Montana Deer — Hunting District 404

Montana Hunting District 404 covers 1,245,436 acres and lies 26 miles north-west of Great Falls. 8% of it is public land, mostly state trust land (6%) and wildlife refuge (1%). In 2025, 1,850 people hunted deer here and took 994 — 54% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 10 tags here for 14 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):20 Nonresident share:capped at 10% Applicants:14 All deer success (2025):54% Public land:8% Size:1,245,436 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in Hunting District 404, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

2 licenses on offer · 20 tags · 14 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
  • 404-00 Deer B License 404-00 — Antlerless Mule Deer [MULE] 10 tags · 14 applicants · Standard
    24% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • 404-00 Deer B License 404-00 — Antlerless Mule Deer [MULE] 10 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.
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 window: opens Mar 1, closes Apr 1, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Other licenses valid in Hunting District 404

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

The country

Great Falls Conrad Cut Bank East Helena Havre
Hunting District 404 within Montana
150 280 281 400 405 406 413 415 419 421 422 424 425 432 441 442 444 445 447 450 471 Great Falls Choteau Conrad Fort Benton Shelby
Hunting District 404 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 1,143,310 ac · 92%
  • State trust land 75,598 ac · 6%
  • National Wildlife Refuge 8,469 ac · 1%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 5,978 ac · 0%
  • County or city land 2,117 ac · 0%
  • State land 1,370 ac · 0%
  • BLM 871 ac · 0%
  • Department of Defense 124 ac · 0%
  • National Park Service 0 ac · 0%
  • National Forest 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 1,850 994 54%
2024 0 1,227
2023 1,812 1,216 67%
2022 0 1,205

White-tailed Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 1,850 503 27%
2024 0 574
2023 1,812 580 32%
2022 0 710

Mule Deer

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 1,850 491 27%
2024 0 653
2023 1,812 636 35%
2022 0 496

Residents vs nonresidents (2025)

  • Nonresident 178 taken · 387 hunters
  • Resident 1,811 taken · 5,160 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