there does not appear to be as many large deer in our area this year. Jeff and Jeremy spent significant time surveying the scene, and the deer that Jeff eventually shot on the last day of their hunting week was one of the largest they saw all week.

So, with that all being said, if you're planning on hunting in this area this year, remember two things: You're probably going to have to hike, and you're probably not going to shoot a record buck this year.

Jeff with this year's buck.
Not a record by any means, but not bad given what they saw in our area this year.

Hunting season is not over yet, so there's still time for Jeff to shoot an elk. Jeremy and his wife are coming up again in a few weeks, and they'll be looking for deer still, too. And, on top of all that, we have hardly taken Harvey out bird hunting, either! So, stay tuned for more Hunting on the HiLine updates as the fall hunting season continues!