sportsmen up into some of the state's most 

 spectacular alpine country. 



The grizzly bear, although on the threshold 

 of extinction throughout the greater part of his 

 original range in the west, is still available in 

 Montana in sufficient numbers to afford wil- 

 derness hunting of the highest order. 



The following tabulation indicates the 

 trend of deer hunter harvest in Montana during 

 the past seven years. These figures indicate a 

 continued increase in hunter success through 

 this period. 



Statewide Harvei-l I icml 



Gam.- Itii-.l-: 



The introduction of the Merriam's turkey 

 in eastern and central Montana has represented 

 an especially important aspect of the wildlife 

 restoration program during the past several 

 years. To date, there have been nine individual 

 plants of turkeys made throughout the state. 

 A plant in the Long Pines section of southeast- 

 ern Montana has indicated particularly rapid 

 increa.se. It is expected that sport hunting will 

 be available on this species in this portion of 

 Montana in the ntar future. 



Special efforts have been made to gain as 

 much information as po.ssible regarding the 

 best management of the native grouse. The 

 data collected to date is of value in .sotting 

 .seasons for the.se important native game birds. 

 Waterfowl mana;^ement areas previously de- 

 scribed also present many benefits in the de- 

 velopment of ringnecked pheasant populations 

 in thf).se areas. The population trend i-egard- 



The blue grouse provides some fine mountain recreation 

 for sportsmen with stamina. 



ing this important game bird has been some- 

 what upward throughout several important 

 areas in the state. 



The Hungarian partridge .showed a particu- 

 lar marked upward trend in numbers. This 

 was most obvious throughout their range in the 

 north and central part of Montana. 



Waterfowl: 



A particularly interesting evaluation of 

 waterfowl hunting in Montana was carried 

 out in 1957. Four thousand questionnaires 

 were mailed to hunters on the basis of the 1956 

 licen.se sales. 



Approximately 36,943 persons hunted 

 waterfowl as indicated by waterfowl stamp 

 .sales as reported by Fish and Wildlife Service. 

 The ax'erage numbers of days per hunter was 

 6.84 and estimated number of man-days ex- 

 pended was 222,600. Average kill per duck 

 hunter day was 1.05 and the average sea.son 

 kill per hunter was 7.18. The estimated state- 

 wide duck kill was 233,700 ducks. The species 

 composition of 1957 duck .sea.son was: mallards 

 —63.6';. blue-wing teal — 10.1'., gix^en-wing 

 teal— 6.7'., pintail— 4.3' i , scaup -2.9';, shovel- 

 lers— 2.2';, canva.sback— 1.7'. . baldpate — 1.6';, 

 gadwall — 1.8';, rcdliead — 11';, and others and 

 unknown — 4.2'; . 



An estimated 11,900 people luinted gecso. 

 An average of .72 j^ee.se per luinter were taken 

 and an estimated '..500 geese was the statewide 



harvest. Tlie rei)orteci specit-s composition of 



