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ers. While fishing on lakes and reservoirs is generally open year-round, the stream fishing season runs through Nov. 30.
Hunters in this region should be ex- cited for fall.
Whitetail deer populations in this cor- ner of the state continue to trend upward and FWP is considering an increased availability of antlerless licenses in cer- tain hunting districts.
Biologists with FWP surveyed the various deer and elk populations in Re- gion One over the past month, although the mild winter and warm spring caused an earlier-than-normal green-up period and hampered surveying efforts. FWP crews were unable to get good popula- tion estimates for mule deer and elk, ac- cording to Neil Anderson, wildlife man- ager in Region One.
“We tried to catch them on their win- ter range, but it really quickly greened up and created pretty tough survey condi- tions,” Anderson said.
Biologists were able to gather a good tally of fawn-to-adult ratios for whitetail deer throughout the region, and the re- sults indicate a strong, growing popula- tion, Anderson said.
“The ratios were looking pretty good in almost all of the districts,” he said.
The Swan and North Fork areas were down slightly in terms of fawn-to-adult ratios, but they were normal compared to historical data, he said.
Hunting districts around Eureka and south of Kalispell showed the strongest ratios of up-and-coming whitetail deer,
where the younger population is almost double the annual rates from seven years ago, according to Anderson. This latest batch of young deer benefited from a mild winter.
“Winter is the big deciding factor with our whitetail populations. If we have a very severe winter, especially later in win- ter with cold, wet weather, it really does a number on the fawns,” he said.
“We’ve been on an upward trend since 2009. We are starting to see that pretty much all over the region.”
As a result, Anderson said FWP is considering increasing the number of doe licenses in certain districts with healthy
populations of whitetails. The agency could add an additional 100-200 more available licenses for next fall’s hunting season, he said.
“The population is up so we think we can offer a little bit more hunting oppor- tunity in those specific districts,” he said.
Anterless tags were heavily reduced in Region One in the last decade as the deer population trended downward.
Biologists were able to gather solid data for some herds of elk in the region, especially in the Thompson Falls area. Roughly 1,900 elk were counted in that area, Anderson said. That’s better than normal, Anderson said, and the agency is
similarly considering increasing the num- ber of antlerless tags in hunting district 123 from 25 to 50.
Survey results seem to indicate that the elk population in the South Fork re- mains fairly low.
“We saw half as many elk as observed last year,” Anderson said.
Anderson attributed the low count to the early green-up and difficulty in seeing the elk due to conditions. Being in a wil- derness area also makes it hard to track accurate figures, he said.
“Historically we don’t have good calf- to-cow rations in there. But we’re watch- ing that population closely to see how it’s responding. So far it seems to be holding its own,” Anderson said.
The dramatic decline in bighorn sheep has raised serious concerns across the state. FWP closed districts to hunting in April and biologists are investigating the various areas to try and figure out why the numbers have dropped so low. A disease outbreak does appear to be a strong pos- sibility, Anderson said.
“We’ve seen declines in several herds. We’re watching them very closely to see what’s going on,” Anderson said.
In the past two years, an estimated 90 bighorn sheep have died in the Plains area. A helicopter survey this spring counted only 18 sheep, the lowest figure since the herd’s introduction in 1979.
In February, FWP closed the hunting district near Gardiner due to a confirmed pneumonia die-off of 34 sheep.
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Biologists are investigating the dramatic decline of bighorn sheep populations across Northwest Montana. FOLTOLIA IMAGE
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