Weather might be a help Sunday

By JIM MANN/Daily Inter Lake

Sunday is the big-game hunting season opener, with favorably foul weather expected along with the usual rush of hunters through regional check stations.

"This is one of the best times of the year, when all of the biologists and staff have one-on-one contact with hunters," said Jim Williams, Northwest Montana wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "We hear about game, habitat conditions and what hunters see in the field. There are good hunting stories, too."

This weekend's weather forecast calls for rain and snow in Northwest Montana, with the snow likely flying at higher elevations. Those conditions are beneficial to hunters, Williams said, making things quieter in the woods and giving game reasons to move around.

Warmer and sunnier weather is predicted for next week, and "that will probably slow things down" for hunters, Williams added.

There are six check stations strategically located around the region where hunters are required to stop, with or without game.

The stations are at the Canoe Gulch Ranger Station outside of Libby, Swan Valley near Ferndale, the North Fork Flathead drainage at Canyon Creek, at Olney, Thompson Falls and the weigh station on U.S. 2 just west of Kalispell.

Check stations will be open for the first eight days of the season. After that they are open only on weekends. The exception is the U.S. 2 station, which is open on weekends throughout the five-week season.

"Opening day and closing day are typically the busiest days of the season," Williams said, noting that roughly 1,000 hunters usually stop at the U.S. 2 station on opening day. "There's usually a huge pulse of traffic an hour before and an hour after sunset."

Check station staffers will pull incisor teeth from some deer and elk. The teeth are analyzed over the winter to determine the age classes of harvested animals, with that information being combined with other data used to monitor big game populations.

This year, a U.S. Geological Survey researcher from Bozeman will visit some of the regional stations, taking lymph-node samples from harvested animals for research on disease and big-game health.

Williams reminds hunters to be clear on regulations and carry copies into the field, even though hunting rules in Northwest Montana "are pretty straightforward."

Only brow-tined elk can be harvested with a standard tag. Hunters must have a special permit for antlerless elk unless they are youth hunters.

For the first two weeks and the last four days of the season, there is either-sex whitetail deer hunting throughout the region. For mule deer, it is buck-only hunting throughout the season, which ends Nov. 25.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com