Hunting districts / Antelope
Antelope hunting district · Region 4 (Great Falls)
District 481
Montana hunting district 481 (Antelope), FWP Region 4 (Great Falls): 1,595 sq mi in Petroleum, Fergus, Phillips counties; 38% USFS, BLM, state trust and FWP land; median elevation 2,890 ft; FWP estimated 150 antelope harvested in 2025.
What stands out
- Antelope harvest up sharply of 40 antelope districts: +389% (2013–2015 vs 2023–2025 three-year averages). FWP harvest estimates (calculated)
- Among the most Block Management of 61 antelope districts: 16 BMAs, about 320,471 acres. FWP Block Management (calculated)
- Among the flattest of 61 antelope districts: 1,316 ft from low point to high point. AWS Terrain Tiles (calculated)
- Among the lowest of 61 antelope districts: median elevation 2,890 ft. AWS Terrain Tiles (calculated)
Publicly administered land
| Bureau of Land Management | 32.5% | |
| US Fish & Wildlife Service | 8.6% | |
| Montana state trust land | 6.0% |
Area of Montana State Library 'Montana Public Lands' polygons (derived from the Montana Cadastral Framework, Department of Revenue ownership records) intersected with the FWP district boundary, measured in NAD83(2011) Montana State Plane (EPSG:6514). Ownership is not access: some public land is closed to hunting or has no legal access.
Antelope harvest estimates
| Year | Hunters | Days | Total Harvest | Bucks | Does | Fawns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | n/e | n/e | 150 | 101 | 49 | 0 |
| 2024 | 198 | 857 | 101 | 89 | 11 | 0 |
| 2023 | n/e | n/e | 57 | 49 | 8 | 0 |
| 2022 | 196 | 1,019 | 78 | 47 | 30 | 2 |
| 2021 | n/e | n/e | 225 | 107 | 115 | 3 |
| 2020 | 250 | 967 | 150 | 93 | 53 | 5 |
| 2019 | n/e | n/e | 32 | 19 | 11 | 2 |
| 2018 | 51 | 337 | 26 | 21 | 5 | 0 |
| 2017 | n/e | n/e | 26 | 15 | 11 | 0 |
| 2016 | n/e | n/e | 35 | 30 | 6 | 0 |
| 2015 | 57 | 267 | 26 | 16 | 10 | 0 |
| 2014 | 58 | 202 | 22 | 14 | 8 | 0 |
FWP estimates from the annual hunter harvest survey; they carry sampling error. "n/e": FWP did not estimate district-level hunter numbers that year (2019, 2021, 2023, 2025). Boundaries of a numbered district can change between years.
Landscape
- Counties
- Petroleum, Fergus, Phillips counties
- National forests
- —
- Wilderness
- None
- Wildlife management areas
- —
- Mountain ranges (GNIS)
- —
- Highest named summits
- Three Buttes (≈3,281 ft), Haystack Butte (≈3,281 ft), Dovetail Butte (≈3,104 ft), Tin Can Hill (≈3,012 ft)
- Passes and gaps
- None named in GNIS
- Towns and places
- Blakeslee (historical), Carroll (historical), Cat Creek, Dovetail (historical), Jitney (historical), Little Crooked (historical), Mobridge (historical), Muscleshell City (historical), Rocky Point (historical), Shay (historical), Smithson (historical), Valentine, Woods Place
Elevations sampled on a regular grid inside the district from AWS Terrain Tiles (Terrarium, zoom 10, ~105 m pixels; compiled from USGS 3DEP and SRTM). Approximate: summits read lower than their surveyed height.
Sources
- District boundary: Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks hunting district layer.
- Public land: Montana State Library, Montana Public Lands (published 2026-10-06).
- Harvest: FWP Harvest Estimates, retrieved 2026-10-30.
- Places: USGS Geographic Names Information System. Wilderness and forests: USDA Forest Service.
- Elevation: AWS Terrain Tiles (USGS 3DEP, SRTM).
Live weather, snow, fire and access conditions are in the atlas card for this district.