A new state habitat enhancement program is providing eastern Montana landowners incentives to extend their participation in the Conservation Reserve Program, a federal offering that in part improves wildlife habitat.

Through the Upland Game Bird Habitat Enhancement Program, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks recently funded five new projects located in Carbon, Garfield, Hill, and McCone counties.   The new habitat program provided additional incentives to landowners to extend their CRP agreements, enhance enrolled acres in a manner more productive to pheasants and other game birds, and to open those lands to upland game bird hunting.

Nearly 2,000 CRP acres have been enrolled in 3- or 5-year contracts under the Upland Game Bird Habitat Enhancement Program. Two of the five projects are located on 2009 Block Management Areas, which offer public hunting access to private lands. Upland game bird hunters must abide by Block Management Area requirements. For specific information about these Block Management area use rules, refer to the Region 1-5 Hunting Access Guide, available from any FWP regional or Helena headquarters office or upon request at the FWP Web site (http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/hunteraccess/blockman).

The remaining three projects offer an additional 1,000 acres of walk-in upland game bird hunting. Each project area is marked with special signs.

For details visit FWP’s Web site at fwp.mt.gov , Click “ New Opportunities for Upland Game Bird Hunters “.

For more information call Debbie Hohler at 406-444-5674, or E-mail to dhohler@mt.gov.

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!

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.

Read more…

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 .”

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.

Read more…

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.

MISSOULA (AP) — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks officials say weather and a reduced number of yearlings could hamper elk and deer hunters this year.

A combination of hard winters, liberal hunting allowances and increased predator activity has reduced the number of antlerless elk and deer permits released this year. Wildlife Manager Mike Thompson says the adult elk and deer population numbers are good, but hunters’ ability to find them will likely depend on snow and cold — which are a little less likely because of a predicted El Nino winter.

Game Bird Coordinator Rick Northrup says the grouse populations in western Montana should be close to average. But he says the colder, wetter springs that hit northeastern and southern Montana this year may have depressed chick survival.

Photo by moosewhisper

Montana’s first-ever, fair-chase wolf hunting season is set to open Sept. 15 in some backcountry hunting districts, but the general season opener is still several weeks away.

Wolf Hunting Seasons Wolf hunting season dates correspond to Montana’s early backcountry big game and general big game rifle seasons. Season dates are:

• Sept. 15–Nov. 29 in early backcountry deer and elk hunting districts 150, 151, 280, and 316
• Oct. 25–Nov. 29 in statewide Wolf Management Units 1, 2 and 3
• Dec. 1-31, if quotas aren’t met, the wolf-hunting season could be extended in specific WMUs. No more than 25 percent of the established WMU quota, however, can be harvested in December.Officials recently set the statewide harvest quota at 75 wolves. Wolf hunting l licenses will be valid within the three specifically defined wolf management units, each with its own harvest quota. When a WMU reaches its quota, FWP will close the season there upon 24-hour’s notice.

Wolf licenses and regulations are available online at fwp.mt.gov, or from any FWP regional office or license provider. Wolf hunting licenses are $19 for residents and $350 for nonresidents. Hunters must have, or also purchase, a 2009 conservation license. A hunting access enhancement fee may also apply.

Harvest Reporting Requirements

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. Hunters can call 1-800-385-7826 for the latest wolf h harvest status and closure information.

To learn more about Montana’s wolf hunting season, visit FWP online at fwp.mt.gov. Click “ Montana Wolf Hunt.”