Hey Dave Hager.........

Dave Parks

Dave Parks

Well-known member
I found the difference between the Judith Basin and the Lamar Valley.

LEWISTOWNSNOWYS-1.jpg
Nice photo taken near Lewistown with the Snowy's in the background 10 miles to the south.


LAMAR_VALLEY_PAN-1.jpg
Lamar Valley with a small herd of buffalo on this side of teh Lamar River.

The the difference is.....the buffalo have been replaced by pheasants!

Thank's for all the help & info, your BLM buddy would be a great contact for me to have.

Dave
 
Those dark green and gold strips are the big difference. Lots of grain production from there all the way to the Breaks and beyond.

I forgot to mention that there are some ruffs up in the Snowies but the locals have done a number on access to the USFS lands. I've got a few honeyholes over here that are good places to find blues down with the ruffs early in the season, and it's not a huevo buster to get to them.

I'll shoot you an email with Lowell's info.
 
Dave,

Ruffs are fun, I have a few here on my place. I imagine a guy could find a few to the west in the L&CNF as well. The pheasants, sharpies and huns are my main interest. What is the skinny on hunting the C.M. Russell? Is there a way to get down to the mouth of the Judith & mouth of the Musselshell from LT?

I took a aerial photo trip from FB all the way down river to FP Dam the other day and talk about a canoe ride......149 miles of wild & wooly country!

I would have loved to taken a ride on one of the old paddle wheelers way back then. Reminds me of what "Bear Claw" Chris Lapp told Jeremiah, "you can cut wood and leave it at the mouth of the Judith for the steamboats, leave a pouch out and the Captain will leave you gold, It's a good thing to know if times get hard"

WAGH!

Dave
 
Dave,

These pictures are great. Never been in that area but it sure makes me want to load up the jeep with the flyrods and camping gear and do a road trip?

One of these days I'm going to have to get a route plan from you and head that way.

Take care,

Ed L.
 
Hi Ed,

You'd have to ask Dave Hager, I have only hunted a few places in Montana. If and when Judy and I move there, I will probably start doing some fishing during the summers. We have our place up for sale now and it's just a matter of when it sells and if we sell all of it or just the 80 acre parcel.

Are you ready for the spring fishing yet?

Dave
 
It'd be nice to go back 150 years and take that trip, eh? Can't imagine what the Judith and Musselshell Breaks were like not to mention the old river channel pre-dams. Hwy 236 crosses the Mo just downstream from the mouth of the Judith. 236 is the road that stays straight at Hilger just north of LT. I've been on the BLM road on the east side of the Musselshell but never all the way to the Refuge where it dumps in. That's a looooong haul from LT; the Judith is a little quicker trip. Sadly, neither river has been floatable for years and years due to the irrigation pressure and drought. You would spend as much or more time walking than you would paddling. Most floaters on the Wild & Scenic portion of the Mo put in at Ft. Benton and take out at the Fred Robinson Bridge (Hwy 191). I hear it's a spectacular float although you want to do it before the end of May as it gets pretty hot out there.

The CMR Refuge puts out their own set of regs.
http://www.fws.gov/cmr/Hunt%20Regs/CMRHUNTRG2006.pdf
There's a fair amount of the refuge open for hunting sharpies and sage chickens. Depends what part of the refuge, but a lot of the antelope and deer tags are draw only. I know rifle elk tags are. The stretch of river to the west of the refuge is generally considered the holy grail of bighorn sheep hunting with some of the best genetics around. I know a guy who has unsuccessfully put in for a ram tag there for 43 years, so that'll give you an idea of how tough they are to come by.

That's gumbo county so even if you only plan to go for a day you need to pack for four. All you can do is wait it out until the roads dry after a thunder dumper.
 
With all the work you andJudy have done to the place it'll probably be a bitter sweet sell won't it. I've really enjoyed the photos of all the woodies, turkey, bear, deer, not to forget BooBoo Bass.....you name it you got it!

The boats are all ready, tackle boxes are full, reels re-lined but this time of year the ole' Miss is out of her banks and a lot of stuff going down the river rght now. The end of April middle of May the Bass will be on the nest and the Crappie will be suspended in about 12-15 feet of water. When the water temps get to 55-60 degrees we'll be hitting it. Suppose to be 29 degrees tonight. Going to take some doin to get the water temps up around here.

Good luck and hope you get the chnce to go to Montana. We're planning another trip this year to the 4 corners area of Colorado and fishing the Poudre river then headin south to fish the Platte. Can't wait to get there.

Take care,

Ed L.
 
I know what you mean about that old white dust gumbo, you can sink up to your axles in that stuff. You can go fishing in May and be stuck until July.

That CMR area is pretty in the fall though:
CMR-1.jpg
The coulees running down to the river look great for upland birds:
FBMR-1-1.jpg
Here's a birdy looking spot along the river:
FBMR-4-4.jpg
Hunting & camping out of a 20 foot tender would be fun.
FBMR-0-0.jpg
Few roads, but 150 miles of river to explore along this stretch of the Upper MO.

Dave
 
Sounds like you are ready to go! It's 32 degrees as I write this this evening and it snowed most of the day up higher. The turkeys were walking around today with that miserable wet look they get.

I'll miss the bear and the wood ducks. But we have lots of hunting opportunities to consider if we move to Montana and winter in Arizona. If we sell the whole place we will have enough money to go where we want and not have to worry about anything. Is'nt that the whole idea of retiring? I have been practicing retirement for about 20 years now and I find I get better at it all the time :^)

Dave
 
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