Here's the deal with Montana. The best time to hunt mule deer if'n you want one worth taking a photo of, is during the rut. That is basically the last two weeks of November. If you want an antelope worth taking the best time is the first two weeks of the season which occurs during the middle of October. If you wait until the end of the antelope season to kill a buck (beginning of November) you run an extremely high risk that many of the bucks will have shed their horns. This happened to some out of state friends of mine this year. I begged them not to come out that last part of the season but they insisted that they wanted to combine deer and lopes. The ended up just looking for any antelope with horns let alone a trophy. The latter part of the season is no time to be picky. Granted the deer season is open during that time, but there is no rut going, deer are generally spread out all over the place, and the it's very likely the temperatures could be very hot. If you are serious about a decent mule deer it is a lousy time to hunt compared to the last two weeks of November. I agree with b1g b0re that elk and bear are tougher to get, but that's not the subject of this thread. I also agree to kill just any antelope or mule deer is relatively ez as he put it. However, to kill a mature mule deer or antelope isn't exactly a cake walk and requires a lot more effort. If you hunt during the times I suggested it will definitely stack the odds in your favor.
