Big Game by StateThe public record of western draws

Montana · Deer · District 204

Montana deer permit 204-50

How many people put this deer permitfirst 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 2021 drawing did

FWP drew 204-50 without a limit in 2021 and issued 384 licences. Across the four pools FWP draws separately, no nonresident landowner applicant put it first; 1 resident landowner applicant put it first and 1 drew, 100.00%; 17 nonresident applicants put it first and 17 drew, 100.00%; 140 resident applicants put it first and 140 drew, 100.00%.

This licence code stops appearing after 2021. FWP's 2026 reports do not carry it, and this site does not map a retired code onto a current one — the department renumbered its licence-type suffixes and has published nothing saying which old code became which new one. What is below is the record of the 8 years it was drawn.

Drawing pool

First-choice success rate, by pool and year

The rate is the first-choice applicants in a pool who drew, divided by the first-choice applicants in that pool. Both are exact integers FWP printed in the same row, and it is the measure the department's own drawing statistics tool publishes: "the percentage of 1st choice applicants that were successful". A dash means nobody in that pool applied, so the draw answered nothing — absent, not nought.
YearPoolPool capPut it firstDrew on first choiceFirst-choice success ratePut it 2nd or 3rdDrew on 2nd or 3rd
2021Nonresidentno limit1717100.00%1313
2021Residentno limit140140100.00%213213
2021Nonresident landownerno limit00———
2021Resident landownerno limit11100.00%——
2020Nonresidentno limit1111100.00%55
2020Residentno limit127127100.00%211211
2020Nonresident landownerno limit00———
2020Resident landownerno limit00———
2019Nonresidentno limit1010100.00%99
2019Residentno limit150150100.00%295295
2019Nonresident landownerno limit00———
2019Resident landownerno limit00———
2018Nonresidentno limit2121100.00%1818
2018Residentno limit169169100.00%281281
2018Nonresident landownerno limit00———
2018Resident landownerno limit00———
2017Nonresidentno limit1414100.00%1313
2017Residentno limit172172100.00%342342
2017Nonresident landownerno limit00———
2017Resident landownerno limit11100.00%——
2016Nonresidentno limit1111100.00%1212
2016Residentno limit216216100.00%362362
2016Nonresident landownerno limit00———
2016Resident landownerno limit00———
2015Nonresidentno limit1515100.00%88
2015Residentno limit225225100.00%352352
2015Nonresident landownerno limit11100.00%——
2015Resident landownerno limit00———
2014Nonresidentno limit99100.00%66
2014Residentno limit200200100.00%285285
2014Nonresident landownerno limit00———
2014Resident landownerno limit00———

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.

Draw rate at each bonus point level

One row per bonus point level per pool per year, exactly as FWP's Detailed Bonus Point report publishes it. The rate is that level's successes divided by its applications — both exact integers in the same printed row.
YearPoolBonus pointsAppliedDrewDrew at this level
2021Nonresident044100.00%
2021Nonresident111100.00%
2021Nonresidentnot stated1212100.00%
2021Resident01414100.00%
2021Resident155100.00%
2021Resident311100.00%
2021Resident411100.00%
2021Residentnot stated119119100.00%
2021Resident landownernot stated11100.00%
2020Nonresident044100.00%
2020Nonresidentnot stated77100.00%
2020Resident02929100.00%
2020Resident122100.00%
2020Resident233100.00%
2020Resident411100.00%
2020Resident611100.00%
2020Residentnot stated9191100.00%
2019Nonresident044100.00%
2019Nonresidentnot stated66100.00%
2019Resident04343100.00%
2019Resident144100.00%
2019Resident233100.00%
2019Resident311100.00%
2019Resident622100.00%
2019Resident1011100.00%
2019Residentnot stated9696100.00%
2018Nonresident088100.00%
2018Nonresidentnot stated1313100.00%
2018Resident02424100.00%
2018Resident144100.00%
2018Resident222100.00%
2018Resident311100.00%
2018Resident711100.00%
2018Residentnot stated137137100.00%
2017Nonresident055100.00%
2017Nonresidentnot stated99100.00%
2017Resident03535100.00%
2017Resident177100.00%
2017Residentnot stated130130100.00%
2017Resident landownernot stated11100.00%
2016Nonresident022100.00%
2016Nonresidentnot stated99100.00%
2016Resident03838100.00%
2016Resident177100.00%
2016Resident311100.00%
2016Resident411100.00%
2016Residentnot stated169169100.00%
2015Nonresident055100.00%
2015Nonresidentnot stated1010100.00%
2015Resident03030100.00%
2015Resident133100.00%
2015Resident222100.00%
2015Resident422100.00%
2015Resident511100.00%
2015Resident611100.00%
2015Residentnot stated186186100.00%
2015Nonresident landownernot stated11100.00%
2014Nonresident011100.00%
2014Nonresidentnot stated88100.00%
2014Resident03333100.00%
2014Resident122100.00%
2014Resident411100.00%
2014Residentnot stated164164100.00%

No bonus point level guarantees a licence in Montana, and this page does not publish one. FWP squares your bonus points and adds them to your current application as extra chances — three points give ten chances, ten points give a hundred and one — so the drawing is a weighted lottery and not a queue. More points is better odds every time, and a place in line never.

Not stated is FWP's own blank cell, and it is not the same as nought. The department's reports frequently carry both a nought-point row and a blank one for the same pool in the same year, with different application counts, and both are inside the district total it prints. FWP does not say what separates them, so they are shown apart rather than added together into a "no points" figure it never published.

No limit is a district FWP drew without a quota. Its reports print a sentinel in the quota column for these and footnote their own totals to exclude them, so no quota is shown rather than the sentinel's digits.

Sources for this licence

Other licences in these districts

Bonus points are one of Montana's two point systems and the only one that applies here. The other, preference points, exists on nonresident combination licences alone and works in the opposite way. See how these numbers are produced and checked, or the Montana application deadlines.