Montana Moose · Hunting District 496 East Little Belt-Castles-Snowy Mountains
Montana Hunting District 496 spans 3,650,665 acres, centered 22 miles south-west of Lewistown. 29% of it is public land, mostly national forest (19%) and state trust land (5%). In 2025, 4 people hunted moose here and took 4. Its most applied-for hunt, 496-50, put up 1 tag (all residencies) in the 2023 draw for 99 nonresident first-choice applicants, 1 of whom drew.
No more draws here. The last one was 2023.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks held its 2026 moose draw without Hunting District 496. No current hunt code lists this unit; the Montana moose hunts on offer are drawn elsewhere. The odds, costs and harvest below are that history, kept for the record.
1 license · NR capped at 10%
first choice, NR
not published
19% Forest Service
3,650,665 acres
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Every License in Hunting District 496
The last draw held in Hunting District 496 was 2023. These are that draw's chances for a first-choice nonresident applicant, kept for the record.
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 496-50 | Moose License 496-50 — Antlered Bull | 0% (small sample) | — |
First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2023 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file. Not in the table, with no 2023 result: 496-00, 496-20.
Draw results: Montana FWP 2023 Moose Drawing Statistics Report, retrieved Sep 1, 2026.
If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): $137.50 ($137.50 to apply). Open Mar 1 – May 1, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.
Harvest
| Year | Hunters | Moose | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| 2024 | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| 2023 | 3 | 2 | 67% |
| 2022 | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| 2021 | 4 | 2 | 50% |
| 2020 | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| 2019 | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| 2018 | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| 2017 | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| 2016 | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| 2015 | 4 | 2 | 50% |
| 2014 | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| 2013 | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| 2012 | 4 | 0 | 0% |
| 2011 | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| 2010 | 4 | 2 | 50% |
| 2009 | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| 2008 | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| 2007 | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| 2006 | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| 2005 | 4 | 2 | 50% |
2025 split: residents 4 from 4 hunters
What Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. 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 2005-2025 FWP Harvest Estimates export.
The Ground
| Private | 2,586,131 ac | 71% |
| National Forest | 700,197 ac | 19% |
| State trust land | 194,580 ac | 5% |
| BLM | 131,058 ac | 4% |
| State land | 16,428 ac | <1% |
| National Wildlife Refuge | 10,586 ac | <1% |
| County or city land | 3,650 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 Moose Hunting District Landcover….
▸ Sources 9
- Montana FWP 2023 Moose Drawing Statistics Report draw results, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- Montana Legislature 2026 MCA 87-2-113 Application fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana Legislature 2026 MCA 87-2-116 Base hunting license… fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026 Hunting Requirements fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026 Nonresident License Fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- Montana FWP 2005-2025 FWP Harvest Estimates export harvest, retrieved Sep 2, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026 Moose Hunting Districts boundary, retrieved Sep 2, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026-2027 Moose Hunting District Landcover… land ownership, retrieved Sep 2, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026 Moose, Sheep, Goat Hunting Regulations area description, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
About These Numbers
Odds are from the 2023 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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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 moose hunts