Hunting districts / Bighorn sheep
Bighorn sheep hunting district · Region 5 (Billings)
District 503
Montana hunting district 503 (Bighorn sheep), FWP Region 5 (Billings): 348 sq mi in Carbon County; 70% USFS, BLM, state trust and FWP land (mostly Custer Gallatin National Forest); median elevation 5,317 ft; FWP estimated 2 sheep harvested in 2025.
Publicly administered land
| US Forest Service | 33.7% | |
| Bureau of Land Management | 33.5% | |
| National Park Service | 11.9% | |
| Montana state trust land | 2.4% |
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.
Sheep harvest estimates
| Year | Hunters | Days | Total Harvest | Rams | Ewes | Lambs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 3 | 68 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 3 | 36 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 3 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 3 | 33 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 3 | 38 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 3 | 52 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 3 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | 3 | 42 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | 3 | 67 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | 3 | 38 | 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
- Carbon County
- National forests
- Custer Gallatin National Forest
- Wilderness
- None
- Wildlife management areas
- —
- Mountain ranges (GNIS)
- Pryor Mountains
- Highest named summits
- East Pryor Mountain (≈8,796 ft), Big Pryor Mountain (≈8,780 ft), Red Pryor Mountain (≈8,409 ft), Penney Peak (≈4,977 ft)
- Passes and gaps
- None named in GNIS
- Towns and places
- Dryhead (historical), Hillsboro
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
- None
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.