Missouri Breaks Elk Hunt

NDwirehair · Aug 15, 2017

After patiently waiting for several years my Dad and I finally were drawn for Missouri Breaks Elk. This will be the first elk hunt for either of us and we excited for the time together and the adventure/memories to be made. Just reaching out the the Nodak group to see if anyone has any tips and good advice for us. I have been doing a lot of "Google Earth" scouting and found some areas that show water holes which i am hoping may be a good starting spot during this lovely drought season we are having (hoping they aren't all dried up tho). We have talked with a few other friends that have been to the area and have a starting point figured out, but overall just seeing if any one has had some experience in the breaks area and what type of cover/terrain they were commonly found in, some do's/don'ts, etc. Pending weather and how calm fort peck is we plan to travel by boat to get into some areas that are challenging to get to by truck and crazy long hikes, which we both know covering ground is going to happen regardless.

I have a scouting trip with horses planned this coming weekend to cover as much ground as possible to GPS some water holes/wallows, good vantage points and possilby some areas we find elk. Do to the distance from home this will be the only time to make it out there before the season starts so maybe we will have a little luck on our side.

Kurtr · Aug 15, 2017

on google earth go to options then go to terrain exageration and switch it to 2.3 or so and it will really show you what the land looks like

SupressYourself · Aug 15, 2017

I did a Muley hunt out there a few years ago. We saw quite a few elk in the UL Bend area of the CMR refuge, including some nice bulls.
We hunted by boat as well, which makes it easy to get around, but if the elk aren't near the river, it's a long climb up. The terrain is a lot more rugged than the Oahe / Sak area.

Petras · Aug 15, 2017

Will this be an archery or rifle hunt? I drew a cow tag out there 3 or 4 years ago. We camped in forchette(Sp?) bay. There is a ton of public land to hunt, but, be prepared to work. If it's during rifle season, the first weekend will be busy and the elk will be way down in the deep rough country. I had blew up my knee 4 months prior to my hunt, so I wasn't able to be hiking around down in that super deep stuff. One of my buddies hunts that area a lot and said that with my knee being blown up that my best bet would be to wait until the thursday before the second weekend of the season to go out.
We went out that thursday, set up camp, went out hunting, and watched a herd of about 300 or 400 elk jump the fence onto a private ranch and we never saw them again... Day late I guess. We hunted 5 more days and never saw another cow. If any of us would have had a bull tag we could have easily filled.

My advice to you is this, if you are physically able to do the hiking and climbing it takes to get up and down that country, then go the opening weekend and do it. If not, wait until after opening weekend and try to catch them coming up out of the super deep shit and onto the flatter land.

Good Luck!

NDwirehair · Aug 16, 2017

We have archery tags and plan to head out there the 9th - 17th of September. My dad and i have put in a lot of work this summer getting ourselves in shape, so pushing back into the deep stuff is our plan to try and get away from the crowds and road hunters.

We are planning to stay at fourchette creek campground and curious how the roads are for getting a camper back in there?

Nmariner · Aug 16, 2017

Have you looked at the onX Hunt app/chip? I love it for bowhunting out in the grasslands, shows all of the different public lands as well as the owner on private land.

Kurtr · Aug 16, 2017

Yep once is the cats ass the new updated app is really good

Petras · Aug 16, 2017

OnX is a must have app on your phone for hunting out there. and the road getting back into that campground isn't bad as long as it's not snowing or icey. It is a bit steep getting in there, but you should have zero problems pulling a camper in there.

I have never been out there bowhunting, so I have no advice other than to get the OnX app and download all the mapping for that area prior to going. Cellphone service out there is sketchy at best, so you would be best off to download all those maps ahead of time. Unless you decide to get a handheld gps and the OnX chip. Also, when we were there, there was no electricity at the campground.

Big Iron · Aug 16, 2017

Shoot straight CAT

NDwirehair · Aug 17, 2017

I will have to look into the OnX Maps a little more but i planned to us my hand held GPS with the Montana Trax chip i borrowed from a buddy. Since all of our hunting is planned on the CMR refuge we have a lot of land to cover. Thanks everyone for the info we are heading out today hopefully we can stumble across some elk and get the blood boiling.

Petras · Aug 17, 2017

Rumor has it that UL Bend area has some HUGE whitetails in it as well as good bulls. Good luck on your scouting trip!

Missouri Breaks Elk Hunt

NDwirehair

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Kurtr

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SupressYourself

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Petras

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NDwirehair

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Nmariner

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Kurtr

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Petras

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Big Iron

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NDwirehair

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Petras

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