Hunters take to the fields

As of sunrise this morning, the time for which many hunters wait all year has officially begun.

The general big-game hunting season opened today, and thousands of hunters will head afield as usual.

This season promises to be an interesting one for several reasons.

First is that most areas of Northwest Montana have a declining whitetail deer population. That may lead hunters to be more selective, since the population drop has led to a sharp reduction in antlerless deer permits.

A second factor that may favor hunters, however, is that the weather (rain, cold and snow) may be more propitious for those hunting game than it has been in past years. The balmy October days that have vexed hunters the past couple of years won't be around for opening week this year.

The third twist for hunters is a new prey species: the gray wolf.

For the first time in decades, Montana hunters will be allowed to shoot wolves (although the quota is 40 for the northern tier of Montana).

Taking all that into consideration, good luck, hunters.

THE COLUMBIA FALLS Aluminum Co. deserves praise and appreciation for its recent enrollment of 900 acres into a state block management hunting program.

The land will be accessible only to hunters with disabled licenses or youths ages 12-15 with written permission. But even with those limitations, having 900 acres of land that has not been hunted for years once again accessible is significant - especially for Northwest Montana, where the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks block management program is not nearly as extensive as it is in other parts of the state.

Plum Creek Timber Co. and Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. are the region's biggest block management participants, but outside of that, there are relatively few players, especially on the Flathead Valley floor.

The CFAC arrangement, announced just last week, is big news going into the 2009 general hunting season.