Thompson River elk hunters find success

The Daily Inter Lake

While hunter numbers continue to be down compared to last year, those who are hunting in the Thompson River area are having a bonanza with bull elk so far this year.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Bruce Sterling said the 56 bull elk inspected at the Thompson Falls check station exceeds the number of whitetail bucks that have gone through the station two weeks into the big-game hunting season.

This is the best year weve seen for elk hunting in a decade, Sterling said.

This has resulted from a good elk population and great hunting conditions, with snow in the high country. I have seen two harvested bull elk in the back of a pickup twice this year, and I cant recall this happening in a long time.

Through Sunday, a total of 11,793 hunters had stopped at the six Northwest Montana check stations.

That number is down from the 11,980 at this time last year and well below the 10-year high of 15,705 counted in the second week of the 1996 season.

The percentage of hunters with game averages 9.3 percent at all the check stations, with the Swan Valley having the highest hunter success rate of 11.5, following by Olney with 11.4.

The lowest is the North Fork check station, with a hunter success rate of 5.4 percent.

The number of whitetail deer counted at the check stations is 732, compared to a count 823 at this time last year.

The mule deer count is 173, slightly below last years count of 177. The total number of elk checked across the region is 132, compared to 109 last year.