Despite weather that’s windy and warm one day, then cold and snowy the next, hunters on the Rocky Mountain Front west of Augusta are taking home elk and white-tailed deer at numbers near or above long-term averages, a state wildlife biologist said.
“Elk harvest remains at seven percent below the 10-year average” said Brent Lonner, Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife biologist. “But the white-tailed deer harvest is 17 percent above the 10-year average.”
Mule deer numbers, however, are lagging behind.
“The mule deer harvest is 21 percent below the 10-year average,” Lonner said.
The numbers were collected in Augusta at FWP Region 4’s sole biological check station and apply only to a handful of hunting districts on the Rocky Mountain Front.
Elk hunters this season have brought in 107 animals (45 bulls, 53 cows and nine calves) compared to the 10-year average of 115 elk.
Mule deer at the check station have numbered 63 (57 bucks and six does). The 10-year average is 81 animals.
White-tailed deer numbers this year in Augusta stand at 91 (34 bucks, 48 does and nine fawns), while the 10-year average is 77.
The big game general season ends Dec. 1.
