Solid opener for whitetails in Northwest Montana

Hunters took to the field across Northwest Montana for the opening weekend of the general deer and elk season on  Saturday and Sunday.

A total of 3,154 hunters checked 150 white-tailed deer (123 bucks), 33 mule deer and 11 elk at the six Northwest Montana check stations for a 6.2 percent rate of hunters with game. This compares favorably with the 4.1 percent rate last year.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 wildlife manager Jim Williams said the opener was solid, reflecting the good fawn recruitment over the past three years.

“We’ve had very good survival of young deer for several years running, and this is showing up in the buck harvest this weekend, with lots of yearling and 2-year old bucks,” he said.

Williams noted that the check stations in the Swan and North Fork valleys lagged behind the other four check stations, with very few animals checked.

The Olney check station saw the best results, with 33 whitetail bucks, eight whitetail does, one bull elk and five mule deer bucks for a 10.3 percent success rate. The U.S. 2 check station west of Kalispell also saw strong results, with 75 whitetails taken.

“This is one of the better opening weekends we’ve ever had,” said Tim Thier, the FWP wildlife biologist at Olney. “There was a nice distribution of age among the whitetail bucks, with yearlings up to three years olds. I couldn’t be happier with how the hunters did this weekend.”

Thier added that reports across the region also indicated a strong harvest of deer by young hunters during the early Oct. 16-17 youth hunt.

In the North Fork, a total of 208 hunters checked one whitetail, no whitetail bucks, no mule deer and one elk for a 1 percent success rate. All the numbers were down from 2013.

Hunters are reminded that regulations for whitetails and mule deer in Region 1 are bucks-only through the end of the hunting season. Youths 12-15 and some qualifying 11-year- olds can take antlerless whitetail deer (see the regulations).

Elk hunting is brow-tined bull only. Spike elk are not legal game. These regulations apply in most Region 1 hunting districts. Hunters are advisded to check the Montana hunting regulations for the district where they plan to hunt