NE Montana Big Game Forecast In Region 6

A couple years of drought and the long winter in 202223 have reduced deer and elk populations in most areas of northeast Montana. FWP adjusted license quotas in many districts as needed, and many districts are at their lowest quota level for antlerless mule deer and elk.

The winters of 2023-24 and 2024-25 were mild, however, and more precipitation has improved habitat conditions in much of the region.

Elk — Surveys conducted in 2024 in the Missouri River Breaks showed elk numbers about 56 percent below long-term averages and population levels at 41 percent below the population objective identified in...