Big game season opener on Sunday

It's time to break out the scent blocker and head for the hills for the deer, elk and mountain lion hunting opening day kicking off Sunday.

"It should be a good year, especially if the weather stays the same — wet and cool," explained Jerry Brown, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks area wildlife biologist. "There should be lots of animals out this weekend."

The white-tail deer population has been increasing in the last several years. An exceptionally difficult winter 10 years ago caused the population to drop, but numbers have been increasing steadily since then, Brown said.

"There has been a progression of easy winters and bucks have been gaining in age structure," he continued.

Libby, Troy and Yaak are in Region 1, which includes the area north to the Canadian border, west to the Idaho/Montana border, halfway to Missoula County and also includes Sanders and Flathead counties. The area spans 11,000 square miles in the northwest corner of Montana.

The most popular areas for hunters in this region have proven to be the Fisher River and Thompson River drainages, Brown said. Many Libby and Kalispell hunters tend to hunt these areas, along with areas in the Yaak and Purcell Mountains.

Bigger bucks will likely wait 3-3 1/2 weeks before they begin to venture out in hunting grounds, Brown explained. They tend to wait to come out further into breeding season.

"We'll see some nice bucks and older class, 5 to 8-year-olds, later in the season," Brown continued.

However, it's hard to say what the weather will do and the weather frequently dictates the behavior of the animals.

"As the weather goes, so goes the hunt," Brown said.

There will be several game check stations open throughout the region this weekend. Check stations can be found in Canoe Gulch, Thompson Falls, Olney, the north fork of the Flathead River, Swan River and there is also a part-time check station in Hungry Horse.

A common mistake made by hunters is not properly validating their hunting tags. Tags must show the date the animal was harvested, with the month notched out and the day. Brown suggests that hunters read the latest hunting regulations for the surest way to properly tag an animal. Regulations for tagging an animal have changed. Now hunters must notch the month and each digit for the day. For example, if an animal is harvested on Oct. 21 a notch must be made for October and a notch each for 2 and 1, Brown explained.

Hunters will have between Sunday, Oct. 21 and Sunday, Nov. 25 to harvest their deer, elk or mountain lion. It may prove to be a promising season.

"We have good carry over of older bucks," Brown said. "We didn't have an exceptional harvest last year, but we had a good harvest. People have reported seeing lots more bigger bucks this summer."