AUGUSTA — Paul Sanchez: With the big game season ended. Hunters all over the state have been checking in at the hunters checking stations during the regular hunting season. This helps biologists in the region get a count of the animals harvested and what species they were.
Brent Lonner: Our total number of hunters this fall is actually below average. And we've been seeing that trend for the last year or two. So we're about 20 to 25% below average on the number of hunters that we checked. But on the flipside, the harvest actually was above average, the harvest per hunter. So if you look at the total number of animals, big game animals that we checked per hunter, successful or not, they actually did pretty well this year. And at least the area that we check to the Augusta check station.
Paul Sanchez: Hunting is a big part of the Montana lifestyle. So hunters, hikers, biologists and landowners work to preserve the wildlife and the wonderful landscape that is Montana.
Brent Lonner: I think we ended up at the Augusta check station. I think we ended up close to 29% success rate, which is actually pretty good if you look at all the a lot of other check station areas, that success rate is usually lower than that. And this is a little bit higher than normal for us this year. Was a good season in general. You know, we talked to a lot of people and and people were pretty content with how the season went. And hunters were, for the most part, happy with being out. And not everybody feels tagged, but a lot of people just like being out, which is great to see because that's part of it. It's just the experience. Not everybody has to actually get an animal to be happy when they're hunting. If they're just out and about and having fun hiking around with family and friends, that's that's part of hunting as well, so.
Paul Sanchez: With all the numbers calculated for this season. They all add up to be above average and in favor of the Hunter. But if by some chance you missed that bull elk, you have until February 15th for the late elk shoulder season.
Here in the wilderness of Montana, I’m Paul Sanchez for MTN News.
