Hunting success up over last year
A whitetail buck licks his nose as he pursues a doe last week.
Montana’s general hunting season is down to the final week and half, and activity has picked up in northwest Montana.
The general deer and elk hunting season concludes Dec 1.
Hunters typically see increased chances of success with the arrival of the deer breeding season, known as the “rut,” which typically begins in early-to-mid November.
So far this season, more hunters have reported harvesting more deer and elk at the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ regional game check stations in northwest Montana compared to last season. Overall through four weekends of the season, more than 7,400 hunters have been checked at the stations and the percentage of hunters with game has been 9.8 % compared to 7.5 % a year ago.
A total of 625 white-tailed deer have been reported at the check stations compared to 382 a year ago, FWP said in a release.
The check station on Highway 2 west of Kalispell had the most whitetail deer checked in at 285, while Olney had 210. The Swan also saw increased numbers at 73, opposed to 38 a year ago.
Highway 2 also had the most elk at 20.
Olney had the best hunter success rate at 12.1%.