Hunter harvest near average on Rocky Mountain Front

From Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks

Despite weather that’s windy and warm one day, then cold and snowy the next, hunters on the Rocky Mountain Front west of Augusta are taking home elk and white-tailed deer at numbers near or above long-term averages, a state wildlife biologist said.

“Elk harvest remains at 7 percent below the 10-year average” said Brent Lonner, Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife biologist. “But the white-tailed deer harvest is 17 percent above the 10-year average.”

Mule deer numbers, however, are lagging behind.

“The mule deer harvest is 21 percent below the 10-year average,” Lonner said.

The numbers were collected in Augusta at FWP Region 4’s sole biological check station and apply only to a handful of hunting districts on the Rocky Mountain Front.

Elk hunters this season have brought in 107 animals — 45 bulls, 53 cows and nine calves — compared to the 10-year average of 115 elk.

Mule deer at the check station have numbered 63 — 57 bucks and six does. The 10-year average is 81 animals.

White-tailed deer numbers this year in Augusta stand at 91 — 34 bucks, 48 does and nine fawns — while the 10-year average is 77.

The big game general season ends Dec. 1.