Hunting pace still ahead of last season

Hunters in Northwest Montana continue to find success at a pace ahead of last year.

A total of 5,377 hunters checked in at six Region One game check stations through the second weekend of the hunting season, and 5.7 percent of them had game.

That compares to a year ago when 5,783 hunters had a success rate of 4.6 percent.

White-tailed deer hunters were the most successful, with hunters checking in 255 (including 221 bucks). Hunters also took 19 mule deer and 35 elk.

At the Swan Valley Check Station, Fish, Wildlife and Parks Biologist John Vore said the numbers of whitetail bucks being checked through is encouraging. 

“The number of bucks is up 40 percent, even though hunter numbers are down,” Vore said. That pattern held for the other check stations except the North Fork.

At Swan Valley, 8.6 percent of hunters had game, including 61 whitetails — up from 42 a year ago — with 51 of those bucks (up from 30 a year ago).

The counts at the six Northwest Montana check stations represent a sampling of the first two weekends of the harvest and do not represent the complete number of animals taken.

Hunters are reminded that it is buck-only for whitetails in Northwest Montana. 

Antlerless whitetails remain legal game for youths ages 12-15 (and some qualifying 11-year-olds). Mule deer are buck-only for the entire season. Elk are brow-tine bulls only. Spike bull elk are not legal game for any hunter in Northwest Montana.

Hunters should refer to the hunting regulations for the hunting district they plan to hunt.