made in the deer management program to 

 adjust populations to their winter forage sup- 

 ply. Many deer forage problem areas still exist 

 and seldom have deer populations been main- 

 tained at the needed low level to allow forage 

 recovery. 



Deer hunter success remains high but suffi- 

 cient hunting pressure is not available from 

 resident hunters to achieve and maintain the 

 needed reduction of deer. It appears that 

 Montana sportsmen do not support the lower 

 hunting success associated with reduced deer 

 populations needed to allow improvement in 

 range forage conditions. 



A number of deer ranges have had winter 

 forage destroyed or suffered a great reduction 

 in the forage supply. It is forecasted that more 

 ranges will lose their ability to support deer 

 and be added to this list of depleted ranges 

 unless deer are reduced and kept at a low 

 level. There is a great demand for deer, but 

 the resource cannot be increased or even 

 maintained on the growing number of deterio- 

 rated ranges. This problem must be solved 

 and deer ranges perpetuated to have sufficient 

 deer for future generations to enjoy. 



ige grouse in full courting rcgc 



Sheep 



Some Montana sheep herds need more lib- 

 eral seasons to maintain a thrifty herd and 

 maintain good forage conditions. The Sun River 

 sheep herd, largest in the state, has increased 

 to a size that forage problems could rapidly 

 develop and result in a severe die-off in the 

 herd. Such losses have occurred in certain 

 other sheep herds of western United States 

 and Canada and could be threatening the Sun 

 River herd. 



ated during the past biennium and produced 

 pheasants at maximum capacity for introduc- 

 tion into the various areas of the state. The 

 primary basis for which this game farm is 

 operated is to supply birds for areas meeting 

 wtih natural disasters that severely reduced 

 the native populations. In years without nat- 

 ural disaster the birds are released in heavily 

 hunted areas prior to season openings to make 

 maximum utilization of the annual farm pro- 

 duction. 



Upland Game Birds 



Game birds currently are not being ade- 

 quately utilized. The native prairie grouse of 

 eastern Montana have an especially high po- 

 tential for greater harvests. Longer seasons 

 and seasons concurrent with big game hunting 

 might induce a greater exploitation of this re- 

 source. Pheasants could be hunted for longer 

 periods and for either sex similar to other game 

 birds and provide an increased harvest of this 

 species without affecting production. 



Game Farm 



The game lartn a\ Worm Storings was oper- 



Summary 



Preserving wildlife habitat is an increasingly 

 complex problem with intensified land use and 

 development in Montana. Wildlife must have 

 habitat in which to live and reproduce. Pro- 

 viding for the maintenance or improvement of 

 the habitat conditions, needed by the various 

 species of game, requires the constant atten- 

 tion of biologists in the field. Good land man- 

 agement and conservation of natural resources 

 are usually beneficial to wildlife. However, 

 many practices are harmful to wildlife habitat 

 and efforts are being made to coordinate and 

 modify land use practices when possible to 

 benefit wildlife. 



