BOZEMAN, Mont. — Montana’s general hunting season opened Saturday, Oct. 24. For FWP’s Region 3, six check stations were open to gather information from hunters that weekend.
FWP’s Morgan Jacobsen says hunter success rates were, for the most part, at or above average, but participation numbers are mixed.
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According to Jacobsen, hunter participation numbers were down at Alder and the Gallatin Canyon, near average at Silver City and above average at Cameron and Divide. He says many hunters chose to start the season in the Divide area this year.
“Divide saw the second-highest number of hunters for opening weekend in the long-term history we have of running that check station,” Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen notes that all hunters are required to stop at the game check station they encounter, whether they are successful or not. He says the stop doesn’t take very long, but the information provided is important to FWP for future hunting opportunities.
“How many of you are hunting today? How long have you been out, and did you harvest anything? What did you see on the landscape? That really helps gather some good information,” Jacobsen said.
Jacobsen says Mother Nature always plays a role in hunting. This year, many areas saw a little snowfall the night before the opener.
“That is oftentimes helpful for hunters because, one, it gets animals moving, but it also makes animals easier to track as they move across the landscape,” Jacobsen said.
While the information gained at these game check stations is important to FWP, Jacobsen says these stops are also great places for hunters to share backcountry information and get information from the biologists who set the regulations for those areas.
“That feedback is really important. It really informs a lot of what we do, but it also provides valuable information for the rest of the public. For example, some hunters did report seeing tracks of bears, both black bears and grizzly bears on that opening weekend,” Jacobsen said.
According to FWP, 2,200 hunters stopped at six game check stations in Region 3. They harvested 146 elk, 41 mule deer and 18 whitetail deer. The FWP website has numbers for all game check stations in Montana for opening weekend.
