GREAT FALLS – After three weekends of the general rifle season, the overall big game harvest remains above average along the Rocky Mountain Front, but the number of hunters passing through FWP’s Augusta game check station has slowed and is now slightly below average.
A total of 289 deer and elk have been checked by hunters in the first two full weeks of the season, which is 15 percent above the long-term average, and 11 percent above this same time last year. Just over 1,100 individual hunters have been counted in the same period, which is four percent lower than average. Overall success remains above average with approximately one in every four hunters reporting having harvested an animal.
Deer harvest continues to be steady and well distributed throughout the hunting districts covered by the check station. Buck and antlerless harvest constitute 65 percent and 35 percent of the total deer harvested, respectively. A total of 68 mule deer and 111 white-tailed deer have been tallied this year, which is slightly below average for mule deer, but well above the average for whitetails.
Elk harvest remains more than 20 percent above average at 110 animals, with approximately 56 percent of the harvest being antlerless and 44 percent antlered bulls. The hunting district 442 elk quota remains open to antlerless and brow-tined bull hunting opportunity. For current status and information on the quota contact the Augusta check station at 406-562-3467.
In addition to the recorded deer and elk harvest, seven pronghorn, two bighorn sheep, one wolf and a variety of game birds (upland and waterfowl) have been checked though the station. The pronghorn hunting season is now closed.
Hunters are reminded that they must stop at any check station they pass while hunting, whether or not they have harvested game. Biological check stations like the station in Augusta are intended primarily to gather trends and statistical information about animals and hunters. Although biological check stations sample a relatively small portion of the overall hunter effort and harvest, they capture important hunter and harvest trends and other information, and by stopping to report a harvest and other information hunters are helping with wildlife management in Montana.
The general deer and elk seasons run through Sunday, Nov. 29. The check station operated by FWP along Main Street in Augusta is the only biological check station in Region 4 and operates seven days a week from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on weekdays and 10 p.m. on weekends.
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