Montana Deer — Hunting District 280

Montana Hunting District 280 covers 195,186 acres and lies 53 miles south-west of Choteau. 100% of it is public land, mostly national forest (100%). In 2025, 191 people hunted deer here and took 48 — 25% of them killed something.

All deer success (2025):25% Public land:100% Size:195,186 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has not offered a deer license in Hunting District 280 in any draw we hold. It has a page because the agency still publishes harvest for it — the Montana deer hunts that are on offer are drawn elsewhere.

The country

Choteau Deer Lodge Missoula Butte Plains
Hunting District 280 within Montana
281 282 284 285 290 298 339 422 424 425 444
Hunting District 280 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

  • National Forest 195,166 ac · 100%
  • BLM 0 ac · 0%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 0 ac · 0%
  • Department of Defense 0 ac · 0%
  • National Park Service 0 ac · 0%
  • County or city land 0 ac · 0%
  • State land 0 ac · 0%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 0 ac · 0%
  • Tribal 0 ac · 0%
  • Private 0 ac · 0%
  • State trust land 0 ac · 0%
  • Other public 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 191 48 25%
2024 0 37
2023 149 13 9%
2022 0 37

White-tailed Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 191 41 21%
2024 0 25
2023 149 10 7%
2022 0 30

Mule Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 191 7 4%
2024 0 12
2023 149 3 2%
2022 0 7

Residents vs nonresidents (2025)

  • Nonresident 12 taken · 51 hunters
  • Resident 84 taken · 522 hunters

What the agency says about the area

Elk Management Unit: Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex

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