New elk plan set up

BOZEMAN – A plan by the state wildlife agency would let biologists more easily adjust how many elk that hunters are allowed to kill.

The statewide elk plan is the first new one for Montana since 1992.

The goal is to “assure hunters that we won’t let elk numbers get too low” and assure landowners “that we’ll work hard to knock numbers down if they get too high,” said Gary Hammond, wildlife management chief for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The state is divided into 44 management units, 60 percent of them containing more elk than Fish, Wildlife and Parks wants to see there.

The new system would incorporate three tools to increase or decrease the number of elk killed.

A “standard” package of hunting regulations could include many cow tags and maybe a week or two of either-sex hunting.

However, things like bull/cow ratios, changing land use or social issues, and the total number of observed elk would be linked to local habitat conditions.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks then would decide the appropriate level of hunting.