Acting Out Charlie Russell

It's hard to say if Charlie Russell was there the first time it happened, if he witnessed someone else copy the act of bravery or if he just heard the story in some saloon and decided to paint the scene.  However he learned about it, his painting forever immortalized those crazy, brave, possibly drunk cowboys who roped a grizzly bear.  You can see the painting in bars and restaurants all around Montana.  Tourists are intrigued by it (or appalled if they're PETA members), locals embrace it as a symbol of the wild times that shaped Montana and cowboys.....some cowboys are inspired by it.

A few years ago some cowboy friends of mine acted out such a scene in Montana.  For the purposes of this story we'll call the Gus and Woodrow.  They roped a black bear on the prairie to impress some friends of theirs visiting from the east coast.  At first everything went just like the Charlie Russell painting: horses spooking sideways, the bear snarling and biting at the rope on its leg.  But then came the part where they had to get the rope off the bear.  Although it doesn't explicitly say it in the painting, I'm guessing the cowboys of the 1880s just shot the bear with their six shooters and pulled the ropes off after he was dead.  After all, bears have been known to eat livestock and their was no endangered species act in those days.

My friends didn't have guns with them and somehow shooting a bear seems like a much more punishable offense than roping one.  So Gus dismounted while the bear was down, being held by the rope dallied to Woodrow's saddle.  Gus had just fished the first rope off the hind leg of the bear, when suddenly the bear lunged at him and pulled Woodrow's horse a couple steps forward.  Gus fell back and tripped over some sagebrush.  In rapid succession a series of unfortunate events transpired:  the bear fell on Gus, bit his thigh and was then pulled back by Woodrow's horse.  The injured Gus scrambled back to his horse.  Woodrow eased toward the bear as close as he dared and cut his rope off.  The bear loped off dragging the rope that would soon fall off naturally.  

Forgoing medical attention seemed to be a greater risk than potentially being fined for harassing wildlife, so Woodrow drove Gus into the ER as soon as they got back to the barn.  The words "bear bite" seemed to summon every doctor and nurse in the hospital.  He had a continuous stream of medical personnel looking at the wound and then asking for the story.  Gus did his best not to lie, while still keeping the overall story blurry.  He learned to bow his head forward when he was having trouble keeping a straight face, a gesture his listeners assumed was bash-fullness.  Each time he told the story it became slightly smoother:

"How did it happen?" -Doctor

"Well, the bear was caught in some rope and I was trying to take it off of him.  Then he lunged at me and I tripped over a sagebrush." -Gus

"What a story!  You know, there aren't many ranchers who would do something like that to help a bear." -Doctor

"If you only knew the irony of what you are saying," thought Gus, though not out-loud.

As the real story spread (mostly among Woodrow's friends), a family friend living in a different part of the state heard the story and decided to exploit the situation.  He called the bear-bitten cowboy posing as a reporter for the Associated Press.  He asked a variety of questions that became increasingly difficult to answer without giving the real story away and not contradicting any previous statements.  The "reporter" called every night  for a week and even proposed the idea of doing an on-camera interview at the site of the incident.  Gus became increasingly uncomfortable and stressed and finally the "reporter" had mercy on him and stopped calling.  Gus was much relieved although he couldn't stop Woodrow and his friends from re-telling the story everywhere they went.  So while the wild tale never made it into the papers or onto the easel of a famous painter, it was retold at brandings and horse sales for years to come.

Charlie Russell's paintings capture a time when the west was wilder, much more dangerous and sometimes more entertaining.  Times have changed, but every once in a while you get the chance to rope a bear and go back into the days of Charlie Russell.  That's true Montana.

Things Montanans Do That Don't Make Sense Part II : The Most Expensive Montana Hobby

If you're looking to spend a lot of money on a Montana hobby, you might try skiing or hunting.....or ranching!!?!  Most Montana ag "businesses" are actually very expensive hobbies.  "What?!" You say,  "Farmers and ranchers are the hardest working people I know.  Surely so many hard working people wouldn't be dedicated to an industry that isn't profitable?"  US ag producers are among the most productive in the world and Montanans are no exception, but that doesn't mean they're profitable.

Agriculture has been a huge industry in Montana since before it became a state. The State Department of Ag,touts it as Montana’s largest industry.  It indirectly employs over a hundred thousand people on farms, ranches and in ag related businesses and government agencies.  

But the big question is: do ag producers in Montana actually make a profit?  Some are hobby farmers and that isn’t their goal.  Many other producers will freely admit they don’t some years.  But of those who assert they are profitable, are they really considering all the costs?  What if ag producers had to pay themselves and their family members the salary they would have to pay someone else to do their job?  How many would make a profit then?  Statistically very few ag producers would be making a profit, even on a good year.  And if we take out government subsidies, below market land leases and low interest loans, we’d have even fewer profitable operations.  Unfair stipulations you say?  Can you really call a business profitable if you are paying yourself $3 an hour?

I am not saying there aren’t profitable ag businesses in Montana, nor that there couldn’t be a few more, but why are we protecting this industry when the businesses at the core are mostly unprofitable?!  Why does the government subsidize ag producers and not subsidize doughnut shops?  Why do we find it understandable when someone takes a second job to support the ranch, but we would find it strange if someone takes a second job to support their construction business?  Simple, in Montana ag is sacred.  It’s more than a hobby, more than a job and more than a business.  It is a way of life.

I grew up on a ranch and currently work in the industry.  I enjoy going back to the ranch, but I'm often baffled by how people idolize it, both from outside of the industry and inside.  When I was in college, I often had people want me to take them branding in the spring.  If my grandparent's had owned a plumbing business instead of a ranch I doubt they would have come with me for "drain field day".  However, I am thankful to have grown up on a ranch and am grateful for the way it shaped me.


Unfortunately good memories and the romance doesn't take away the realities of the situation.  It's hard to make a profit in ag these days.  We as a state have to adapt.  Most Montana producers are getting older and their kids aren’t coming back to the ranch for a reason.  The subsidies, both from the government and the free labor, won’t keep the industry afloat forever.  The ag businesses that can be profitable will have to make changes to become so.  The producers who can’t be profitable will have to admit it and may have to down-scale to a hobby ranch in order to continue in their passion.  Some ranches can remain profitable by including tourism as well as ranching in their enterprise mix.  Others might make it by turning to specialty crops or specialty livestock and embracing the organic, all-natural trend.  One thing is for sure, ag in Montana will look very different in 20 years.

Things Montanans Do That Don't Make Sense Part I : HUNTING IS A RIDICULOUS HOBBY

Every culture has them, those values that just don’t make sense to outsiders.  If you go to Green Bay you will find that being a Packers fan is more of a way of life, than a decision on which team to root for.  In Hawaii and Southern California you’ll find people skipping work, school, church and family obligations to surf on the days when the waves are really big.  In Montana, one cultural value we hold high is hunting and in some cases it is culturally acceptable to skip all other obligations for this most sacred pursuit.  Two years ago, when I shot an elk with my bow, my boss willingly filled in for me so I could get the meat out of the mountains.  When I wounded an elk in college, I missed 4 classes and one test the next day to look for him.

We live in a world where the economic differences between work and hobbies are clearly lined out.  Hobbies are supposed to be fun and we don’t expect to receive economic benefits from them.  We don’t expect work to be fun but do expect economic benefits for our work.  Many Montanans hold hunting as a sacred way of life and at times our cultural value for hunting can clash with those who don’t have this value.  They are unable to categorize hunting as a hobby or an economically beneficial activity and this can cause serious tension in the work place, in families and with friends.

In an effort to appeal to the general public, many of us try to defend hunting from an economic perspective which is ridiculous.  Meat is a tangible benefit to hunting and some of us mistakenly think that the reason we hunt is for this economic side-benefit.  We say things like “I only shoot cows and does cause I’m only in it for the meat”.  Whether we say we hunt for the meat, the horns or the exercise, if we are really honest we hunt for the experience of doing the process ourselves.  It isn’t viable economically. 

Think about the costs involved in hunting: weapon (bow, gun, etc.), ammo (arrows or bullets), specialized clothing, knives and all kill related products, tags and gas to and from the hunting area.  Then there’s the cost of processing your meat, which you can do yourself, but that requires equipment, materials and time!  Hunting costs a lot of time.  If you got a job delivering pizzas and spent the same amount of time working at this new job as you normally do in all hunting related activities, you could probably buy organic bison meat for the year and still be ahead on money.

On the flip side it isn’t really a hobby either, at least for many Montanans.  How many people would call cutting up meat a hobby?  How many people would add “carrying out meat” as one of their interests on facebook?  These are both part of the experience.  If hunting were a hobby, we would be able to cut out the parts we don’t enjoy without shame.  If it were a hobby I wouldn’t feel obligated to process my own meat and I wouldn’t feel a slight sense of pride for carrying my meat out on my back rather than a horse or a 4-wheeler.  

  

For Montanans, the idea of hunting for meat is sacred.  We like the idea that we participated in every part of the process of getting that animal out of the mountains into an edible chunk of meat on our table.  The problem is that we sometimes forget that hunting is just a preference for a way of living and it is not morally superior to any other lifestyle choice.  We have to work out the consequences of that choice with other priorities and people in our lives.  We must keep their perspective in mind if we want to avoid serious problems.

Are fly fisherman really morally superior? The chain of sportsman snobbery

“And we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman.”

Norman McClain- A River Runs Through It

In his novel which was set in the 1920s, A River Runs through It, Norman McLain clearly demonstrates the feeling of moral superiority felt by fly fisherman over bait fisherman.  In the quote above and others, particularly the interaction between Norman and Paul with Norman’s brother-in-law (a bait fisherman), one can clearly see the sportsman snobbery that persists to this day.  In the last century, as hunting and fishing gradually shifted from an efficient way to provide food for your family, to more of a leisure lifestyle choice, outdoorsmen have become snobs.  Each outdoorsman finds some way to look down on other outdoorsmen who enjoy related outdoor pass times.  

Hunters and fishermen seem particularly prone to these types of comparisons.  You might insist that this is simply human nature and you might be right, but when it comes to outdoorsmen, it takes a strange twist.  For thousands of years, humans have been hunting and fishing as a means of survival but only recently have they intentionally limited themselves in how and when they can participate in these activities.  Hunting and fishing, in many ways, are trending back to the caveman.  Montana recently even passed a law that legalizes spear hunting!  It seems the more primitive and minimalistic your gear and techniques are, the more of a pure sportsman you are.  If you look back to the cave man days, it is hard to imagine “Grog” telling his brother “Gronk” that it is unsportsmanlike to hunt mammoths with iron spear tips…. “Idiot!  The way of the purist, the way of the sportsman, is most certainly the obsidian spear head, hand chipped from organic rock.”  This scene is laughable because “Grog” would most certainly have used a bazooka to kill mammoths if he could have, yet this is exactly the kind of conversation many sportsman are having today.  

If you don’t tie your own flies, reload your own shells and make your own arrows, you, my friend, aren’t a committed outdoorsman.  If your mode of transportation wasn’t your feet, once you arrived at the trail head, you’re not “hardcore” and you may be unsportsmanlike.  If you use a crossbow rather than a long bow, or a scoped rifle rather than a black powder rifle, well, you’re certainly not a purist and you probably won’t be invited over for Montana micro brews later.  The reality is that all of these judgements are subjective and relative.  People enjoy their chosen niche in the hunting and fishing world for different reasons.  Additionally, with the constant influx of new hunting related technologies it becomes difficult, even for the most principled outdoorsman, to determine which are sportsmanlike and which are not.   Who am I to assume that I am enjoying myself more because I am using a dry fly and the guy down river is using scented bait?  How did I decide that calling a bull elk in with a fake bugle is more fair to the elk than the guy who shoots that same elk from a hay field with a bi-pod at 500 yards?  And why should fish finders be legal but not drones (as a method of finding game)?

With that said, we cannot allow a free-for-all if we want sustainable wildlife populations for future generations of hunters and fishermen to come.  Limits and seasons must be set for different methods and technologies for hunting and fishing.  But they should be set for reasons of safety, population management and equal opportunity to different types of sportsman (notice I didn’t write equal access).  They should not be set against certain outdoorsmen because their means of hunting and fishing is deemed unethical or unfair by a certain sub-set of sportsman.  So take a step back from the chain of sportsman snobbery and get some real perspective before you badmouth the guy across the river.  That’s true Montana.

Montana Gridiron: Why I like football in Montana

The snap was good.  The thermometer read 10 degrees and they had already cleared snow from the field at halftime.  Armanti Edwards, rolled out to his left and threw a short pass to his best wide receiver, Brian Quick, just inside the end-zone.  The pass went beyond the outstretched arms of star cornerback Trumaine Johnson and touched off Quick's finger tips and onto the AstroTurf.  As the snow came down, reflecting off the huge ESPN stadium lights, there was a magical ambiance in the air as more than 26,000 Montana Grizzly fans went wild. We shouted, groaned with relief, high-fived and hugged other fans we had never met.  We were going to the national championship game! 




The game, start to finish, was the most amazing I have ever watched in person, but how it ended is a what I will always remember.  After going up by a touchdown, Montana fans experienced a terrifying last minute drive when Edwards led App State the length of the field in the final 1:31, converting on a fourth down and ultimately getting two shots at the end-zone from the 3 yard-line.  Edwards, who had led Appalachian State to two national championships with his duel threat quarterbacking would be drafted in the 3rd round of the NFL draft later that year.   In addition to the heart stopping goal-line stand, the game also featured the ESPN college hit of the year by a Montana's Keith Thompson on an App State receiver.  The drama of the ending along with the surreal ambiance made the game an instant classic.  It also capped off what had already been an incredible year in Montana football, including a 27 point comeback earlier in the playoffs against the SDSU Jack Rabbits, which was sparked by a 98-yard Marc Mariana kick-return.  The Griz ended the season 14-1 after being defeated in the national championship by Villanova. 










Football may not be religion in Montana like it can be in Texas or the South but that doesn't mean our state lacks football excitement or success.  Carroll College is still the only team in any division to have won 4 national championships in a row and almost every year MSU and/or U of M make it to the FCS playoffs as contenders.  Additionally, it is often players who grew up playing football in Montana that are the stars of these teams and many get drafted or signed into the NFL.











I think being a football fan in Montana is more fun than in places where football is everything.  Maybe its the fact that we have nothing to prove or that football isn't everything for Montanans.  Montana isn't known for football nationally and even though we love it, football still has to compete with hunting for people's attention in the fall.  Maybe its the personal touch and actually knowing and wanting to root for the players on the field.  We don't have a pro team and by its nature, college football is more personal.  When you cheer on your Montana college football team(whichever team it is), its not just your team you're cheering for, you're rooting for the kid you went to high school with, or played against.  That same kid will probably come home this summer and work the harvest just like everyone else....and then he might get drafted next year.  But he'll still be a Montanan, a real person you can talk to, who succeeded just as much because of his Montana work ethic as his athletic ability.  That's True Montana.

The Dog that Was Always in the Way Goes Antelope Hunting

Every ranch has one of those dogs.  A dog that is pretty much worthless as far as a cow-dogs go and sees his/her life purpose as that of always being in the way!  On our ranch that dog was Duke.  He was stepped on by a horse when he was a year old which meant he'd never be fast enough to help you bring cows through a gate but just fast enough to get to a gate, stand in the middle and prevent you from taking the cows through the gate.  .  When my Dad was working cows, he'd always try to leave Duke at home.  Duke was so dedicated, to either my Dad, or to "helping" him that he would follow my Dad no matter how long it took his four-mile-an-hour limp/jog to get there.

For example, one day, Dad left Duke at home and went to work cows in the Big Hole, an area about 40 miles from our house over two mountain passes.  We have another summer pasture section on-the-way that is only 15 miles and sometimes we work cows there too.  Having been to both places in the past, Duke started for the first one.  He went in the long drive-way and found no one.  He was coming back out the drive-way and starting to head for the one that was another 25 miles up the road, when a guy that was hauling our cows that day saw him and picked him up.  True dedication.

Without a doubt, the most memorable Duke story was the day he went antelope hunting (uninvited).  Opening day of antelope season typically brings many a hunter to my family ranch.  Some are friends and many are employees of my grandparents' other business.  As a pre-teen, unable to hunt, but knowing the ranch well, I was often allowed to go out with these hunters and help them harvest one of the many antelope that called our alfalfa fields home.  From the cut they took out of our crop you'd think we left a couple flocks of sheep on the fields year-round and we were only too glad to get rid of a few.

Anyways, about mid-morning opening day of antelope season my Dad and I jumped in a truck with a lady and her husband to find them an antelope.  She had the tag.  We hadn't gone far when we noticed a lone buck at the base of a hill only a mile from our house.  We drove a little further on a county road, before getting out of the truck, climbing under the fence and setting her up for a shot.  It was a moderate distance but not over 300 yards.  Her first shot hit, but it was a bad hit, debilitating the buck by hitting a back leg.  He simply laid down and she shot again.  That shot missed and so did her third (from what we could tell).  Since he was down, we decided to move closer for a better shot and it was then we noticed that Duke had followed us.  At 150 yards, he realized what the antelope was and raced across the prairie toward his prey.  Despite our calls and threats, Duke continued to lope toward the antelope with purpose.

Perhaps Duke was fulfilling his dream from puppy-hood of chasing down an antelope, an animal that is too fast for most dogs and especially for Duke.  Whatever the reason, once Duke got close to the buck we had a hard time convincing our hunter to shoot.  The conversation went something like, "I can't shoot, I'm afraid I'll hit your dog."
"Don't worry about the dog.  He's worthless and I've considered shooting him many times myself because he's always in the way."
"I would feel horrible."

Duke reached the antelope and proceeded to bite the buck in the butt.  The antelope couldn't get away, but he had enough mobility to hook Duke with his horns
.  The scene of Duke running to bite the buck and the buck trying to hook Duke repeated itself as we walked closer.  Finally we were close enough to throw a few rocks at Duke.  Duke understood the rock throwing as the universal cowboy-cowdog signal for "get the heck out of the way" all too well and reluctantly left his chance to be a victorious hunter.  The kill shot was easy from there and we were back to the house in a matter of minutes.

Duke lived to a ripe old age and continued to be in-the-way until he died.

Dipping, Poaching and Picking up Sheds in Places You Shouldn't

Disclaimer: The story you are about to read is true (thought slightly embellished), but the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Across the river a couple tourists had already spotted Frank, his horse and his mule loaded down with Yellowstone National Park elk sheds.  Frank turned back in the saddle again and gave the unresponsive mule another slap in the face with the lead-rope.  Yep, no way on earth was that mule going to back up the steep embankment that led down to the river.    Frank had already warned his partner, Chris, not to follow him out of the timber and down to the river. 

They had apparently become disoriented and instead of conspicuously crossing back over the Yellowstone Park border, they were now at the edge of a large campground and wildlife viewing area.  Shed hunting in national parks or private land without permission (often called “dipping” or poaching) is illegal and highly frowned upon by park rangers.  Only weeks before, Frank and Chris were “dipping” with some friends in an isolated area of Yellowstone.  They had taken a break from finding antlers to gorge themselves on berries, when suddenly a huge bolt of lightning hit a large tree in the middle of the meadow where they sat eating.  With a wry sense of humor Chris remarked, “Better spread out boys, if I were God I wouldn’t want to miss a chance like this.”  Perhaps God had saved Frank’s punishment for this moment at the park campground.

Realizing there was no way but forward, Frank his horse and his mule barreled down the side of the hill and crossed the river into the campground.  About one hundred tourists were present that day and most were elated to see “a real cowboy with his horse and mule”.  Oohs and ahhs greeted Frank as they marveled at the elk sheds loaded high on his mule’s pack.  Frank, seizing their interest and lack of legal knowledge, summoned his deepest John Wayne voice and bellowed, “Stand aside Pilgrim!  I’ve got to get a move on!”  The crowd parted even though many were disappointed they didn’t have the opportunity to pet the horses and take pictures.  Frank nervously made his way through the campground to the timber on the other side, urging his equaling nervous animals passed the gawking tourists.  He kept glancing around, but to his amazement there were no park rangers. 

Frank never got caught and later repented of his “dipping” ways when he met Jesus.  It’s now been 35 years since he ventured into the park for that purpose but the allure of antlers is quite tantalizing for many a Montana outdoors man with questionable ethics.  The reasoning goes like this, “It may be trespassing but no one else is using them and they’re just rotting!”   Teton National Park allows the boy scouts to pick up sheds and there are arrangements whereby out-of-state owned ranches allow a select few to come in and pick up sheds, but there are certainly areas that never get picked.  Especially on what is known as “Uncle Teddy’s Ranch”.  But misuse of resources doesn’t give you the right to take them.

Then there’s the money motivation.  Depending on demand, brown elk antlers are worth $10/pound. One antler from a mature bull can weigh 10lbs so it can be a lucrative side business if you find an untapped source.  Antler furniture makers buy a large amount, especially larger sets to make chandeliers and various other pieces of furniture.  To their chagrin, many antlers are cut into small pieces and sold to kennels as dog chews because they don’t splinter or hurt dogs’ teeth.  Some antlers are also sold to Asia where they are ground into powder and used as an aphrodisiac.  Yes, you read that right.  Somewhere in Japan right now there’s probably an old man raising his glass of Saki and saying “Here’s to the Montana horn hunters!”