Warm Weather Slows Whitetail Harvest at Northwest Montana Check Stations
Hunter success slips to 7.2% through the third weekend of general season, though mule deer bucks are running ahead of last year
By Tristan Scott
Hunters in northwest Montana have reported 80 fewer white-tailed deer than at this point last year, a drop of nearly 23%, with warm weather keeping deer bedded down during the day and moving mostly after dark, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP).
Through Sunday, Nov. 8, the third weekend of the general season, 4,832 hunters stopped at the four regional check stations, down from 5,162 at the same point in 2025. They reported 269 white-tailed deer, including 180 bucks, along with 48 mule deer bucks and 32 elk. Overall, 7.2% of hunters had game, compared with 8.3% a year ago.
Mule deer bucks were the lone species to climb, with 48 reported against 42 last year. The elk harvest, which FWP described as relatively steady, stood at 32, compared with 37.
Success rates ranged from 5.5% at the Swan Lake station to 9.1% at Thompson Falls, the only station to match its 2025 rate. The steepest decline came at Olney, where 8.4% of 1,264 hunters had game, down from 10.7% of 1,341, and where whitetail reports fell from 137 to 91. The Highway 2 station west of Kalispell, the busiest of the four with 2,489 hunters, recorded a 6.6% success rate, compared with 7.2% last year. At Swan Lake, 560 hunters reported 28 whitetails, compared with 41 last year, for a 5.5% rate, down from 6.8%.
Thompson Falls bucked the trend in some respects. Hunters there checked 25 white-tailed deer, up from 20, and 13 mule deer, the same as last year, but elk reports dropped from 21 to 9.
Wildlife managers expect harvest to increase as temperatures cool and the rut approaches.
