Sun River Wildlife Management Area

West of Augusta and bounded by Sawtooth Reef and other rises of the Rocky Mountain Front, the nearly 20,000 acres of the Sun River Wildlife Management Area provides a winter sanctuary for thousands of elk.

Managed by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, their charge is to maintain and enhance habitat diversity for elk and other wildlife species that share the space. The incentive to create the Management Area began in the early 1900s when Europeans started settling the valley to grow cattle forage and raise livestock. The elk took this as an opportunity to snag an easily accessible food source of the rancher’s hay.

To solve the issue, private landowners joined with FWP to acquire two adjoining ranches in the foothills just below Sawtooth. Other land was donated by the US Bureau of Land Management. The result was the establishment of the refuge in 1948.

Over past few years the average number of elk spending the winter on the WMA has numbered about 2,300 head. And on adjacent lands as well as habitat to the north and south, based on recent surveys, close to 5,000 of these animals use the “Front.”

Usually in late November they migrate eastward out of the mountains through several canyons of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Deepening snow is the signal to go.

In order to protect the elk in the cold months, access to the range is open to the public from May 15 – November 30. During the late spring when they have retreated back to the mountains and their summer range, many avid antler collectors’ hike or ride into the area looking for antler sheds.

Visitors to the range enjoy views of the Montana prairie quickly transitioning into the Northern Rocky Mountains. For those who prefer to enjoy the scenery from a vehicle, travel along the Sun River Road/Gibson Reservoir Road is the best route to follow. Once in the WMA it travels across a vast grassland that offers far reaching views of the Rocky Mountain Front.