GREAT FALLS, Mont. (NMB) – Heading into the final days of Montana’s big game season, numbers of mule deer and elk taken by hunters on the Rocky Mountain Front near Augusta continue to remain below average.
In a press release, Fish, Wildlife, & Parks wildlife biologist Brent Lonner said, “Elk harvest is 25 percent below the 10-year average. Mule deer harvest is at 23 percent below the 10-year average, but is improving.”
Only the number of white-tailed deer taken by hunters to the Augusta check station is on the plus side, at 11 percent above the 10-year average.
Elk hunters so far have brought in 185 animals, compared to an average of 246. Mule deer at the check station have numbered 157, with the average being 203. And white-tailed deer numbers stand at 221, while the average is 200.
Montana’s deer and elk general season ends a half hour after sunset on November 25th.
