Montana Deer — Hunting District 331

Montana Hunting District 331 covers 871,590 acres and lies 30 miles north-west of Dillon and 39 miles south of Anaconda. 81% of it is public land, mostly national forest (66%) and BLM (10%). In 2025, 2,606 people hunted deer here and took 576 — 22% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 2 tags here for 13 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):4 Nonresident share:capped at 10% Applicants:13 All deer success (2025):22% Public land:81% Size:871,590 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in Hunting District 331, 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 · 13 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
  • 331-01 Deer B License 331-01 — Antlerless White-tailed Deer [WT] 2 tags · 13 applicants · Standard
    4% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • 331-01 Deer B License 331-01 — Antlerless White-tailed Deer [WT] 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 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 331

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

The country

Dillon Butte Philipsburg Missoula West Yellowstone
Hunting District 331 within Montana
211 214 250 270 311 319 320 321 322 323 324 329 340 350 360 370 Dillon Butte Anaconda Ennis Boulder
Hunting District 331 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 574,726 ac · 66%
  • Private 164,469 ac · 19%
  • BLM 88,815 ac · 10%
  • State trust land 41,662 ac · 5%
  • County or city land 871 ac · 0%
  • State land 610 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 2,606 576 22%
2024 0 677
2023 2,009 463 23%
2022 0 515

Mule Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 2,606 415 16%
2024 0 481
2023 2,009 310 15%
2022 0 345

White-tailed Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 2,606 161 6%
2024 0 196
2023 2,009 153 8%
2022 0 170

Residents vs nonresidents (2025)

  • Nonresident 214 taken · 1,473 hunters
  • Resident 938 taken · 6,345 hunters

What the agency says about the area

Elk Management Unit: Pioneer

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