Montana Bighorn Sheep · Hunting District 502 Hellroaring
Montana Hunting District 502 covers 355,653 acres and lies 10 miles south-west of Red Lodge and 37 miles south of Columbus. 76% of it is public land, mostly national forest (65%) and BLM (8%). In 2025, 41 people hunted bighorn sheep here and took 2, a 5% success rate.
1 license
first choice, NR
2025, all licenses
65% Forest Service
355,653 acres
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Every License in Hunting District 502
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 502-60 | Bighorn Sheep License 502-60 — 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: 502-20.
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 | 41 | 2 | 5% |
| 2024 | 74 | 4 | 5% |
| 2023 | 45 | 4 | 9% |
| 2022 | 41 | 2 | 5% |
| 2021 | 59 | 2 | 3% |
| 2020 | 39 | 3 | 8% |
| 2019 | 22 | 2 | 9% |
| 2018 | 22 | 1 | 5% |
| 2017 | 29 | 1 | 3% |
| 2016 | 18 | 1 | 6% |
| 2015 | 35 | 3 | 9% |
| 2014 | 23 | 1 | 4% |
| 2013 | 20 | 4 | 20% |
| 2012 | 15 | 4 | 27% |
| 2011 | 18 | 0 | 0% |
| 2010 | 20 | 0 | 0% |
| 2009 | 25 | 1 | 4% |
| 2008 | 28 | 1 | 4% |
2025 split: nonresidents 0 from 8 hunters, residents 2 from 32 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 | 230,605 ac | 65% |
| Private | 85,961 ac | 24% |
| BLM | 27,278 ac | 8% |
| State trust land | 9,993 ac | 3% |
| State land | 675 ac | <1% |
| County or city land | 213 ac | <1% |
| Bureau of Reclamation | 0 ac | <1% |
| Department of Defense | 0 ac | <1% |
| National Park Service | 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