I officially have a replacement tag in my hands. I spoke with our area wildlife biologist here in NW Montana, and he was extremely understanding and helpful. He asked me to the FWP headquarters with the meat, head, hide (whatever I had in my possession) to surrender in exchange for a new tag. I did bring it all in, and they issued me a new tag. For what it's worth, I use the new e-Tag system, and they are not able (in 2023) to reissue an e-Tag. So my replacement is a paper tag. I'm just very grateful for the opportunity to try again. I have a family with 5 kids, so every tag I can fill helps keep food on the table.
