Part 1 of 4 Photo Series
Bridger Hall of Potomac shot this 6X4 white-tailed buck near Potomac with a 30-06.
Amber Berentsen shot this 6X6 bull elk Oct. 23, 12 miles north of Seeley Lake with a 7mm Mag with her hunting partner Tony.
Alex O'Brien, 13, Missoula (grandson of Wade and Geanette Cebulski) shot this 5x7 mule deer in Granite County while accompanied by his Dad John and Grandpa Wade.
Beth Medley, of Cosmopolis, Wash. (daughter of Ray and Barb Cebulski) shot this 7x7 bull elk in Phillips County. This is Beth's first elk. It green scored 379. She got this on their second trip this hunting season with her husband Tim.
Ten-year-old Lily Van Grinsven with a three point mule deer she shot in eastern Montana. She shot it with a .243.
Fisher Carpenter with his first buck, a three point mule deer. He shot it at 80 yards with his grandma Michelle Stevenson's 243 rifle in the Monture Creek area. While he was really excited and happy, he is showing his "game face" in the photo.
Dakota Wood with his 4X4 whitetail shot in Greenough at 150 yards with a .270 Savage rifle.
Beau Sloan shot his cow elk at 230 yards with a 30-06 near Seeley Lake. He also shot a 4X4 mule deer with his 30-06 near Seeley Lake.
Kaden Thornsberry shot his four point mule deer near Whitehall at about 200 yards. This was his first mule deer and he used his Ruger American 6.5 Credemore.
Montana's general big game hunting season closed on Sunday with west-central Montana check stations reporting the highest harvest in four years and the highest hunter success rate since 2007.
The 607 white-tailed deer inspected through the Anaconda, Bonner and Darby hunter check stations is three percent higher than last year's total, and the highest since 2008. With 507 whitetails checked, the Bonner Check Station accounted for 84 percent of the harvest, which was the highest at Bonner since the check station began operating on weekends-only in 2009.
"We've seen a steady climb in whitetail harvest since 2014, which correlates with our sense of a growing population," said Mike Thompson, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) Region 2 Wildlife Manager. "This information is a good check on our thoughts of restoring some antlerless harvest opportunities for the 2018 hunting season."
The 95 elk checked at Bonner this season is 64 percent higher than last season and higher at Bonner than any season since 2011. The Darby check station traditionally accounts for the most elk harvest of the three check stations in west-central Montana, and the harvest of 159 elk at Darby is 14 percent higher than last year, lower than 2015 and higher than 2014. The 46 elk checked at Anaconda also is 59 percent higher than last year, lower than 2015 and higher than 2014.
Mule deer harvest through the Anaconda, Bonner and Darby check stations totaled 77, which is 35 percent lower than last season and the lowest in the last four years when the check stations were operated for a consistent number of days. A special permit is required to hunt mule deer across much of FWP Region 2, which limits the numbers of hunters coming through the check stations who are licensed to hunt mule deer.
FWP tallied 11,115 hunter trips at the three stations in west-central Montana's Region 2, which was down eight percent from last year. The lower hunter effort contrasted with a higher harvest of 999 animals checked at the three stations-up six percent from last season and the highest in the past four years.
All told, the Anaconda, Bonner and Darby check stations reported a season total of 300 elk, 77 mule deer, 607 white-tailed deer, nine black bears, one moose, three bighorn sheep and two wolves.
Reader Comments(0)