Northwest Rut Report, Season Recap: Dry Weather Made for a Tough Season

If you’re dreaming of a white Christmas in the Northwest, Santa probably won’t deliver. Overall, the Northwest has experienced a mild and dry fall. With the official start of winter right around the corner, it appears that trend will continue. The relatively mild weather didn’t necessarily spell success for deer hunters. While most Northwest states don’t have harvest statistics available yet, Montana’s check stations shed some light on the story of the season.

In Northcentral Montana, the five-week general rifle season hosted three weeks of mild weather followed by some colder weather with scattered snow for the final two weeks. The mild weather made it challenging for hunters to find big game at lower elevations. In Northcentral Montana, at the Augusta big game check station, overall harvest was down 10 percent. White-tailed deer was 8 percent below the 10-year average. However, mule deer harvest was 13 percent above the 10-year average and the highest since 2017. At the Northcentral Havre check station, hunter numbers were the lowest since 2015. Hunters also reported low deer numbers this year. Mule deer harvest was down 31 percent from last year and 32 percent below the long-term average. Whitetail harvest was 23 percent below the long-term average and 21 percent lower than 2023.

In Southwest Montana, at the Billings, Lavina, Columbus, and Big Timber check stations, whitetail and mule deer harvest rates were below average. However, the story was different in Northwest Montana where overall harvest results showed increased success compared to last year. Also in Northwest Montana, biologists discovered chronic wasting disease for the first time in the Flathead Valley. It was also detected for the first time in a hunting district north of Great Falls in Northcentral Montana. CWD was first detected in Montana in 2017 and has since spread to many areas of the state.

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CWD has been increasingly prevalent in the Northwest with more cases and areas of concern popping up in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Washington did not have a confirmed case until this fall. A case was discovered in late summer in Spokane County. The county saw a second confirmed case in a white-tailed deer buck killed during opening weekend of the state’s modern firearm season. Oregon has yet to see a confirmed case, however earlier this year hunters illegally transported CWD positive carcasses into Oregon which were confiscated by wildlife authorities.

Nonresident hunters hoping to spend time in Idaho next season already took their shot at scoring a tag. Nonresident elk, regular deer, and white-tailed deer tags went on sale December 10. Idaho Fish and Game changed the date this year to give residents time to buy licenses in early December. The system has come under fire in recent years when demand has caused system crashes, system slowness, and extremely long wait times. There will be another sale for reserved white-tailed deer tags on March 10, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. MST.

Hunters are hoping for yet another relatively mild winter. The 2022-2023 winter resulted in extreme winterkill in some areas, especially in Wyoming. But it’s a balance. Deer populations have also struggled in recent years due to ongoing drought conditions which continue to persist across most of the Northwest. While hunters may not get a white Christmas, they’re hoping to see a healthy dose of the fluffy stuff in the near future.