Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Bozeangeles is a changing

Shortside-Dan T is without a doubt the sharpest fella I've ever met behind a gun counter in my travels anywhere! If I was sort of stumped on something I called him. I always got a straight answer from him.

He called me a while back, he is now building custom bows and I gotta believe he is doing it right.

JB-the Beaverpond was a wonderful shop as well, I well remember a M27 I almost bought there. And the cute lil blonde with the short hair, well this is gonna digress real quick so I will move on...

Good day guyz!

Mark D

MD:

It must have been muscle memory that made you put a period in front of your house number. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

- TJM

Ah heck,
They messed up the "R"?!?
That was a fun place.....

They remodeled and enlarged the R-Bar with a lot of marble. Although they ruined the old atmosphere, some things never change... just last saturday I noticed the sink and one of the urinals in the men's room were full of green beans and what appeared to be bacon bits. Used to be the old wooden 2-seater in there was a dare to crap on during a busy night. A good time can still be had there, but it's sleazier than ever.

Holy cow, I didn't realize someone got shot during that incident. Fortunately it didn't make it to the local (or much worse - national) press. Just what we don't need, more bad gun stories.

John - I had a celebrity sighting of my own at one of the Bozeman gun shows a few years back. I suppose I should have introduced myself, but didn't know what to say. Something like "Uh, Hi. I like guns, especially #1's. You write good stuff about guns" wouldn't have made much of a conversation. My dad, brother, and I are all big fans of your articles. We especially enjoy how you approach things scientifically, cut right through the advertising hoopla and/or old wife's tales, and get into the meat of the matter.

I'll try and be better prepared next time I run into you!

I got to Bozeman long after the Monkey Wards, Coast to Coast, and Beaver Pond were gone. The old Gibson's store did have a great selection of reloading equipment though.

I look forward to the subversive articles that you eluded to.

I never had the priviledge of seeing Bozeman before it was trashed by city folk, but having seen it now I don't have any plans on going back. I'm just glad there aren't any mountains or trout streams in Eastern MT, they seem to attract all of the wrong types these days. Did the early elk hunt on Hell Roaring Creek a couple of years ago and stopped in Gardiner on the way out - There was a group of 5 blatant homos walking down the sidewalk, various other urban oddballs, and half of Tokyo, in a small MT town. Nope, I think I can live just fine without mountains and trout.

Yeah, you couldn't ask for a crummier place to live. haha. Spread the word.

By the way, Ranger1, where in NE MT do you live and how long have you lived there? I grew up in NE MT and moved to Bozeman 20 years ago.

Gotta agree with you there. Things got way worse when one million yuppies "discovered" flyfishing. Thank you very much Robert Redford. I learned how to fly fish 35 years ago. But more and more I'm choosing to take a spinning rod with me just because. Now if I could just find a way to cross a trout with something like an electric eel or jellyfish. Then stock the local rivers with these babies and enjoy the show.

Many of my peers and I came to that conclusion 15 years ago.

The interior west has historically been very tolerant of "eccentrics" and "different" foks--precisely because it had a lot of elbow room and initially attracted more adventurous types. Homosexuals have always existed out in the rural west (long before Brokeback Mountain). It's just that the homo's were careful not to be FLAMING homesexuals--or they would suffer the consequences. Don't interpret my writing as some kind of support for [bleep], there is a difference between tolerance and support.

Part of the problem from my perspective, is BOTH the liberal socialists (Democrats?) and the socialist conservatives (Republicans?) have invaded the west simultaneously, each bringing their urban/suburban values with them, each thinking the rural west thinks the same way they do, each bringing too much money with them and not enough awareness of what makes these areas attractive (beside the mountains).

A number of us concluded that the Dakota's (or eastern parts of Montana and Wyoming where there is less "scenery") was our best best option. I shoulda' moved to Alaska when I first considered it 25 years ago....

Casey

Mark - I would have to agree that Dan is an invaluable resouce when looking for the straight dope on good guns and gear. Ronan Sports will never be the same to me - he was about 80% of the reason I went in there.

I like to carry sticks around in the early fall in persuit of game- catch and release bowhunting, as I like to call it - and Dan is making some mighty fine sticks.

Mule Deer - I lived at 304 S. Tracy in a historic brick house (big stained glass windows, terrible insulation) from 1995 to 1996, just after I was first married (renting). Small world.

Good for you Greenhorn, what's your point? I've lived here long enough to know I don't want to live there.

Too bad western Montana has grown so much...
I lived in Bozeman(student at MSU) from 92-95, it was a nice place back then!
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

ranger1, not trying to make any point, I was just curious to where in NE MT you live and how long you've lived there. I grew up in Froid on the family farm/ranch.

Tony Montana--

I generally run into one or two people who do speak up at any gun show. At the Bozone show one guy was walking my way when he suddenly smiled and said, "Hey, you a rifle loony?" We had a nice little talk.

Though I live an hour NW of Bozeman now (Townsend) I have also lived in other parts of the state, including Forsyth (actually one ranch and one farm west of town), Poplar, Missoula and Hobson.

They all have their good points, but both Bozeman and Missoula are good places to live at least an hour from these days. And near Missoula you would have to pick the direction carefully.

We moved out in 1986, when it got to the point where it took an hour to drive across town during rush hour. This was a real PITA after spending a day floating the Bitterroot.

Also, the pronghorn, mule deer and bird hunting kind of sucks around Missoula--though I liked fishing the rivers right in town. Though I have that here in Townsend as well.

But be thankful, guys, that we are not Colorado--or these days, Idaho.

JB

Mule Deer,
You speak the truth about Idaho.
Southern Idaho, anyway, has grown tremendously the last 5-10years.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Froid? sheesh.....almost as bad as ranger1........least im on Highway 2 <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> course i am on the reservation tough <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> oh well cant win them all <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

The middle of nowhere ain't a bad place most of the time, h*ll we even have two single women in town now.

two of them? wow moving up in the world a bit arent yah <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

reservation or not i like where i live, wife turned down a job offer with USA Today last month............didnt figure $75K a year was near enough to make me live in the DC area..........ill stick to the Rez, its safer <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

It isn't, and then some.