Bonus day with Saturday opener

Saturday is the official opening day for the 2010 general hunting season, but it actually gets underway today with a special provision that gives youth hunters a first crack at deer.

For the first time, hunters ages 11-15 can hunt deer only on the Thursday and Friday preceding the opener, days when schools are on break across much of the state. The Saturday opener itself is another significant change — for years, the general hunting season has opened on a Sunday.

It amounts to a bonus day of hunting, with the season slated to end on the Sunday following Thanksgiving, Nov. 28.

While many hunters report seeing less game in the field, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials say field surveys carried out last spring showed improved recruitment of young animals.

The spring survey for whitetail deer in Northwest Montana’s Region 1 turned up a ratio of 37 fawns per 100 adults, with a total of 4,904 deer counted.

That’s up substantially from the 2009 count of 24 fawns per 100 and the 2008 count of 29 per 100. This year’s ratio approaches the region’s long-term average of 47 fawns per 100 adults.

At a recent Kalispell hearing on wolves sponsored by Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., hunter after hunter went to the microphone to talk about seeing significantly less game in areas that once had abundant populations.

“Predation right now is the No. 1 concern among hunters,” said Jim Williams, regional wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

“Populations are definitely down” compared to several years ago, he said, and that is mostly due to the more severe winters of 2008 and 2009, the wide availability of antlerless B tags over the last few years, and predators.

“There are a lot of issues out there,” Williams said. “Predation is part of the equation, but it is not the driver. Habitat quality and winter severity are key to getting deer through their first year.”

The decline in the survival of younger whitetails was apparent last year at regional check stations, where yearlings accounted for only 17 percent of the harvest.

The long-term average is about 30 percent.

That’s why an increasing trend in the spring survey ratios is important, Williams said.

The ratio for mule deer also was up last spring to 39 fawns per 100 adults. The count for elk was 25 calves per 100 cows, with a total of more than 3,000 elk counted regionwide.

That was a significant increase over the previous two years.

The increased trend could best be seen in the South Fork Flathead River drainage, where aerial surveys are consistently conducted. The South Fork ratio was 20 calves per 100 cows, compared to just four per 100 over the last two years.

The hot spot for elk last year, however, was in District 121 in the Thompson Falls area, where 270 brow-tined bulls were harvested, mostly from rugged, forested public lands.

That count was the second-highest for any Montana elk hunting district.

Williams conceded that the region’s check stations probably will be less busy this year because antlerless whitetail permits and seasonal opportunities were reduced dramatically this year.

While B tags were sold over the counter for the last few years, only a handful of B tags were issued this year and the option for hunters to use their primary tags to harvest a doe during at least one week of the season was eliminated.

“It’s pretty much antlered-buck-only regionwide for whitetail and mule deer,” Williams said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com