Montana Votes to Reduce Nonresident Deer Licenses

Montana is adopting new hunting regulations to help reduce mule deer hunting pressure. (Photo by Thomas Torget)

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission (MFWC) has voted to reduce available nonresident deer hunter licenses and to reduce the total number of deer a Montana hunter can kill in a season.

According to usnews.com, MFWC adopted the new regulations in an attempt to reduce hunting pressure on public land and to pull the state’s mule deer population out of a multi-year decline.

Nonresident deer hunter licenses will be reduced by approximately 2,500 licenses for the 2026-2027 season. The total number of deer a Montana hunter can kill in a season was reduced from eight to three. Tighter limits were placed on the number of does both resident and nonresident hunters can harvest on public lands as well.

Commission Chair Lesley Robison described the rise in hunting pressure and decline of deer populations as issues she’s been passionate about.

According to a 2023 report by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MFWP), the mule deer population in Region 7 is down 41% from its 10-year average. Local hunters blame over-harvest for a significant part of that decline.

The new policy is estimated to reduce MFWP’s license collections by $1.7 million annually. Robinson says she’s open to revisiting the new policy once the department has more understanding of what’s driving deer numbers down. She acknowledged that the policy will impact small businesses, such as outfitters, that rely on an influx of nonresident hunters in the fall.

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An analysis of the proposal prepared by FWP estimated it would reduce harvest pressure while allowing for the sale of more than 12,000 deer licenses to nonresidents in the upcoming hunting season.

“I had no intention of negatively affecting the outfitter business, but something has to be done to get back on track with the overcrowding,” Robinson said.

Chris Fortune, with the Mule Deer Foundation, supports the reduction to nonresident licenses, saying that mule deer populations, which are currently well below 10-year averages across the majority of the state, can bounce back, “but we’ve got to do our part.”

Fortune also backed a proposal by Commissioner Ian Wargo to limit the number of antlerless tags available to deer hunters.

Wargo’s amendment applies to both resident and nonresident hunters pursuing mule deer on public land across the state, with the exception of Region One (northwest Montana) and areas where wildlife managers are trying to manage urban deer and limit the spread of chronic wasting disease. The amendment is similar to the change the commission authorized for the northeast and southeast regions of the state last year. Since the change applies only to public land, landowners who experience issues with deer, such as forage loss which can harm livestock operations, can continue to hunt mule deer as a management tool.