A limited number of hunters will be able to hunt antlerless elk on private lands in portions of Hunting Districts 360 and 362 in the Madison Valley this fall during the general five-week hunting season.

Interested hunters are asked to call the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group (MVRG) office at 406-682-3259 on Friday, Sept. 15 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. A maximum of 100 hunters will be compiled during this call-in program. The program will close upon receiving the required information from the first 100 callers.

The Madison Valley Wildlife Working Group, a partnership of private landowners, outfitters, hunters, local business people, state and federal natural resource agencies, non-governmental natural resource groups, and the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group developed this hunting opportunity as part of an ongoing community-based effort to improve elk management and public access to private lands in the Madison.

“The Madison Valley Ranchlands Group has generously offered to help coordinate the development of the call-in list from their office,” said Craig Jourdonnais, FWP Madison-Gallatin wildlife biologist. “This effort is what the wildlife working group is all about, people bringing local solutions to local challenges.”

The hunt will be conducted only on those private lands whose owners have agreed to take part in the program. Most of the lands are in the Jack Creek/Cedar Creek areas of H.D. 360 and the Wolf Creek/Squaw Creek portion of H.D. 362.

The call-in program will give hunters the opportunity to be placed on a hunter call list, but does not guarantee an opportunity to hunt. Landowners will call hunters from this list as opportunities to harvest elk arise. Once contacted, hunters may be asked to travel to a specific ranch within a 24-hour time period.

For more information prior to the Sept. 15 call-in, FWP requests that interested hunters call the FWP Regional Office in Bozeman at 406-994-4042 and not the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group.