Freezeout Lake - Fairfield

Freezeout Lake is Montana's primary snow goose staging area, a place where as many as 300,000 snow geese and 10,000 tundra swans gather and rest before flying onward. In Spring, the snow geese head for Alberta and central Saskatchewan in Canada. There they mass with hundreds of thousands of other snow geese from Texas and other Gulf Coast States. In a series of shorter flights, the geese then make their way to nesting grounds on the wind swept, extreme northwest Arctic coast of Canada.

The Snow Geese usually reach Freezeout Lake in early March, where they rest up from a nearly 1,000 mile flight from California. Best viewing of the birds is from sunrise to 10:00am and from 4:30pm until sunset. Binoculars, telescopes, a light lunch, and possibly warm clothing will make your viewing more enjoyable.

Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area (the Wildlife Management Area spells its name Freezout without an "e") management goal: To provide habitat for waterfowl and upland game bird production and public hunting and viewing opportunity.

Hunting opportunities: General public hunting for waterfowl and upland game birds. Tundra swan hunting by permit only. Muskrat trapping available for successful applicants.

Wildlife viewing: Year-round opportunity for viewing wildlife, including upland game birds and raptors in winter, waterfowl migrations in spring and fall, and waterfowl and shorebirds in summer. Call 406-467-2646 for an automated waterfowl update.