Fewer hunters turned out for the opening days of the general big game season in Northwest Montana this year, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks check station surveys.
FWP counted 2,879 hunters on Saturday and Sunday, a 10 percent drop from last season’s opening weekend.
Despite lower numbers, those who did go hunting were slightly more successful than last year. At the six stations, hunters checked 129 white-tailed deer, 105 of which were bucks, 11 mule deer and 18 elk. That’s a 5.5 percent success rate compared to last year’s 4.7 percent.
According to FWP Wildlife Manager Jim Williams, young bucks were well represented in the harvest and more whitetail bucks were checked this year.
“Biologist surveys this past spring showed good numbers of young whitetails in the population,” said Williams. “This opening day harvest at the check stations reflects an increasing number of young bucks.”
No animals were checked at the North Fork station.
Deer and elk seasons in Northwest Montana remain conservative, with adult hunters limited to buck-only for whitetail and mule deer, with very few B-tags for antlerless deer.
Hunters are reminded that regulations for whitetails and mule deer in Region 1 are buck-only through the end of the hunting season. Youth 12-15 (and some qualifying 11-year- olds) can take antlerless whitetail deer.
Elk hunting is brow-tined bull only. Spike elk are not legal game. These regulations apply in most Region 1 hunting districts.