Those of you that hunted the central part of the state and thought it was pretty slow were right. Seems the state of the economy has some effect as well with hunter trips down 15%.
Deer Harvest Down in West-Central Montana
Monday, November 23, 2009
Hunting - Region 2
Harvest of white-tailed and mule deer is sharply down from last year and about half the five-year average at west-central Montana hunter check stations, while elk harvest continues to hold steady.
Overall at the region’s three check stations through the first four weeks of the season, a total of 16,699 hunters checked 523 elk, 235 mule deer, 391 white-tailed deer, six black bears, two moose, 20 bighorn sheep, three mountain goats and sixteen wolves for 7.2 percent of hunters with game.
Opportunities for most general license holders to hunt for antlerless elk and deer had closed in many hunting districts across Region Two by the fourth week of general hunting season, which probably contributed to a decline in the hunter and harvest numbers tallied at the Bonner, Darby and Anaconda check stations this weekend.
“It’s the fourth week doldrums,” says Ray Vinkey, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) wildlife biologist responsible for the Anaconda station. Even so, the 68 elk checked through Anaconda this season so far remains the highest checked at the station during the first four weeks of the season since 2003.
Elk harvest dropped off in the Blackfoot hunting districts this week, where elk harvest totals are now 12% below this point in the season last year, but right at the five-year average.
The Darby check station—which sees hunters from the Bighole and southern Bitterroot Valleys—reported a rising elk harvest, which now approaches the five-year average.
White-tailed deer harvest reported at the check stations remains almost 50 percent behind the five-year average through the season’s fourth week. Mule deer harvest totals are 41 percent below.
The elimination of over-the-counter white-tailed Deer B licenses for rifle hunters in Region 2 accounts for much of the decline in deer harvest this year. However, FWP wildlife biologists also note that buck harvest is declining as well as antlerless harvest, and in mule deer as well as whitetails, which may reflect a reduction in deer populations. As a result, FWP continues to consider whether to recommend more season adjustments next year.
Hunter trips are down approximately 15 percent from both last year and the five-year average.
