Montana Elk — Hunting District 540

Montana Hunting District 540 covers 373,651 acres and lies 16 miles north-west of Harlowton and 39 miles east of White Sulphur Springs. 34% of it is public land, mostly national forest (26%) and state trust land (6%). In 2025, hunters took 205 elk here.

Applicants:1 Public land:34% Size:373,651 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in Hunting District 540, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

Chances are from the 2022 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level

540-00 Elk B License 540-00 0 tags · 1 applicants

— Not open to nonresidents

Hunt	Your odds (0 pts)	Points needed	Tags / applicants
540-00 ↗ Elk B License 540-00	Not open to nonresidents	—	0 / 1

What these columns mean

Your odds: the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2022 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 2022 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 2022 is 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 window: opens Mar 1, closes Apr 1, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Other licenses valid in Hunting District 540

Not in the table above because they had no result in the 2022 draw.

B licence — Elk B License 540-80 Standard

The country

Hunting District 540 within Montana

Hunting District 540 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 247,618 ac · 66%
National Forest 98,681 ac · 26%
State trust land 24,212 ac · 6%
State land 1,345 ac · 0%
BLM 1,008 ac · 0%
County or city land 672 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.