Montana Landowner Tags
Montana reserves 15 percent of each hunting district's quota for qualifying landowners, with 160 agricultural acres for deer and pronghorn and 640 contiguous elk-used acres for elk. The licenses are ordinary district-wide licenses, guaranteed within the 15 percent and drawn beyond it. Nothing is sellable in any Montana landowner program, and lessees never qualify.
Checked against Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks rules, October 20, 2026. 1 line could not be checked against the primary source and is marked where it sits.
Landowner Preference (the 15 percent) · Landowner Sponsor · 454 Elk Hunting Access Agreement · Nonresident B-10 landowner pool
contiguous, deeded and other tests apply
same as any hunter
Hunting Your Own Land
A landowner in Montana needs the same license and tag as any other hunter to take big game on their own property. The programs below change who gets a limited tag, not whether one is needed.
Landowner Preference (the 15 percent)
Landowner Preference, MCA 87-2-735 and 87-2-516
or 640 ac elk: 640 contiguous elk-used acres, or 160 contiguous...
15 percent of each hunting district's quota; nonresident...
out-of-state owners qualify
Who Qualifies
| Species | Deer, Antelope (Pronghorn), Elk |
|---|---|
| Acreage test | 160 agricultural acres for deer and pronghorn permits and B licenses, with no contiguity test; elk needs 640 contiguous elk-used acres or 160 contiguous agricultural acres with documented elk damage in two years. Lessees do not qualify.5 |
| Land test | ✗ Contiguous✓ Agricultural use within the hunt unit |
| Who may hunt it | Landowner, immediate family, a year-round employee or land manager, or a disabled designee. No public, guests or lessees. |
| When to apply | Elk and deer permits Apr 1, 2026; elk B, deer B and pronghorn Jun 1. |
What You Get
| The tag | 15 percent of each hunting district's quota is reserved; a landowner is guaranteed a license within the 15 percent and drawn among landowners beyond it. The license is an ordinary district-wide license. First choice only, no party applications. |
|---|---|
| Set-aside | 15 percent of each hunting district's quota; nonresident landowner quotas may not exceed 10 percent of the final quota in any drawing residents may also enterNot addressed in the rule. The 15 percent is computed off each district's final quota and FWP publishes no per-district landowner allocation. |
| Transfer or sale | No. No transfer across any Montana landowner program. Designation only to immediate family, a full-time employee or land manager, or a disabled designee. |
Nonresidents qualify: FWP's 2026 regulations state that Montana landowners, resident and nonresident, may qualify for preference in the deer, elk and antelope drawings, and cap nonresident landowner quotas at 10 percent of the final quota in any drawing residents may also enter. 87-2-516(2) issues the nonresident Class B-12 antlerless elk B licence on landowner application, and 87-2-735(1) grants the deer and antelope preference to a person owning 160 acres or more without a residency condition. Owning Montana land confers no residency (87-2-102(9)). FWP's regulations head the section MCA 87-2-705 while the operative sections are 87-2-735 and 87-2-516.
Landowner Sponsor
Landowner-Sponsored Deer Combination Licence (nonresident)
contiguous and deeded tests below
2,000 nonresident deer combination licenses
not addressed in the rule
Who Qualifies
| Species | Deer |
|---|---|
| Acreage test | 640 contiguous deeded acres to sponsor nonresident deer combination licenses.8 |
| Land test | ✓ Contiguous✓ Deeded within the property |
| Nonresident owner | Not addressed in the rulesNot addressed in the rule. The regulations describe the licence from the sponsored nonresident's side and never say whether the sponsoring landowner may be a nonresident. |
| Who may hunt it | The sponsored nonresident hunter; the license is property-restricted. |
| When to apply | Sponsor certification by Dec 31. |
What You Get
| The tag | The ability to sponsor nonresident deer combination licenses out of a 2,000-license pool. The holder may hunt deer only on the deeded land of the sponsoring landowner, never on leased or public land, and may apply for a deer permit only in the hunting district where the licence authorises them to hunt deer. |
|---|---|
| Set-aside | 2,000 nonresident deer combination licenses |
| Transfer or sale | No. Nontransferable like the rest of Montana's landowner products. |
Property-restricted, so a hunting-district lookup gives the wrong answer. Allocation mechanics beyond the 2,000-license pool are not published.
Unconfirmed: The sponsoring statute was not located: MCA 87-2-513, which our sources cite here, is in fact the free-public-elk-hunting licence, and the 2026 regulations describe the Landowner-Sponsored Deer Combination Licence without a section number.
454 Elk Hunting Access Agreement
454 Elk Hunting Access Agreement, MCA 87-2-513
approved management plan
drawn with everyone else
not addressed in the rule
Who Qualifies
| Species | Elk |
|---|---|
| Acreage test | Qualification is by access agreement with FWP rather than acreage: at least 640 acres of occupied elk habitat, with smaller acreages eligible where FWP finds site conditions accommodate successful public hunting, and one landowner license per three public hunters admitted. 2025: 47 licenses across 31 agreements.3 |
| Land test | within the ranch |
| Nonresident owner | Not addressed in the rulesNot addressed in the rule. 87-2-513 conditions the licence on occupied elk habitat, a free-public-access agreement and no access fee, and never mentions the landowner's residency. |
| Who may hunt it | Landowner, immediate family, year-round employee or land manager, or a disabled designee - on the enrolled property only. |
| When to apply | May 1. |
What You Get
| The tag | A free either-sex or antlerless elk license valid on the landowner's own property only, at a rate of one license per three public hunters admitted. |
|---|---|
| Transfer or sale | No. Licenses are nontransferable and may not be sold or bartered. |
Only aggregate figures are published - 47 licenses across 31 agreements for 2025 - and there is no enrolled-property list.
“nontransferable and may not be sold or bartered” — MCA 87-2-513; aggregate counts in the 2025 EHA evaluation report3
Nonresident B-10 landowner pool
Nonresident landowner B-10 licenses, MCA 87-2-714
contiguous and deeded tests below
Up to 15 percent, maximum 5 licenses
out-of-state owners qualify
Who Qualifies
| Species | Deer, Elk, Antelope (Pronghorn) |
|---|---|
| Acreage test | 2,500 contiguous acres; nonresident-only channel, capped at 15 percent and a maximum of 5 licenses.7 |
| Land test | ✓ Contiguous within the property |
| Who may hunt it | The qualifying nonresident landowner. |
What You Get
| The tag | Access to the nonresident B-10 pool, capped at 15 percent, maximum 5 licenses. |
|---|---|
| Set-aside | Up to 15 percent, maximum 5 licenses |
| Transfer or sale | No |
87-2-714 is nonresident-only: 15 percent of the Class B-10 licences issued under 87-2-505, valid only on land the landowner owns in fee title or leases to produce a crop, 2,500 contiguous acres for the first licence and one more per further 2,500 up to five, with one licence per individual and the remainder returned to the general draw pool. A nonresident landowner may also claim the ordinary 15 percent preference (2026 regulations p.17).
General Season or Limited Draw?
Resident General Elk and General Deer licenses are over the counter ($16 deer); Deer B and Elk B licenses are available both OTC and by draw, and permits ($5) are drawn and add no animal. Nonresidents have essentially no OTC and must draw a Big Game, Elk or Deer Combination, with two office-only Montana Native combination exceptions; nonresident Deer B and Elk B are OTC at $75. The geography is hunting districts.
New for 2025–26: The 2026 Deer, Elk and Antelope regulations PDF was read for this entry: Landowner Preference is on p.17 and the licence and quota tables follow it.
Per-unit classification: Annual Deer, Elk and Antelope Hunting Regulations PDF plus the Hunt Planner and its GIS map. FWP species pages do not label hunting districts general or limited. Elk regulations are posted in late February..
Check a parcel on the map →
Click the ground or paste a listing's coordinates: the unit for every species (604 Montana units mapped), and whether the acreage clears the floor.
Montana draw odds →
Every species, unit and hunt code, with the odds at each point level, fees and deadlines.
Things That Trip People Up
- The 15 percent preference is district-based, but 454 and Landowner Sponsored licenses are property-restricted - a district lookup gives the wrong answer for those two.
- Lessees do not qualify for any Montana landowner preference.
- There is no preference in a hunting district that is entirely public land.
- Montana's elk test is 640 contiguous acres OR 160 contiguous agricultural acres with documented damage within two years, so a single acreage number is wrong.
- Owning Montana land confers no residency (MCA 87-2-102(9)).
- MCA 87-2-121 is a method and permission rule, not a licensing exemption - it does not let a landowner hunt big game unlicensed.
Sources
- 1. Montana Legislative Services Division · Montana Code Annotated (87-2-735, 87-2-516, 87-2-513, 87-2-714, 87-2-121, 87-2-102) · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 2. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks · Landowner Preference and Landowner Sponsor · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 3. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks · 2025 Elk Hunting Access evaluation report · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 4. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks · Montana Hunt Planner · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 5. Montana Legislative Services Division · MCA 87-2-735, landowner preference licenses and permits for deer and antelope · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 6. Montana Legislative Services Division · MCA 87-2-516, Class A-9 and B-12 antlerless elk B drawing and landowner preference · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 7. Montana Legislative Services Division · MCA 87-2-714, landowner preference for the Class B-10 nonresident big game combination license · retrieved 2026-10-20
- 8. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks · 2026 Deer, Elk and Antelope Hunting Regulations (Landowner Preference, p.17) · retrieved 2026-10-20
This page summarizes agency rules for orientation. The statute, commission rule and the current year's application booklet govern; check them before buying land or applying.