Hunting districts / Mountain goat
Mountain goat hunting district · Region 5 (Billings)
District 517
Montana hunting district 517 (Mountain goat), FWP Region 5 (Billings): 369 sq mi in Carbon County; 81% USFS, BLM, state trust and FWP land (mostly Custer Gallatin National Forest); median elevation 9,026 ft; FWP estimated 4 goat harvested in 2025.
What stands out
- Among the highest of 37 mountain goat districts: median elevation 9,026 ft. AWS Terrain Tiles (calculated)
- Among the most rugged of 37 mountain goat districts: 7,438 ft from low point to high point. AWS Terrain Tiles (calculated)
Publicly administered land
| US Forest Service | 77.9% | |
| Montana state trust land | 3.0% | |
| Montana FWP | 0.3% | |
| City & county | 0.1% | |
| Bureau of Land Management | 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.
Goat harvest estimates
| Year | Hunters | Days | Total Harvest | Billies | Nannies | Kids |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4 | 31 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | 3 | 40 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 4 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 2022 | 4 | 47 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 4 | 19 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 4 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 | 4 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 4 | 25 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2017 | 2 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2016 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2015 | 4 | 35 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2014 | 4 | 46 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 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. Boundaries of a numbered district can change between years.
Landscape
- Counties
- Carbon County
- National forests
- Custer Gallatin National Forest
- Wilderness
- Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness (59%)
- Wildlife management areas
- Silver Run
- Mountain ranges (GNIS)
- —
- Highest named summits
- Castle Mountain (≈12,516 ft), Silver Run Peak (≈12,369 ft), Whitetail Peak (≈12,260 ft), Beartooth Mountain (≈12,234 ft)
- Passes and gaps
- Sundance Pass
- Towns and places
- Alex Boggio Place, Alpine, Linley (historical), Luther, Rankin Place, Roscoe
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.