Hunting Archery Duck Deer

Weekend elk hunting proved to be excellent - Elk hunters with a general season tag had less than 48 hours to shoot a antlerless elk in hunting district 270 last weekend before the quota was filled.

“We had a lot of happy hunters,” said John Vore, wildlife biologist for the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The general elk season regulations this year allowed for hunters with a general tag to shoot an antlerless elk or brow-tined bull elk in hunting districts 270 and 250, the southern part of Ravalli County during the last week of the season.

However, these districts both had a quota for cows killed, Vore said. In hunting district 270, that quota was 250 cow elk. As of close of business Sunday night, 246 had been checked through the Darby check station and general season elk tag holders were back to chasing brow tine bulls only, he said.

But hunting district 250 is still open. The quota for that area, which is primarily in the West Fork of the Bitterroot River, is 150 cow elk. As of Sunday night hunters had shot 75, Vore said.

Other hunting districts in the valley, like 261, 204 and 240 allow hunters with a general season elk tag to harvest an antlerless elk without any quota restrictions.

Last year, the quota for hunting district 250 was filled on the last day of the season, but the quota for hunting district 270 was only half filled, Vore said.

The difference is weather.

Early snow and cold temperatures pushed elk out of the Big Hole Valley and toward their wintering range on private ranches in the Sula and Rye Creek area, he said.

The early movement by the elk and the season structure has brought out a lot of hunters as well.

Over the weekend more than 1,700 hunters came through the Darby check station with 304 elk, 17 mule deer and 34 whitetails, producing a hunter success rate of 21 percent. On a typical weekend between about 1,100 hunters come through the check station.

So far this year 11,013 hunters have checked 773 elk, 277 mule deer and 188 whitetails through the check station. These number also include those hunters who came through from hunting district 321 in the Big Hole Valley.

In fact, it seemed like it was the minority of hunters who didn’t shoot a cow elk in French Basin, south of Darby, Saturday, said Rich Jessop, who took his brothers there hunting over the weekend.

Jessop was relegated to dropping his siblings off before daylight and picking them up after their hunt since he filled his elk tag during archery season.

He dropped his brother off at on a trail just before daylight, but to their surprise, 15 other trucks were parked there as well.

After he dropped them off, he drove down to where he was supposed to pick them up near East Fork Road. Jessop could see several elk from where he waited. Then the shooting started.

“It was non-stop for at least an hour and a half,” he said.

Later, at the game check station, the line for hunters with game was much long than the line for hunters without game, Jessop said.

“It was like if you didn’t get an elk you were the odd man out that day,” he said.

Daly quota statistics will appear in the Ravalli Republic, through the week. They will also be announced on the radio.

It’s the hunter’s responsibility to know what’s left in the quota, Vore said. He and other FWP employees handed out nearly 1,500 flyers Sunday and had announcements on the local radio station as well as at the check station.

Reporter Greg Lemon can be reached at 363-3300 or at glemon@ravallirepublic.com