Unit 325

East Goat Peak and West Goat Peak mark the Continental Divide and serve as major orientation points from lower elevations. Mount Evans and Mount Howe anchor the central highlands. Rainbow Lake, Tenmile Lakes, and Warren Lake provide both navigational targets and water sources in the high country.

The Anaconda Range itself is the dominant feature—a recognizable ridge system visible from lower valleys. Major creeks including French Creek, Twelvemile Creek, and Mudd Creek drainages serve as natural travel corridors through the forested terrain.

The unit transitions from mid-elevation forest valleys around 5,700 feet to high alpine terrain above 10,700 feet along the Continental Divide. Dense forest covers most of the unit—ponderosa and Douglas-fir at lower elevations giving way to spruce-fir stands on upper slopes and ridges. Scattered mountain meadows and willow benches occur at mid-elevations and in tributary drainages, creating pockets of prime moose habitat.

Open alpine tundra exists above treeline along the divide, while avalanche paths and cirques interrupt the forest canopy on steeper aspects.

Over 300 miles of road provide access to the unit perimeter and low-elevation valleys, creating multiple entry points via North Fork Road, Pintler Creek Road, and valley routes. Most of this road system follows lower terrain; the interior is roadless and accessible only on foot. This setup concentrates initial pressure in accessible valleys while rewarding hunters willing to climb into the high drainages and ridges.

The road network allows staging from Fishtrap or lower creek access points, but the real hunting requires distance and elevation gain into the alpine and subalpine zones.

Unit 325 encompasses roughly the central and western portions of Deer Lodge County, bounded by Route 43 to the east and Route 274 to the south, with the Continental Divide forming a natural boundary to the west and north. The Anaconda Range dominates the landscape, running northwest to southeast through the heart of the unit. This is substantial mountain country defined by the high divide between Pintler Creek and Mudd Creek drainages, with the boundary following these ridgelines and creeks as they descend from alpine terrain toward lower valleys.

Water exists reliably in the main creek systems—Mudd Creek, Fishtrap Creek, French Creek, and Twelvemile Creek all run year-round from alpine snowmelt and spring sources. High lakes including Rainbow, Tenmile, Warren, and Seymour Lakes hold water through summer, though accessibility varies with snow. Toomey Spring and numerous unnamed seeps feed tributary drainages.

Lower elevations and valleys tend toward drier conditions, making the established drainages and high lakes critical for route planning. Willow benches along creeks provide moose habitat tied directly to these water features.

Unit 325 is moose country, with opportunities concentrated in willow benches and wet meadows at mid-elevations, particularly in the Mudd, Fishtrap, and French Creek drainages. Early season tactics involve glassing high parks and meadows from ridge vantage points, then working down to water-dependent willow habitat. September rut hunting focuses on calling from drainage bottoms and saddles where bulls move between summer alpine range and lower winter habitat.

The unit's complexity demands solid mountain skills—route finding through dense forest, elevation gain, and navigation in variable weather are all standard. Success requires accessing the drainages most hunters skip due to distance, particularly the West Fork systems and headwater cirques where moose concentrate in late summer.