Sincerely, USS MISSOURI
Welcome to MT. Madison County is a beautiful area with plenty of animals to chase. Just start spending time in the elk woods and locating elk spots. Hard to beat boots on the ground. As for equipment your probably fine and there are lots of varying opinions. I'd say pull what you are comfortable pulling, shoot an arrow that weighs at least 400 grains or more for elk and plan on working hard for opportunities. If you are willing, you will get them. Best of luck, enjoy this summer.
Just find and area and start hiking it, I try to choose a different gated road each year and hike it a half dozen times to learn new areas, not long and you will have game spotted, and the hunt is on.
oz
Study the regulations. They are slightly more complicated than most midwestern states, but nowhere near as bad as some folks make them out to be.
Here are some points from the regs that you need to know and a few opinions of my own:
I'm not sure what MO required, but my previous home state of IL then CO did not require bowhunters education, but Montana does. You'll need either a Bowhunter Education certificate or proof that you've held an archery tag in another state. You need to take the online course or a class room course and sign up for a field day fast if you need the certificate. July will be the last classes for the year and next week are the last two online field days here in Helena. The following bullets are from FWP's website.
•Show a certificate of completing the national bowhunter education course from Montana or any other state or province; or
•Show any prior year's bowhunting/archery stamp, tag, permit, or license from any state or province. If you cannot produce this license, you may sign an affidavit, at any FWP license provider, stating that you previously purchased such a license. This allows you then to purchase a current year's Montana bow and arrow license.
As stated in the previous posts, your whitetail set up will work fine. Montana does have a minimum arrow weight of 300 grains with broadhead attached. It would be unusual to have a set up with an arrow that weighed less than that, but its something to be aware of. I'd go with the 400 grains plus recommended above. Any sharp reputable broadhead placed in the right location will do the job. Any broadhead placed in the wrong location will result in a less than ideal situation. Understand elk anatomy and take high percentage shots that result in quick clean kills and the discussion on which broadhead goes away. I'm not a mechanical broadhead guy, but don't have any experience with them that qualifies me to say anything more about them. Montana has no draw weight requirement. While 70 lbs definitely doesn't hurt, modern bows are more than capable of fully penetrating an elk at lower draw weights. I had lowered to 60 lbs back in my whitetail days in IL because more than that was pointless for a whitetail and I could hold full draw more comfortable. I still shoot that same 60 lbs for elk.
I think crossbows are legal in MO, but they are not legal in Montana.
You need documentation that proves 6 months residency to buy a resident license. It sounds like you'll either buy a nonresident license or wait until 2017. I moved in the middle of September 2011 from CO so I only had a few days to hunt elk in CO that season before the move. I couldn't afford MT nonresident tag after the move.