Montana Bighorn Sheep · Hunting District 501 Beartooth Mountains
Montana Hunting District 501 covers 380,652 acres and lies 26 miles west of Red Lodge and 36 miles south-west of Columbus. 69% of it is public land, mostly national forest (68%) and state trust land (1%). In 2025, 84 people hunted bighorn sheep here and took 5, a 6% success rate.
1 license
first choice, NR
2025, all licenses
68% Forest Service
380,652 acres
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Every License in Hunting District 501
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 501-60 | Bighorn Sheep License 501-60 — Legal Ram (unlimited quota) | 100% | — |
First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file. Not in the table, with no 2026 result: 501-20.
Draw results: Montana FWP 2026 Bighorn Sheep Drawing Statistics Report, retrieved Sep 1, 2026.
If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): $137.50 ($137.50 to apply). Open Mar 1 – May 1, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.
Harvest
| Year | Hunters | Harvest | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 84 | 5 | 6% |
| 2024 | 77 | 4 | 5% |
| 2023 | 71 | 5 | 7% |
| 2022 | 57 | 2 | 4% |
| 2021 | 55 | 2 | 4% |
| 2020 | 75 | 7 | 9% |
| 2019 | 49 | 1 | 2% |
| 2018 | 42 | 2 | 5% |
| 2017 | 37 | 0 | 0% |
| 2016 | 38 | 2 | 5% |
| 2015 | 51 | 1 | 2% |
| 2014 | 51 | 3 | 6% |
| 2013 | 51 | 2 | 4% |
| 2012 | 31 | 2 | 6% |
| 2011 | 42 | 1 | 2% |
| 2010 | 60 | 3 | 5% |
| 2009 | 56 | 2 | 4% |
| 2008 | 54 | 3 | 6% |
| 2007 | 50 | 3 | 6% |
| 2005 | 41 | 3 | 7% |
2025 split: nonresidents 2 from 30 hunters, residents 3 from 53 hunters
What Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. Montana's figures blend mandatory reporting with a phone and mail survey. FWP does not publish district-level hunter counts for elk or antelope, so success rates are missing for those. Source: Montana FWP 2005-2025 FWP Harvest Estimates export.
The Ground
| National Forest | 258,920 ac | 68% |
| Private | 115,832 ac | 30% |
| State trust land | 3,197 ac | <1% |
| BLM | 989 ac | <1% |
| National Park Service | 114 ac | <1% |
| State land | 114 ac | <1% |
| Bureau of Reclamation | 0 ac | <1% |
| Department of Defense | 0 ac | <1% |
| County or city land | 0 ac | <1% |
| National Wildlife Refuge | 0 ac | <1% |
| Tribal | 0 ac | <1% |
| Other public | 0 ac | <1% |
Source: Montana FWP 2026-2027 Bighorn sheep Hunting District….
▸ Sources 9
- Montana FWP 2026 Bighorn Sheep Drawing Statistics Report draw results, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- Montana Legislature 2026 MCA 87-2-113 Application fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana Legislature 2026 MCA 87-2-116 Base hunting license… fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026 Hunting Requirements fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026 Nonresident License Fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2005-2025 FWP Harvest Estimates export harvest, retrieved Sep 2, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026 Bighorn Sheep Hunting Districts boundary, retrieved Sep 2, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026-2027 Bighorn sheep Hunting District… land ownership, retrieved Sep 2, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026 Moose, Sheep, Goat Hunting Regulations area description, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
About These Numbers
Odds are from the 2026 draw, the latest on file, computed from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' published results. They are what happened in that draw, not a forecast. Under five tags a percentage carries a *, because one applicant either way swings it. A dash means the agency did not publish the number, and a date marked expected is last cycle's schedule rolled forward. How we compute these.
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We don't take applications: check Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks's site and apply there.
Prior-draw odds from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' results, not a forecast · Methodology · All Montana bighorn sheep hunts