Montana Hunt, Pillar to Pariah, Part 1

OneLastCast · 11-14-2002, 07:02 PM

From Pillar to Pariah

If you want the short version:
We shot two antelope, I donated mine to the State. We saw over 100 bucks that in Oregon I would shoot in a heart beat but I never shot at a deer. The wife shot at two bucks but misjudged the distance and missed. It was a fantastic hunt and we had a great time. The temp averaged between 12 and 19 degrees. The coldest morning was 7 degrees.

The Long version is:

And yes Barb...I am as pure as the driven snow. Here is the dog.

Got back from our “Trophy” deer and antelope hunt in Montana last week. Had an excellent time. EXCEPT I came back an outlaw.

The wife won an all expense paid trip at an OHA banquet and made me get a paper route to make the extra money to go along. We left Nehalem, drove to Cour D alene, spent the night and then drove to Billings and spent the night. The ranch was about 30 minutes East of Billings. We arrived at the Ranch Friday morning. Sighted in the rifles and met the guides and the other hunters. There were eight other hunters, seven from Michigan and one from New Jersey. These guys hunt all over. One just came back from hunting in Canada, one from Texas and one from California. Geez they must have huge paper routes.

The outfitter (Rocking W Outfitters) leases a bunch of ranches for hunting. We hunted on two ranches, one was 50,000 acres and the other was over 60,000 acres. Needless to say we had a lot of area.

The first morning my wife shot an antelope right at sunup. A perfectly placed shot with her 25-06, right behind the elbow. I took a shot at one right after her but being the dutiful husband and not wanting to ruin her moment I purposely shot high (twice) so that we could concentrate all the photo taking on her. We got up to her antelope and the outfitter immediately took her tag, punched it and tied it on the front leg. We took all necessary photos, gutted and loaded the animal and moved on. In Montana you have to leave the testicles on the animal as proof of sex, horns don’t count. The testicles have to be with the meat until the meat is processed.

Since I graciously let the other antelope runoff we decided to look for deer for a while and then come back to the same area for antelope. An hour and a half later we were heading out of the hills and spotted about twenty antelope. We watched for about 20 minutes and decided to try for a black faced buck. (I thought he was huge but he probably taped out at about 13 inches). We worked around them and I dumped him at about 235 yards. Whoop, Whoop, my first antelope. We got up to him, took some pictures and the outfitter asked for my tag. As he was cutting out my tag I was flipping the antelope over. The outfitter asked “ do you want to gut your first antelope?” of course I said yes so he handed me his knife and as I was gutting the animal he was tying on the tag. We loaded it into the truck and off we went to hunt deer. Saw some bucks but nothing to shoot at.

The next day as we were hunting a different ranch we called back to home base at lunch time only to find out that Montana fish and game had been out to check the beaver population that needed to be reduced on a local pond. In the process they checked out all the tags on the three antelope that were hanging from the meatpole. Apparently the tag on my goat wasn’t filled out properly and they had confiscated it. The message was that I was to call them when I got back to camp. Back at camp I made the call and the Warden kept telling me that I could lose my license for two years in 29 states if I didn’t give him the right answers I tried to impress on him that there was no ill intent in this situation. Apparently the outfitter hadn’t cut out the date entirely so (understandably so) they were calling it missed tagged. I kept telling the warden that I understood and that the tag was in my name and that I was responsible so I was willing to take the punishment. However, if possible I wanted my first antelope back. I went through another five minutes about losing my license when he decided to cite me for improper tagging of an animal. Fine, $120, they keep the antelope. The warden told me that before I left the state I was to stop by the Fish and Game Office in Billings and receive my citation. Okay, fine.

The next day as we were deer hunting the Outfitter called back into home base at lunch and after a few pleasantries the one sided conversation I heard was like this.......”a dog or coyote did what???”........”the leg with the tag???”.......”whose antelope was it????......”Oh @#$%”.....”GET EVERBODY AT THE RANCH CRAWLING ON THEIR HANDS AND KNEES UNTIL THEY FIND THAT LEG AND TAG”.......there were a few other comments thrown in but at this point I had figured out what was happening and was starting to laugh. As the outfitter got off the phone he told me that something had chewed the leg of my wifes antelope and now the tag was missing. I told him to call fish and game because he was now sitting with an untagged antelope that could be very serious and fish and game had checked the tag the day before. He put in the message to the ranch to call fish and game. What did they want to do??? Of course, confiscate this untagged animal. The warden would meet us when we got back to the ranch.

This is getting to long..........Stay Tuned for the next episode of

Pillar to Pariah.....THE WARDEN SPEAKS.....

OneLastCast

Rauly · 11-14-2002, 07:22 PM

My ears are burning finish the story will ya. [img]graemlins/lurk.gif[/img] Sounds like an adventure.

Rauly

tailchaser · 11-14-2002, 07:47 PM

Man, this is nice to know I don't have the only luck like this. Thanks for cheering me up. Come on cough up the rest of it.

tc

Wak · 11-14-2002, 07:55 PM

Too bad they don't put that much effort into catching poachers.
When is chapter 2 starting?

bllelk · 11-14-2002, 10:24 PM

OLC

Sorry they took your first antelope.
Can't replace that. Hope you've got photos.
Seems like the guide owes you another hunt. Altho he is probably in hot water as well. In Idaho they usually hang the outfitter right along with the client. If you decide to take another shot at one, Barb knows the good spots in Idaho and the right people to ask.

Now let's hear part two.

BlueWater · 11-15-2002, 07:02 AM

I am on the egde of my seat!

Will One Last Cast go to jail?
Will the evil game warden diabolical plot succeed?
Will the outfitter finnally learn the importance of protecting from scavengers?
Will Mrs. O.L.C. learn of her husbands shooting deception?

Stay tuned to this same Ifish station same Ifish time......... :grin:

BlueWater

WaterDog · 11-15-2002, 03:12 PM

Great story OLC! :grin: I never knew a CE could write that well. Can�t wait for chapter 2.

Bet you wont be getting rid of the paper route anytime soon huh? :depressed: Next time leave Murphy at home.

fishin · 11-15-2002, 07:56 PM

[img]graemlins/lurk.gif[/img] :shocked: [img]graemlins/lurk.gif[/img]

mudsucker · 11-15-2002, 11:05 PM

BlueWater, You crack me up. The rest of OneLastCasts story is as good as the first and worth the wait. I can say this though mrs. OLC is right when she says OLC seems to attract bad luck. :grin: :grin:

Firedog · 11-16-2002, 05:34 AM

OLC, Great story. Looking forward to part II. Now I have to go to work for the weekend and wont get to read it till monday :smile:

Mr. Fisherman · 11-18-2002, 12:30 AM

O.k., o.k, post up already before someone has to finish it for all of us who are waiting on the edge of our seats...
My seat, for one, is not rated for this duration or duty cycle [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img]
:shocked:

Bait O' Eggs · 11-18-2002, 09:16 AM

If you are not behind bars,

tell us the rest of the story.

Great story!!

Beer Waggin · 11-18-2002, 09:43 AM

Montana F&W rules are much different than Oregon's. I was hunting on a guided elk trip about 5 years ago. The only guy that killed an elk had it confiscated the next day by Montana's finest because the "guide" didn't leave the sex organs attached to rear quarter. You'd think the guide would know the regulations. The real kicker was that the guy who shot the elk didn't even get the ticket. His buddy was going to town for more whiskey and along the way was going to drop the elk off to be processed. He saw a game check station along the side of road that required all hunters to stop regardless if they had filled there tags or not. So this un-suspecting soul pulls over and receives a $150 ticket for not having the sex organs attached and looses the elk. Needless to say he was pretty upset. The outfitter didn't even offer to pay for the ticket. He did offer the guy who lost the elk to come back and hunt for free the next year. Needless to say, we left two days early because of all of the stupidity that was going on.

Still waiting for the second half of "As the Warden turns"

Rauly · 11-18-2002, 10:31 AM

I think we may need to take a collection for OneLastCast's bail.

Or maybe he needs some gas money cuase when your on the run you drive a lot.

Come on post up were all dieing here.

OneLastCast · 11-18-2002, 10:46 AM

Sorry about the long wait.
Been keeping a low profile

I have a meeting tonight but as soon as I get home I will write .......the rest of the story.

OneLastCast

bllelk · 11-18-2002, 12:08 PM

OLC
Don't blame you for the low profile. Must of been a hell of a wind over there Sat AM. Went over to check things out and a 12' by 16" top of a tree blew off and landed on the deck between the trailer and the shed. Got lucky as the roof only served to break the fall and it landed pointy side down on the deck. 8 ft. over and it would have skewered the bed. Saw an 18 wheeler on it's side just past the bridge. Just two boats on the bay.
Looking forward to chapter 2.