Big game harvest slightly better than last year
<p>Payton Norman 11 of Troy shot this 6x6 with a 22-250 Savage while he was hunting with his dad David Norman on Monday, Nov. 16 around 5pm.</p>
<p>Jagger Muniz 12yrs old, first year hunting & he harvested this 3x4 buck.</p>
<p>Allie Brown with a 4x4 whitetail taken Sunday, Nov. 15 with a 7mm-08 at 50 yards.</p>
Montana Fish, WIldlife & Parks officials are reporting the rate of big game hunting success in northwest Montana is up slightly overall from last year.
“At the six northwest Montana check stations through Sunday, Nov. 22, a total of 15,130 hunters checked 953 white-tailed deer (779 of these were bucks) as compared to 879 white-tails last year,” information officer John Fraley wrote in a Monday press release. “Also in the count were 114 mule deer, and 76 elk for an overall 7.6 percent rate of hunters with game. Harvest was up slightly as compared to last year when 7.4 percent of hunters checked game. Hunter numbers are up about seven percent as compared to last year.”
The regular big game hunting season ends 30 minutes after sunset on Sunday, Nov. 29.