Black bear hunting district · Region 5 (Billings)

District 520

Montana hunting district 520 (Black bear), FWP Region 5 (Billings): 2,835 sq mi in Carbon, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, Park counties; 49% USFS, BLM, state trust and FWP land (mostly Custer Gallatin National Forest); median elevation 5,569 ft.

Open in the atlas FWP regulations & quotas FWP district map (PDF)

FWP district boundary, 2026 regulations. A boundary on a map does not grant access to any land inside it.

Area2,835 sq mi

USFS · BLM · state trust · FWP49%

Median elevation5,569 ft

Elevation range3,576–12,123 ft

What stands out

Among the most wilderness of 35 black bear districts: 27% designated wilderness. USFS wilderness boundaries (calculated)
Among the most rugged of 35 black bear districts: 8,547 ft from low point to high point. AWS Terrain Tiles (calculated)

Publicly administered land

US Forest Service	43.6%
Bureau of Land Management	2.9%
Montana state trust land	2.5%
Montana FWP	0.1%
City & county	0.1%
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.

Landscape

Counties: Carbon, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, Park counties
National forests: Custer Gallatin National Forest
Wilderness: Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness (27%)
Wildlife management areas: Silver Run
Mountain ranges (GNIS): Beartooth Mountains, Granite Range
Highest named summits: Castle Mountain (≈12,516 ft), Mount Wood (≈12,454 ft), Silver Run Peak (≈12,369 ft), Tempest Mountain (≈12,343 ft)
Passes and gaps: Sundance Pass, Silver Pass, Jordan Pass, Mill Creek Pass, Meyers Creek Pass, Missouri Cutoff
Towns and places: Absarokee, Alex Boggio Place, Alpine, Bearcreek, Beehive, Caledonia (historical), Chance, Cherry Springs (historical), Contact, Craver, Dean, Eagle (historical), Fishtail, Fox

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.

Neighboring districts

HD 341 62% public · 7,234 ft median
HD 580 14% public · 3,970 ft median
HD 510 64% public · 4,688 ft median

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.