The hunting districts listed have Surplus licenses or permits available. These have been issued on a first-come, first-served basis since August 10, 2009. Licenses and permits must be purchased online at fwp.mt.gov or over the counter at local license providers or by mail-in application.

Updated October 26, 2009, 8:30 a.m.

You can view the list and download the PDF here!

Resident and non-resident hunters heading to northeastern Montana during the 2009 big game season will again have many extra opportunities to harvest deer.

In addition to excellent hunting expected during the general rifle season — which runs from Oct. 25 to Nov. 29 — the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks will concurrently run two special management seasons in Region 6 for antlerless white-tailed deer and mule deer during the period. The state’s archery deer season is already underway.

Non-residents participating in the special management hunts, which are taking place in a limited number of hunting districts, can purchase the licenses at reduced prices. The licenses are being sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

Only those hunters holding a 699-00 or a 640-00 prerequisite license are eligible to participate in the special management seasons. The management season licenses cost $10 apiece for Montana residents. Non-resident hunters will need to buy a $75 prerequisite license to be eligible to purchase management season licenses for $20 each.

As of Oct. 14, there were 2,602 of the prerequisite 699-00 licenses left. In Hunting Districts 630, 640, 641, 650, 651 and 670, a total of 2,000 additional 699-01 “B” licenses for antlerless white-tailed deer were authorized this year. As of Oct. 14, there were 1,430 of these licenses remaining.

Also in Hunting District 640, which encompasses the far northeastern corner of the state, 200 additional 640-01 “B” licenses for antlerless mule deer were authorized. As of Oct. 14, there were still 141 of these 640-01 licenses and 153 of the prerequisite 640-00 licenses left.
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Montana has more than 135,000 elk and thousands of hopeful hunters making plans for an elk hunt. This could be an exceptional year for elk hunting if the precipitation the state has seen this summer continues in the form of snow. Montana’s general elk hunting season opens Oct. 25.

“Hunters are going to see very healthy populations of elk and liberal hunting opportunities. If the weather works in hunters’ favor, and they do some advance work to gain access where it’s needed, plenty of elk are potentially available for harvest,” said Quentin Kujala, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks wildlife management section chief.

As in the past couple of years, all eyes will be on the weather.

Montana’s mild winters and late snows the past several years have contributed to lower elk harvests in some areas of the state, despite additional elk-hunting permits and more liberal seasons.

“This has been an unusually good year for precipitation in much of the state,” Kujala said. “We’re all hoping it leans toward snow and in the hunters’ favor this fall.”

Hunters may obtain a free Hunting Access guide from the FWP region where they plan to hunt and access FWP’s hunter tool kit on the FWP web site at fwp.mt.gov , on the hunter access page.

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At one time a hunting map was a many-creased affair with coffee stains and blurry pencil marks, dog-eared and soft from use. Today it is as likely to be a digital map downloaded from the Internet.

The maps available on the FWP web site at fwp.mt.gov on the Hunting page are of the digital variety.

FWP’s Hunt Planner features an interactive hunting map that can be a lot of fun to play with but requires some computing power to operate. On the Hunting page go to the Hunt Planner and select the region and a species you are interested in and click for the map. You can choose to display species distribution, county boundaries, roads, cities and more and zoom in and out on the map.

Another map option is to go to the Hunt Planner page and select the Montana Land Ownership Maps under the Resource column for maps showing public and private land ownership.

Both the public and the private land ownership maps are updated annually and are available in Adobe PDF formats that can be printed on a large format printer by one of the print shops listed at the bottom of the Web page.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has created a Web page to track the harvest status of the state’s first-ever, fair-chase wolf hunting season, which opened Sept. 15 in some backcountry hunting districts. The general wolf season opener is set for Oct. 25.

The Wolf Hunting Season Status Web page tracks Montana’s statewide harvest quota of 75 wolves across three specifically defined wolf management units, each with its own harvest quota. The site will be updated each weekday at 1 p.m. For weekend updates hunters can call 1-800-385-7826 for the latest wolf h arvest status and closure information.

To find the Wolf Hunting Season Status Web page, visit FWP online at fwp.mt.gov. Click “ Montana Wolf Hunt ,” then click “ Wolf Status .”

Economic opportunities come to communities in different ways and during different times of the year. Most towns in southeastern Montana (Region 7) have annual events that occur year after year and bring an infusion of dollars into the community. In Miles City the Bull Sale in February, Bucking Horse Sale in the spring and the county fair in August are income-generating activities that happen each and every year. Hunting season in the spring and the fall brings a consistent economic gain to most towns in southeastern Montana. Many small businesses across eastern Montana understand the importance of the hunter’s dollar each fall and they depend on that consistent income. Those of us who hunt, fish, camp, watch wildlife, hike and generally enjoy spending our time outdoors realize that it’s costly to do these things. The dollars recreationists spend are an important source of annual income to our communities in southeastern Montana and add to the strength of the local economy.

According Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ Responsive Management Unit, hunters spend millions of dollars each year in support of their outdoor passions. Each year the responsive management unit computes the average amount of money per day that residents and non-residents spend hunting in Montana. FWP Research and Technical Services Section produces a Harvest Survey that shows the hunter days that residents and non-residents devoted to hunting different species in each of the seven FWP regions.

The data recovered from the 2008 deer, elk, antelope and upland game bird hunting season indicated that hunters spent over $23 million dollars in southeastern Montana during the fall of 2008. That’s a lot of money in a short period of time.

In southeastern Montana, deer hunters expended the largest amount at $11.3M. Next came the antelope hunters at $4.7M. Upland game bird hunters spent $4.6M and elk hunters $2.4M. The costs for licenses are not included in these expenditures.

The Block Management Program provided $1,113,168 paid to 343 cooperators enrolled in the program for the 2008 hunting season. This included $53,008 in direct payments for weed control. Hunters used the program to find places to hunt, amounting to 85,723 hunter days. The compensation landowners receive for hunter impacts assists with operational expenses on the ranch/farm and frequently those dollars are spent in local communities.

Local business experience a healthy increase in patronage associated with the fall hunting season. Most of those businesses are heavily dependant on the customer base associated with outdoor recreation throughout the year.

Hunters arrive in the fall, after the summer tourist season is winding down. The expenditure hunter’s make are important for the local economy and provide a steady and consistent income source each fall.

Jerry Churchill & his '08 Elkhorn bull elk

This is a great article to provide us with yet another way to prove that the outdoors is truly good for you!

The article is written by Diane Tipton who is an Information Officer for the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

Diane states that hunting can be a healthy workout for the physically fit, but couch potatoes who set out Oct. 25 for the general hunting season with a rifle and an elk license may risk cardiovascular and other health-related issues.

And they are doing something about the situation.

Read the full article here!

While numbers remain robust in much of northeastern and eastern Montana—FWP Regions 6 and 7— the hard winter of 2008-09 clearly took a toll on animals in some areas.   Consequently, antelope numbers statewide are largely at or below those seen over past few years.

“Antelope hunting will be something less than what we’ve been used to in some areas,” said Quentin Kujala, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks wildlife management section supervisor. “Numbers are still strong in much of eastern Montana and have in fact increased in specific portions of southwest Montana, but hunters will likely see decreased numbers in a large portion of central Montana—portions of FWP’s Region 4 and 5.

In FWP Region 5 in the Billings area, n o new instances of viral blue tongue infection have been found as they were in 2007, but in hunting districts 513, 530, 540 and 550, fawn recruitment and total numbers have yet to rebound. In other areas of FWP Region 5 antelope numbers have increased and the hunting outlook is good.

In FWP Region 4 hunters can expect very good hunting opportunities to the north, but region wide not the exceptional circumstances in recent years. Antelope numbers are returning to average in contrast to the very high numbers seen in recent years.

Kujala said many archery antelope hunters are already afield with a 900 series license to archery hunt antelope in any hunting district starting with a 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. The 900-series season runs until Nov. 9.

Montana’s antelope archery season is Sept. 5—Oct. 10 and the general rifle season for antelope is Oct. 11—Nov. 8.

Antelope hunters must apply in advance for licenses.

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To help hunters determine who owns the land where they are thinking of hunting, FWP has developed a Directory of Montana Maps for both public and private land ownership.

“Identifying land ownership is an essential part of preparing for the hunt in Montana nowadays,” says Alan Charles, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks coordinator of landowner/sportsman relations. “Hunters have to do their homework, know where they are, and confirm ownership and property boundaries with local people.”

Hunters are required by law to obtain landowner permission before hunting on private land.

The Montana Access Guide to State and Federal Lands is available at FWP offices, and can be found through the Hunter Tool Kit link on the FWP Web site on the Hunting page under Hunter Access. The hunter’s online “toolkit” includes links to federal, tribal, state agency and local government sites with access-related information, and a link to the Montana FWP Hunt Planner.

For immediate access to Montana landownership maps, go to the Hunt Planner and select Montana Land Ownership Maps under the Resources list.

Access Courtesy Cards help hunters communicate with private landowners. The pocket-sized booklets of eight cards provide hunters with a handy means of exchanging information with landowners who provide access. Hunters retain their portion of the card as proof of permission and a convenient record for sending thank-you cards after the hunting trip.

Access Courtesy Cards are available at all FWP regional offices and the Helena headquarters office, or call FWP: 406-444-2602.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Park’s has created a Web page to track the harvest status of the state’s first-ever, fair-chase wolf hunting season, which opened today in some backcountry hunting districts. The general wolf season opener, still about six weeks away, is set for Oct. 25.

The Wolf Hunting Season Status Web page tracks Montana’s statewide harvest quota of 75 wolves across three specifically defined wolf management units, each with its own harvest quota. The site will be updated each weekday at 1 p.m. For weekend updates hunters can call 1-800-385-7826 for the latest wolf h arvest status and closure information.

Hunters have strict reporting requirements. Upon the harvest of a wolf, hunters must call 1-877-FWP-WILD (1-877-397-9453) within 12 hours to file a report. When a wolf management unit reaches its quota, FWP will close the season there upon 24-hour’s notice.

To find the Wolf Hunting Season Status Web page, visit FWP online at fwp.mt.gov. Click “ Montana Wolf Hunt ,” then click “Wolf Status.”