Successful opening weekend for hunters

The start of the general deer and elk hunting season produced the highest number of harvested white-tailed deer at game check stations in northwest Montana since 2017.

Overall, hunters in northwest Montana (Region 1) reported harvesting 209 white-tailed deer, including 102 bucks, as well as 12 mule deer and 21 elk at four check stations. The overall number of hunters reported at check stations was down, possibly due to hunters being confused about whether stopping was required. Last year, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) replaced the mandatory regional check stations with voluntary chronic wasting disease sample stations. This year, FWP is back operating mandatory game check stations at specific locations on weekends from 10 a.m. to approximately 1.5 hours past sunset. The check station in Sanders County is located just west of Thompson Falls near the rural fire station along Highway 200. Hunters must stop at any check station they encounter whether they harvested an animal or not.

"The white-tailed deer harvest in the region was the highest to start the season since 2017," said Neil Anderson, FWP Regional Wildlife Manager. "We predicted a slight increase in white-tailed deer population due to high fawn recruitment after two years of mild winter."

The Thompson Falls check station 281 hunters opening weekend and 6% of those harvested animals. FWP staff checked in six white-tailed deer (five of those bucks), three mule deer and eight elk. In 2019, the Thompson Falls check station saw on ly three elk during opening weekend counts.

The counts at the stations represent a sampling of the harvest and do not represent the complete number of animals taken. A table below summarizes the results from the first weekend of the season at four check stations. Past summaries included results from five check stations, but the Canoe Gulch station in Libby has been replaced with a voluntary chronic wasting disease sampling station on Highway 2 south of Libby.

The general deer and elk season runs through Nov. 28, 2021.

This year, FWP will continue surveillance for chronic wasting disease in specific areas known as Priority Surveillance Areas. In northwestern Montana, those areas include Hunting Districts 100, 103, 104, 120, 121, 122 and 170. In those specific areas, hunters are asked to voluntarily submit a sample from their animal. For instructions on how or where to submit a sample, visit fwp.mt.gov/cwd.

Testing for CWD is voluntary throughout the state. FWP will assist hunters with sample collection and submission. In northwest Montana, hunters can bring their animal to the FWP office in Kalispell, Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. FWP staff will also assist with CWD sample collection at game check stations when possible and safety allows, based on traffic at the station. Stopping at game check stations remains mandatory. FWP will cover the cost of testing hunter-harvested animals for CWD.

To help prevent the spread of CWD, all carcasses, including the head and spinal column, must be disposed of in a class II landfill after butchering and processing. Dumping carcasses is illegal, unethical and can spread diseases, including chronic wasting disease. This requirement applies to all deer, elk, and moose carcasses harvested by hunters or as vehicle-killed salvage.

For more information, call (406) 752-5501.