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HUNTING GUIDE FALL/WINTER 2021 - A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF - townnews.com
HUNTING GUIDE
FALL/WINTER 2021

      A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF
HUNTING GUIDE FALL/WINTER 2021 - A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF - townnews.com
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HUNTING GUIDE FALL/WINTER 2021 - A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF - townnews.com
Fall/Winter 2021                                                                                                                     Hunting Guide • 1

                                                                                                                                Two bull elk spar.

  Drought likely to shape
    big game seasons
Hunting a tale of mild                                                                                                and getting those young ani-
                                                                                                                      mals into adulthood.”
 winter, dry summer                                                                                                      Montana’s wide expanses
                                                                                                                      mean a variety of habitats and
            TOM KUGLIN                                                                                                different species handle tough
       tom.kuglin@lee.net                                                                                             conditions better than others.
                                                                                                                      Northeast Montana has seen
   Hunting this fall could                                                                                            a surge in mule deer popula-
be largely shaped by the                                                                                              tions so numbers likely remain
widespread drought hitting                                                                                            favorable, Wakeling said.
the state this summer, from                                                                                           In the southeast, mule deer
potential access closures to                                                                                          numbers are not quite as rosy.
impacts on wildlife fitness and                                                                                          Whitetails overall seem to
location.                                                                                                             be doing better than mule
   While some early hunts                                                                                             deer. Elk tend to be less sensi-
start in August, Montana’s                                                                                            tive to extreme summer con-
hunting season really begins                                                                                          ditions, Wakeling said.
                                                                                                            USDA NRCS
in earnest Sept. 4 with the                                                                                              Lush grasses in the spring
                                A bachelor group of mule deer bucks near the Missouri River in Chouteau County.
start of the six-week archery                                                                                         and summer are when animals
season. On Oct. 23, general                                                                                           bulk up for the stresses of fall
season kicks off for five weeks success hovered around aver- Management Bureau chief                                  ruts and winter, said Butte-
and ends the Sunday after       age levels in most parts of the with Montana Fish, Wildlife & area FWP biologist Vanna
Thanksgiving. And new for       state.                                       Parks. “We did see a relatively Boccadori.
this year, traditional muzzle-     Persistent drought this                   mild winter and were looking                “Any calves or young born
loader hunters will have their summer affected green up                      forward to that with fawns               this year are probably going to
own nine-day season to chase with many areas of Montana                      and calves hitting the ground. be pretty darn light going into
elk and deer in December.       reporting stifled grass growth. But the real challenge for that the fall,” she said. “Adults just
   Most big game herds fared    That can mean less nutrition                 of course is we’re also dealing won’t have the fat, which can
pretty well following a mild    for elk, deer and other wild-                with drought (and) fires. So             affect breeding potential so
winter by Montana standards. life.                                           while we might’ve seen some              you could see this affect two
Cold snaps remained relatively     “I think we’re seeing that                favorable winter survival, we            generations of animals.”
short-lived with little lower   doubled-edged sword,”                        may see some reduced sur-
elevation snow. And hunter      said Brian Wakeling, Game                    vival in terms of recruitment                         SEE BIG GAME, Page 2
HUNTING GUIDE FALL/WINTER 2021 - A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF - townnews.com
2 • Hunting Guide                                                                                                                                Fall/Winter 2021

Big Game
From 1

   While animals may see
reduced weights due to the
drought, Boccadori says hunt-
ers should still see solid num-
bers of deer and elk bolstered
by the mild winter. She hopes
that translates to some high
hunter success rates to reduce
competition for food during
the winter.
   “I hope we get a good har-
vest because if we have a hard
winter we’re likely to have
pretty decent winter kill,” she
said.
   In the Helena area, biologist
Jenny Sika said it will remain
to be seen how much the
drought will affect big game
numbers.                                                                                                                                                 Preston Keres‌
   “The mild winter was            A mule deer makes his way near Reservoir Lake/Lemhi Pass, Dillon Ranger District of Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.
certainly good for fawn
recruitment – mule deer
numbers looked good in the           Wildfire danger can mean access issues                                                   Elk and deer
spring although numbers                 Wildfires and fire danger could leave some hunters unable to access                   season dates
are still down so there aren’t       their favorite areas.
                                        Federal and state authorities may close areas due to an active                        Archery: Sept. 4 – Oct. 17.
many (antlerless) tags,” she
said. “We probably won’t             wildfire or in some extreme cases, simply due to fire danger.                            Two-Day Youth Hunt:
                                        Hunters could see access to private lands limited as well. In the bad                 Oct. 21 – Oct. 22.
know until we fly again next
                                     fire year of 2017 nearly 80 block management areas enacted closures
spring how much the drought          due to fire danger.                                                                      General: Oct. 23 – Nov. 28.
affected fawns or adults. We            Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks offers some recommendations to
are seeing some loss, it’s been                                                                                               Traditional Muzzleloader:
                                     avoid starting wildfires:                                                                Dec. 11- Dec. 19
a rough year for critters this
summer.”                             „ Park vehicles on bare ground            „ After leaving an area, wait for              *Does not include elk shoulder
   Sika added that elk numbers       or ground completely void of              few minutes to make sure that                  seasons which vary by district
remained solid around the            vegetation.                               a fire has not started where a
Helena area.
                                                                               vehicle was parked.
   Townsend-area FWP biolo-          „ Drive only on paved and well                                                          Biologists have also been
gist Adam Grove anticipates          graveled roads.                           „ Smoke only inside buildings or            wrapping up pronghorn
similar trends for his manage-       „ Camp only in designated
                                                                               vehicles.                                   counts. Unlike deer and elk
ment area in the Big Belts and                                                                                             that are traditionally counted
                                     camping areas.                            „ Check on any fire restrictions
Elkhorns. Hunters saw decent                                                                                               on winter range, pronghorn
                                                                               in place.
success last year and elk and        „ Bring along a fire extinguisher                                                     are counted during the sum-
deer populations continue to         or water-filled weed sprayer,             „ Consider limiting activity until          mer. Both Wakeling and
be robust, particularly in areas     shovel or axe.                            fire danger lessens.                        Grove reported very low fawn
with limited hunting access,                                                                                               numbers likely tied to the
he said.                                                                                                                   drought.
   Hunters that drew limited       availability and mild weather               it can really depend on what                  “The jury is still going to
either-sex elk permits for the     that left elk and deer widely               sort of environment they’re in              be out with the effects of the
Elkhorns reported 64% suc-         distributed. Still, Grove shared            with native range quality and               drought but we do have some
cess with the average age of       similar concerns of what the                lack of forage in some cases. It            concerns with the recruit-
bulls being 7 years old. That is   drought could mean.                         wouldn’t be surprising to see               ment we’re seeing there,”
on par in terms of age struc-        “Over-winter survival                     lower calf and fawn crops.”                 Wakeling said of antelope.
ture and slightly above long-      should’ve been good but                        Wildlife on irrigated agri-
term averages for the hunting      obviously you may see some                  cultural lands should be able               Tom Kuglin is the deputy edi-
district, he said.                 impacts from the drought                    to access better nutritional                tor for the Lee Newspapers
   Seasonal population counts      conditions out there on repro-              feed and probably would not                 State Bureau. His coverage
were difficult this year due to    duction and things like that,”              see as many negative impacts,               focuses on outdoors, recre-
a combination of limited pilot     he said. “With cows and does                Grove said.                                 ation and natural resources.
HUNTING GUIDE FALL/WINTER 2021 - A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF - townnews.com
Fall/Winter 2021                                                                                                                                                        Hunting Guide • 3

                                                                                                                                                    Upland bird seasons
     A tougher upland year                                                                                                                          Mountain and sharp-tailed
                                                                                                                                                    grouse: Sept. 1-Jan. 1
                                                                                                                                                    Hungarian partridge:
                                                                                                                                                    Sept. 1-Jan. 1
                                                                                                                                                    Sage grouse: Sept. 1-Sept. 30
                                                                                                                                                    Pheasant youth season:
                                                                                                                                                    Sept. 25-Sept. 26
                                                                                                                                                    Pheasant: Oct. 9-Jan. 1

                                                                                                                                                Taking weather and habitat
                                                                                                                                                conditions into consideration
                                                                                                                                                overall production and habitat
                                                                                                                                                conditions, hunting success is
                                                                                                                                                predicted to be below average
                                                                                                              Photo Courtesy of Olli Jalonen
                                                                                                                                                though very dependent on the
While conditions for upland game bird hunting vary widely across the state, one thing is for sure: The current drought has made this
                                                                                                                                                hunters’ efforts.”
year a lot tougher than recent years for birds and hunters alike.                                                                                  Rodgers advises hunters:
                                                                                                                                                “When choosing a place
    Drought hard on                             far northeast corner of the
                                                state, “They do tend to be a
                                                                                             year’s prospects prepared for                      to hunt, you first need to
                                                                                             the agency, FWP’s Evan Rodg- look at your target species.
   chicks; hunt results                         little more resilient. We are                ers, Region 4 upland game
                                                seeing some broods. But brood bird specialist, said, “Based
                                                                                                                                                Sharp-tailed grouse will be
                                                                                                                                                in the grasslands intermixed
 ‘dependent on efforts’                         survival will still be much less on overall spring lek atten-                                   with farmland and foothills
                                                than normal.”                                dance for sharp-tailed grouse throughout Region 4. They
            DAVID MCCUMBER                         It’s a dramatic contrast from and crow count surveys for                                     will tend to day roost on the
          david.mccumber@                       last year, when conditions                   pheasants ... overall numbers                      tops of hills and draws with
            mstandard.com                       were much better. “Last year                 are still below the long-term                      grass and forb cover averag-
                                                was a pretty good year,” he                  average across the region.”                        ing shin height. On windy
   While conditions for                         said. “Sharptails in particular                 Still, he added, “Even with                     days they will generally stay
upland game bird hunting                        did really well. Hunters had an the lower-than-average spring on the leeward side of a hill
vary widely across the state,                   above-average year.                          precipitation, nesting habitat out of the wind. Pheasant will
one thing is for sure: The cur-                    “This one will be below                   looked fair to good. There                         generally be closer to riparian
rent drought has made this                      average.”                                    are areas where grasses are                        areas and farmlands. Cover
year a lot tougher than recent                     But Thompson said many                    still green and grass hoppers                      needs vary, but finding areas
years for birds and hunters                     people who come to the region are abundant, but with the                                        with grass higher than your
alike.                                          every year will likely still make continued drought conditions, shin, mixed with shrubs and
   “What it does is impact                      the trip.                                    habitat quality may decline in small draws, and near a food
chick brood survival,” said                        “The hunting won’t be quite time. Since May the summer                                       source (farmland/shrub ber-
FWP wildlife biologist Scott                    the same. But many people                    has been very hot and dry.                         ries) is a good place to start.
Thompson, who is based in                       know and love the area, and                     “Water is running low for                       Huns have the ability to thrive
Glasgow. “The birds hatched                     they know they’ll still find                 many and many pastures,                            in all of the above habitats
fine in late May and early June, some opportunity, and they                                  simply put, weren’t as pro-                        but are more susceptible to
but young chicks met with dry love to get out and walk the                                   ductive as they usually are.                       extreme weather.”
conditions right away in many ground and work their dogs.”
areas, and quite a few probably                    He added that many land-
didn’t survive.”                                owners have a lot of concern                    We’ve Got Your
   “Already by that time,”
Thompson said, “we were
                                                about fires and the drought
                                                has been stressful. “More than                       atv
                                                                                                    tires
                                                                                                                           MONGREL                                       489 XT
seeing some pretty high                         ever, we’re reminding hunters                                                            SPARTACUS       AT489
                                                                                                                                                                                    GRIM REAPER

temperatures and not real                       to be cautious and aware of
good moisture to get that                       the fire danger, and respectful
grass cover going. That puts a of landowners.”
great amount of stress on the                      In Region 4, which takes in                                                                                    AmericAn cAr cAre
chicks.”                                        much of central Montana and                                                                                      3600 Harrison • 494-4450
   He said that’s true for pretty parts of the Hi-Line and, like                                                                                                       LisAc’s Tire
                                                                                                                                                               2109 Yale • Butte • 723-4294
much all the upland species — Region 6, traditionally offers
                                                                                                                                                                       LisAc’s Tire
pheasant, Hungarian partridge some of the best upland bird                                                                                                         Anaconda • 563-6110
and grouse. He said while sage opportunity, the situation is
grouse aren’t as plentiful as                   similar.
                                                                                                                                                               441 S. Montana St. • 782-9108
sharptails in his region, the                      In a brief summary of the
HUNTING GUIDE FALL/WINTER 2021 - A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF - townnews.com
4 • Hunting Guide                                                                                                                          Fall/Winter 2021

5 tips for every hunter
    Wardens want
   you to read this
    before you go
    into the field
   Here are five things Mon-
tana’s game wardens would
like to tell every hunter before
their trip begins. Thanks go
to Warden Sgt. Justin Hawka-
luk for this information.
   1. Have a plan. Know
where you’re going — spe-
cifically — and what you’re
hunting for, and all applicable
regulations. Whether a viola-
tion is intentional or unin-
tentional, it’s still a violation.
Inadvertent violations usually
stem from a lack of prepared-
                                                                                                                                THOM BRIDGE, Independent Record‌
ness.
   2. Let somebody know              Hawkaluk checks the tag of a whitetail deer that a hunter shot in the Elkhorn Mountains.

                                                                                          Don’t HURT
your plan — particularly
where you’ll be and when you         risk a fine and losing hunt-
expect to return. For obvious        ing and fishing privileges

                                                                                        during the HUNT!
reasons.                             for a year. 3. Its unsightly.
   3. Make sure you have             A dumped carcass reflects
legal access. If you’re hunt-        poorly on the hunting com-
ing on private land, that            munity.
means making sure you have
up-to-date permission.               Carcass disposal
Hunting without landowner            guidelines
permission is the ticket war-           To prevent the spread of
dens write more frequently           chronic wasting disease, all
than any other.                      parts of the head or skull
   4. Don’t dump carcasses           containing brain material
illegally. Here’s the word,          and/or the spinal columns
straight from Page 4 of the          of deer, elk, and moose har-
2021 hunting regulations:            vested in Montana must be
There are three very impor-          left in the field at the kill site
tant reasons not to dump a           or, if transported for further
game carcass: 1. It can spread       processing including taxi-
chronic wasting disease. Any
part of the carcass of an ani-
                                     dermy or meat processing,
                                     must be disposed of in a class
                                                                                      The pros at Pintler can help
mal with CWD can transmit
the disease for at least two
                                     II landfill.
                                        5. Remember it’s been
                                                                                         with knee, shoulder,
years. 2. It’s illegal. Montana
State Law prohibits dumping
                                     a hot, dry summer. That’s
                                     not only changed hunting
                                                                                          and any other pain!
dead animals or refuse on            conditions and where animals
public property, including all       might be — it’s also affected
state-owned and managed              access. Some landowners
lands, which includes FWP            may not grant the access they                  pintlerpt.com                                           pintlerpt.com
managed fishing access sites         have in the past (including
and wildlife management              block management) because
areas. If you are caught, you        of concerns over fire.
                                                                                       110 Main St., Anaconda | 406-563-0797
HUNTING GUIDE FALL/WINTER 2021 - A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF - townnews.com
Fall/Winter 2021                                                                                                                             Hunting Guide • 5

       TAKING BETTER
       TROPHY PICS
                                                                                                                                   THOM BRIDGE, Independent Record
Drew Williams, a Missoula hunter, poses with a bull moose he shot in the fall of 2020.

           THOM BRIDGE             Sit down- Having the                                  angles, angles tip. So to avoid   dripping from the mouth and
        Independent Record      hunter sit on their butt behind                          photos where the hunter is        set the animal’s tongue back
                                the animal will make them                                trying to smile but actually      in its mouth.
   Every hunting season I       more comfortable, which                                  grimacing because their fore-        Avoid mergers- Position
share photos from my and        makes for a more natural pose.                           arms are on fire from holding     the hunter so they don’t have
hunting partners’ adventures It will also draw more focus on                             the head up, try a kickstand.     any trees sticking out of their
afield and I always have people the animal if the hunter isn’t                              Clean the scene- Look, we      head. While you set up the
ask me how to make better       hovering over it and it’s antlers.                       all know hunting is a bloody      shot also make sure the antlers
trophy photos. So here’s a list    Admiration- I think the                               activity, but that doesn’t mean   don’t merge with the hunter.
of suggestions to make your     strongest trophy pictures are                            our trophy pictures have to be.
trophy pictures look like they when the hunter isn’t look-                               I always use a bandana, snow      Thom Bridge can be reached at
belong in a magazine.           ing at the camera, but instead                           or grass to wipe away blood       Thom.bridge@helenair.com
   Find the light- A foolproof admiring the animal.
way of setting up a photo is       Angles, angles, angles-
making sure the sun is at a     Whether you have a hunting
45-degree angle in front of the buddy taking your photos or                                        STOP IN BEFORE THE HUNT
hunter. If the sun is directly  you have a DIY setup with a                                       Hot Breakfasts - Coffee - Snack & More
in their face, it will make it  tripod, shoot photos from as
hard for them to avoid squint- many angles as you can. I have
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photographer’s shadow in the and look at my photos there’s
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HUNTING GUIDE FALL/WINTER 2021 - A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF - townnews.com
6 • Hunting Guide                                                                                                                                       Fall/Winter 2021

                                                                                                                                       provide an extra weekend of

       Duck, duck, goose
                                                                                                                                       hunting.
                                                                                                                                          “A lot of hunters didn’t think
                                                                                                                                       the extra weekend was worth
                                                                                                                                       the complication,” Hansen
                                                                                                                                       said.
                                                                                                                                          As a result, the Pacific
                                                                                                                                       Flyway’s split season was can-
                                                                                                                                       celed, and the agency also did
                                                                                                                                       away with the split season in
                                                                                                                                       the northern zone (Zone 1) of
                                                                                                                                       the Central Flyway. In Zone 2,
                                                                                                                                       the split season will remain.
                                                                                                                                          Montana is split roughly in
                                                                                                                                       half by the two flyways. The
                                                                                                                                       Pacific Flyway includes Hill,
                                                                                                                                       Chouteau, Cascade, Meagher
                                                                                                                                       and Park counties and all
                                                                                                                                       counties lying west of these.
                                                                                                                                          In the Central Flyway, Zone
                                                                                                       PERRY BACKUS, Ravalli Republic‌ 1 (for ducks, coots and geese)
Waterfowl hunters are told to expect more challenging hunting conditions for the 2021 season.                                          includes Blaine, Carter, Dan-
                                                                                                                                       iels, Dawson, Fallon, Fergus,
     A challenging                           a bit because of the drought.
                                                “Potholes were drying up,
                                                                                          much. They can use the bigger Garfield, Golden Valley, Judith
                                                                                          lakes and reservoirs.”                       Basin, McCone, Musselshell,
    season awaits                            and there weren’t as many
                                             places for ducks to settle,”
                                                                                              He said in a January survey              Petroleum, Phillips, Powder
                                                                                          in eastern Montana, scientists River, Richland, Roosevelt,
   waterfowl hunters                         Hansen said. “We’ll still have a saw record numbers of geese.
                                             good number of birds, but not                    “Many of them haven’t
                                                                                                                                       Sheridan, Stillwater, Sweet
                                                                                                                                       Grass, Valley, Wheatland
          DAVID MCCUMBER                     that many young birds. They’ll really left,” he said. “They’ve                            and Wibaux counties. Zone
        david.mccumber@                      be older and more experienced, got wings and they can choose 2 includes Big Horn, Carbon,
          mtstandard.com                     which means harder to hunt.”                 to fly south, but they stayed                Custer, Prairie, Rosebud, Trea-
                                                Still, Hansen maintained,                 instead of going to Colorado                 sure and Yellowstone counties.
   There’s no question about it: “There will be good hunting to and Texas. We had mild, snow-                                             As in previous years, there’s
Waterfowl hunting is going to                be had anyway.”                              free days in December and                    a special youth waterfowl sea-
be more challenging than usual                  He warned that a lot of the               January. That ended quickly in son the weekend of September
in Montana this year.                        wetlands where hunters are                   February, but the geese were in 25-26. The regular season
   Although May surveys by                   used to going will have big                  really good shape going into it.” begins October 2.
the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service mudflats around the edges,                                   One group that the FWP was                  Montana has a variety of
and the Canadian Wildlife                    making hunting even more                     able to survey were the hunters regulations on the types and
Service were canceled for the                challenging.                                 themselves. And as a result of               sex of waterfowl that may be
second year in a row because of                 “Mudflats around the edges questioning 3,000 randomly                                  taken, as well as differences
the pandemic, wildlife biolo-                make wetlands a lot harder to                selected waterfowl hunters,                  in regulations between the
gists know, in large measure,                hunt, in terms of hiding from                the agency determined that                   flyways, so hunters should
what to expect.                              the ducks, and setting out                   many really didn’t care for the familiarize themselves with
   “A lot of the prairie pot-                decoys,” he said. “It’s nice to              split season, in which hunting the specific regulations and
hole country on both sides of                have some taller vegetation                  was closed for five weekdays                 become proficient with bird
the border is very dry,” said                around. It certainly won’t be                and then reopened in order to                identification.
Jim Hansen, Central Flyway                   ideal this year.”
migratory bird coordinator for                  Hansen said populations are
the Montana Department of                    likely to vary widely between                RED WRECKER                                 2021 GUN SHOWS
Fish, Wildlife & Parks. This                 species of ducks.
                                                                                            SERVICE
                                                                                                                                                                      For more information, call (406) 633-9333 or visit our website: www.SCIShows.com

                                                                                                                                         Billings • 9/10-12
isn’t the Billings-based Han-                   “They’re all probably going
                                                                                                                                                                             Promoted by Sports Connection, Inc. • P.O. Box 633 • Park City, MT 59063

                                                                                            24-Hour Service
                                                                                                                                          Gun Show - MetraPark
sen’s first rodeo: In January, he to suffer some,” he said. “But                                                                         Hamilton• 9/17-19
celebrated 30 years with FWP, those that breed in northern                                  • Damage-Free Towing
                                                                                            • 4x4 Wrecker                                 Gun Show - Ravalli County Fair.
so he has a pretty good handle Alberta and Saskatchewan, like                               • Cold Weather                               Butte • 10/ 15-17
on what to expect this water-                scaup and goldeneye, are going                   Starting
                                                                                                                                          Gun Show - Butte Civic Center
fowl season.                                 to do a lot better.”                           • Car Unlocking

   “We had a good number of                     Hansen said goose hunting                                                                Helena • 11/12-14
                                                                                            Butte’s Oldest Wrecker Service
                                                                                                                                          Gun Show - Lewis & Clark Co. Fair.
ducks heading back to breed-                 will the the bright spot again                    USED PARTS
ing grounds last year because                this year.                                         Domestic    & Foreign                    Billings • 11/26-28
we’ve had good production for                   “Canada goose production                          Jay Richards, Owner                     Gun Show - MetraPark
a couple of years,” Hansen said. is still good,” he said. “They                             520 Holmes Ave. • Butte, MT                  Hamilton • 12/3-5
“But the number of birds actu- are very adaptable, and don’t
ally hatched will be down quite depend on small wetlands as
                                                                                                    494-3606                              Gun Show - Ravalli County Fair.
HUNTING GUIDE FALL/WINTER 2021 - A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF - townnews.com
Fall/Winter 2021                                                                                                                       Hunting Guide • 7

FWP updates Montana Hunt
Planner with new mapping features
           TOM KUGLIN
       tom.kuglin@lee.net

   A new update for the Mon-
tana Hunt Planner offered
through Montana Fish, Wildlife
& Parks means detailed infor-
mation on hunting has never
been more readily available.
   The first iteration of the
hunt planner launched on
FWP’s website about 10 years
ago. Hunters could navigate
drop-down menus and troves
of data on hunting districts,
wildlife populations and
hunter pressure. But after
a decade, it was time for an
upgrade.
   “That’s a long time for any
technology to be around,” said
Dawn Anderson, FWP’s Geo-
graphic Data Service’s Bureau     species-specific informa-                                                                                     Thom Bridge‌
chief. “The age of it made it     tion are mainstays of the         A screen shot of the updated Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Hunt Planner Map.

                                                                             Huge
difficult for us to add any new   hunt planner. Some new tools
functionality or tools and we     include GIS layers for harvest
also heard from hunters it was    opportunity by species, hunter
difficult to navigate.”           type such as youth or different
   The newest hunt planner        season options, and a license
aims to provide hunters better    look-up function to see where
mapping capabilities including    a tag is valid.

                                                                             in v en t ory
multiple GIS layers to custom-       The program is only avail-
ize desired information. It is    able on the website as FWP
now far more mobile-friendly      does not offer a mobile app.

                                                                             of Hunting Boots
as well.                          While use of the website
   “Then the rise of mobile has   requires an internet con-
been huge and we just know
that from where users were
                                  nection, the hunter planner
                                  allows creation of a GPX file for          and accessories
coming to the FWP website for     download and use on a GPS.
the original version,” Anderson   Maps may also be exported as                   •Danner               •C    •H
                                                                                                          rispi                 ang         W   ag
said. “We’re trying to do a       printable PDFs.
good job of getting info out to      “So far the feedback has                      •K      enetreK        •i   s    risH etter
the hunting public.”              been really positive,” Anderson
   A number of mapping            said.                                                                 •M   errell
programs have come onto the          Anderson added that FWP
market in recent years. FWP       wants to hear feedback from
touts its hunt planner as free    users to help work out any
and offering the most current     bugs and optimize the hunt
information. As FWP regu-         planner function. From within
lates hunting in the state, any   the map, a drop-down menu
changes will be immediately       located on the upper left
incorporated into the hunt        includes a feedback survey.
planner, according to informa-
tion on the program’s rollout.    Tom Kuglin is the deputy editor
   Hunting districts, land-
ownership, block manage-
                                  for the Lee Newspapers State
                                  Bureau. His coverage focuses on                        301 S. Arizona St.
ment areas, chronic wasting
disease surveillance areas and
                                  outdoors, recreation and natu-
                                  ral resources.
                                                                                  Butte, MT 59701 | 406.782.1306
HUNTING GUIDE FALL/WINTER 2021 - A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF - townnews.com
8 • Hunting Guide                                                 Fall/Winter 2021

                                    Hunting

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