Big game season is long over, but that didn’t stop hundreds of sportsmen from hitting the hills near Augusta Wednesday.
May 15th is an important day for area outdoorsmen as it’s the day the Sun River Wildlife Management Area opens to the public.
“People are here looking for elk antlers and not necessarily deer, but we’ll have some deer antlers come out,” Mark Schlepp, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 4 wildlife area manager, said. “We’ve had some moose antlers come out, but the big draw is for elk antlers.”
According to FWP, wildlife officials counted just under 300 vehicles and estimate 750 people showed up for Wednesday’s opening event.
“Our early years, this wasn’t a big deal and back in those days, May 15th starts at midnight so we would come up here and let in three or four vehicles and off they’d go,” Schlepp said.
The Montana Ag Network will have the full story on the opening of the Sun River Wildlife Management Area this Sunday during the 10 p.m. news.
Reporting by Jason Laird for MTN News
