Montana Elk — Hunting District 318

Montana Hunting District 318 covers 172,996 acres and lies 12 miles west of Boulder and 28 miles south-west of Helena. 82% of it is public land, mostly national forest (75%) and BLM (6%). In 2025, hunters took 210 elk here. The 2015 draw put up 15 tags here for 17 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2015):30 Nonresident share:capped at 10% Applicants:17 Public land:82% Size:172,996 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in Hunting District 318, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

Chances are from the 2015 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level

318-00 Elk B License 318-00 15 tags · 17 applicants · Standard

11% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
318-00 Elk B License 318-00 15 tags · 0 applicants · Landowner

100% No first-choice applicants

Hunt	Your odds (0 pts)	As 2nd choice	Points needed	Tags / applicants	License
318-00 ↗ Elk B License 318-00	11% Point builder	0%	—	15 / 17	Standard
318-00 ↗ Elk B License 318-00	100% No first-choice applicants	—	—	15 / 0	Landowner

What these columns mean

Your odds: the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2015 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 2015 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 2015 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 318

Not in the table above because they had no result in the 2015 draw.

B licence — Elk B License 318-80 Standard

The country

Hunting District 318 within Montana

Hunting District 318 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

National Forest 130,525 ac · 75%
Private 31,692 ac · 18%
BLM 9,964 ac · 6%
State trust land 449 ac · 0%
State land 294 ac · 0%
County or city land 17 ac · 0%
Bureau of Reclamation 0 ac · 0%
Department of Defense 0 ac · 0%
National Park Service 0 ac · 0%
National Wildlife Refuge 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

Nearby areas

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.