Montana Deer — Hunting District 298

Montana Hunting District 298 covers 97,104 acres and lies 36 miles north-west of Deer Lodge and 46 miles east of Missoula. 7% of it is public land, mostly national forest (3%) and state trust land (2%). In 2025, 286 people hunted deer here and took 108 — 38% of them killed something.

Applicants:17 All deer success (2025):38% Public land:7% Size:97,104 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in Hunting District 298, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

Chances are from the 2009 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level

298-40 Deer Permit 298-40 (unlimited quota) — · 17 applicants

100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice

Hunt	Your odds (0 pts)	As 2nd choice	Points needed	Tags / applicants
298-40 ↗ Deer Permit 298-40 (unlimited quota)	100% Undersubscribed	100%	—	— / 17 undersubscribed

What these columns mean

Your odds: the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2009 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 2009 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.

What it costs to apply (2026 nonresident fees)

License	Up front	Gone if you miss	If you draw
Per application	$65	$65	$65

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

The country

Hunting District 298 within Montana

Hunting District 298 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 90,452 ac · 93%
National Forest 2,806 ac · 3%
State trust land 1,922 ac · 2%
BLM 1,573 ac · 2%
State land 310 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%
National Wildlife Refuge 0 ac · 0%
Tribal 0 ac · 0%
Other public 0 ac · 0%

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

Nearby areas

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.