Unit 313 (Gardiner)
Montana Hunting Guide — Elk
Unit 313 lies in Park County and covers about 194 square miles. Ground runs from 5,448 to 9,473 feet. Montana FWP publishes no per-unit elk success figure we can verify for this unit. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 313
Unit 313 lies in Park County and covers about 194 square miles. Ground runs from 5,448 to 9,473 feet. Montana FWP publishes no per-unit elk success figure we can verify for this unit. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Elk in Unit 313
What Montana FWP publishes for unit 313 is a boundary, not a elk map. Every place named below sits inside the unit line. Which of them holds animals in your season is for you to find out. The unit lies in Park County. It runs to about 194 square miles.
The lines of the unit: Yellowstone River, Sixmile Creek and Monitor Peak
Montana FWP draws unit 313 in Park County with a boundary that runs on Highway 540, and on Yellowstone River, Sixmile Creek, Monitor Peak and Mill Hellroaring-Bear Creek, walked corner by corner in its hunting district legal descriptions. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. Its value is practical — those are the features you will navigate by, and the ridges that separate one day's country from another's.
High ground inside the line: Sheep Mountain, Sliding Mountain and Palmer Mountain
Named high points inside the unit include Sheep Mountain at 10,514 feet, Sliding Mountain at 9,419 feet, Palmer Mountain at 9,345 feet, Red Mountain at 8,880 feet and Oregon Mountain at 8,850 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Elk want timber to bed in and open ground to feed on, within a short walk of each other.
Holding ground: Black Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yankee Jim Canyon and Maiden Basin
Below them sit Black Canyon of the Yellowstone at 5,275 feet, Yankee Jim Canyon at 4,989 feet, Maiden Basin at 7,173 feet, Big Pine Basin at 7,033 feet and Stands Basin at 6,699 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.
Water: LaDuke Spring
The water inside the unit line comes to 209 mapped stream reaches, 10 lakes and 39 stock tanks. Named sources include LaDuke Spring. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.
Reading the land status
Our ownership read for this unit is approximate — it comes out as National Forest 60%, Private / Other 32% and State Trust 8%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. The unit runs from 5,448 feet to 9,473 feet, averaging 7,709 — that is a lot of vertical to cover, and it means the season you draw decides which half of the unit you hunt.
Unit 313 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 5,448–9,473 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,709 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
- 194.3 sq mi inside the boundary.
Who owns the ground
- National Forest — 60%
- State Trust — 8%
- Private / Other — 32%
Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 39 tanks
- 209 stream segments
- 10 lakes
Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Sheep Mountain (10,514 ft), Sliding Mountain (9,419 ft), Palmer Mountain (9,345 ft), Red Mountain (8,880 ft)
Holding ground: Maiden Basin (7,173 ft), Big Pine Basin (7,033 ft), Deckard Flats (6,264 ft), LaDuke Spring
Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.
How to Hunt Elk in Unit 313
Elk Success Rates
Montana FWP's 2023 harvest estimates carry no elk row for unit 313 that we can read back to this unit on its own. Where the agency reports a unit inside a grouping, or prints a table our parser cannot resolve to a single column, we leave the number out rather than publish a statewide average as though it had been measured here. Montana FWP's current harvest estimates are the place to check before you apply.
Elk Draw Odds
| Season | Tags | Applicants | Draw % | Pts (n/p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle — B License either sex (resident) | 48 | 98 | 49.0% | — |
| Rifle — B License either sex (nonresident) | 2 | 4 | 50.0% | — |
Data from 2025 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number. This agency publishes no point thresholds, so the Pts column stays blank and these are pool odds, not what a point total draws.
Open in Draw Odds EngineMontana FWP's draw recap has no elk record we can tie to unit 313. That usually means the licence is sold over the counter, is issued under a hunt code covering several units, or was not offered in the years we hold. Rather than estimate a point requirement, we leave it blank — check Montana FWP's own draw recap for the hunt code you mean to apply for.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Colorado unit 313?
What is the elk success rate in unit 313?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 313 hunt?
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Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-24.
- Montana FWP Hunting District Legal Descriptions, 2026/2027 — deer-elk hunting districts (pp. 19-35) — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · supports: GMU boundary description, Counties the unit lies in · accessed 2026-10-24
- FWP hunting district feature services — deer/elk, antelope, moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat districts (2026 and 2027 seasons) — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · supports: Mapped extent of the unit, Which named ground falls inside the unit line · accessed 2026-10-24