The Daily Inter Lake

The 2006 big-game hunting season closed with a surge in regional check station statistics that had been lagging through most of the five-week season.

"The weather finally cooperated over the Thanksgiving weekend and provided excellent snowy conditions for hunters," said Jim Williams, regional wildlife manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "Hunters, young and old alike, bagged a number of nice bucks and elk over the last few days of the season."

A total of 21,960 hunters stopped at six regular check stations across Northwest Montana, down 12 percent from last year's hunter numbers.

These hunters checked 1,938 whitetail deer, the highest number since 1996. The count of 288 mule deer was down 23 percent from last year, and the 214 elk was off just slightly from the 224 that were checked last year.

As usual, the U.S. 2 check station west of Kalispell and the Thompson Falls check station were the busiest for elk. There were 72 checked at U.S. 2 compared to last year's 52. At Thompson Falls, 74 elk were checked compared to 97 last year.

The most substantial declines were at the Canoe Gulch check station north of Libby, where 288 mule deer were checked compared to 372 last year and there were 19 elk compared to 33 last year.

Williams said this year's statistics could have been affected by early closings at several check stations on Sunday due to severe weather.

Check-station statistics reflect only a fraction of the actual harvest, a number that is determined through a detailed telephone survey of licensed hunters. The results of that survey will be available in June.

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