Hunting season records 'solid' start

Saturday marked the opening of the 2014 general hunting season for deer and elk. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Wildlife Manager Jim Williams characterized the opening as “solid,” with 3,154 hunters checking in with 150 whitetail deer, 33 mule deer and 11 elk at six northwest Montana check stations in Region 1.

These numbers show a 6.2 percent rate of hunters bagging game on opening weekend this year, compared with just 4.1 percent during the same period last year. Williams referenced good fawn survival as a contributing factor. 

“We’ve had very good survival of young deer for several years running,” Williams said.  “This is showing up in the buck harvest this weekend, with lots of yearling and two-year-old bucks.”

The only check station in Lincoln County is at Canoe Gulch. They reported 417 hunters with 10 whitetail deer, six mule deer, and three elk. This represents a 4.6 percent bag rate, slightly lower than the Region 1 overall results.

“This is one of the best opening weekends we’ve ever had,” Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologist Tim Their said. “There was a nice distribution of age among the whitetail bucks, with yearlings up to three-year olds. I couldn’t be happier with how hunters did this weekend.”