Fall travel in Montana

pdxman · Aug 13, 2001

Has anyone traveled over the Montana mountain ranges in late October early November? Planning a hunting trip this fall that takes us through this country and want to know what kind of pass conditions to expect. Reason I am asking is if the passes are likely to be icy/snowy, we'll probably leave the travel trailers behind and use guide tents instead. Although the preference is to bring trailers for their luxery, we also don't want the added travel time with inclimate weather. Just in the planning stages now so that's why the inquiry.
p.s. Unless there are detours in place, travel would most likely be all interstate (I-90).

Edited by pdxman on 08/13/01 05:53 PM (server time).

TWINKLE_TOES · Aug 13, 2001

pdxman,

Not long ago I planned a fishing trip to Montana in late August. Four inches of new snow in Glacier Park. Lookout Pass (Montana/Idaho) border was the same. You might get lucky and have an Indian summer, but October/November it would be optimistic to plan on good road conditions. Maybe someone from the "Big Sky" country will give you a better answer.

Al

pdxman · Aug 13, 2001

Thanks Al. That's the kind of info I was looking for and figured that the diverse group that read this board there ought to be simular experiences. Hopefully not though.

cowboydoc · Aug 13, 2001

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Late October and early november you better be prepared for anything and everything!!!! You could have from 75 degrees and sunny to below zero wind chills and a blizzard. I've been out on the Idaho/Montana border and left in the morning to gather cattle and had it go from 75 degrees and t-shirt to a blizzard in a matter of a few hours. The weather up there is so hard to predict and it gets nasty real quick. Passes are often closed, but not as much that early. Where are you planning on ending up hunting? Where will you be coming from? If you're coming from Sheridan, WY way into Montana it's pretty bad that way alot of the time.

cowboydoc · Aug 13, 2001

BTW why would you go to MT hunting when over in the Wallowa mountains and the Blues is some of the best elk hunting in the west?

pdxman · Aug 14, 2001

Cowboydoc, I put the rifle down a few years ago when ODFW put on so many restrictions in the area I liked (Blue Mountains). After years of wanting to bag a branch bull they changed it to spike only...had enough when hunting for spikes (should be easy right?) all I saw were branch bulls. So, I've put away the rifle and picked up a shotgun. For several years now been hunting eastern Oregon for quail and chucker and enjoy going to the high desert very much. I am from NW part of the state about 30 NW of Portland. I like to hunt with my father-in-law and his friends and since my roots are back in North Dakota we decided to go for the pheasants. The best way to get there is I-84 to Hermiston, going north to Spokane then I-90 across WA,ID,MT.

We don't have to take trailers and have elk tents which are comfortable but are a bigger hassle if you want to move to a different location. We plan on hunting the Dunn Center, Watford City, and Lake Sakakawea areas of ND. These areas surround Teddy Roosevelt National Park and are suprisingly picturesque<sp>. Actually, there's still alot of cowboy'in in that area and you probably are familiar with it. I think they still have rodeo events as a regular high school sport.

Edited by pdxman on 08/13/01 11:16 PM (server time).

GlueGuy · Aug 14, 2001

My brother-in-law and his wife work in Glacier National Park. They leave in early September for the season, and are often chased out with snow storms.

Likewise, I drove through Wyoming in early November of 1971 (?I think?), and hit a foot of snow in Laramie. That's way south of Montana (southern part of Wyoming).

The GlueGuy

cowboydoc · Aug 14, 2001

pdxman,
Eastern Oregon I know very well!!! One of the ranches is in western idaho and eastern oregon down from Ontario and Nyssa. Absolutely excellent chukar hunting out there in the Succor Creek area. If you ever get there go out there by the Owyhee River. You won't be sorry. Pheasant hunting is also just fantastic down there by the Snake River. Let me know when you're out that way and I can have my brothers arrange some hunting for you if you want. We used to hunt up in the Wallowa's quite a bit over out of Lagrande towards Joseph. Keith Cameron has about 50,000 acres up there in a ranch and is one of my grandpa's best friends. Last time I was there I got a six pointer out of there. That was in 93'. We have been there alot hunting and fishing, especially during the steelhead and salmon runs. I-90 from Idaho to Montana is really mountainous and alot of switchbacks, especially at the MT and ID border and into Missoula. Definitely with a trailer you will lose alot of time. From Missoula to Spokane is going to take awhile even with good roads as it's really mountainous. Once you get to Missoula you should be fine until you get past Billings and head towards Sheridan. From there it will be patchy but pretty smooth sailing to ND. Then again you may hit a patch of good weather and not have any bad weather at all. Good luck on the hunt. I'm headed back to Idaho in October to go elk hunting with my brothers, uncle and grandpa up in the McCall, ID area. Probably do some pheasant hunting as well down in eastern oregon and western idaho.

JonLeonard · Aug 14, 2001

WOW! From those descriptions your best bet would probably be to fly to the nearest city, then charter a helicopter to drop you where you want to hunt. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

pdxman · Aug 14, 2001

You never know CoyboyDoc. May someday take you up on the offer of getting on that land. Always looking for good places to go. Went to Juntura last year and did fairly well but had to work the chuckers way up high. Chuckers are a unique bird as you ability to find them can depend a lot upon the conditions. They rely upon Cheet grass (seed) as main source of food and need water nearby. There was unusual amount of rain a week or so before we went hunting and birds weren't coming down from above to get it. After getting up on top of these rimrocks, realized they were probably getting their water from pools collected in the pocks of the lava rock.
The place we camped our rigs at had a natural hot spring nearby. Great little spot to soak in about 100 degree water with a cold one after a long day of walking. Gotta love it!