Hunting districts / Moose
Moose hunting district · Region 4 (Great Falls)
District 494
Montana hunting district 494 (Moose), FWP Region 4 (Great Falls): 1,903 sq mi in Meagher, Cascade counties; 33% USFS, BLM, state trust and FWP land; median elevation 5,243 ft; FWP estimated 3 moose harvested in 2025.
What stands out
- Among the largest of 74 moose districts: 1,903 square miles. FWP district boundary
- Among the most Block Management of 74 moose districts: 10 BMAs, about 72,471 acres. FWP Block Management (calculated)
Publicly administered land
| US Forest Service | 28.8% | |
| Montana state trust land | 3.3% | |
| Bureau of Land Management | 0.7% | |
| Montana FWP | 0.4% | |
| City & county | 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.
Moose harvest estimates
| Year | Hunters | Days | Total Harvest | Bulls | Cows | Calves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 4 | 77 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 4 | 43 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 3 | 30 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 4 | 28 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 4 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 4 | 89 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 4 | 37 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 2017 | 4 | 37 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | 4 | 23 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | 4 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | 4 | 22 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 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
- Meagher, Cascade counties
- National forests
- Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest
- Wilderness
- None
- Wildlife management areas
- Smith River
- Mountain ranges (GNIS)
- Dry Range, Little Belt Mountains, Park Hills
- Highest named summits
- Boulder Baldy (≈8,885 ft), Porphyry Peak (≈8,192 ft), Thunder Mountain (≈8,068 ft), Mizpah Peak (≈7,717 ft)
- Passes and gaps
- Duck Creek Pass, Kings Hill Pass, Moose Pass, Butler Hill, Elk Horn Pass
- Towns and places
- Albright (historical), Big Stone Colony, Buckingham, Calkins (historical), Calvert, Centerville, Donovan Park (historical), Eden, Evans, Fields, Flood (historical), Forest Green, Fort Logan, Gerber
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.