Montana Deer — Hunting District 260

Montana Hunting District 260 covers 99,016 acres and lies 12 miles north of Stevensville and 29 miles north of Hamilton. 13% of it is public land, mostly county or city land (5%) and wildlife refuge (3%). In 2025, 1,130 people hunted deer here and took 669 — 59% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 30 tags here for 22 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):60 Nonresident share:capped at 10% Applicants:22 All deer success (2025):59% Public land:13% Size:99,016 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in Hunting District 260, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

2 licenses on offer · 60 tags · 22 applicants in the 2026 draw

Chances are from the 2026 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level
  • 260-20 Deer B License 260-20 — Either-sex White-tailed Deer [EITHER SEX WT] 30 tags · 22 applicants · Standard
    16% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • 260-20 Deer B License 260-20 — Either-sex White-tailed Deer [EITHER SEX WT] 30 tags · 0 applicants · Landowner
    100% No first-choice applicants
What these columns mean
Your odds
the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2026 draw. Not a forecast: quotas and demand move every year.
The badge
plain language for that number. Likely draw 75% or better · Real chance 40%+ · Long shot 15%+ · Point builder below that, so you are applying mainly to bank a point · Undersubscribed means fewer first-choice applicants than tags, so everyone who applied drew.
As 2nd choice
Montana lets you name more than one hunt on the application. Miss on your first choice and you go into the pot for whatever tags are left, alongside everyone else's second choices. Points never help a lower choice, so this number is the same whatever you have banked — it is usually worth naming a hunt that goes undersubscribed.
Points needed
the lowest point total that still got a tag in the 2026 draw, and how that cut has moved since the earliest draw we hold.
Tags / applicants
tags on offer and first-choice applicants for them, as the agency published them. Under five tags we print counts instead of a percentage, because one applicant either way swings it.
2 hunts not offered in 2026 are hidden — show discontinued hunts.

What it costs to apply (2026 nonresident fees)

License Up front Gone if you miss If you draw
Standard license $65 $65 $65
Landowner license $65 $65 $65

Application window: opens Mar 1, closes Apr 1, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Other licenses valid in Hunting District 260

Not in the table above because they had no result in the 2026 draw.

The country

Stevensville Superior Anaconda Polson Kalispell
Hunting District 260 within Montana
291 285 204 215 339 340 213 212 280 350 422 318 319 124 262 281 270 211 290 335 202 282 250 293 284 444 424 217 261 216 292 214 210 201 240 298 343 200 Stevensville Hamilton Missoula Philipsburg Superior
Hunting District 260 and its neighbours
Zoomable USGS topo, aerial imagery and shaded relief, with the neighboring areas drawn on.

Boundaries are drawn for orientation only — the written boundary description in the regulations governs.

Who owns the ground

  • Private 86,005 ac · 87%
  • County or city land 4,643 ac · 5%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 2,822 ac · 3%
  • State land 2,614 ac · 3%
  • State trust land 1,614 ac · 2%
  • National Forest 1,168 ac · 1%
  • Other public 49 ac · 0%
  • Department of Defense 9 ac · 0%
  • BLM 0 ac · 0%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 0 ac · 0%
  • National Park Service 0 ac · 0%
  • Tribal 0 ac · 0%

Source: Deer Elk Lion 2026-2027 Hunting District Landcover and Land Ownership Calculations

How the hunting has gone

What Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks publishes for this area after each season — harvest statistics for everyone who hunted it, not draw odds and not a forecast. 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.

All deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 1,130 669 59%
2024 0 743
2023 1,092 586 54%
2022 0 792

White-tailed Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 1,130 633 56%
2024 0 736
2023 1,092 542 50%
2022 0 751

Mule Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 1,130 35 3%
2024 0 6
2023 1,092 45 4%
2022 0 42

Residents vs nonresidents (2025)

  • Nonresident 78 taken · 261 hunters
  • Resident 1,260 taken · 3,129 hunters

What the agency says about the area

Elk Management Unit: Bitterroot/Clark Fork

Source: Deer and Elk Hunting Districts (2026 and 2027 Seasons)

Boundary: Deer and Elk Hunting Districts (2026 and 2027 Seasons)

Harvest: 2025 Deer Harvest Estimates (MyFWP Harvest Estimates Search, District=ALL)

Harvest: 2024 Deer Harvest Estimates (MyFWP Harvest Estimates Search, District=ALL)

Harvest: 2023 Deer Harvest Estimates (MyFWP Harvest Estimates Search, District=ALL)

How we compute draw odds · All Montana deer hunts