Deer harvest slightly higher than last year

The whitetail deer harvest this year finished slightly ahead of last year’s totals, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 officials reported as the season wrapped up Sunday.

Through the end of the season on Nov. 30, FWP’s six Northwest Montana check stations reported 16,708 hunters checked 1,138 white-tailed deer, including 988 bucks, 139 mule deer, and 50 elk for a 7.9 percent rate of hunters with game.

This is slightly higher than the 7.1 percent rate of hunters with game last year. The number of hunters was down nine percent.

The Olney check station reported the highest percentage of hunters with game at 10.8 percent. FWP wildlife biologist Tim Thier said it was one of the best seasons for buck harvest since 1994.

“Biologists and check station attendants across Region 1 checked more mature whitetail bucks the last weekend of the season,” he said. “Some real nice bucks came through on Saturday and Sunday.”

Region 1 supervisor Jim Williams said FWP wildlife managers have been tracking three years of good fawn survival in Northwest Montana, and the check station sample this year confirmed that hunters were able to see and take good numbers of deer.

Elk harvest in Northwest Montana is always dependent upon snow, and this year’s season ended up similar to last year.

Williams noted that new this year, FWP check stations recorded the general land ownership of harvest sites, including Plum Creek, F.H. Stoltze, state lands, Forest Service or private. Analysis of that information should be completed in a few weeks, he said, and the information will be released to the public.

Hunters in Northwest Montana also took 23 wolves through the end of the general deer and elk season. Statewide, 81 wolves have been taken, down from at the end of the general deer and elk season last year.

The counts at the six Northwest Montana check stations represent a sampling of the harvest and do not represent the complete number of animals taken. Details of total harvest for each hunting district will be known after telephone hunter surveys are completed this winter.

The wolf hunting season will continue until March 15. Hunters can still purchase a wolf hunting license, but there is a 24-hour waiting period before it becomes valid.

Wolf trapping will begin Dec. 15. Wolf trappers must purchase a furbearer trapping license and have completed the wolf trapping certification course for wolves. The bag limit is five wolves per hunter or trapper in any combination of hunting or trapping.