NW Montana hunters see success with whitetail bucks

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks reports that 5,377 hunters checked game at the Region 1 game check stations through the second week of the season, a decrease of 7 percent for the same time period last year.

Hunters checked 255 white-tailed deer (221 bucks), 19 mule deer and 35 elk for a 5.7 percent rate of hunters with game. This compares with a 4.6 percent rate of hunters with game in 2011.

The total white-tailed deer count was up 23 percent from last year, while the whitetail bucks count was 42 percent higher. The mule deer count was down 13 percent, and the elk count was 5 percent lower.

In the North Fork, the percent of hunters with game was 0.8 percent, compared to 1.7 percent last year. Game check stations with better hunter success numbers included Swan Valley at 8.2 percent, Olney at 7.2 percent and Thompson Falls at 7 percent.

The number of hunters in the North Fork for the time period was down 25 percent from last year. The number of hunters at the U.S. 2 check station west of Kalispell was 2,105, about the same as last year,

Nearly half of the 35 elk and more than half of the 19 mule deer checked in for all six stations came in at the U.S. 2 station.

The counts at the six Northwest Montana check stations represent a sampling of the first two weekends of the harvest and do not represent the complete number of animals taken.

FWP reminds hunters it’s bucks-only for whitetails in Northwest Montana. Antlerless whitetails remain legal game for youths 12-15 years of age and some qualifying 11-year olds (see regulations).

Mule deer are bucks-only for the entire season. Elk are brow-tine bull only.  Spike bull elk are not legal game for any hunter in Region 1. Hunters should refer to the hunting regulations for the hunting district they plan to hunt.