State guide · 2026–2027 season

Montana Wildlife Refuge Hunting

Montana has 28 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges and stations in our database, 23 of which list hunting opportunities, plus 99 named Waterfowl Production Areas covering 55,326 acres of walk-in public land. The largest huntable refuge areas are Charles M. Russell NWR (931K ac), UL Bend NWR (55.8K ac) and Red Rock Lakes NWR (35.2K ac).

State map All refuges MT WPAs State licenses ↗

28refuges & stations

69hunt units

1.1Mhuntable acres

99WPAs

Map of refuges & WPAs in Montana

Loading interactive map…

Refuge with open unitsNo open unitsWPANational Wildlife Refuge Tip: switch to Satellite or USGS Topo in the layer menu · click the map for GPS coordinates

Montana by the numbers

Hunt unit acreage by status

Open93,116 ac 8%
Special regulations1,044,640 ac 88%
Closed54,288 ac 5%

Refuges offering each activity

Hunt unit acres by refuge — open special regs closed

Charles M. Russell NWR

934K

55.8K

51.4K

31.5K

15.5K

15K

12.3K

Northeast Montana WMD

12.1K

Lake Mason NWR

11.2K

Bowdoin WMD

10.6K

Lost Trail NWR

7.9K

Northwest Montana WMD-Flathead County

7.3K

Charles M. Russell WMD

6.6K

Northwest Montana WMD-Lake County

3.6K

Grass Lake NWR

3.4K

Waterfowl Production Area acres by county

9,958 ac

8,207 ac

7,953 ac

5,082 ac

4,679 ac

4,572 ac

3,669 ac

2,474 ac

2,112 ac

1,557 ac

1,137 ac

775 ac

All refuges & stations in Montana

Benton Lake NWR

Cascade County, MT

4 special6 closed

🦆🐦🎣

5K huntable acres

Benton Lake WMD

Cascade County, MT

2 open1 closed

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🎣

12.8K huntable acres

Black Coulee NWR

Blaine County, MT

1 open

🦌🦆🐦🕊️🐇

643 huntable acres

Bowdoin NWR

Phillips County, MT

1 open2 special1 closed

🦆🐦🕊️🐇

15.4K huntable acres

Bowdoin WMD

Phillips County, MT

1 open1 special1 closed

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🎣

8.3K huntable acres

Bozeman FTC

Gallatin County, MT

1 closed

No hunting listed

Charles M. Russell NWR

Garfield County, MT

1 special2 closed

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🎣

931K huntable acres

Charles M. Russell WMD

Fergus County, MT

1 open1 special

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🎣

6.6K huntable acres

Creedman Coulee NWR

Hill County, MT

1 open

🦌🦆🐦🕊️🐇

84 huntable acres

Creston NFH

Flathead County, MT

1 closed

No hunting listed

Ennis NFH

Madison County, MT

1 closed

No hunting listed

Grass Lake NWR

Stillwater County, MT

1 open1 closed

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️

1.7K huntable acres

Hailstone NWR

Stillwater County, MT

1 open

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️

156 huntable acres

Hewitt Lake NWR

Phillips County, MT

1 open

🦌🦆🐦🕊️🐇

720 huntable acres

Lake Mason NWR

Musselshell County, MT

3 open1 closed

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️

8.8K huntable acres

Lake Thibadeau NWR

Hill County, MT

1 open

🦌🦆🐦🕊️🐇

24 huntable acres

Lee Metcalf NWR

Ravalli County, MT

2 open2 special2 closed

🦌🦆🦃🎣

2.3K huntable acres

Lost Trail NWR

Flathead County, MT

1 open1 closed

🦌🦃🐦

3.2K huntable acres

Medicine Lake NWR

Sheridan County, MT

3 special1 closed

🦌🦆🐦🕊️🐇🎣

22K huntable acres

Ninepipe NWR

Lake County, MT

1 closed

🎣

Northeast Montana WMD

Sheridan County, MT

1 open

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🎣

12.1K huntable acres

Northwest Montana WMD-Flathead County

Flathead County, MT

2 special1 closed

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🎣

7.2K huntable acres

Northwest Montana WMD-Lake County

Lake County, MT

1 special

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🎣

3.6K huntable acres

Pablo NWR

Lake County, MT

1 closed

🎣

Red Rock Lakes NWR

Beaverhead County, MT

3 open2 closed

🦌🦆🎣

35.2K huntable acres

Swan River NWR

Lake County, MT

2 special

🦌🦆🎣

1.9K huntable acres

UL Bend NWR

Phillips County, MT

1 special

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🐇🎣

55.8K huntable acres

War Horse NWR

Petroleum County, MT

3 open

🦌🦆🦃🐦🕊️🎣

2.9K huntable acres

Counties with federal public hunting land

Beaverhead County 1 refuge
Blaine County 2 WPAs · 2 refuges
Carbon County 1 refuge
Cascade County 2 WPAs · 2 refuges
Chouteau County 2 WPAs · 2 refuges
Daniels County 3 WPAs · 1 refuge
Fergus County 2 refuges
Flathead County 7 WPAs · 3 refuges
Gallatin County 1 refuge
Garfield County 2 refuges
Glacier County 1 WPA · 1 refuge
Golden Valley County 1 WPA · 1 refuge
Hill County 1 WPA · 3 refuges
Lake County 9 WPAs · 4 refuges
Liberty County 1 refuge
Lincoln County 1 refuge
Madison County 2 refuges
McCone County 1 refuge
Musselshell County 1 WPA · 2 refuges
Petroleum County 1 WPA · 4 refuges
Phillips County 11 WPAs · 5 refuges
Pondera County 1 WPA · 1 refuge
Powell County 4 WPAs · 1 refuge
Ravalli County 1 refuge
Roosevelt County 1 WPA · 2 refuges
Sheridan County 38 WPAs · 2 refuges
Stillwater County 2 WPAs · 3 refuges
Teton County 3 WPAs · 2 refuges
Toole County 8 WPAs · 1 refuge
Valley County 1 refuge
Yellowstone County 1 WPA · 1 refuge

Hunting in Montana: what to know

Licenses & seasons

Refuge hunts follow Montana seasons, bag limits and license requirements set by the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Refuges may be more restrictive — never less — than state rules.

Refuge-specific rules

Each refuge publishes hunt regulations in 50 CFR Part 32 and in its hunt brochure. Units marked special regulations may limit species, dates, weapons, or require quota permits.

Walk-in WPAs

Montana's 99 Waterfowl Production Areas are generally open to hunting under state rules. Browse MT WPAs by county →

Montana Wildlife Refuge Hunting

Map of refuges & WPAs in Montana

Montana by the numbers

All refuges & stations in Montana

Benton Lake NWR

Benton Lake WMD

Black Coulee NWR

Bowdoin NWR

Bowdoin WMD

Bozeman FTC

Charles M. Russell NWR

Charles M. Russell WMD

Creedman Coulee NWR

Creston NFH

Ennis NFH

Grass Lake NWR

Hailstone NWR

Hewitt Lake NWR

Lake Mason NWR

Lake Thibadeau NWR

Lee Metcalf NWR

Lost Trail NWR

Medicine Lake NWR

Ninepipe NWR

Northeast Montana WMD

Northwest Montana WMD-Flathead County

Northwest Montana WMD-Lake County

Pablo NWR

Red Rock Lakes NWR

Swan River NWR

UL Bend NWR

War Horse NWR

Counties with federal public hunting land

Hunting in Montana: what to know

Licenses & seasons

Refuge-specific rules

Walk-in WPAs

Other states