Low snow levels make for slow hunting

Hunting season has been sluggish this year, something you might have noticed if you’ve been out in the woods.

The possible reasons for that are varied, but the results seem the same.

“Thus far, hunting season has been very slow,” said Troy Game Warden Phil Kilbreath. “I haven’t seen very many hunters or very much game harvested.”

Local hunters have noticed similar slow results in the first few weekends of the season.

“There have been some big bulls taken so far,” said Mark Clark, a local hunter. “But it’s been kind of slow so far. It’s been kind of a weird year this year.”

The snow levels haven’t helped matters much as the larger bull elk might not push down from the Cabinets until colder weather comes.

When that happens, the rate of game bagged could increase to normal levels.

But the unspoken threat looming over a good hunting season is in the minds of every hunter.

“It’s everybody’s big concern, the wolf population,” said hunter Vic Crace. 

Since wolves have begun to thrive in Montana in recent years, the controversy-bound animals are hated by some, loved by others. 

What is clear is the hunting populace sees them as competition for kills. 

Even so, the deer population appears about average. Crace and his sons shot a large elk-bull, and some large elk are being harvested all over the county. 

The success rate is down in the Flathead and in Lincoln County, but Kilbreath isn’t worried about the season just yet.

“It’s still early in the season,” he said.

The Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist for the area, Tonya Chilton-Radandt, could not be reached for exact Lincoln County statistics.