Remember When?

70 YEARS AGO • OCTOBER 20, 1948

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Hunting Season Is Almost HERE

Check your needs now:

Tin Pants and Coats

Red Shirts

Red Hats

Rubber Boots

Hip Boots

Men’s Waist Overalls

Wool Jackets

Wool Sox

Pocket Knives

Rope

Hunting License

Gloves (all types)

Cameras

Film

We have all these items & many more – Everything to make your hunting trip a success

REMEMBER

Duck Season opens the 8th of October.

Big Game the 15th.

Our Ammunition Supply is LIMITED so be sure to get all that you need EARLY!

LARSON’S CASH STORE

50 YEARS AGO • OCTOBER 24, 1968

HUNTING SEASON OPENS SUNDAY

That moment that many western Montanans wait 11 months for – the opening of the big game hunting season – arrives Sunday morning when a small army of men and women is expected to head for the hills in quest of elk and deer. Sunrise Sunday is 7:11 mountain standard time.

And hunters will get an added break this year, an extra hour of sleep since daylight savings time ends Sunday at 2 a.m. and clocks are turned back one hour.

Becoming legal targets for hunters Sunday are either sex elk and deer and grizzly bear. The black bear season has been open since spring.

Hunters are reminded that a special license is required to kill a grizzly bear. Cost of a resident grizzly bear hunting license is $1 and non-residents pay $25. A special trophy license is also required of hunters who take a grizzly bear. Cost of this license is $25. The trophy tag authorizes the holder to possess and transport the grizzly carcass or hide.

As usual, the western Sanders County area is expected to be invaded by a large number of Libby hunters beginning about Friday, when the advance guards begin arriving to establish their camps.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks partial timeline

1865: Territorial legislature passes first law protecting wildlife.

1872: Lawmakers establish first closed season on big game from Feb. 1 to Aug. 15 each year.

1886: Montana’s bison reduced to remnant herds.

1895: Fourth State Legislature establishes Board of Game and Fish Commissioners.

1901: Governor Richards appoints W.F. Scott as state game warden, creating FWP.

1902: International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies formed.

1903: 43 arrests made for killing game out of season, dynamiting fish, and other infractions.

1904: Largemouth bass introduced to Montana.

1905: Hunting and fishing license required for Montana residents.

1906: Elk hunting permitted in only four states, including Montana.

1909: Daily bag limit on ducks set at 20 per day.

1910: Elk transplanted to Montana from Yellowstone National Park.

1911: Montana Fish and Game Commission increased from three to five members.

1913: Daily bull trout limit set at 50 pounds.

1915: Bighorn sheep season closes and remains closed for 38 years.

1917: Much of eastern Montana closed to deer hunting; elk reduced to scattered mountain herds.

1922: More than 2,500 pheasants and Hungarian partridge released across the state.

1924: Resident hunting and fishing license sales reach 56,113.

1925: Montana’s antelope population estimated at 3,000.

1928: Commission sets first pheasant hunting season.

1932: Blue grouse season reopened after several years of closure.

1942: First bighorn sheep transplanted from Sun River to Gates of the Mountains.

1943: Antelope hunting renewed on an annual basis.

1945: First moose season held since 1896.

1947: Department hires its first fisheries biologist.

1953: First bighorn sheep season held since 1915.

1954: First Merriam’s turkeys released in Montana.

1955: Statewide deer harvest reaches 100,000.

1956: First statewide deer archery season held.

1961: Hunting and fishing license sales reach 383,000.

1962: Bounty on mountain lions discontinued.

1970: Mountain lion classified as a game animal.

1972: Hunter orange law goes into effect.

1974: Department stops stocking trout in rivers and streams.

1988: Montana’s elk harvest reaches 26,000.