Montana Hunters First Act Reveals Changing Hunting Trends
If you are a hunter using the public lands in Montana, you most likely know that the trailheads in many areas seem busier than they were years ago.
It appears someone finally decided to take a look at the numbers to see if there is evidence of changes in how busy the public lands are for non-resident hunters.
Read More: What Changed For Hunters On Montana Federal Lands
HB 568, or Montana Hunters First Act, became law in 2025. Although named after "hunters first," this bill did not change either hunting licenses or evict anyone from their favorite elk drainage. It instead required Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) to conduct a study of how non-resident hunting affects deer, elk, upland game bird, and waterfowl hunting throughout Montana.
Numbers Show Changes In How Many People Hunt In Montana
FWP recently published its preview of some of the numbers it plans to include in that study. This is where the story becomes interesting.
Between 2016 and 2025, the total number of Montana residents hunting deer and/or elk dropped by just 2,216 people. Going from 170,826 to 168,610. During that same time frame, the total number of nonresidents hunting deer and/or elk rose by approximately 5,000 people. Rising from 33,949 to 38,881.
Non-resident hunters now make up slightly more than half as large a percentage of Montana's deer and elk hunters as they did in 2016. That means 18.9 percent of the state's deer and elk hunters are no longer residents. Elk-only nonresident hunters rose from 5,201 to 7,940. That's a jump of almost 53 percent.
As someone who devotes far too much of his life to hunting in Montana, I found these numbers very interesting. We've all experienced those mornings we wake up before the sun rises, arrive at the trailhead with hours to spare, only to find hundreds of other folks apparently having the same brilliant plan as you.
There Is Much More At Play Than Just Non-Resident Hunters
Here's the really important part. HB 568 is not intended to be a simple head-counting exercise of non-resident hunters at trailheads and then blaming the person from Wisconsin. The legislation identified both growing non-resident hunter pressure and Montana's growing population, and a loss of approximately one million acres of private land enrolled in Block Management since the last decade. As less private land opens to public access through Block Management programs, fewer spots exist for hunters to spread out. Meaning, more hunters tend to congregate in remaining open spaces.
This is why FWP's study will include data regarding hunter days, harvest reports, public land hunting pressure, Block Management participation rates, wildlife populations, and licensing data.
What Will Be Done After FWP Releases Its Study?
HB 568 itself has made no changes in either overall hunting limits or resident/nonresident ratios. FWP's final report will not be available until Dec. 1st, 2026. That's when lawmakers, along with FWP representatives and members of the Fish and Wildlife Commission, will have a much larger bundle of data to review.
For those of us who hunt in Montana, that final report may well be something we want to keep track of. Those preliminary numbers indicate that the landscape of hunting in Montana is changing.
The real question is: Why? And What will Montana decide to do about it?
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Gallery Credit: Meagan Drillinger