Montana Deer · Hunting District 502
Montana Hunting District 502 covers 469,548 acres and lies 17 miles south of Laurel and 26 miles north-east of Red Lodge. 11% of it is public land, mostly BLM (6%) and state trust land (4%). In 2025, 1,625 people hunted deer here and took 952, a 59% success rate. Its most applied-for hunt, 502-00, put up 15 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 11 nonresident first-choice applicants, 8 of whom drew.
2 licenses · NR capped at 10%
first choice, NR
2025, all deer
7% BLM
469,548 acres
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Best Bets at 0 Points
Ranked by your odds times how often that license type's hunters filled their tag in 2025. Nonresident, first choice, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.
Every License in Hunting District 502
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 502-00 Standard | Deer B License 502-00 — Antlerless Mule Deer | 40% | — | |
| 502-00 Landowner | Deer B License 502-00 — Antlerless Mule Deer | 100% | — |
First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file.
Draw results: Montana FWP 2026 Deer B License Drawing Statistics…, retrieved Aug 31, 2026.
If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): Standard $92.50 ($92.50 to apply) · Landowner $92.50 ($92.50 to apply). Open Mar 1 – Apr 1, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.
Harvest
All deer
| Year | Hunters | Deer | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,625 | 952 | 59% |
| 2024 | — | 842 | — |
| 2023 | 1,568 | 884 | 56% |
| 2022 | — | 1,046 | — |
Mule Deer
| Year | Hunters | Deer | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | 650 | — |
| 2024 | — | 506 | — |
| 2023 | — | 565 | — |
| 2022 | — | 633 | — |
White-tailed Deer
| Year | Hunters | Deer | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | 302 | — |
| 2024 | — | 337 | — |
| 2023 | — | 319 | — |
| 2022 | — | 413 | — |
A dash under Hunters: hunter counts not published for that year or sub-species.
2025 split: nonresidents 53 from 86 hunters, residents 899 from 1,539 hunters
What Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. 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. Source: Montana FWP 2025 Deer Harvest Estimates; Montana FWP 2024 Deer Harvest Estimates; Montana FWP 2023 Deer Harvest Estimates.
The Ground
| Private | 418,086 ac | 89% |
| BLM | 30,473 ac | 6% |
| State trust land | 17,748 ac | 4% |
| County or city land | 2,206 ac | <1% |
| State land | 563 ac | <1% |
| National Wildlife Refuge | 234 ac | <1% |
| Bureau of Reclamation | 0 ac | <1% |
| Department of Defense | 0 ac | <1% |
| National Park Service | 0 ac | <1% |
| National Forest | 0 ac | <1% |
| Tribal | 0 ac | <1% |
| Other public | 0 ac | <1% |
Source: Montana FWP 2026-2027 Deer Elk Lion Hunting District….
What the Agency Says About the Area
Elk Management Unit: Absaroka
▸ Sources 11
- Montana FWP 2026 Deer B License Drawing Statistics… draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana Legislature 2026 MCA 87-2-113 Application fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana Legislature 2026 MCA 87-2-116 Base hunting license… fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026 Hunting Requirements fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026 Nonresident License Fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2025 Deer Harvest Estimates harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2024 Deer Harvest Estimates harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2023 Deer Harvest Estimates harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2022 Deer Harvest Estimates harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026 Deer and Elk Hunting Districts boundary, area description, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026-2027 Deer Elk Lion Hunting District… land ownership, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
About These Numbers
Odds are from the 2026 draw, the latest on file, computed from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' published results. They are what happened in that draw, not a forecast. Under five tags a percentage carries a *, because one applicant either way swings it. A dash means the agency did not publish the number, and a date marked expected is last cycle's schedule rolled forward. How we compute these.
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We don't take applications: check Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks's site and apply there.
Prior-draw odds from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' results, not a forecast · Methodology · All Montana deer hunts