Opening day is going to be tough to beat in future.

By CHRIS PETERSON - Hungry Horse News

For 13-year-old Josh Potter, opening day is going to be tough to beat in future hunts. The young man downed a nice 5-point muley buck up the Middle Fork on Sunday (Oct. 21). His great-grandfather, Bob Beck, beamed it was one of the finest mule deer bucks he’s ever seen come out of the Flathead area, and Beck has hunted here for decades.

As far as Potter is concerned, he’s happy he even saw the deer. See, Potter and his father, Dan and grandfather Roger Beck of Columbia Falls were hunting up the Middle Fork, with Josh in the lead.

They were walking along and the buck stood up from its bed behind a tree. Dan, who was farther back, saw it and yelled to Josh. Josh turned around to look at his dad and when he turned back, there was the buck.

Josh said he didn’t know where his first shot even went, but the second shot hit its mark and another shot brought the deer down.

The young man had his first trophy.

Overall, hunters in Northwest Montana came out Sunday in the highest numbers since 1997. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks checked in 2,958 hunters on opening day, with 185 white-tailed deer shot, 74 of which were bucks, 21 mule deer and 30 elk. There was also one moose and one black bear checked in as well.

The elk numbers were the highest ever, with most of those shot west of Kalispell.

In the North Fork, however, the numbers were actually pretty slow. The North Fork station saw 254 hunters, just three white-tailed deer, one mule deer and four elk.

Sunday brought fairly good weather for hunters, with snow showers in the high elevations and intermittent showers and cool weather lower.

All told, the percentage of hunters with game was about what it was last year — 8 percent. Hunting has always had a very low batting average.

“I think the whitetail populations are as high or higher than they’ve ever been. There’s plenty of deer to go around, that’s for sure,” said FWP biologist Tim Thier, who was manning the Olney check station.

Take numbers usually increase when tracking snows fall at lower elevations.

Hunters are reminded that either-sex whitetails are legal game through Sunday, Nov. 4. After that, the regulation is buck-only for whitetails until the last four days of the season (Nov. 22-25) when either-sex whitetails are legal again.

Mule deer hunting is buck-only all season; elk is brow-tined bull only. These regulations apply in most Region One hunting districts.

Young hunters ages 12-15 may take antlerless white-tailed deer and antlerless elk all season long in most Region One hunting districts.

Check the Montana hunting regulations for the district you plan to hunt.