West-central Montana hunters enjoyed mild weather and good success on opening weekend

MISSOULA –The 2024 Montana big game general hunting season opened Saturday, Oct. 26, and hunters in the west-central part of the state enjoyed mild weather and harvest numbers up from last year’s opener, according to data collected at Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks wildlife check stations near Anaconda, Bonner, Darby and Fish Creek.

“Opening weekend started off with a bang as hunters brought in relatively good numbers of white-tailed deer, elk, and a handful of mule deer on Saturday,” said Lee Tafelmeyer, FWP Blackfoot area wildlife biologist responsible for the Bonner check station. “Sunday's harvest dropped slightly but was still steady as hunters brought in animals from across the Blackfoot area.”

White-tailed deer and elk harvest was almost double of the 2023 opening weekend at the Bonner station. Region-wide, elk harvest was up 30 percent from last year’s opening weekend.

“Although it seemed like we had a slow start due to the warm and sunny weather on Saturday, we ended up with a fairly high number of elk through the Darby station by the end of the weekend,” said Rebecca Mowry, FWP Bitterroot area wildlife biologist.

The Darby station checked 72 elk this past weekend, compared to 57 on opening weekend last year. The station also saw the same number of mule deer as last at six and 12 white-tailed deer compared to nine during the 2023 opening weekend.

More hunters passed through each of the stations this opening weekend compared to last. The Fish Creek station in Mineral County was busy with hunters and checked six white-tailed deer, including three bucks and three does, over the weekend.

Overall, west-central Montana’s four wildlife check stations saw 2,318 hunters collectively. Those hunters checked 107 elk, 18 mule deer, 66 white-tailed deer, two black bears and one moose. This compares to 2,132 hunter stops during the 2023 opening weekend and 76 elk, 15 mule deer, 39 white-tailed deer, and one black bear.

FWP reminds hunters they must stop at all check stations that they pass, even if they have not harvested any animals. Although wildlife check stations sample a relatively small portion of the overall effort and harvest, they capture important trends and biological information, and by stopping you are helping with wildlife management in Montana.

Hunters can also help with wildlife conservation efforts by submitting samples from harvested deer, elk, and moose for chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing. In west-central Montana, the wildlife check stations near Darby and Anaconda are collecting CWD samples, as well as new, specific CWD sampling locations at Clearwater Crossing in the Blackfoot Valley (Sat, Sun, Mon from 10 a.m.-dark), Arrow Stone Park in Deer Lodge (Fri, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and Sat, Sun, Mon from 10 a.m.-dark) and the Missoula FWP office (Mon-Fri, 8 a.m.-5p.m.). For a complete list of stations and hours across the state, visit fwp.mt.gov/cwd. Hunter can also take samples themselves and mail them to the wildlife lab for testing.

Although CWD testing is voluntary in this area and most of Montana, samples from hunter-harvested deer, elk and moose are critical to FWP’s understanding of this fatal disease. Multiple big game hunting districts around west-central Montana are Priority Surveillance Areas for CWD, which are areas where FWP is making a concerted effort to gather more samples. All sampling is offered for free to hunters. Hunters play a key role in minimizing the spread and providing data. 

For more hunting season reminders and to track hunter success, stay tuned to the FWP weekly check station reports over the next five weeks. The general big game season runs through Sunday, Dec. 1.