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Milk River Montana 2017

It’s hard to believe that another Milk River adventure has come and gone.  Good friend and fellow RidgeRunner Ben Wright and I made our semi-annual trip to MRO (Milk River Outfitters). Bright and early Wednesday October 18th found us packing Ben’s truck with lots of gear, his fiance, Amy, 5 bird dogs,  and myself. We arrived in camp Friday the 20th.  All in all, we had fourteen hunters in camp for our hunting adventure.   Miles were walked, stories were told, friendships were made, and tags were filled.  Eleven mule deer and three whitetail deer were taken over the course of the five day hunt.

The weather definitely played a big part of our hunt.  I think I experienced just about all the weather that north east Montana has to offer; winds up to 60 mph, rain, sleet, snow, sunshine, rainbows, and a wide range of temperatures (and that was just the first day).

For my hunt, I once again chose to chase whitetails.  The first place they had picked for me to hunt held 3 big bucks all over the 160 inch mark.  Unfortunately for me, the guys from Realtree lease the property across the fence and managed to tag all three.   Deer are in no short supply in north east Montana, especially along the famous Milk River.  So, the next plan was to attempt to put me on a large 10 point that was flirting with the 150 inch mark.  The buck had been spotted a few times in an agriculture field not far from camp.  I decided to try my luck there with the plan on waiting him out.  I didn’t do a very good job at waiting, in fact, I never even saw him. On my fourth sit the largest bodied whitetail I’ve ever seen walked into the field shortly before shooting hours ended.  I tried not to shoot him, I really did, but the weather didn’t look like it was going to improve until the last day; and the old saying, “don’t pass a deer early that you’d shoot late” kept replaying in my mind.  So, I patiently waited for the buck to close the distance between us.  He eventually made his way to 250 yards and I realized he wasn’t going to come any closer.  My Boswell Custom Rifle chambered in .300 win mag performed flawlessly.  The 300 pound 8 point only went 30 yards after the shot.  The guys at camp aged him at least 5 1/2 year old.

Ben took a big mule deer and Amy took a wide 9 point whitetail to round out our hunt.  We took our deer to BorderLand Taxidermy to have mounted.  We spent the last two days of our hunt hunting sharp tailed grouse, pheasants, and Hungarian partridges.   As always, the experience was amazing, the views spectacular, and the memories unforgettable.  We have already made plans to be back in 2 years and I’ve  started my countdown!

Kevin “Roo” Mennett