MONTANA BIG GAME HARVEST— STATEWIDE' 

 1959 - 1963 



Sheep Goal 



Limiled Unlimited Limited Unlimited Antelope 



1963 No. Hunters 66,622 124,831 



No. Killed 11,050 119,300 



Percent Success .... 17 96 



Permits Issued 



1962 No. Hunters 69,714 126,740 



No. Killed 12,231 125,729 



Percent Success .... 18 99 



Permits Issued 



1961 No. Hunters 61,470 125,011 



No. Killed 15,471 129,107 



Percent Success .... 25 103 

 Permits Issued — 



1960 No. Hunters 56,320 122,486 



No. Killed 10,140 123,500 



Percent Success .... 18 101 



Permits Issued 



1959 No. Hunters 69,055 119,874 



No. Killed 15,271 120,295 



Percent Success .. 22 100 

 Permits Issued ... 



Determined by mail survey. 



Prior records indicate a typical mule deer 

 taken from Treasure County ranks about for- 

 tieth in a list of more than 200 records. A non- 

 typical mule deer came from Madison County 

 in 1961 which should rank twelfth in the records 

 book. 



Montana has three high ranking elk or 

 wapiti heads. The Madison County bull taken 

 in 1958 is in third place. The biennium pro- 

 duced two heads, ranking fifth from Mineral 

 County and a sixth place tie taken from Car- 

 bon County. 



A moose killed in Ravalli County prior to 

 1957 should rank sixth in the North American 

 records. 



Two bighorn sheep from the Sun River 

 herd in Lewis and Clark and Teton Counties 

 produced heads which should be a ninth place 



tie and a thirty-first place tie from more than 

 100 entries in the sheep records of North 

 America. 



More hunters go out after deer than any 

 other of our species of big game. Deer produc- 

 tion, and in turn the annual surplus crop avail- 

 able for hunting, depends on forage conditions 

 on critical seasonal ranges. Many winter 

 ranges of deer in Montana have poor forage 

 conditions. These areas will require reduction 

 of deer or maintenance of low deer populations 

 over a period of years to allow forage regenera- 

 tion and recovery. 



The Montana deer management program 

 objective is to adjust deer numbers to available 

 forage supplies on critical seasonal range. Al- 

 though reduction of deer numbers has been ac- 

 complished in some areas, the recovery of 



