Unit 331 (Pioneer Mountains-East Big Hole)
Montana Hunting Guide — Elk
Unit 331 lies in Beaverhead, Deer Lodge and Madison counties and covers about 1,359 square miles. Ground runs from 5,735 to 8,563 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.
Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 331
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Elk Hunting in Unit 331
Unit 331 lies in Beaverhead, Deer Lodge and Madison counties and covers about 1,359 square miles. Ground runs from 5,735 to 8,563 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 331
What Montana FWP publishes for unit 331 is a boundary, not a elk map. So the ground below is the unit's own and the read on where to start is ours, labelled as such. The unit lies in Beaverhead, Deer Lodge and Madison counties. It runs to about 1,359 square miles.
What bounds unit 331
Montana FWP draws unit 331 in Beaverhead, Deer Lodge and Madison counties with a boundary that runs on Route 278, Interstate 15 and Route 43, 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: Torrey Mountain, Tweedy Mountain and Pioneer Mountains
Named high points inside the unit include Torrey Mountain at 11,131 feet, Tweedy Mountain at 11,115 feet, Pioneer Mountains at 11,115 feet, Granite Mountain at 10,623 feet and Baldy Mountain at 10,560 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: Heart Park, Star Park and Sheldon Park
Below them sit Heart Park at 8,064 feet, Star Park at 8,058 feet, Sheldon Park at 7,821 feet, Queens Gulch at 7,749 feet and Bible Camp Park at 7,732 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.
Water: Argenta Spring, Dutchman Spring and Cave Gulch Spring
The water inside the unit line comes to 46 mapped stream reaches, 50 lakes and 79 stock tanks. Named sources include Argenta Spring, Dutchman Spring, Cave Gulch Spring, Kennison Spring, Frying Pan Spring and Elkhorn Hot 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 17%, BLM 15% 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 5,735 feet to 8,563 feet, averaging 7,262 — enough relief to separate summer range from winter range.
Unit 331 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 5,735–8,563 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 7,262 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 1,358.6 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.
Who owns the ground
- National Forest — 60%
- BLM — 15%
- State Trust — 8%
- Private / Other — 17%
Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
- 79 tanks
- 46 stream segments
- 50 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: Torrey Mountain (11,131 ft), Tweedy Mountain (11,115 ft), Granite Mountain (10,623 ft), Baldy Mountain (10,560 ft)
Holding ground: Cleve Park (8,834 ft), Alder Pass (8,519 ft), Fox Park (8,393 ft), Argenta Spring, Dutchman 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 331
Elk Success Rates
Montana FWP's 2023 harvest estimates carry no elk row for unit 331 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) | 448 | 1,068 | 41.9% | — |
| Rifle — B License either sex (nonresident) | 49 | 144 | 34.0% | — |
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 331. 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 331?
What is the elk success rate in unit 331?
Where do you stay and resupply for a unit 331 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