Question on Montana Success Rates on Website

[teej89]

I'm looking into the harvest and hunting reports on montanas website and I can't get their numbers to add up... Hopefully the page below comes up.

Anywho, this is a random unit and random year, just for example. For the total "all deer" it says a total success of 0.6% so 0.006. However if you do total harvest/hunters it's more like 32.8%, no where near their calculated success. So I thought maybe it's days... I did total harvest over days and thats 3.8%, once again, nowhere near 0.6%. Can someone explain how they get this value? It defines it as the total harvest estimate divided by the number of licenses/permits issued. I assumed that's total hunters but maybe I need to look into the total permits for that unit, maybe they included unused licences in their calc, like leftover tags that weren't picked up. Anywho... I'm LOST.

http://fwp.mt.gov/system/modules/go...2013&List3=DE_2013&List4=100&submitButton=PDF

 

[406LIFE]

In this specific example, using the link, you can't do the math that they have done to calculate the success % because you don't have the total number of licenses issued. I'm sure that "unused" licenses are included in that as well. They go by survey and game check numbers to get the days hunted stat. That stat isn't very good IMO, because in my case I hunted well over 30 days and only stopped at a game check station once because all the other times they were closed. I did spend half an hour on the phone with the FWP survey, so maybe they get a better estimate overall, IDK.

 

[Pagosa]

I don't understand the success rates either, and asked a similar question about elk harvest three years ago when I moved up here. I think the check stations only show trends and hunter involvement based upon each year. That is why they are only open on weekends. For the last three years I have gotten one or two phone calls from the MTFWP about harvest and days hunted per species. I'm now fairly certain that when the MTFWP says harvest is 10% for bulls in a unit that is probably accurate. And I will bet that 75% are killed by the same 10-20% of hunters each season. It makes Wyoming and Colorado elk hunting look pretty easy when they can boast success of 20% or more for bulls in the early rifle seasons. I don't have any personal experience with hunt district 100.