The general season ended Sunday evening.
In some cases, there were fewer hunters but they took more game. In the Missoula region, elk kill records dating back to the 1950s were broken.
"This was an excellent hunting season. There's a lot of satisfied hunters out there," Sterling said.
"Between the snow and rain, we had good conditions for hunting for most of the five-week season," said Jim Williams, regional wildlife manager.
Ron Aasheim at the agency's headquarters in Helena said the number of elk checked through three game stations in the Missoula region was the highest since the Anaconda station was established in 1979.
He said the number of elk checked through the Darby station, at 727, was the highest since the station was established in 1953.
Overall, Aasheim said the number of hunters through the Missoula region's stations was up 12 percent, the elk harvest was up 128 percent at 1,013 animals, mule deer up 48 percent at 567, whitetail deer up 44 percent at 977.
At the seven check stations in northwestern Montana, Williams said 23,737 hunters checked through 1,893 whitetail deer, 329 mule deer and 204 elk for a 10.2 percent rate of hunters with game.
The 1,272 whitetail bucks was the largest number since the permanent check stations were established, and two-thirds of them were four-points or better, Williams said. The numbers of mule deer bucks and elk checked were also the highest recorded.
Williams said the high game populations may allow more harvest opportunities next year, possibly with more antlerless whitetail hunting, youth opportunities for deer and elk and more elk hunting in certain areas.
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