Harvest rates pick up slightly

Northwest Montana hunters had a bit more success last weekend after a slow start to the general rifle season. Harvest totals picked up slightly, increasing the percentage of hunters with game to 7.5 percent, up from 6.8 percent last weekend.

Fifty elk have come through check stations this year so far, which is similar to last year. Mule deer buck numbers are considerably lower than the previous years. Forty-three mule deer bucks have been harvested at this point in the season, compared to 123 last year.

The general season ends on Sunday.

“Snow conditions are still making it a challenge” said Neil Anderson, Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife manager for Region One.

According to state biologist Tim Thier, hunters are looking for areas where the snow has melted where walking is quieter, and “are having pretty good success.”

As of the fifth weekend of the season, 9.8 percent of the hunters at the Olney check station have had game, the highest percentage in the region.

As of Nov. 20, hunters can harvest an antlerless whitetail on a general license on private property only (does not apply to corporate timber company lands). Except for HD170, harvest in the rest of the region is limited to antlered buck white-tailed deer, buck mule deer and brow-tine bull elk on a general tag.

Apprentice and youth hunters under the age of 16 can harvest antlerless white-tail deer on a general license all season long.

Meanwhile, harvest rates remains steady across West-Central Montana.

Elk harvest reported at the area’s three hunter check stations continues to outpace last year’s, while white-tailed deer harvest fell slightly below last year over the past week.

Hunters checked a total of 122 white-tailed deer through the Bonner station last weekend, the highest weekend report this season, but not quite enough to keep the cumulative season tally above last year.

Still, whitetail harvest remains above the five-year average.

“If whitetail harvest is leveling off at all this season it must be because fewer hunters are afield,” said Scott Eggeman, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife biologist in the Blackfoot. “On Saturday at Bonner we checked 83 animals (mostly white-tailed deer), which is one of the busiest days I’ve ever seen, with about 20 percent hunter success.”

Also at Bonner, the 91 elk checked this season is the highest since 2009. Elk harvests checked at Anaconda (43) and Darby (146) continued this year’s pattern—higher than last year, lower than 2015 and higher than 2014.

All told, the Anaconda, Bonner and Darby Check Stations have tallied 9,317 hunters, 280 elk, 63 mule deer, 461 white-tailed deer, 9 black bears, 3 bighorn sheep and 2 wolves through the first five weekends of the big game hunting season.