On November 30, my wife was out running some errands and a couple times overheard someone lamenting, “The hunting season is all over.”
It’s one of those good news-bad news deals. Yup, at sundown on November 29, the big game hunting season
did come to a close, except for those who lucked into drawing a bison license.
The good news is as of today, there are still another five weeks of hunting left. So, go ahead and put that ought-six back in the gun cabinet, but keep the shotgun handy, because there’s still a lot of hunting left before we begin that long waiting period until next September.
A first priority might be to take a walk in the mountain foothill aspen thickets in search of ruffed grouse, or other mountain grouse, which includes blue grouse and Franklin (spruce) grouse. Ruffed grouse are one of my hunting passions and I’m planning for at least one more walk for grouse, though finding grouse is a lot more challenging after the hills are covered with a blanket of snow. In any event, the mountain grouse season closes on December 15.
The season for other upland birds, including sharptail grouse, pheasants, Hungarian partridge, and wild turkeys remains open through New Year’s Day. Upland bird hunting gets to be challenging this time of year. Sharptail grouse, for example, bunch up in big coveys out on the open prairie and with all those eyes watching out for danger it’s almost impossible to get within shooting range.
Pheasants are my favorite late season quarry and I’ve had both good days and frustrating days looking for those long-tailed ringnecks. It often seems that pheasants will get bunched up on many of those cold days, and all you’ll see will be pheasants getting up a couple hundred yards ahead. You can watch their flight path, but chances are you’ll never find them on the ground. On the other hand, there are often birds that hang tight in heavy cover. If you have a dog with an educated nose, you may get some good shots. There are no guarantees other than if you stay home you absolutely won’t get any pheasants. If you’re lucky, you may also bump into some Hungarian partridge coveys as a bonus for walking out in the cold December air.
As for turkeys, keep in mind that while there are turkeys in southwest Montana, permits are by drawing only—which happened back in August. Eastern Montana is your best bet for a late season turkey hunt.
The waterfowl season is Montana’s last general season. The duck and goose season will be open until sundown on January 15. Specifically, the duck season ends on January 7 in the Central Flyway portions of Montana. The duck season goes through January 15 in the Pacific Flyway area, and the goose season is open statewide through January 15.
Southwest Montana is, in my opinion, one of Montana’s best-kept secrets for late season duck hunting. With many rivers and streams, along with spring creeks and warm water springs, ducks don’t really have to go much farther south, unless a severe cold snap freezes them shut.
The same goes for geese and it’s rare, when I’m out this time of year, when I don’t see geese flying along our waterways. If I were planning a trip for geese, however, a good bet would be the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana. While traveling through the area, we’ve often seen large numbers of Canada geese, especially in afternoons, when they’re heading out to feed in grain stubble or winter wheat fields. Seeing the many flights of geese in the air almost resembles squadrons of B-17s, heading across the English Channel.
Of course, one of the best spots for finding geese would be almost any golf course in Montana, though things being what they are, hunting usually isn’t an option.
The bottom line is that if you’re suffering from a post-hunting season letdown, the best medicine is to put on some warm clothes, grab a shotgun, and go hunting.
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