Elk Season Looking Good For Hunters

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If it’s elk you’re after this hunting season, populations across Montana are looking good.

Elk hunters will even be able to take a cow or calf elk in some hunting districts, mostly located in southwestern Montana, with their regular elk hunting licenses.

Montana’s five-week general elk hunting season is set to open Oct. 24.

  “Hunters will have opportunities to hunt antlerless elk that they haven’t had in decades, thanks to consecutive years of mild fall weather, and good elk production,” said Gary Hammond, management bureau chief of the Montana FWP Wildlife Division.   In the past, hunters had to apply for an antlerless elk permit to bring home a cow elk.

When elk numbers exceed population objectives, as is the case now in some management units, FWP loosens up the hunting seasons regulations. On the other hand, when elk numbers drop below objective, managers hold a tighter reign on regulations to reduce the harvest and increase herd size.

Montana’s draft elk management plan, which is out for public comment through Nov. 8, proposes to incorporate an adaptive harvest management strategy for elk. "The revisions to the original elk plan developed 12 years ago will help to assure hunters that we won’t let elk numbers get too low and landowners are assured that we’ll work hard to knock numbers down if they get too high," Hammond said.

Hammond said this season’s liberal hunting opportunities, particularly in the western half of the state, are intended to help reduce the number of elk—in some cases significantly.

“We are hoping the old timers are right and what we see in rain in the summer we’ll see as snow in the winter,” Hammond said. “In areas where we have an over abundance of elk, a good harvest will be good for both the hunter and the elk that remain.”