American Adventurer
Agency-listedMontana FWPFree

Blacktail WMA

Drive-up · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT · 44.90006, -112.30348
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Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.

SEASONAL -- this WMA is open only May 15 to Nov 30; it is CLOSED the rest of the year to protect big-game winter range. Do not plan a winter or early-spring night here. Blacktail Wildlife Management Area, managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, FWP Region 3. FWP's own site record lists a designated primitive campsite here and its fee table shows no camping fee. IMPORTANT -- THIS IS NOT FREE LAND, even though the camping itself costs nothing: Montana requires a Conservation License of every person aged 12 and older to use an FWP wildlife management area FOR ANY REASON, not just to hunt or fish. It is $8/year for residents, $10/year for nonresidents ($4 for resident youth 12-17 and seniors 62+). Buy it before you arrive. There is no separate per-night camping fee. Camping is allowed only in areas FWP has designated or marked for it (ARM 12.12.107), for no more than 7 nights in any 30-day period statewide. Primitive: pack in / pack out, no hookups and no drinking water; there is a vault toilet. Quiet hours are 10 p.m.-7 a.m. and certified weed-free feed is required for stock. We have not visited this site. Confirm the current season dates, the travel plan map and whether camping is still allowed with FWP Region 3 at (406)842-7407 before you go.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Blacktail WMA
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Blacktail WMA
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Weather outlook — at Blacktail WMA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,594 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Blacktail WMANIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.

Everything you need — measured from Blacktail WMA · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Water · 32 miWDump · 28 miDCenex · Fuel · 23 miFDell Merc · Grocery · 23 miGPerformance Truck and Auto · Mechanic · 27 miMClean Critter Laundromat · Laundry · 27 miLFishTales Outfitting · Outfitter · 38 miOLima Post Office · Mail · 23 mi@Dell Mercantile (Dell, MT) · EV fast charger · 23 miEV
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • FFuel23 mi
  • GGrocery23 mi
  • EVEV fast charger23 mi
  • @Mail23 mi
  • MMechanic27 mi
  • LLaundry27 mi
  • DDump28 mi
  • WWater32 mi
  • OOutfitter38 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is a real 32-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 23 mi out.

Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.

One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗

The site — Blacktail WMA

Access
Drive-up
Land
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
Elevation
6,594 ft
State
MT
Coordinates
44.90006, -112.30348
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply — around Blacktail WMA · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT (OpenStreetMap)

  • Drinking waternone within 10 mi
  • FuelFuel · ~22.9 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump station~27.7 mi
  • GroceriesDell Merc · ~22.9 mi

EV charging — from Blacktail WMA · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearby restrooms — around Blacktail WMA · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Open Blacktail WMA elsewhere

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Other camps near Blacktail WMA

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

Snow, and when this opens

The nearest automatic snow station is Divide at 7,770 ft, about 14 miles away. It sits about 1,176 ft higher than this camp, so treat it as a guide rather than a reading for this spot. We do not repeat a depth here, because any number we stored would be stale by the time you read it — the station publishes today's.

Divide snowpack, from NRCS →

How we know this — Blacktail WMA

Stay limit
7 nights (Stay limit 7 nights)
Source
Montana FWP (wildlife management areas)
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Montana FWP WMA. Camping flag: fwpLands WMA Locations layer (fwp-gis.mt.gov/arcgis/rest/services/fwplnd/fwpLands/MapServer/7), CAMPING='Yes'. Designated campsite independently confirmed by the Facilities list on FWP's own site page myfwp.mt.gov/fwpPub/landsMgmt/siteDetail.action?lmsId=39753350 ('Campsite Pack in/Pack out Toilet (Vault)'). No camping fee: that page's structured `sitefees` table lists only Conservation License rows -- no 'FAS Camping' row (which is $12/$18 per the 2025 FAS Annual Rule where it applies). Conservation License required for any use of an FWP WMA per FWP's conservation-license page and the 2026 Fishing Regulations ('for any reason'). Stay limit 7 nights/30 days per ARM 12.12.107. Coordinates cross-checked between two independent FWP channels -- GIS geometry and the detail page's stated Latitude/Longitude -- agreeing to 0.0007 mi. Open season per FWP: May 15 to Nov 30. Nightshift ingest 2026-07-20 21:28:38. WATER (fire 1740, batch 3, tier F): https://myfwp.mt.gov/fwpPub/landsMgmt/siteDetail.action?lmsId=39753350 -- Montana FWP's own site record for this WMA itemises its Facilities as "Campsite / Pack in/Pack out / Toilet (Vault)". Absence is read as no drinking water because FWP's Facilities vocabulary does carry water items and does use them: "Drinking Water" / "Water (Pump)" / "Water (Pressurized)" appear on 10 of the 23 FWP state-park pages read this fire through the same widget. This is a single-channel value -- FWP publishes no second per-site water channel, and no field visit backs it.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.

What we don’t know about Blacktail WMA

A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.

Before you go — Blacktail WMA

Winter vs summer roads →Water on public land →Cold-weather camping →How to read this page →All field notes →
Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →