It's not the fall most hunters were hoping for with the dry hills, blue skies and sunshine, and nary a trace of snow.

Anymore, you're more at risk of getting a sunburn than frostbite when scouting the hills for game. And while the weather would be great for maybe April, it has hunters complaining, especially now that the general season is well past the midway point and elk have been hard to come by.

Mike Ottman, the head game warden for the Helena area, said this year may be worse than last year, which also saw a slow midseason and unseasonable conditions.

"The hunting pressure is still out here, and there's a lot folks out, but the elk harvest is down," Ottman said this week. "It's making it tough without the snow and cold. You can't track them. The animals don't have to come out of the timber. They can stay in there and feed."

Ottman had high hopes for a good Montana fall -- the classic kind like the old timers speak of over coffee; the blowing and drifting snow and temperatures around zero degrees.

So far it hasn't happened, and while deer numbers are starting to rebound thanks to the rut, Ottman said, the warm weather has left the elk in the timber where they're feeling safe and finding plenty to eat.

"When you get the deep snow and cold, it forces them out onto more traditional ranges where the food is," said Ottman. "They can hide real well when there's no snow, and you can't track them. You're kind of just going and hiking and hoping for the best."

Jenny Sika, a biologist with Fish, Wildlife and Parks, hears all sorts of stories from hunters at her Silver City game station.

Topping the charts, she said, is the lack of snow. It's what most are talking about out in the field and back in town.

"We would all like some snow," said Sika, who recently returned from a hunting trip of her own last week. "I smelled elk, but my freezer is still empty."

The elk haven't been easy to find. And as the season progresses, the harvest numbers are starting to reflect what most hunters feared going into November -- no snow would make the 2008 season a lackluster one.

FWP officials are likely to begin discussing an extended season next week, depending on how the overall numbers are looking and what happens during the last week of the season.

Things began to look up on Wednesday, when residents of southwest Montana woke to snow flurries. The inclement weather, which is expected to last for several days, could help turn the season around.

"It seems like on Saturday, this last weekend, things were looking up," Sika said. "It was a little nasty, a little windy, and we got some elk out."

Reporter Martin Kidston: 447-4086 or mkidston@helenair.com