Montana Deer — Hunting District 400

Montana Hunting District 400 covers 1,210,968 acres and lies 32 miles east of Conrad. 13% of it is public land, mostly state trust land (8%) and Bureau of Reclamation (3%). In 2025, 2,000 people hunted deer here and took 1,091 — 55% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 30 tags here for 41 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):88 Nonresident share:capped at 10% Applicants:65 All deer success (2025):55% Public land:13% Size:1,210,968 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in Hunting District 400, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

6 licenses on offer · 88 tags · 65 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
  • 400-00 Deer B License 400-00 — Antlerless Mule Deer [MULE] 30 tags · 41 applicants · Standard
    57% Real chance 0% as 2nd choice
  • 400-00 Deer B License 400-00 — Antlerless Mule Deer [MULE] 30 tags · 1 applicants · Landowner
    100% Undersubscribed
  • 400-50 Deer Permit 400-50 — Antlered Buck Mule Deer [MULE] 11 tags · 13 applicants · Standard
    17% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • 400-50 Deer Permit 400-50 — Antlered Buck Mule Deer [MULE] 11 tags · 1 applicants · Landowner
    100% Undersubscribed
  • 400-51 Deer Permit 400-51 — Antlered Buck White-tailed Deer [WT] 3 tags · 9 applicants · Standard
    3% Point builder
  • 400-51 Deer Permit 400-51 — Antlered Buck White-tailed Deer [WT] 3 tags · 0 applicants · Landowner
    86% 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.
1 hunt not offered in 2026 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 deadlines: Apr 1, 2027 (expected) for the main draw · Jun 1, 2027 (expected) for B license. Full fee breakdown.

Other licenses valid in Hunting District 400

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

The country

Fort Benton Shelby Chinook Lewistown White Sulphur Springs
Hunting District 400 within Montana
401 403 404 405 406 424 425 426 441 442 444 447 450 471 600 690 Conrad Fort Benton Shelby Great Falls Choteau
Hunting District 400 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 1,036,588 ac · 86%
  • State trust land 98,693 ac · 8%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 32,090 ac · 3%
  • BLM 23,977 ac · 2%
  • County or city land 3,754 ac · 0%
  • Department of Defense 121 ac · 0%
  • State land 121 ac · 0%
  • National Park Service 0 ac · 0%
  • National Forest 0 ac · 0%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 0 ac · 0%
  • Tribal 0 ac · 0%
  • Other public 0 ac · 0%
  • Private or other non-public land 15,621 ac · 1%

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 2,000 1,091 55%
2024 0 1,194
2023 1,918 1,314 69%
2022 0 1,034

Mule Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 2,000 725 36%
2024 0 759
2023 1,918 849 44%
2022 0 642

White-tailed Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 2,000 366 18%
2024 0 435
2023 1,918 465 24%
2022 0 392

Residents vs nonresidents (2025)

  • Nonresident 356 taken · 708 hunters
  • Resident 1,827 taken · 5,295 hunters

What the agency says about the area

Elk Management Unit: Golden Triangle

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