“There wasn't much added this year because of the lack of kills,” Bob Ward & Sons Sporting Goods hunting supervisor Bill Brown said of the customers who post their successes near the store's entry. “No tracking snow made it harder for everybody.”
The dry and warm fall weather kept deer and elk in the high country and made them harder to spot all over western Montana. Conditions were bad enough that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioners took the unusual step of extending elk seasons in parts of two hunting regions, around Dillon and the Missouri Breaks.
Region 2's monitoring stations in Darby, Anaconda and Bonner all saw the lowest success percentage in five years, with just 8.1 percent of hunters coming in with game. That was despite a significant increase in hunter numbers and elk kills at the Bonner check station: 10,127 hunters compared with 8,465 last year, bringing in 205 elk compared with 181 in 2007.
FWP spokeswoman Vivaca Crowser said that probably reflects the midseason week where several hunting districts allowed hunters with bull elk licenses to take antlerless elk instead.
Hunter numbers at Darby and Anaconda were both down somewhat. There were 13,283 hunters at Darby (6.3 percent successful) and 1,737 at Anaconda (5.5 percent successful). The five-year average success rate for those three areas combined was 9.94 percent.
“With elk staying in the Big Hole and not enough weather activity to concentrate the wildlife, the season just continued to crawl along,” FWP wildlife biologist Craig Jourdonnais said Monday. The Darby area typically benefits from heavy snows in the Big Hole, which prompt elk to migrate into the Bitterroot Valley.
That left the Region 2 elk harvest 30 percent below last year's figure and 34 percent off the five-year average. Whitetail deer counts were 17 percent off last year and 12 percent below the five-year average, with 976 shot in 2008. Mule deer totals were down 25 percent from last year and 29 percent against the five-year average, with 366 taken.
Region 2 hunters also killed 11 black bears, three moose, 19 bighorn sheep and two mountain goats.
To the north, Region 1 game managers reported the slowest hunting season since 1997. While the 147 elk taken was close to last year's tally, mule deer kills were down 25 percent and whitetails were down 20 percent. Overall hunter success was 7.6 percent, while hunter numbers were up slightly.
“Based on our check station results, it appears as though the whitetail deer population is declining,” FWP wildlife manager Jim Williams said Monday. He speculated that a combination of poor hunting conditions, poor fawn survival from last year's hard winter, and competition from wolves and mountain lions contributed to the decline.
The result could be a reduction in the number of B-tags for whitetail deer across Region 1 next year. The total whitetail harvest was 1,532 in 2008, along with 219 mule deer.
For unsuccessful die-hard elk hunters, the extended season in parts of Region 3 runs through Dec. 21 in the southwest corner of the state. In Region 3, hunters are requested to report each harvested elk to FWP by calling 1-877-397-9453 within 24 hours. Hunters need to report the sex, age and location of harvest.
If the bull-harvest limit is approached, that area will close to all bull hunting, but the antlerless season will remain open, officials explained.
Hunters should also call FWP for specific details on types of licenses, hunting district limits and other information about the extended season.
The extended season runs through Dec. 14 in Region 6, in the northeastern part of the state. The two hunting districts involved, 622 and 631, are restricted to antlerless-only hunting where hunters must have an elk permit that was valid for the specific district during the general rifle season to be used in combination with a general elk license or an A9/B12 license. A9/B12 licenses valid in hunting district 622 are not valid on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at rchaney@missoulian.com.
Extended hunt
For more information on extended elk hunting in two regions of Montana, click here.
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