Reserve a Trip: Swan Horseback, Hunting and Fishing Trips

Spring Bear Hunt

Black bears are plentiful in western Montana and are legal game. The Swan Valley has the highest population concentration, and produces the best color phased bears in the state. We hunt black bears in the spring exclusively and in the fall in combination with our other hunts, or as a stand alone hunt.

Swan Full Day Trail Ride

Swan Mountain Outfitters offers spectacular longer duration trail rides (6 to 8 hours) that include lunch and a stopover at an unforgettable spot. More experienced riders just love this opportunity to ride by horseback high above the valley floor to see the awe-inspiring views of the Mission and Swan Mountains that form the infamous Swan Valley. We usually ride up the Lion Creek drainage paralleling the creek the majority of the ride. Imagine having lunch with your toes soaking in the cool water of the creek, or taking pictures of a waterfall cascading over 100 feet!  

Similar to our short duration rides, our all day rides launch from our base camp off of Lion Creek Road in the Flathead National Forest. We like to get an early morning start, and after fitting stirrups and our safety/training briefing we’re off!  

Please note we do not accept online reservations. Submitting an inquiry expresses your interest in a trip, but does not indicate an actual booking. Online inquiries for same day or next day reserva

Three Day Weekend Horseback Pack Trip

Our 3 day, 2 night Montana weekend pack trip allows any guest the opportunity to fit a full pack trip experience into a mini family horseback riding vacation. Nothing compares to horseback riding in the Bob Marshall Wilderness where the scenery just gets more and more incredible every time you come around the bend.  

Guests leave the Swan Mountain Outfitters base camp off of Lion Creek Road Friday morning and we’ll ride 5 hours to our upper camp at the top of Lion Creek Basin, some 6,000 feet above sea level. On Saturday, we’ll take an excursion into the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. The excursion we choose is based on what the group is most interested in doing whether that be a full day of fishing, another day of authentic Montana horseback riding or taking in majestic views as they hike along high alpine trails. On Sunday we’ll wrap up your mini Montana horseback riding adventure with a full day of riding down the mountain. Guests will typically return to base camp late in the afternoon or early evening.

5-day horseback riding pack trip

Our most popular Montana pack trip is our 5-day horseback riding pack trip into the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. We offer this pack trip every week during the summer beginning in the first week of July through September 7. We meet in the base camp off of Lion Creek Road on a Monday and we return back to this same spot late Friday afternoon.  
For more information visit http://www.swanmountainoutfitters.com/trip/our-most-popular-pack-trip-vacation/  

Please note we do not accept online reservations. Submitting an inquiry expresses your interest in a trip, but does not indicate an actual booking. Online inquiries for same day or next day reservations are not recommended as we may not see the inquiry in time. If you are interested in a trip within the next 48 hours, it is best to call our office at (406) 387-4405.

Swan Half Day Trail Ride

The Swan Half Day Trail Ride kicks off at our Lion Creek Base Camp. After an introduction to the horses and a safety briefing we will start our day. Enjoy beautiful views of the surrounding mountains, and wildlife along the way to a scenic lookout where you can hop off your horse and eat your picnic lunch, prepared by our camp cook. When lunch is finished we will head back down to camp. This ride will last about 4 hours, and is great for beginners and advanced riders alike.  

Please note we do not accept online reservations. Submitting an inquiry expresses your interest in a trip, but does not indicate an actual booking. Online inquiries for same day or next day reservations are not recommended as we may not see the inquiry in time. If you are interested in a trip within the next 48 hours, it is best to call our office at (406) 387-4405.

Swan 2 Hour Trail Ride

Archery Elk Hunt

Swan Mountain Outfitters takes only two hunters to each of our areas on our archery elk hunts in any of our “archery only” designated areas for three 7-day sessions. Even though the season is longer, we focus soley on the time frame before, during and after the rut to maximize our opportunity. Our archery elk hunters will actually hunt 5 days, with the rest of the time spent getting to and from the area.  

We employ two-on-one guiding as we have found it is the best way to maximize our hunters opportunities to be successful. What makes an archery elk hunt truly successful is the hunting skill of the guide. We have perhaps some of the top guides in the country as we operate a guide school and therefore had the opportunity to hand select and train our staff. Most of our archery elk guides have been hunting with bows for years.  

We utilize a spike camp, and are so finicky about scent control and noise that we don’t burn fires or have the comforts of our typical hunting camps – its all about getting archers

Archery Whitetail Hunt

Lion Creek Camp Multi-Weapon Hunt

Our back country or wilderness elk hunts are guided elk hunts into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. These are among the most rugged Montana elk hunts, and we often describe them as extreme hunts or the ultimate free chase elk hunt. Elk hunters are treated to waking up to the sound of bugling. Montana wilderness elk hunts are operated in earlier hunting seasons, so we are able to offer a rifle hunt for elk during the rut. Many of our elk hunters also bring a bow so they can archery elk hunt in the surrounding area. Multi weapon hunts are popular with elk hunters that like to maximize their opportunity. There are opportunities for mule deer and black bear in combination with the elk hunts.

Fall Bear Hunt

Black bears are plentiful in western Montana and are legal game. The Swan Valley has the highest population concentration, and produces the best color phased bears in the state. We hunt black bears in the spring exclusively and in the fall in combination with our other hunts, or as a stand alone hunt.

General Season Hunt

Our regular season guided elk hunts use the assistance of mother nature to bring the elk out of the mountains and in proximity to our lower camp. We utilize our horses to search the front range of the Bob Marshall for elk and mule deer. When the weather is right, migration of elk begins and affords our late season elk hunters an opportunity to bag an elk at lower altitudes. Regular season elk hunts are ideal for hunters that aren’t physically able to make a wilderness elk hunt. These are good first time elk hunts for youth elk hunters. The opening week of regular season also allows us to utilize spike camps in order to get in closer proximity to the elk and mule deer for opening day. This spike camp strategy has produced many harvested elk and mule deer in seasons past. An extra bonus is that our base camp is in the heart of whitetail deer territory for hunters looking to combination hunt.