2020 big game hunting forecast

By Fish, Wildlife and Parks

Are you ready for hunting season? FWP can help. In addition to the following hunting forecast, FWP provides online information about hunting access, including our popular Block Management Program. Through the program, we coordinate with landowners to provide hunting access to more than 7 million acres of private land.

The interactive hunt planner map allows users to look at information for various species, including hunting districts and regulations. The hunt planner interactive map is a great way to access our block management information, so if you’re planning a hunt in a certain area, you can see if there are Block Management Areas available to expand your opportunity.

And, as always, you can contact helpful staff at any of our regional offices around the state. They’re happy to help and can often get you pointed in the right direction with just a few simple tips.

Montana has some of the longest hunting seasons in the West, healthy herds of game and access to millions of acres of public land. However, hunters must be mindful of fire danger and of private landowners who are facing grass shortages, poor crop production and fatigue from monitoring for fire. Hunter harvest helps to reduce wildlife densities on a stressed landscape, and perhaps to help lessen winter depredation on haystacks or winter range. 

Here are a few things hunters can do to show respect for private landowners during this dry season:

• avoid vehicle use in areas with dry grass in the median

• use caution when parking in areas with dry vegetation

• report smoke or any signs of fire to local officials

• carry a fire extinguisher or water to quickly snuff any potential fires.

Destination:

NORTH-CENTRAL MONTANA

Hunters can generally expect to find average or slightly above average numbers of most big game species along with good hunting opportunities in north central Montana during the upcoming hunting season.

Last winter’s mostly favorable weather conditions led to good survival rates among deer, elk and antelope, although populations in some areas are still recovering from severe winters in the past.

Near Great Falls, biologist Jake Doggett reports that elk are doing well in the Highwood Mountains and Devils Kitchen areas, where numbers remain above long-term averages. Overwinter calf survival was also good, resulting in good recruitment into the population. Elk numbers are slightly below average in the Little Belts — hunting district 413.

Mule deer numbers in the agricultural areas near Great Falls are generally doing well, while populations in the mountainous areas are still rebounding from lower numbers of the past few years. White-tailed deer numbers remain strong and should provide good opportunities for hunters.

Surveys suggest that antelope are recovering from the tough winters of 2017 and 2018 across the area.

Numbers are still below long-term averages, but fawn production was good, especially in areas with more cropland.

Jay Kolbe, FWP Wildlife Biologist based in White Sulphur Springs reports that mule deer in his area are still recovering from significant declines seen about 10 years ago.

Mild weather during the 2019 big game season led to lower than average elk harvest in the area, which should result in a few more bulls for hunters to chase in the upcoming year.

Antelope fawn production has been good in the last few years and herds have either been steady or increasing around the Little Belts and east Big Belts.

Brent Lonner is FWP’s wildlife biologist for the southern Rocky Mountain Front, and his winter/spring 2020 surveys of the Sun River elk herd showed strong numbers of bulls, with a calculated brow-tined bull to cow ratio of approximately 25:100. Harvest and survey data portray overall Sun River elk numbers near the lower end of objective range — 2,250 to 2,750 elk — along with continued low calf recruitment, so antlerless harvest opportunity has been reduced for this herd in the 2020 hunting season.

In other districts along the southern Rocky Mountain Front, elk numbers are at or above long-term averages. Hunting District 422 remains well above its population objective levels of 450 to 550 elk. Lonner’s recent winter/spring survey data portray just over 1,100 observed elk with fair calf recruitment into the population. Liberal harvest opportunity remains in this district to include early and late shoulder season hunting opportunity on both a general license and or elk B licenses.

The Birdtail Hills area — districts 421 and 423 — remains above its population objective of 400 to 600 elk with just under 700 elk observed in surveys this past winter. As a result, early and late shoulder season hunting opportunities will also be available for this hunting season.

Mule deer numbers along the Southern Rocky Mountain Front, and overall hunting opportunity remains the same as in recent years. Buck to doe ratios are considered good at 24 bucks per 100 does. Fawns born in 2019 were aided in their overwinter survival by mild weather, and subsequent 2020 spring recruitment was near average at 35 fawns per 100 adults. White-tailed deer numbers remain strong in the area, especially along river corridors and in agricultural grounds, with spring 2020 observed numbers in the lower Sun and Teton rivers at 47 percent and 23 percent above long-term averages.

Lonner reports continued improvement of overall antelope numbers for districts 440 and 444, although some areas are doing better than others. Within hunting district 444, strong buck numbers and fair to good fawn production led to an increase in either-sex licenses for the first time in several years.

Along the northern Rocky Mountain Front, biologist Ryan Rauscher reports that elk numbers are generally above their long-term average, with bull to cow ratios at or near average. In the Sweetgrass Hills, elk numbers remain well over objective, giving hunters opportunity to harvest antlerless elk.

Although fawn numbers appear to be down slightly, mule deer populations remain above average overall. White-tailed deer numbers are increasing across much of Rauscher’s area, although the lower Marias and Teton still have localized pockets of lower numbers due to previous outbreaks of EHD — epizootic hemorrhagic disease — and habitat changes. In the western portions of his districts, Rauscher reports that white-tailed deer numbers are robust and should provide good harvest opportunities for both bucks and antlerless deer.

Antelope population numbers in the Golden Triangle are mixed. Near the Sweetgrass Hills, antelope are well under long-term averages, resulting in no increase in license numbers, but sufficient to provide good hunting opportunities for those fortunate enough to draw a license, especially in the southern half of district 401 on private land where permission to hunt from the landowner is required. In the heart of the Golden Triangle district of HD 404, antelope numbers have seen a steady increase from lows in 2017, and license numbers have been increased to reflect that rise.