Montana Big Game Trophies, a 1994 department publication (9th edition), lists Montana 

 trophies in the Boone & Crockett and Pope and Young categories. Boone & Crockett typical 

 mule deer records occur most frequently from Lincoln (11), Madison (9), and Lewis & Clark 

 (6) Counties. Nontypical mule deer are recorded most frequently from Missoula (4), Ravalli 

 (4), Sanders (3), Park (3), Madison (3), and Gallatin (3) Counties. Both typical and 

 nontypical Boone & Crockett white-tailed deer are recorded most frequently from Flathead 

 (24, 12), and Lincoln (10, 8) counties. It is interesting to note that although the information 

 presented earlier indicated lower percentages of deer from the northwest, versus the 

 southwest or northeast, are seen in each antler point class as age increases a significant 

 number of the "trophy deer" come from the northwestern counties of the state. This would 

 tend to support the notion that age plays an important role in producing Boone & Crockett 

 class "trophy deer." 



Pope & Young records for typical mule deer frequently come from Powder River county 

 while typical whitetail frequently are recorded from Powell, Missoula, and Flathead 

 Counties. Few nontypical antlers of both species are recorded under Pope & Young. 



Boone & Crockett records indicate in Montana that 21 typical mule deer were taken in the 

 50's, 29 in the 60's, 11 in the 70's, 20 in the 80's, and seven more in the 90's. Three typical 

 whitetail were recorded prior to 1930, nine in the 50's, 20 in the 60's, 30 in the 70's, 34 in 

 the 80's, and 13 more in the 90' s. The number of mule deer entering the record book are 

 similar for each decade, while the number of whitetail are increasing. The increasing 

 whitetail population together with the increased harvest in recent years has probably been a 

 major factor in the number of whitetail entrees. 



TRENDS IN HUNTERS NUMBERS: 



The number of deer hunters has increased steadily since 1945 (Figure 7). Since 1971, the 

 number of resident deer hunters has fluctuated widely, partially attributable to additional B 

 licenses issued for antlerless deer in years of high populations (Figure 8). The number of 

 nonresident hunters has not varied as widely because of the legislative limits of 17,000 Big 

 Game Combination Licenses and 6,000 Deer Combination Licenses. 



The density of deer hunters (number per square mile) varies across Fish, Wildlife & Parks 

 designated regions. Region 1, in the northwest, had the highest density with 2.9 hunters per 

 square mile in 1994. Region 6 and 7 had the lowest densities of hunters with 0.91 and 0.92 

 per square mile respectively. The regions ranked from highest to lowest as follows: 2, 1, 8, 

 3, 5,4, 7 & 6. 



A review of 1992 deer harvest statistics indicates that 1/4 of the nonresident big game license 

 holders (those with an elk license) do not hunt deer (Table 6). Only 9% of these license 

 holders hunt deer in eastern Montana (Regions 6-7). In comparison, less than 1% of 

 nonresident deer combination license holders do not hunt deer, and 66% hunt deer in eastern 

 Montana. 



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