The Public Lands

Nearly a third of Montana — more than 30 million acres — is public ground. It is not one thing; it is several, with different rules.

U.S. Forest Service

National forests are the largest chunk, roughly 16 million acres across the Kootenai, Flathead, Lolo, Helena–Lewis & Clark, Beaverhead–Deerlodge, Bitterroot, and Custer Gallatin. This is mountain country, and the heart of Montana elk and deer hunting.

Bureau of Land Management

About 8.3 million acres in Montana and the Dakotas, largely east and central — the open, broken country a lot of pronghorn and mule deer live in.

State school trust land

Around 5.5 million acres, managed by the DNRC. It is open to hunting, but a Conservation License is required to hunt it.

Wildlife Management Areas and Fishing Access Sites

FWP’s own ground: WMAs for hunting, FASs for stream and lake access (some allow hunting). Free, with rules posted at each site.

The catch

Public ground is not always reachable. A square mile of national forest with no road and no trail across private land is legally public and practically off-limits. That is the landlocked problem.

Acreage figures sourced to FWP, USFS, BLM, and DNRC and are approximate.