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General big game season underway in Montana

courtesy photo

Waylon Katzer poses with his first deer that he harvested in the Libby area.

Issue Date: 11/1/2023
Last Updated: 10/31/2023 4:14:15 PM |

News from MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks

KALISPELL — General hunting season is underway in Montana.

More than 1,600 hunters appeared at northwest Montana game check stations on Saturday and Sunday. It was a slow start to the season across the region based on check station results. The overall number of hunters with harvested white-tailed deer and mule deer was down while the number of elk was about the same compared to last year.

Montana’s general deer and elk hunting season runs from Oct. 21-Nov. 26, 2023. Other general hunting seasons underway include black bear (Sept. 15-Nov. 26), bighorn sheep (Sept. 15-Nov. 26), moose (Sept. 15-Nov. 26), mountain lion (fall season without dogs, Oct. 22-Nov. 27), mountain goat (Sept. 15-Nov. 26), turkey (Sept. 1-Jan. 1), and wolf (Sept. 15-March 15, 2024).

Check stations are open on weekends during general deer and elk hunting season from 10 a.m. to approximately 1.5 hours past sunset. The regional stations are located at U.S. Highway 2 west of Kalispell, Montana Highway 83 north of Swan Lake, Highway 200 west of Thompson Falls, and Highway 93 near Olney.

Hunters must stop at any check station they encounter whether they harvested an animal or not. The counts at the stations represent a sampling of the harvest and do not represent the complete number of animals taken.

For a better estimate of big game harvests from years’ past visit: https://myfwp.mt.gov/fwpPub/harvestReports.

The table below summarizes the results from the first weekend of the season at four regional check stations.