After northwest Montana's general deer and elk season opened last weekend, nearly 1,900 hunters visited Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Region 1 stations with 7.4 percent success versus 10.6 percent in 2025, as white-tailed deer and elk harvest fell while mule deer buck harvest stayed relatively steady. The 2026 season runs through Nov. 29 as Neil Anderson, regional wildlife manager, said monitoring will continue. Hunters must stop at stations they encounter because counts sample the harvest, and CWD tests on deer, elk and moose help FWP, with mandatory testing for certain licenses near Libby and Kalispell.