A 10-year-old passes the in-person course. When is that student fully certified?Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Hunter Education page
A 14-year-old takes hunter education online. What else is required?Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Hunter Education page
A new resident passed hunter safety in another state years ago. Does Montana accept it?MCA 87-2-105
A person with a developmental disability completes the classroom and field course but cannot pass the exam. What may be issued?MCA 87-2-126
From what age may a student take the free in-person hunter education course?Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Hunter Education page
May a student attend the field day first and take the online course afterward?Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Hunter Education page
What does a first-time archery hunter show to get a bow and arrow license?MCA 87-2-105
What does an online student bring to the field day?Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Hunter Education page
What happens to a field day student who cannot show proficiency in the listed topics?Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Hunter Education page
What must an in-person student do to be certified?Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Hunter Education page
Show all 77 questions (67 more)
Hunter education and licenses, continued
What must every hunter obtain first, once each license year, before applying for a hunting license?MCA 87-2-116
What must the adult who assists a hunter using a provisional certificate be able to do?MCA 87-2-126
What must the Montana hunter safety and education course include by statute?MCA 87-2-105
Which of these subjects does the department list for its hunter education courses?Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Hunter Education page
Who may certify through the online-only course, with no field day?Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Hunter Education page
Who may the department designate as a hunter education instructor?MCA 87-2-105
Who must show proof of a hunter safety and education course before Montana issues a hunting license?MCA 87-2-105
Apprentice hunters and mentors 12
A 12-year-old apprentice wants to hunt with a family friend. What makes the friend eligible to mentor?MCA 87-2-810
An apprentice under what age may not obtain an elk license?MCA 87-2-810
For how many license years may a person hunt as an apprentice before the course is required?MCA 87-2-810
How close must a mentor stay to the apprentice in the field?MCA 87-2-810
How many apprentices may one mentor accompany at a time, according to the department?Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Apprentice Hunter page
How old must a mentor be?MCA 87-2-810
How old must a person be to use an apprentice certificate?MCA 87-2-810
May a mentor hunt while accompanying the apprentice?Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Apprentice Hunter page
May an apprentice put in for a limited-quota drawing?MCA 87-2-810
What can an apprentice or mentor lose by breaking the terms of the apprentice law?MCA 87-2-810
What must a hunting mentor hold besides hunter education?MCA 87-2-810
Which license may an apprentice not obtain?MCA 87-2-810
Orange, tags and waste 19
A checking station is on a hunter's route home and staff are on duty. What must the hunter do?MCA 87-6-218
A deer is killed in a hunting district other than the one printed on the tag. May that tag be validated for it?MCA 87-6-411
A father shoots a deer. May his daughter validate her own license for it?MCA 87-6-304
A hunter takes the antlers and hide of an elk and leaves the rest. What is that under the law?MCA 87-6-205
Besides hunters, who must wear hunter orange on a big game hunt?MCA 87-6-414
By when must a hunter validate the tag after killing a game animal?MCA 87-6-411
For migratory birds, which part does the waste law treat as "suitable for food"?MCA 87-6-205
How does the statute define "hunter orange"?MCA 87-6-414
How is a paper tag validated?MCA 87-6-411
How long must evidence of sex stay with a game animal carcass?MCA 87-6-406
How many game animals of one species may a hunter take in a license year, unless regulations allow more?MCA 87-6-413
How much hunter orange must a big game hunter wear?MCA 87-6-414
In a district with an antler point restriction, what must be kept until the carcass is processed?MCA 87-6-406
What license must a person hold before hunting ducks or geese?MCA 87-6-301
What may electronic validation of a tag not collect?MCA 87-2-119
What may the hunter of a mountain lion not leave in the field?MCA 87-6-205
Where must a hunter's license be while hunting?MCA 87-6-304
Where must the hunter orange be worn?MCA 87-6-414
Which hunter is exempt from the hunter orange rule?MCA 87-6-414
Equipment, vehicles and dogs 18
A dog is used to track a wounded elk. How must it be controlled?MCA 87-6-404
A hunter stays in the truck bed to shoot at an antelope. What does the law say?MCA 87-6-405
A person unlawfully shoots at a wildlife decoy set out by an officer. What is owed besides the regular penalty?MCA 87-6-217
An electronic call may be used to hunt which of these?MCA 87-6-401
Deer urine bottled in a state with chronic wasting disease is sold as cover scent. What does the law say about using it?MCA 87-6-221
Is a radio-tracking collar on a hunting dog a banned motion-tracking device?MCA 87-6-401
Is looking for game through the windshield "hunting from a vehicle"?MCA 87-6-405
May a hunter drive off road on state land?MCA 87-6-405
May a rifle be used on wild turkey in the spring season?MCA 87-6-401
May a snowmobile or aircraft be used to herd elk toward hunters?MCA 87-6-107
May deer be chased with a dog?MCA 87-6-404
On a ranch road that is not a public highway, what must be true before a hunter shoots?MCA 87-6-405
What is the largest shotgun allowed for shooting waterfowl from a blind over decoys?MCA 87-6-401
When may a rifle be used on upland game birds?MCA 87-6-401
Which activity is expressly not a supplemental feeding violation?MCA 87-6-216
Which of these may be hunted with the aid of a dog in the open season?MCA 87-6-404
Which of these may not be used to hunt a game animal?MCA 87-6-401
While hunting on private land, when may a vehicle leave the roads and trails the landowner has designated?MCA 87-6-405
Permission, highways and interference 11
A person walks through a field shouting to keep hunters from taking deer lawfully. What is this?MCA 87-6-215
A second no-permission conviction within 5 years costs hunting privileges for how long?MCA 87-6-415
A shot grouse falls across the fence on private land. Is permission needed to go and get it?MCA 87-6-415
Besides a fine, what follows a conviction for hunting from a public highway?MCA 87-6-403
Does the harassment law stop a rancher from protecting livestock that is in danger?MCA 87-6-215
May a hunter cross private land without permission to reach public land to hunt?MCA 87-6-415
May a hunter shoot at a game bird across a public highway?MCA 87-6-403
May game animals be hunted inside the boundaries of a town?MCA 87-6-402
What does section 87-6-204 forbid?MCA 87-6-204
What is the fine for a first offense of hunting private land without permission?MCA 87-6-415
Whose permission is needed to hunt on private property?MCA 87-6-415
How this list was compiled: Written from the Montana Code Annotated 2025 as the Legislature publishes it at https://mca.legmt.gov/ : Title 87, chapter 2 (licenses: sections 87-2-105, 87-2-116, 87-2-119, 87-2-126 and 87-2-810) and chapter 6 (offenses: sections 87-6-101, 87-6-107, 87-6-204, 87-6-205, 87-6-215 to 87-6-218, 87-6-221, 87-6-301, 87-6-304, 87-6-401 to 87-6-406, 87-6-411 and 87-6-413 to 87-6-415). All were read on 2026-10-13; each question names its section and links to it. The course facts (the three course formats, their ages, the field day and the final exam) and two mentor facts are Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' own, read the same day on its Hunter Education page at https://fwp.mt.gov/hunt/education/hunter and its Apprentice Hunter page at https://fwp.mt.gov/hunt/education/apprentice-hunter ; the Hunter Education page is the published outline this page follows. The department publishes no question count, pass mark or time limit for the final exam on that page, so none is given here. Licence: Own work. Questions, answer choices and explanations were written for this site from the text of the Montana Code Annotated and the facts on Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' public pages; nothing is copied from a hunter education manual, a study guide, an online course, a chapter review or an examination.
How it works
An unofficial Montana hunter safety practice test: our own questions from Title 87 of the Montana Code Annotated, each with its section. Safe firearm handling is taught in class and shown at the field day.
Read the full guide
Rules that are Montana's own
Big game hunters wear 400 square inches of hunter orange above the waist. A tag is validated before the carcass or the hunter leaves the kill site. Private land takes permission, even to fetch a downed bird.
What the course is
The classroom course of Fish, Wildlife & Parks ends in a field day and a final exam. The department publishes no question count or pass mark, so none is claimed here.
Hunting game on, from or across a public highway or its barrow pit is an offense.
Evidence of sex stays with the carcass until it is processed.
Questions and answers
Who needs hunter education in Montana?
Anyone born after January 1, 1985, before a hunting license is issued, under section 87-2-105. A course from any other state or province counts, and apprentice certificate holders are excepted.
How old do you have to be to take hunter safety in Montana?
Ten for the free in-person course. Students aged 10 and 11 may hunt as apprentices but are not fully certified until the year they turn 12.
Can you hunt in Montana without hunter education?
For up to two license years, yes. A person 10 or older may use an apprentice certificate and hunt within sight and voice of a mentor aged at least 21. Some licenses, such as black bear, are not open to apprentices.
Is the Montana hunter education course online?
Partly. Ages 12 to 17 may study online but must also pass a four-hour in-person field day. Students 18 and older may certify online with no field day. The in-person course is free.
Is this the official Montana hunter education test?
No. It is unofficial and not affiliated with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The questions are our own, written from the Montana Code Annotated; none comes from the department's exam or its course material.