Extended seasons to start for elk hunters

For Montana elk hunters who didn’t get their quarry this year, they’re not out of luck.

Montana is launching its first-ever shoulder season hunts this month, to reduce elk populations in five central Montana hunting districts.

The shoulder-season hunts are pilot projects approved in November by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission for hunting districts on the north and east sides of the Big Belt Mountains, the Castle Mountains and in the Missouri River Breaks.

The elk shoulder-seasons in hunting districts 445, 446, 449, and 452 will begin on Nov. 30, 2015 and end on Feb. 15, 2016. The shoulder-season in hunting district 410 will begin Jan. 1, 2016 and end Feb. 15, 2016. All hunts are for cow elk only.

The new shoulder seasons are in response to concerns from Gov. Bullock, lawmakers, hunters, landowners and others about elk overpopulations in some hunting districts. In all, 80 of Montana’s 138 elk management units are over the population objective to some degree. Now that they are established, shoulder seasons can occur before and after the general archery and rifle seasons.

“We’ve been pleased and encouraged with the response from landowners and hunters,” Jeff Hagener, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks director, said. “A number of landowners will be working with FWP to provide access to take good advantage of this additional harvest opportunity authorized by the commission. We need that cooperation and we’ll need hunters to be respectful and capable guests on private land.”

Hagener said hunters must obtain permission to hunt on private lands and they will not need to register or be selected from any roster. In hunting districts 445, 446, 449, and 452, hunters only need a valid 2015 general elk license or a Region 4 004-00 “B” license to participate. Hunters with valid either-sex elk permits for hunting district 445 – and a valid 2015 general elk license.

In hunting district 410, hunters must possess a valid 2015 410-20 either-sex permit or 410-00 “B” license to participate. 

These shoulder season opportunities are available on private lands, Bureau of Land Management lands, and State of Montana School Trust Lands only. No shoulder seasons will occur on national forest lands, the Charles M. Russell Wildlife National Wildlife Refuge or on any FWP wildlife management areas.

The 2015-16 shoulder-seasons will be open in portions of the following central Montana elk hunting districts: 410–Missouri Breaks; 445–Hound Creek; 446–Northeast Big Belt Mountains; 449–Castle Mountains East, and 452–Castle Mountains West.

General elk licenses for the 2015 license year will be available for sale through Feb. 15, 2016. Or, hunters can use their previously purchased valid 2015 general license, a permit or B license previously awarded through the drawings, or a surplus 2015 B license valid for the districts where the shoulder seasons will occur; these licenses and permits will remain valid in their respective hunting districts during the shoulder season dates listed above.

Hunters must obtain permission to hunt on private lands. Hunters need to be prepared to arrange their own permission with landowners in the same way they do during the archery and general hunting seasons. FWP Region 4, headquartered in Great Falls, will provide additional resources throughout the shoulder season – including hunt coordinators who will work with area landowners to provide hunters with up-to-date information about private land access opportunities and elk distribution. Hunt coordinators will provide information, but they will not manage hunters. Contact information for area hunt coordinators will be available on the FWP website and from the Region 4 office prior to the start of the shoulder seasons.

Hunters shouldn’t assume that Block Management Areas that provided elk hunting opportunities during the general season will be open. BMAs may or may not provide elk hunting during a shoulder season. The area hunt coordinator and Region 4 staff will be able to provide hunters with BMA-specific information. State school land and federal Bureau of Land Management land that is legally accessible may also provide elk hunting opportunities. Landowner permission is required to cross private land to reach state and federal lands that are not otherwise legally accessible. Hunters can only take antlerless elk during these shoulder seasons.

In northwest Montana, Region 1 has six elk management unites in the Purcell, Salish, Whitefish, Lower Clark Fork, North Swan-Flathead Valley and Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. The Flathead Valley (hunting districts 132 and 170, does not have an established elk management objective, Region One wildlife manager Neil Anderson said, because this area is primarily private property in the Flathead and northern Swan Valleys.  

Anderson said Region One has only one hunting district — HD 121 — where elk populations are slightly over objectives.

FWP this year issued 275 antlerless elk licenses to help manage the population.

Elk harvest in Region One over the last five years has been variable because of weather conditions, Anderson said. He anticipates that elk shoulder season hunts may be a tool for FWP in northwest Montana.

FWP is proposing one shoulder season in Region 1, which will be for antlerless elk in hunting districts 101 and 109 near Eureka. FWP is proposing to issue 50 antlerless  licenses available through a drawing. The season would run from Aug. 15 – Oct. 18. “Although this area isn’t over objective, we do meet the shoulder season criteria of having a difficult to manage elk population due to small land ownerships and problematic distributions of elk,” Anderson said. Landowners will have to be part of the solution in creating and managing shoulder-season elk hunts. The proposal will have to go through a public comment period and be approved by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks commission. “We will be meeting with landowners and sportsmen in the Eureka area to discuss the proposal,” Anderson said. “Without support the commission will be unlikely to pass it.”

Shoulder seasons may help redistribute elk off of private land. Elk in northwest Montana are starting to change their migration patterns due to drought conditions, and they are spending more of their summers on agricultural land instead of heading for greener pastures in the high mountains, Anderson said. The shoulder seasons will help reduce game damage and encourage elk to move on to public lands where they can be hunted.