The hunt starts before you ever shoulder a rifle or draw a bow.
Hunters load their gear onto horses and mules and ride roughly nine miles into Steel Creek Outfitters’ backcountry camp, a trip that takes approximately three and a half to four hours. Once you reach camp, the horses have done their job of getting you away from the roads. Most of the hunting from there happens on foot.
During September archery season, the focus shifts to rutting elk. Guides work trails, timbered ridges, and secluded basins looking for fresh sign and calling into country where bulls may be holding. Hunters can expect to cover several miles a day, and smaller spike camps may be used when elk movement takes the hunt farther from the main camp.
Later in the season, the approach changes. Rifle hunting becomes more dependent on glassing, snow, tracks, feeding areas, and finding elk tucked into heavy timber. Horses can still help cover country, but once elk are located, hunters often finish the job on foot.
Deer add another opportunity to the fall hunt, while black bear and wolf may also be hunted when hunters carry the appropriate licenses. That means a day that begins looking for elk can quickly turn into a completely different opportunity if the mountains give you one.
Back at camp, the experience is classic Western outfitting: wall tents, wood stoves, cots, sleeping pads, good meals, horses tied nearby, and a trout-filled mountain lake just outside camp.
For hunters looking for a lodge hunt, this isn’t it.
The appeal is getting nine miles beyond the roads, sleeping under canvas, hunting Montana mountains from your boots, and spending the week living in the same country you came to hunt.
Camp includes:
Wall tents
Wood stoves
Cots
Foam sleeping pads
Chairs
Meals
Solar power
Outdoor shower
Access to a nearby trout-filled lake
Smaller spike camps may also be used farther from the main camp.
Pricing:
7-Day, 2 Hunters / 1 Guide — $6,550 per hunter
8-Day, 1 Hunter / 1 Guide — $7,850
Non-Hunter — $1,800
All prices are per person, all deposits are non-refundable unless not drawn for tags. If not drawn there will be a 25% booking fee non-refundable.
$50 of the hunt cost will be put towards HADF through MOGA.
