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.
Confirmed absence: Montana's own state Field Guide explicitly states “survey and census estimates for most local populations are not available” for white-tailed ptarmigan — an explicit contrast to the sage-grouse “monitoring continues” pattern documented elsewhere in this registry, closer in shape to Maine's spruce-grouse finding than to CA/CO/IL's prairie-grouse pattern. Season is closed statewide.