Kate Creek Project Connects Public Hunting Ground in Montana’s Tendoy Mountains

Archive note — published October 27, 2026 from an earlier prepared draft. The displayed date is the original source report date, not the date this page first went online.

A 217-acre former private inholding in southwestern Montana is now part of Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest and open to public hunting and other recreation. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s October 2 account of its Kate Creek project explains how acquiring a relatively small parcel helped connect public ground in the Tendoy Mountains, about 65 miles south of Dillon.

The Forest Service approached RMEF when the bank-owned property came up for sale. RMEF and its partners purchased the parcel and conveyed it to the agency. The foundation describes it as the last significant inholding in the national forest’s Tendoy Mountain Range. Its account does not specify when the transfer closed, so the October publication should not be read as a new acquisition date.

The ground supports elk calving habitat, along with habitat for mule deer, moose and pronghorn. It also contains the headwaters of the East Fork of Kate Creek and McBride Creek. Bighorn sheep historically used the area and are the focus of an ongoing restoration effort in the Tendoys.

The practical gain is both access and continuity: a parcel inside the national forest is now managed as part of the surrounding public landscape rather than remaining a private gap. Public ownership does not replace season, licensing or travel rules. Check current Montana hunting regulations and Forest Service access information before heading in.

Illustrative image: Elk; credit: Jennifer Rowlen/USFWS. Public Domain, via the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (https://www.fws.gov/media/elk). This is a species illustration, not a photograph of the reported location, project or event.