Closed (all categories)
Montana's small high-alpine (translocated) white-tailed ptarmigan population, e.g.Beartooth/Absaroka range, is the only ptarmigan species present in the state. The 2026 regulations list "Ptarmigan" as structurally closed statewide for all license/residency categories.
White-tailed ptarmigan is a native, year-round alpine specialist across Montana's northern Rocky Mountain high country, closed to hunting statewide. No transplant or introduction history is documented for the Beartooth or Absaroka ranges; Montana's population is treated throughout the sources as native alpine range rather than an introduced one. The one well-documented, continuously-monitored population is in Glacier National Park (surveyed by T.S. Choate 1958-1962 and David Benson 1995-1999 and 2009-2013, the longest-running site-specific ptarmigan survey in Montana), consistent with the Montana Field Guide's own statement that survey and census estimates are not available for most local populations elsewhere in the state's alpine zone.
No formal population survey program exists for this species in this state.
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