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Welcome To Hunt's Timbers; A Family Tradition For Four Generations.

Hunt's Timbers is located in St. Ignatius, MT on the Flathead Reservation. The Hunt family is 4 generations running in the lumber & timber industry. Hunt's Timbers Inc. and it's employees have over 320 years of combined experience. We've been fortunate enough to oversee the wood products we manufacture all the way from the forest through the sawmill. It is our continuous goal to create quality wood products you can trust. 

Hunt's Timbers Today

Hunt's Timbers employs hard working Montanans and is proud of our 4 generations of timber & lumber heritage. Together with our employees, we have over 320 years of combined experience.  We've had sawdust running through our veins since the day we were born!

 Along with our vast knowledge and strong family values, it is our goal to create quality wood products that you can trust.  

Hunt's Timbers History...

Hunt's Timbers is a family owned & operated business. The Hunt family has 4 generations of experience in the lumber & timber industry. Hunt's Timbers was founded in the Mission Valley in 1978 by Ernest (Ernie) & Jacqueline Hunt in the same location where Hunt's Timbers stands today. Their children Robert, Julie & Rusty all worked hard to establish the family business in the early years.  Over the decades Hunt's Timbers growth and success succeeded Ernie's expectations and he was always very proud of what Hunt's Timbers came to be. In 2008 Ernie Hunt passed away but left behind a legacy of integrity and family values which is integrated into all of Hunt's Timbers quality products and employee relations today. Hunt's Timbers is now owned and operated by brothers Robert & Rusty Hunt.

Hunts Timbers currently employs up to 15 employees including it's 1st original employee, Joe Ross. We are are proud to say Joe has been with us for over 31 years and continues to be our head sawyer. We believe he is the most skilled and experienced sawyer there is in the country!

This is the story of how Hunt's Timbers came to be through 4 generations...

Emmett Hunt was the first generation of the Hunt family's roots in the timber & lumber industry. In 1922 it all began by Emmett going to work in the Bonner Mill. Not much later, in July of 1923, Ernest E. Hunt (known as Ernie) was born; the founder of today's Hunt's Timbers. Ernie grew up learning by watching his dad work with lumber. Emmett would teach Ernie how to fall trees with a cross cut saw and limb with a double bed axe. Ernie's childhood is where he found his connection with trees and lumber.

As Ernie grew up he found himself working for the Anaconda Company along with his father. After a few years, he would move on to the smelter in Anaconda for a couple more years to come.  In 1944 Ernie joined the Army and he spent all of his spare time reading about sawing lumber and building sawmills.  He was discharged in 1946 with the ending of WWII and came back to work at his cousin's sawmill near Hall, MT.

Some years later, Ernie had to go out on his own so once again he found himself sawing logs for the Anaconda smelter and the Bonner, Missoula and Hamilton mills. During this time he was purchasing caterpillars and logging trucks preparing for when he would soon buy property in Hall, MT.  When he was finally able, he built his own mill called Flint Creek Lumber. This mill produced many of the same products Hunt's Timbers manufactures today. 

Flint Creek Lumber ran for about 10 years but  it's fate ended in a disastrous fire in the spring of 1968. Unfortunately Ernie did not have insurance and had to auction off the mill.  That same year he bought a ranch above the old Wallace place near Dummond and moved his family there.

Many years later Ernie encountered a leg injury and was told he'd never be able to walk right again. Due to Robert & Rusty being too young to help run the ranch, Ernie bought land in St. Ignatius in 1972 where Hunt's Timbers resides today. One day Ernie went to a near by saw mill to buy a few boards but they wouldn't sell him only a few boards, it was either buy a truck load or nothing at all.  This frustrated Ernie and he soon discovered other farmers and ranchers in the area had the same frustrations with not being able to buy lumber they needed in the quantity they wanted. So in 1977 Ernie put his lumber mill knowledge to use and began to build a new mill in 1977 that would serve the locals whatever lumber they needed in the just the amount they wanted, even if it was just one board!

By 1980 Hunt's Timbers was officially open and selling to the public.  Today Hunt's Timbers is still located and operating from the original mill built in the late '70's and opened officially in 1980.  Ernie Hunt worked the mill into his 70's and passed the ownership of the mill down to his sons Robert & Rusty hunt who are currently running the mill today along with Robert's son Stephen Hunt. 

Authentic Circular Saw

We are one of the few lumber mills remaining who use an authentic circle saw to cut our lumber products.

We are very proud of our tradition of cutting all of our wood with a circular saw.  Many other mills these days have switched to using the band saw and other machinery to cut back on costs.  Therefore, they use a simulator to mimic the look of circular sawn wood. But at Hunt's Timbers we pride ourselves on the quality and authenticity of our products.  The end result is a superior product.