Reminder: All hunters must stop at check stations they pass, even if they haven’t harvested game
MISSOULA – The 2026 Montana big game general hunting season opened Saturday, Oct. 24, and a slightly above average number of hunters passed through the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks wildlife check stations near Anaconda, Bonner, Darby and Fish Creek.
At the hunter check station just outside of Bonner, there was slightly more hunter activity than in the past five years, with 930 hunter stops logged at the station over the weekend, compared to an average of 820. The total number of deer and elk checked was also up slightly.
“We have a new opportunity for either-sex white-tailed deer harvest on the general license for the first week of the season in several Blackfoot hunting districts,” said Liz Bradley, FWP Region 2 wildlife manager. "We saw quite a few people take advantage of this opportunity to harvest a doe."
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On the southern end of the region, the hunter check station near Darby saw a slightly above average number of hunters but fewer animals opening weekend than in the past few years. Rebecca Mowry, FWP wildlife biologist in Bitterroot Valley, said the opening weekend felt a bit slower than normal, which tracked with the number of animals the station checked. The Darby station saw 69 elk over the weekend compared to 87 on last season’s opener and 12 deer, compared to 18.
Elk harvest measured through the Anaconda and Bonner check stations was above last year’s opener, maybe due in part to a short blast of wintry weather that moved through the Blackfoot and upper Clark Fork areas just ahead of opening day.
“We had a little fresh snow and chilly temperatures in our part of the region for opening weekend,” said Kirstie Yeager, FWP wildlife biologist in the upper Clark Fork.
The Fish Creek check station in Mineral County on the region’s western side sits in a more remote location and sees fewer hunters than other stations. The station checked 10 white-tailed deer compared to last season’s eight on the opening weekend.
Overall, west-central Montana’s four wildlife check stations saw 2,625 hunters collectively compared to 2,549 hunters on the 2025 opening weekend. Those hunters checked 98 elk, compared to 105 in 2025; 29 mule deer, compared to 27 last year; and 93 white-tailed deer, compared to 80.
All hunters must stop at check stations
FWP reminds hunters they must stop at all check stations that they pass, even if they have not harvested any animals. Although wildlife check stations sample a relatively small portion of the overall effort and harvest, they capture important trends and biological information, and by stopping you are helping with wildlife management in Montana.
Bartholomew Tobiason is pictured with his father and a bull elk he harvested on opening weekend. Tobiason stopped at the Bonner hunter check station.
Lars Engelhard stopped through the Bonner hunter check station on Sunday, Oct. 25, with a white-tailed buck harvested on the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area.
Jackson Phillips harvested this elk on opening day and stopped through the Bonner hunter check station.
