GREAT FALLS — Four years after the brutal winter that caused an antelope die-off on a scale that hadn’t been seen in decades in Montana, prairie pronghorn are rebounding in the state.
Hunters and landowners are reporting more pronghorn observations, and state Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists say that’s because more fawns and immature bucks are surviving.
Antelope rifle season opened Oct. 10 and concludes Nov. 8.
The Great Falls Tribune reports that in 2009, the season before the harsh 2010-11 winter, hunters harvested nearly 24,000 pronghorn statewide.
Last year, the harvest was under 9,000.
Proposals for the 2016 and 2017 hunting seasons will be presented to the Fish and Wildlife Commission in December, followed by public meetings and several additional comment opportunities in January 2016.