Skip to main content

Bears & Wildlife

Missoula Public Health is committed to keeping the community safe by helping residents reduce interactions with bears. This page offers essential information on bear-proofing trash, reducing attractants, and properly disposing of deceased deer to prevent bear encounters, protecting both themselves and local wildlife.

Bear Buffer Zone

To reduce human-bear conflicts and to keep bears from getting conditioned to looking for food in garbage, bear-resistant garbage containers or enclosures are required within the Missoula Bear Buffer Zone and the Potomac Bear Mitigation Zone.

To give haulers time to get and distribute enough bear-resistant containers, the rules go in effect in phases. Phase 1 included the Rattlesnake and Grant Creek valleys. Phase 2 extended to the University of Montana, Pattee Canyon and part of Farviews, and then Phase 3 encompasses areas like Big Flat Road and Butler Creek Road.

Bear-resistant cans or enclosures are required by the following dates:

  • Missoula Bear Buffer Zone
    • Phase 1 – April 30, 2024
    • Phase 2 – April 30, 2025
    • Phase 3 – April 30, 2026
  • Potomac Bear Buffer Zone – Sept. 1, 2024

Before those dates, garbage cannot be stored in a manner that allows bears or other animals to access it, which could mean having to store garbage inside a garage until collection day or getting a bear-resistant container earlier.

If you want a more detailed look at the bear zones, you can see it on Missoula County’s property information system. 

  • Turn on the buffer zone by going to the world tab (technically named “Open Layers Panel”) on the right-hand side.  Expand “Districts/Boundaries” and then choose “Bear Buffer Zone.”  You’ll see the Bear Zones and Phases and can zoom to or search for any property you’d like. 
    Another way to get to a specific parcel is to go to the magnifying glass tab (technically named “Open Search Panel”) in the upper left and put in an address (or just an address number or part of a road name). You will have to choose the property if the box opens below with several choices.  
  • Once you have highlighted a property (whether you have turned on the bear buffer zone layer or not), you can choose “Facts” on the right-hand panel, and it lists whether that property is in or out of a bear zone or phase. 
    •  Note: if you zoomed into a property without using the search function, you can highlight the property and still get to the fast facts, but you’ll have to click on the little red box in the upper right that has a square with a dotted line and an arrow. Once that is green, you can highlight different properties.
What are attractants?
  • Bird feeders
    • Because bird feeders attract bears, and bears are so good at accessing the feeders, the recommendation is to feed birds only in the late fall and winter (December 1 through April 1). In the other months, birds have access to plenty of food. 
    • To keep bears away from hummingbird feeders, they need to be hung over 10 feet high and more than 4 feet from buildings or trees.
    • Within the city limits, the municipal code states that bird feeders cannot be accessible to any animals other than birds and squirrels.  
  • Pet food
  • Livestock feed, including chicken feed
  • Unharvested fruit
  • Outdoor freezers containing human food
Deceased deer or roadkill
  • Republic Services no longer picks up deceased deer.  
  • To dispose of the deer yourself, you can drop it off free of charge at the Missoula Landfill at 3737 Coal Mine Road between 7:00am and 4:30pm.
  • There are private contractors that will come and remove the deer for a fee, including Ibey Sprinklers and Landscape.
Did you know?
Feeding, or providing food or other attractants to wildlife is prohibited within the city limits. Attractants means any substance such as food, garbage or salt licks that attracts wildlife to a particular location.