Montana Elk — 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, hunters took 70 elk here.

Public land:11% Size:469,548 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in Hunting District 502, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

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

502-20 Elk Permit 502-20 — Either-sex Elk 0 tags · 0 applicants

— Not open to nonresidents

Hunt	Your odds (0 pts)	Points needed	Tags / applicants	Season
502-20 ↗ Elk Permit 502-20 — Either-sex Elk	Not open to nonresidents	—	0 / 0	Sep 5 – Dec 20, 2026

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.
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.

2 hunts not offered in 2026 are hidden — show discontinued hunts.

What it costs to apply (2026 nonresident fees)

License	Up front	Gone if you miss	If you draw
Per application	$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 502

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

B licence — Elk B License 502-00 [7/18/2017] Standard Permit — Elk Permit 502-15 Standard

The country

Hunting District 502 within Montana

Hunting District 502 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 418,086 ac · 89%
BLM 30,473 ac · 6%
State trust land 17,748 ac · 4%
County or city land 2,206 ac · 0%
State land 563 ac · 0%
National Wildlife Refuge 234 ac · 0%
Bureau of Reclamation 0 ac · 0%
Department of Defense 0 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

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.