2 cents from a resident that's been hunting Eastern MT for 35 years: The increase in the number of people hunting there vs "the old days" is mind boggling and I don't blame anyone, it's a great place to be. All kinds of reasons including change from relatively easy private land access to almost none, social media making this type of hunting a "thing", GPS/OnX, plus it's just fun to hunt where there's a ton of public land. If FWP was really about the critters vs other influences, they would have limited does years ago, put a minimum on points on bucks, limited Res and Non Res and spread people out to other regions, etc.. Not holding my breath.
If you're a non resident coming out for fun, good on you but I strongly recommend driving a few more hours and getting out of region 7, hunt the foothills of some of the mountain ranges. If you come to region 7, IMHO, it's still a ton of fun but to keep it a good time focus on predators and/or birds along with the deer.