Montana Elk · Hunting District 312

Montana Hunting District 312 covers 317,087 acres and lies 9 miles north-east of Manhattan and 18 miles north of Bozeman. 23% of it is public land, mostly national forest (18%) and state trust land (3%). In 2025, hunters took 281 elk here; hunter counts not published. Its most applied-for hunt, 312-00, put up 20 tags (all residencies) in the 2015 draw for 8 nonresident first-choice applicants.

No more draws here. The last one was 2015.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks held its 2026 elk draw without Hunting District 312. No current hunt code lists this unit; the Montana elk hunts on offer are drawn elsewhere. The odds, costs and harvest below are that history, kept for the record.

Tags, 2015
40

2 licenses · NR capped at 10%

Applicants
8

first choice, NR

Hunter Success
—

not published

Public Land
23%

18% Forest Service

Size
495 mi²

317,087 acres

Manhattan Belgrade Bozeman Townsend 312

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, 2015 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.

Every License in Hunting District 312

90–100% 50–89% 10–49% 1–9% under 1% fewer than 5 tags: one applicant swings it

The last draw held in Hunting District 312 was 2015. These are that draw's chances for a first-choice nonresident applicant, kept for the record.

312-00 Standard 100% —
Landowner 100% —

First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2015 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file. Not in the table, with no 2015 result: 312-80.

Draw results: Montana FWP 2015 Elk B License Drawing Statistics Report, retrieved Sep 1, 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

Year Elk
2025 281
2024 230
2023 240
2022 285

2025 split: nonresidents 46, residents 235

What Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. Hunter counts not published for 2025. 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 Elk Harvest Estimates; Montana FWP 2024 Elk Harvest Estimates; Montana FWP 2023 Elk Harvest Estimates.

The Ground

Private 242,889 ac 77%
National Forest 56,822 ac 18%
State trust land 10,273 ac 3%
BLM 4,185 ac 1%
State land 2,187 ac <1%
County or city land 507 ac <1%
National Wildlife Refuge 63 ac <1%
Bureau of Reclamation 0 ac <1%
Department of Defense 0 ac <1%
National Park Service 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: Bridger

Source: Montana FWP 2026 Deer and Elk Hunting Districts.

▸ Sources 11
  1. Montana FWP 2015 Elk B License Drawing Statistics Report draw results, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
  2. Montana Legislature 2026 MCA 87-2-113 Application fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  3. Montana Legislature 2026 MCA 87-2-116 Base hunting license… fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  4. Montana FWP 2026 Hunting Requirements fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  5. Montana FWP 2026 Nonresident License Fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  6. Montana FWP 2025 Elk Harvest Estimates harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  7. Montana FWP 2024 Elk Harvest Estimates harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  8. Montana FWP 2023 Elk Harvest Estimates harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  9. Montana FWP 2022 Elk Harvest Estimates harvest, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  10. Montana FWP 2026 Deer and Elk Hunting Districts boundary, area description, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
  11. Montana FWP 2026-2027 Deer Elk Lion Hunting District… land ownership, retrieved Aug 31, 2026

About These Numbers

Odds are from the 2015 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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Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

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 elk hunts