This hunt district is within portions of Powell and Granite Counties. BLM, Block Management Areas and Deerlodge National Forest all offer thousands of acres of public land.
This district offers opportunities at mature bulls, mule deer and whitetails within the Flint Creek Mountain Range. The western slope of the range gets an increased amount of moisture and typically holds more animals with better feed.
Pikes Peak East and West are over 9,000 feet in the northern end of the Flint Creek Range. Some of the long ridges like Maywood, Emery, Pikes Peak, Dunkelberg and Eureka have elevations between 6,000 and 8,000 feet. Douglas Mountain near the northwest corner sits at 6,200 feet. Rock, Gold, Dempsey and Pike Peak Creeks are drainages on the east slope that flow toward the Clark Fork River. Creeks flowing to the west towards Flint Creek are Boulder, Douglas and Dunkelberg. Expect to find deep rugged gulches and steep slopes leading to mountain peaks tapering to broad ridges.
Alpine basins have grassy meadows carpeted with wildflowers, talus slopes support lichens and moss is found across the alpine. Near small streams and lakes there are patches of barren ground willows. Dropping below timberline dense forest of pine, spruce and fir crowd the mountain slopes. Dropping in elevation there are groves of aspen, stands of ponderosa pine and ridges covered with mountain mahogany and bitterbrush. Valley floors have irrigated crops, sagebrush flats with cottonwood and willows along creek bottoms.
Block Management Areas, Wildlife Management Areas, BLM land and the Deerlodge National Forest all make up thousands of acres of public access. Block and Wildlife Management Areas have travel restrictions so check with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks regional office for details. The Forest Service has maintained roads and trails that provides access up to some of the alpine lakes. Late October and the month of November can bring heavy snow, so be prepared for road closures leading into the National Forest. Check with the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest hotline before venturing out in the winter.
In the Deerlodge National Forest camping in any area, campsite or developed campground is limited to 16 accumulated days within any 30 day period. Communities of Phillipsburg, Deer Lodge and Anaconda provide limited choices for motels, restaurants, medical care and service stations. Butte further to the southeast has a wide variety of motels, hotels, cafés and restaurants, medical facilities and a regional airport.
Roughly 553 square miles
59.1% public land
Elevations from 4,500-9,300 feet
Prison Ranch has access restrictions
Over 3000 acres of BLM lands above Stewart Gulch
A six-person capacity cabin on Doney Lake for rental from the Deerlodge Ranger District year-round