District 217, Montana

The Clark Fork River valley floor sits at approximately 4,000 feet elevation along I-90 near Drummond. The Flint Creek Range — whose high point is Mount Powell at 10,168 ft and Deer Lodge Mountain at 9,765 ft — rises steeply above the valley; GoHunt's district boundary caps the huntable elevation at approximately 7,300 ft. Terrain is sharply vertical: dense timbered slopes, broken granite ridgelines (including the 'Crater' formation visible from I-90), cirque basins, and alpine meadows above treeline. Approximately 60,000 acres of the Flints are roadless. The district spans approximately 301 square miles total (HuntScore alternatively cites 143 sq mi / 91,276 acres, possibly reflecting a different boundary calculation).

Public land comprises approximately 30% of the district (28% USFS Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, 2% State) per HuntScore; GoHunt separately reports 13.8% — figures likely reflect different boundary or access calculations. Primary highway access enters via Interstate 90 (Drummond exit) from the north and Montana State Route 1 from Philipsburg to the south. Secondary roads include Princeton Road and Jens Road off I-90. The roughly 60,000 roadless acres in the Flints require non-motorized access from Forest Service trailheads on the east and south flanks. A USFS cabin (Douglas Creek Cabin) within the district is available year-round via reservation. A major private landholding along the Clark Fork River bottomland near I-90 is not open to public hunting. The district was established in 2016 primarily to manage deer and elk populations on private land, meaning the bulk of huntable game concentrates on restricted-access ground. Hunters accessing the USFS portion face steep terrain and must penetrate several miles on foot or horseback. Note: the Pintler/Deerlodge Ranger District office is reported at 88 Business Loop, Philipsburg, MT 59858 (406-859-3211) but this address could not be verified via USFS web sources during review.

Valley bottoms support riparian cottonwood/willow corridors and irrigated agricultural fields. Timbered slopes feature lodgepole pine and spruce-fir at mid-elevations transitioning to subalpine fir and open talus-grass above treeline. The valley fringe holds ponderosa pine parks and dry grassland benches. Agricultural pivot irrigation fields near the Clark Fork attract elk and deer at lower elevations, particularly in fall. The roadless interior of the Flints offers dense timber cover and remote alpine basins with numerous high lakes.

Elk are present district-wide; the 2024 aerial count was approximately 714 and the 2023 count approximately 672, against a management objective of 480-720 animals (these figures sourced from LandTrust.com aggregating FWP data — not directly verified from fwp.mt.gov portal). Elk use National Forest high country during the rut (beginning as early as the first week of September) and migrate to lower private-land fields and river bottoms as temperatures drop in fall, where they concentrate heavily on closed private ground. White-tailed deer occupy the valley bottoms and agricultural fringe; mule deer use the timbered slopes and transitional zones. Mountain goats are documented in the Flint Creek Range (confirmed by Wikipedia and Natural Atlas); whether HD 217 boundaries encompass an active goat hunting district requires verification in FWP special license regulations. Mountain lion and black bear are present throughout the timbered sections. Gray wolf presence is documented in western Montana Region 2 broadly; district-level harvest data not available.