Archery hunting for elk in Montana is one of our specialties. “Carl Mann’s Montana’s Experience Outfitters” offers one of the West’s premier Archery Elk Hunts. This hunt generally starts the 1st week of September which is the opening week of Montana’s archery season. You will likely see bulls every day and we hope to be able to “cow talk” one of those majestic animals into archery range. Hunting elk out on the Great Plains where elk once roamed freely is still a reality in Montana. This hunt is not your typical Elk hunt which occurs in most of the Rockies. This hunt is in the Missouri River Breaks. Although there is timber, sage brush, and large Juniper bushes this is still very wide open country, which allows us to be able to spot and stalk Elk. Drawing a Missouri River Breaks Elk tag is one of
Montana’s most valued tags. Most opportunities will be shots at a mature 6 x 6 bull. Also at this time, if you receive a combination elk tag you will be able to chase trophy mule deer. This combination hunt is hard to beat. If you are an avid archer this is the hunt for you. This is a limited quota hunt. The state has allotted me 5 permits each year and they go very fast. We are generally booked 1 to 2 years in advance. It is worth the wait.
Elk Hunting Methods
Spot and Intercept, Bugle, Cow talk and Decoy"Spot and Intercept" Elk leaving the watering holes heading to the bedding area
"Bugle to locate bull elk and sneak"
"Cow talk and decoy satellite bulls away from main herds"
We have had 100% success on opportunities over the past several years. We have been fortunate to have very good shooters. Be ready to shoot between 15 and 75 yards. We do not recommend mechanical broad heads for such large animals. Most of the bull elk we are after are considered Pope & Young. If you are willing to hold out there are some real monster bull elk in the wild. However, you are allowed to shoot a cow elk, calf or bull; and going home with an elk is important!
The best elk hunting is early mornings and evenings. This is where we have something very unique to add to the elk hunt: the opportunity to have a guaranteed tag for an antelope! There are very few places in the world where you can hunt antelope and elk in the same day. When elk are bedded down during mid day, we head off to the prairies to decoy in some Trophy Class antelope. There is nothing more exciting than finding a nice herd of antelope and decoying in one of the prairie-fasted big game animals! Shots can generally be taken from 30 to 80 yards, and the chances of taking a Pope & Young bucks are excellent. This makes a full day of hunting!
Archery hunters who booked an archery elk hunt received a "big game combination license". With this license you are entitled to also harvest a deer. If you do not harvest a deer during your archery elk hunt, many of our guest book a late season rifle mule deer hunt at a discounted price, and end up with a trophy mule deer.
