Montana Antelope (Pronghorn) — Hunting District 490

Montana Hunting District 490 covers 1,172,055 acres and lies 9 miles north-west of White Sulphur Springs and 35 miles north-east of Townsend. 38% of it is public land, mostly national forest (32%) and state trust land (5%). In 2025, hunters took 174 pronghorn here. The 2026 draw put up 15 tags here for 126 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):54 Nonresident share:capped at 10% Applicants:137 Public land:38% Size:1,172,055 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every pronghorn license type on offer in Hunting District 490, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

4 licenses on offer · 54 tags · 137 applicants in the 2026 draw

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
  • 490-20 Antelope License 490-20 — Either-sex 15 tags · 126 applicants · Standard
    2% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • 490-20 Antelope License 490-20 — Either-sex 15 tags · 0 applicants · Landowner
    100% No first-choice applicants
  • 490-30 Antelope B License 490-30 — Doe/Fawn 12 tags · 11 applicants · Standard
    No data
  • 490-30 Antelope B License 490-30 — Doe/Fawn 12 tags · 0 applicants · Landowner
    No data
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.
As 2nd choice
Montana lets you name more than one hunt on the application. Miss on your first choice and you go into the pot for whatever tags are left, alongside everyone else's second choices. Points never help a lower choice, so this number is the same whatever you have banked — it is usually worth naming a hunt that goes undersubscribed.
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
Standard license $65 $65 $65
Landowner license $65 $65 $65

Application window: opens Mar 1, closes Jun 1, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Other licenses valid in Hunting District 490

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

The country

White Sulphur Springs Manhattan Great Falls Lewistown Ennis
Hunting District 490 within Montana
215 291 319 338 339 350 370 371 380 381 388 390 413 420 430 440 444 450 455 471 480 485 506 516 546 576 586 White Sulphur Springs Townsend East Helena Manhattan Harlowton
Hunting District 490 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 721,986 ac · 62%
  • National Forest 376,229 ac · 32%
  • State trust land 61,298 ac · 5%
  • BLM 7,618 ac · 1%
  • State land 3,516 ac · 0%
  • County or city land 117 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: Antelope 2026-2027 Hunting District Landcover and Land Ownership Calculations

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.

Season Harvest
2025 174
2024 156
2023 115
2022 316

Residents vs nonresidents (2025)

  • Nonresident 15 taken
  • Resident 159 taken

Boundary: Antelope Hunting Districts (2026 and 2027 Seasons)

Harvest: 2025 Antelope (Pronghorn) Harvest Estimates (MyFWP Harvest Estimates Search, District=ALL)

Harvest: 2024 Antelope (Pronghorn) Harvest Estimates (MyFWP Harvest Estimates Search, District=ALL)

Harvest: 2023 Antelope (Pronghorn) Harvest Estimates (MyFWP Harvest Estimates Search, District=ALL)

How we compute draw odds · All Montana pronghorn hunts