Game check stations see uptick in traffic for opening weekend

Northwest Montana hunters are off to a successful start to the general big game season.

Nearly 2,000 hunters stopped at regional game check stations on Saturday and Sunday in Northwest Montana's Region 1. Overall, 10% of hunters reported game, a 3% increase over last year’s opening weekend. 

The number of harvested white-tailed deer, mule deer and elk was higher for the region compared to last year.

Hunters checked 163 white-tailed deer, 67 white-tailed bucks, 21 mule deer and 16 elk. Ten of the elk came from the U.S. 2 station west of Kalispell.

The check station on U.S. 2 saw the most traffic with 1,019 hunters stopping. That compares to 800 last season.

The Olney check station saw 484 hunters boasting a 13% success rate. Thompson Falls had 258 hunters and the Swan Valley had 236.

The 2024 general deer and elk season runs Oct. 26-Dec. 1.

Check stations are open on weekends during general season from 10 a.m. to approximately 1.5 hours past sunset. 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.

LAST WEEK chronic wasting disease was detected in a white-tailed deer in Kalispell, marking the first time the disease has been detected in a wild herd in Hunting District 170.

The state responded by increasing the availability of antlerless white-tailed deer hunting licenses in Hunting District 170. Hunters can now buy two 170-00 Deer B licenses over the counter. Previously, hunters were only allowed to buy one. The 170-00 Deer B License allows hunters in Hunting District 170 to harvest a white-tailed deer without antlers or with antlers less than 4 inches long as measured from the top of the skull.

Chronic wasting disease sample submission is voluntary in most places in Montana, but all hunters in Hunting District 170 are encouraged to get their harvested deer and elk tested.

There are new mandatory testing requirements for tags associated with chronic wasting disease management near Libby. Testing is required for all animals harvested using the Deer B License 199-20 in HDs 100, 103 and 104, or Deer Permit 103-50 in HD 103.

Wildlife experts strongly recommend that hunters receive a negative test result before bringing their deer, elk or moose to a meat processor or donating it to a foodbank. If the animal tests positive, Fish, Wildlife and Parks will advise the hunter on proper carcass and meat disposal and give instructions on how to request a replacement license.

In northwest Montana, hunters can bring their harvested animal to the Fish, Wildlife and Parks office in Kalispell, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for sample collection. Reservations are not required and sampling will be done first-come, first-serve.

A sampling station in Libby will operate Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays, 10 a.m. to 1.5 hours past sunset, and Tuesdays from 1 p.m. to sunset at the Montana Department of Transportation shop on U.S. 2 south of town.

Hunters who want their animal sampled should leave 2 to 4 inches of the neck below the low jawbone and base of the skull to ensure lymph nodes are present and not inadvertently left with the carcass. Samples cannot be collected from frozen heads.

Carcass parts, such as brain, eyes, spleen, lymph glands, and spinal cord material, should be left at the kill site when possible. If the animal is transported for taxidermy or meat processing, the brain and spinal tissue must be bagged and disposed of in a Class II landfill.

A carcass may be transported within the state regardless of where it was harvested if the carcass parts are disposed of in a landfill after butchering and processing.

Dumping carcasses is illegal, unethical, and can spread diseases, including chronic wasting disease. This requirement applies to all deer, elk, and moose carcasses wherever in the state they are harvested by hunters or as vehicle-killed salvage.