Unit 321 (West Big Hole-Mussigbrod)
Montana Hunting Guide — Elk
Unit 321 lies in Beaverhead County and covers about 785 square miles. Ground runs from 5,982 to 8,250 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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Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Montana Unit 321 guide around your hunt: three ranked spots with morning, afternoon and evening plays, a day-by-day plan, topo maps with every pin numbered, a camp and access plan, the legal and retrieval rules for this unit, shot discipline, a meat-care and pack-out plan, and a pre-trip checklist. Every coordinate sits on land recorded as public.
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Elk Hunting in Unit 321
Unit 321 lies in Beaverhead County and covers about 785 square miles. Ground runs from 5,982 to 8,250 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 321
What Montana FWP publishes for unit 321 is a boundary, not a elk map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Beaverhead County. It runs to about 785 square miles.
The lines of the unit: Big Hole-Bloody Dick Divide, Continental Divide and Pintler Creek
Montana FWP draws unit 321 in Beaverhead County with a boundary that runs on Route 278 and Highway 43, and on Big Hole-Bloody Dick Divide, Continental Divide, Pintler Creek and Big Hole River, walked corner by corner in its hunting district legal descriptions. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. What it does give you is the way in: the rivers and highways you cross, and the divides that decide which drainage you end up in.
High ground inside the line: Homer Youngs Peak, Hirschy Mountain and Sacajawea Peaks
Named high points inside the unit include Homer Youngs Peak at 10,611 feet, Hirschy Mountain at 10,384 feet, Sacajawea Peaks at 10,331 feet, Monument Peak at 10,238 feet and Jumbo Mountain at 9,677 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Elk on low, open country live on distance and visibility, so they see you first.
Holding ground: Beaver Pond Basin, Gravelle Park and Gibbons Pass
Below them sit Beaver Pond Basin at 7,056 feet, Gravelle Park at 7,055 feet, Gibbons Pass at 6,953 feet, Isaac Meadows at 6,723 feet and Portal Gulch at 6,556 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this unit has, and they are what you glass into from above. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.
Water in this unit
The water inside the unit line comes to 91 mapped stream reaches, 29 lakes, 88 stock tanks and 14 springs. 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 5,982 feet to 8,250 feet, averaging 6,824 — enough relief to separate summer range from winter range.
Unit 321 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 5,982–8,250 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 6,824 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 785 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
- 88 tanks
- 14 springs
- 91 stream segments
- 29 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: Homer Youngs Peak (10,611 ft), Hirschy Mountain (10,384 ft), Monument Peak (10,238 ft), Jumbo Mountain (9,677 ft)
Holding ground: Elk Park (8,529 ft), Moose Meadow (8,133 ft), Schultz Saddle (7,934 ft)
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 321
Elk Success Rates
Montana FWP's 2023 harvest estimates carry no elk row for unit 321 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) | 178 | 396 | 44.9% | — |
| Rifle — B License either sex (nonresident) | 18 | 81 | 22.2% | — |
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 321. 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 321?
What is the elk success rate in unit 321?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 321 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