Montana Antelope – What to know before applying in 2026

I consider Montana a neutral trending state in 2026 for pronghorn—it remains an opportunity state. Populations are estimated to bump up a tick from 2025, and the winter of 2025 and 2026 was normal, so no big die-offs are expected. Montana FWP does not conduct population counts every year. Tags are, however, becoming more and more difficult to draw, as resident and nonresident applications are increasing exponentially. Fish Wildlife and Parks estimates the pronghorn herd around 159,000 as of 2025. Region 7 saw the biggest population increase in Montana during 2025. Pronghorn numbers as a whole have not recovered in some areas of eastern Montana from the catastrophic winter of 2010-2011, following several rounds of EHD that decimated the population the last several years. Now add drought into the mix, and that sets things up for a declining population. The last decade has been hard for pronghorn, and they just haven’t been able to bounce back to the numbers of the early 2000s. Eastern Montana saw a lot of drought in the spring and summer of 2020 through ’23, which affected trophy quality and fawn recruitment for the hunting season. I would say the quality of bucks was marginal for an all-around assessment of the state last year.

The winter of 2025-26 has been pretty dry and easy for pronghorn. In fact, winter hasn’t really even hit besides a couple snow storms that didn’t last that long. In 2024, FWP split the management in Region 7. There is now a “north-of-the-river” hunt and a “south-of-the-river” hunt, meaning the districts north of the Yellowstone River in Region 7 are valid on license 007-21, and all districts south of the Yellowstone River are a separate tag and another hunt, 007-20. Don’t mix these up, and be sure you are applying for the right tag if this is the Region you intend on hunting.

Region 3 is currently at historic lows, mostly because of overharvest. Apparently, about 3,200 hunters holding the 900 series archery tag hunted Region 3 last year, killing 1,700 animals. In result, hunting in Region 3 is going to be limited to 500 hunters in 2026 to relieve the pressure on a reduced herd. This new archery only tag is 399-20 and once again is only valid for Region 3 HDs with archery equipment. You may not hunt anywhere else in the state.

In Montana, pronghorn primarily make their home in Regions 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. Last year, there was a ton of district restructuring going on, especially in Regions 3, 4 and 5. FWP combined a bunch of units to make bigger areas with the same number of tags. Be sure to check the map to make sure you know what you are applying for, because district numbers have changed.

According to FWP, the pronghorn range covers over 11 million acres of public land. In addition, FWP estimates pronghorn roam over 39 million acres of private ground. The majority of the pronghorn are on private land in Montana, and they are treated as grazing competition for livestock, so the trickle-down effect means the state is going to allocate more tags.

Montana offers decent draw odds, but the trophy quality is not as good as you will find in other states. A realistic trophy is a solid 70-inch buck, and a 75-80-inch buck is very good. Consider gaining private access or finding agriculture that bucks are visiting all spring and summer for the best horn growth. Studies have shown that if a buck can get to the age of four, that’s when he will reach his maximum potential for the best horn growth.

In my opinion, Montana does not have any Blue-Chip pronghorn units that you would find in other states. However, the Green- and even many of the Yellow-Chip areas are hunts where you will have good odds at punching your tag and finding a nice buck. The best bucks are usually found on private, so just because the unit is considered marginal as a whole, does not necessarily mean there aren’t any quality animals there. Ultimately, you just never know where an 80-inch buck will pop up in any given year. With that in mind, these are my top picks for Montana pronghorn.