Long range hunting in western Montana

[Lost creek]

I am looking for some long range hunting spots on public ground in western Montana. I have a camp in the little belt mts. east of the rockies in Montana and we have had good success on elk but the wind there is very tough most days to shoot at the distances we would like to shoot at. I have been watching the weather there since we left The first week of November and the wind really got bad since with the wind averaging 25mph. with gusts of 40 to 50 mph. I have been told the that the wind west of the rockies is a lot less and watching the weather on the internet i see that is true. I see that the Kalispell area has calm winds but i heard that the area is thick. I do not want to know anybody hunting spots but if someone could point me in the right direction in western Montana i will scout it out and hopefully find some good long range hunting without the high winds. Any help would be appreciated.
Ray

 

[405win]

Hi Ray, I live in the NW part of the state and I can assure you that it is indeed thick around here. Are there places where longrange shooting come into play? absolutely. Its easy to find places to shoot but finding places to hunt (I'm assuming elk) can be a tall order. Maybe trout creek, up on top near the Idaho border. Be prepared to pack your shooter several miles up hill, and you won't be able to shoot in the prone position.
I don't mean to sound negitive, but I do most of my long range hunting east of the divide and hunt around here with a 405 winchester.
There are plenty of clear cuts you can sit on but I'm not that patient.
Good luck

 

[HntWhtTail]

As any self respecting hunter should I will not tell you exactly where but I will tell you That I have found more than one long range spot that most others will overlook.. I have been focusing on small sections of state land that look for all intensive purposes to be a waist of time. but if you can see said parcel of land from public across private or maybe across a river why not I just found my new whitetail spot for next year and it is only a section about 25 yards deep and 150 yards long. the only problem is you can only see it from the opposite bank even then at that level the brush is too tall and if something did come right out to the edge you would be spotted for sure the only way to hunt it with any chance of success is from 600 plus on a bench across the river from it. This does make game retrieval a bit more complicated but who doesn't like a good adventure. I have all ready gone over it in my head. Retrieval goes like this after buck is down me, my inflatable canoe and a quick float from upstream bone out dear into bags back into boat back across river, drag canoe and deer back to truck as I said this is a small section in a spot that used to be good on the dry side of the river now its over run with hunters who are losing land every year and end up in my spot. I have seen good bucks there in the past and just looked and kept moving but now that I have decided to buid a new rig for long range(6.5/06 ai but thats another thread) I plan On devoting some time to it next year. I can just see the look on the first guy's face who walks up behind me sitting behind my long range rig as I look out at a 200 yard shot at the river bottom, not knowing I am looking across the river. This is just a thought that Montana is full of these little parcels of state land. And with an increase in the amount of private land being locked up they make a good choice. I am not sure if its legal to shoot across private land. but in most cases you would be on some sort of public land when you fire and when you retrieve your game..If you are looking for elk I see just as many sections in elk country as I do in deer country. Sorry if I rambled on in this post as I have had a few too many