Hunters turn out for opening weekend

Montana’s general deer and elk hunting season opened last weekend with seasonable weather and a strong showing at regional game check stations.

Nearly 2,000 hunters stopped at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 check stations, reporting a 10.6% success rate, slightly higher than last year's opening weekend rate of 10%.

Results show increased overall harvests of white-tailed deer and elk across the region over last year, while mule deer numbers were down.

The U.S. 2 check station west of Kalispell reported 1,034 hunters with and 8.4% success rate. Hunters checked 77 white-tailed deer, 40 bucks, five mule deer and five elk.

The station at Olney had 487 hunters stop with game for a 15.6% success rate. The total includes 73 white tails, 27 bucks, two mule deer and a single elk.

Swan Lake's station reported 210 hunters with a 9.5% success rate, and the Thompson Falls station had 264 hunters with an 11% success rate. Notably, 14 elk were reported at Thompson Falls, well above the three reported at the station during last year's season opener.

The general season runs through Nov. 30.

Check stations are open on weekends during general season from 10 a.m. to approximately 1.5 hours past sunset. The Northwest Montana stations are located at U.S. 2 West of Kalispell, Montana 83 north of Swan Lake, Montana 200 west of Thompson Falls, and U.S. 93 near Olney.

Hunters must stop at any check station they encounter whether they harvested an animal or not. The counts at the stations represent a sampling of the harvest and do not represent the complete number of animals taken.