Montana · Bison · District 385
Montana bison licence 385-20
GARDINER. How many people put this bison licencefirst and how many of them drew it — year by year, separately for each of the four pools Montana draws, and separately at every bonus point level. Every figure comes from a Fish, Wildlife & Parks report linked at the foot of this page.
What the 2026 drawing did
Montana set a quota of 40 on 385-20 in 2026 and drew 40 — the quota filled. Across the four pools FWP draws separately, no nonresident landowner applicant put it first; no resident landowner applicant put it first; 975 nonresident applicants put it first and 4 drew, 0.41%; 9,659 resident applicants put it first and 36 drew, 0.37%.
First-choice success rate, by pool and year
| Year | Pool | Pool cap | Put it first | Drew on first choice | First-choice success rate | Put it 2nd or 3rd | Drew on 2nd or 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Nonresident | 4 | 975 | 4 | 0.41% | 0 | 0 |
| 2026 | Resident | 40 | 9,659 | 36 | 0.37% | 0 | 0 |
| 2026 | Nonresident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2026 | Resident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 4 | 981 | 3 | 0.31% | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | Resident | 40 | 8,846 | 37 | 0.42% | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | Nonresident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2025 | Resident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 4 | 919 | 4 | 0.44% | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | Resident | 40 | 8,643 | 36 | 0.42% | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | Nonresident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2024 | Resident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 4 | 801 | 3 | 0.37% | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Resident | 40 | 7,473 | 37 | 0.50% | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Nonresident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2023 | Resident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 4 | 726 | 4 | 0.55% | 8 | 0 |
| 2022 | Resident | 40 | 5,973 | 36 | 0.60% | 27 | 0 |
| 2022 | Nonresident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2022 | Resident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 4 | 649 | 4 | 0.62% | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Resident | 40 | 5,620 | 36 | 0.64% | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Nonresident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2021 | Resident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 4 | 636 | 4 | 0.63% | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | Resident | 40 | 5,260 | 36 | 0.68% | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | Nonresident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2020 | Resident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 4 | 616 | 4 | 0.65% | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Resident | 40 | 5,402 | 36 | 0.67% | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Nonresident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2019 | Resident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2018 | Nonresident | 4 | 670 | 3 | 0.45% | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | Resident | 40 | 5,845 | 37 | 0.63% | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | Nonresident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 2018 | Resident landowner | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
Pool cap is FWP's own QTA column, and it is a ceiling rather than an allocation. The resident regular cap equals the overall quota; the nonresident caps are ten per cent of it and cover landowner and regular nonresidents together; the resident landowner cap is fifteen per cent. The department states plainly that the ceiling is not a floor: "although the nonresident quotas are set at 10%, that entire quota may not be drawn by nonresidents", and that if every resident applicant draws, nonresidents may go over ten per cent.
Landowner rows are a different drawing, not a subset of the one below them.Landowner preference is the first stage, worth up to fifteen per cent of the quota to resident landowners, and its applicants are counted apart from the regular pool throughout. FWP publishes the landowner pools at first choice only, which is why their second and third columns are dashes rather than noughts.
Sources for this licence
- 2026 Bison Drawing Statistics Report.pdf — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, dated 2026-05-11, fetched 2026-09-03
- 2025 Bison Drawing Statistics Report.pdf — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, dated 2025-05-07, fetched 2026-09-03
- 2024 Bison Drawing Statistics Report.pdf — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, dated 2024-05-09, fetched 2026-09-03
- 2023 Bison Drawing Statistics Report.pdf — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, dated 2023-05-24, fetched 2026-09-03
- 2022 Bison Drawing Statistics Report.xls — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, dated 2022-05-10, fetched 2026-09-03
- 2021 bison stats.pdf — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, dated 2021-12-21, fetched 2026-09-03
- 2020 bison stats.pdf — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, dated 2020-05-11, fetched 2026-09-03
- 2019 bison stats.pdf — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, dated 2019-06-17, fetched 2026-09-03
- 2018 bison stats.pdf — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, dated 2018-06-18, fetched 2026-09-03