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Hunter Check Stations Show Higher Success Rate This Season
A total of 5,377 hunters have checked game at six Region 1 stations
A total of 5,377 hunters have checked 255 white-tailed deer, including 221 bucks, 19 mule deer and 35 elk for a 5.7 percent success rate of hunters through the second weekend of the general hunting season, according to surveys at six Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 game check stations. This compares with a 4.6% rate of hunters with game in 2011.
The counts at the check stations represent a sampling of the first two weekends of the harvest and do not represent the complete number of animals taken.
At the Swan Valley check station, FWP Biologist John Vore said the numbers of white-tailed bucks being checked is encouraging.
“The number of bucks is up 40 percent, even though hunter numbers are down,” he said in a statement.
This pattern held for the other check stations except the North Fork, according to FWP.
FWP is reminding hunters that only white-tailed bucks can be harvested in Northwest Montana. Antler-less white-tailed deer remain legal game for only youth 12-15 years of age (and some qualifying 11-year olds). Mule deer are buck-only for the entire season. Elk are brow-tine bull only. Spike bull elk are not legal game for any hunter in Region 1. Hunters should refer to the hunting regulations for the hunting district they plan to hunt.
The counts at the check stations represent a sampling of the first two weekends of the harvest and do not represent the complete number of animals taken.
At the Swan Valley check station, FWP Biologist John Vore said the numbers of white-tailed bucks being checked is encouraging.
“The number of bucks is up 40 percent, even though hunter numbers are down,” he said in a statement.
This pattern held for the other check stations except the North Fork, according to FWP.
FWP is reminding hunters that only white-tailed bucks can be harvested in Northwest Montana. Antler-less white-tailed deer remain legal game for only youth 12-15 years of age (and some qualifying 11-year olds). Mule deer are buck-only for the entire season. Elk are brow-tine bull only. Spike bull elk are not legal game for any hunter in Region 1. Hunters should refer to the hunting regulations for the hunting district they plan to hunt.
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