Hunting districts / Antelope
Antelope hunting district · Region 5 (Billings)
District 516
Montana hunting district 516 (Antelope), FWP Region 5 (Billings): 1,732 sq mi in Golden Valley, Musselshell, Wheatland, Fergus counties; 16% USFS, BLM, state trust and FWP land; median elevation 4,101 ft; FWP estimated 332 antelope harvested in 2025.
What stands out
- Among the busiest for antelope hunters of 60 antelope districts: 1.6 antelope hunter-days per square mile in 2024. FWP harvest estimates (calculated per sq mi)
Publicly administered land
| Bureau of Land Management | 5.7% | |
| Montana state trust land | 5.4% | |
| US Forest Service | 4.7% | |
| US Fish & Wildlife Service | 1.0% | |
| Montana FWP | 0.5% | |
| Other State of Montana | 0.1% |
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 | 332 | 261 | 71 | 0 |
| 2024 | 700 | 2,709 | 424 | 335 | 80 | 9 |
| 2023 | n/e | n/e | 395 | 307 | 80 | 8 |
| 2022 | 625 | 2,396 | 400 | 299 | 98 | 3 |
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
- Golden Valley, Musselshell, Wheatland, Fergus counties
- National forests
- Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest
- Wilderness
- None
- Wildlife management areas
- Big Snowy Mountains
- Mountain ranges (GNIS)
- Little Snowy Mountains
- Highest named summits
- Old Baldy (≈8,520 ft), Tepee Point (≈8,291 ft), Lost Peak (≈8,140 ft), Red Hill (≈6,152 ft)
- Passes and gaps
- Durfee Gap, Daley Gap
- Towns and places
- Camp Three, Darrel (historical), Emory (historical), Franklin, Hedgesville, Judith Gap, Living Springs, Rothiemay, Sahara (historical), Springwater Colony, Wheaton (historical), Winnecook
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.