Montana Deer — Hunting District 301

Montana Hunting District 301 covers 210,318 acres and lies 15 miles south of Bozeman and 28 miles south-west of Livingston. 87% of it is public land, mostly national forest (82%) and state trust land (3%). In 2025, 1,106 people hunted deer here and took 315 — 28% of them killed something. The 2015 draw put up 2 tags here for 3 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2015):4 Nonresident share:capped at 10% Applicants:3 All deer success (2025):28% Public land:87% Size:210,318 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in Hunting District 301, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

2 licenses on offer · 4 tags · 3 applicants in the 2015 draw

Chances are from the 2015 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level
  • 301-00 Deer B License 301-00 2 tags · 3 applicants · Standard
    40% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • 301-00 Deer B License 301-00 2 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 2015 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 2015 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.
1 hunt not offered in 2015 is 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 301

Not in the table above because they had no result in the 2015 draw.

The country

Bozeman West Yellowstone Townsend Dillon Red Lodge
Hunting District 301 within Montana
304 309 310 311 313 314 317 320 360 565 Bozeman Belgrade Livingston Manhattan Ennis
Hunting District 301 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 172,019 ac · 82%
  • Private 27,530 ac · 13%
  • State trust land 6,667 ac · 3%
  • County or city land 3,806 ac · 2%
  • State land 63 ac · 0%
  • BLM 0 ac · 0%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 0 ac · 0%
  • Department of Defense 0 ac · 0%
  • National Park Service 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

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 1,106 315 28%
2024 0 301
2023 952 241 25%
2022 0 229

White-tailed Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 1,106 169 15%
2024 0 202
2023 952 139 15%
2022 0 124

Mule Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 1,106 146 13%
2024 0 99
2023 952 102 11%
2022 0 105

Residents vs nonresidents (2025)

  • Nonresident 96 taken · 414 hunters
  • Resident 532 taken · 2,904 hunters

What the agency says about the area

Elk Management Unit: Bozeman

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