Montana Deer — Hunting District 388

Montana Hunting District 388 covers 125,410 acres and lies 5 miles north-east of Helena and 30 miles north of Boulder. 16% of it is public land, mostly BLM (7%) and county or city land (4%). In 2025, 518 people hunted deer here and took 233 — 45% of them killed something.

All deer success (2025):45% Public land:16% Size:125,410 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has not offered a deer license in Hunting District 388 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

East Helena Whitehall Great Falls Ennis Conrad
Hunting District 388 within Montana
335 339 343 392 East Helena
Hunting District 388 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 102,297 ac · 82%
  • BLM 9,067 ac · 7%
  • County or city land 5,091 ac · 4%
  • Department of Defense 3,223 ac · 3%
  • State trust land 1,028 ac · 1%
  • State land 865 ac · 1%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 539 ac · 0%
  • National Forest 87 ac · 0%
  • Other public 62 ac · 0%
  • National Park Service 0 ac · 0%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 0 ac · 0%
  • Tribal 0 ac · 0%
  • Private or other non-public land 3,147 ac · 3%

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 518 233 45%
2024 0 336
2023 562 302 54%
2022 0 258

White-tailed Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 518 145 28%
2024 0 175
2023 562 185 33%
2022 0 161

Mule Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 518 88 17%
2024 0 161
2023 562 117 21%
2022 0 97

Residents vs nonresidents (2025)

  • Nonresident 32 taken · 138 hunters
  • Resident 435 taken · 1,416 hunters

What the agency says about the area

Elk Management Unit: Granite Butte

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