Northwest Montana check stations counted 4,832 hunters through the third weekend of general season. Those hunters reported 269 white-tailed deer, 48 mule deer bucks and 32 elk, producing a 7.2 percent success rate against 8.3 percent in 2025. Warm weather has kept deer less active during daylight, though cooler conditions and the coming rut should lift harvest. Weekend stations operate from 10 a.m. until about 90 minutes after sunset 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; every hunter must stop and the numbers sample rather than total the take. Hunters aid chronic wasting disease work by submitting samples at stations, most FWP offices or by mail to the Wildlife Health Lab in Bozeman, and testing is required for certain licenses in the Libby and Kalispell zones including White-tailed Deer B License 199-20 in hunting districts 100, 103 and 104.