Montana Mountain Goat · Hunting District 517 Rock Creek
Montana Hunting District 517 covers 236,030 acres and lies 13 miles west of Red Lodge and 36 miles south of Columbus. 82% of it is public land, mostly national forest (78%) and state trust land (3%). In 2025, 4 people hunted mountain goat here and took 4. Its most applied-for hunt, 517-20, put up 1 tag (all residencies) in the 2025 draw for 103 nonresident first-choice applicants.
No more draws here. The last one was 2025.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks held its 2026 mountain goat draw without Hunting District 517. No current hunt code lists this unit; the Montana mountain goat 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
79% Forest Service
236,030 acres
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Every License in Hunting District 517
The last draw held in Hunting District 517 was 2025. These are that draw's chances for a first-choice nonresident applicant, kept for the record.
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 517-20 | Mountain Goat License 517-20 — Either-sex | 0% (small sample) | — |
First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2025 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file. Not in the table, with no 2025 result: 517-00.
Draw results: Montana FWP 2025 Mountain Goat 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 | Harvest | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| 2024 | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| 2023 | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| 2022 | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| 2021 | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| 2020 | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| 2019 | 4 | 4 | 100% |
| 2018 | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| 2017 | 2 | 2 | 100% |
| 2016 | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| 2015 | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| 2014 | 4 | 3 | 75% |
| 2013 | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| 2012 | 2 | 2 | 100% |
| 2011 | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| 2010 | 8 | 6 | 75% |
| 2009 | 8 | 6 | 75% |
| 2008 | 7 | 4 | 57% |
| 2007 | 5 | 5 | 100% |
| 2005 | 8 | 7 | 88% |
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
| National Forest | 184,812 ac | 78% |
| Private | 42,414 ac | 18% |
| State trust land | 7,198 ac | 3% |
| State land | 637 ac | <1% |
| County or city land | 188 ac | <1% |
| BLM | 118 ac | <1% |
| Bureau of Reclamation | 0 ac | <1% |
| Department of Defense | 0 ac | <1% |
| National Park Service | 0 ac | <1% |
| National Wildlife Refuge | 0 ac | <1% |
| Tribal | 0 ac | <1% |
| Other public | 0 ac | <1% |
Source: Montana FWP 2026-2027 Mountain Goat Hunting District….
▸ Sources 9
- Montana FWP 2025 Mountain Goat 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 Mountain Goat Hunting Districts boundary, retrieved Sep 2, 2026
- Montana FWP 2026-2027 Mountain Goat Hunting District… 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 2025 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 mountain goat hunts