What do you think? Photo shop or real deal? SUPPOSEDLY this is the road between Billings and Roundup. I just got them and don't know if they are recent or old 'net recycles.




This 30 year old photo is of a VW I had with three deer taken one day outside of Kaycee, Wyoming, (Brock Ranch, not far from the Hole-In-The-Wall). It caved the roof in. After unloading them and hitting a cattleguard the roof popped back out and souned like a 12 gauge going off inside the car. The roof was no worse for wear.

Oh the dumb stuff we do in our youth when we don't know any better....

The elk photo is for real and occurred last fall. It seems the girl drew a limited entry elk tag for the Missouri Breaks north of Winnifred. Well, jumpin jehosaphat, you don't waste one of those tags. Grown men cry all through the summer after 30 years of applying and not getting those tags. Believe me, I know. I've signed the license application as Your Honor, Right Reverend, Colonel etc. Didn't work. I heard that signing your signature in red ink helps the drawing odds. Nope!! I tried an alias once, I think it was John Wayne or Craig Boddington, I forgot. Didn't work. Oh yeah, anyway, the girl's boyfriend' truck layed down and died, so off they went in the little lady's compact. Well, she killed the beast, deader 'n four o'clock on Frday afternoon. The rancher whose place she did the deed, being the helpful sort, used his front end loader on the John Deere to get it up on top. Oops, they had to take it down and put some 2 X 8's under the critter. I guess they kinda sagged the roof line. Anyway, off to Billings the intreped couple roared, somewhere around 45 mph topend and the springs hammering the differentials. They somehow got spotted north of town by a curious passing motorist who took the picture and sent to the Billings Gazette. I have no idea how they got "the beast" from off the top of what's left of the kiddy car. Could be they just carved off a chunck throughout the fall when they wanted some protein. I think I might have seen them last week struggling up the hill to the airport leaving a trail of blue smoke. All true. No kidding, and that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Just ask Big Ed from down at the meat market. My kind of woman. Hooo-aaahh!!!

Thanks Yellowstone for the "rest of the story". Must admit, an 800 dollar compact with a big ass elk on board it is better than an (empty-of-game) 30K+ super-truck.

You're very welcome. You don't mind if I sign next year's application Matt Norman in red ink do you? I don't look like John Wayne anyway.

Sign my name or use my dog's name ("Buddy") If it helps you draw a permit you can borrow my wife for a weekend or three. The cavat being you have to give me the formula for drawing a (now non-resident)Wyoming moose permit. I got seven preference points and all they do is keep raising the prices.

Yep, I know what ya mean. I've got more preference points as a non-resident on alligator in Texas than I do on sheep or moose in good old Montana. 'Bout out uf the mood. Naw, think I'll just coffer up the jingle for a Canadian moose in 2008. I'm givin Montana just one more chance to be fair about this drawing thing. Sorry to tell you this, but Wyoming ain't got any moose left, unless it's down around Cheyenne or Chugwater. Wolves ate the rest.

Yellowstone, I saw a lot of moose in the Wind River and Absoraka Mts above Duboise last September. Something like 7 bulls in less than two weeks, and I wasn't even looking for them - I was working (not hunting), immediately prior to the opening weekend. No problem finding trophy bulls at all.

Brent

A '74 Beetle was my hunting vehicle my first year of college. Hard to imagine now, but deer were mighty scarce around here back then. I killed my first buck that year - a forkhorn with a slug from my dad's A-5. Man was I proud. My best friend and I hoisted that deer on the hood of that VW and ran a rope from his rack to his hocks through the window vents. We bought a couple of 6 packs to celebrate ( you could buy beer at 18 back then ) and looped them around the antennae to keep them cold on the ride home. Got stopped by the NC HP. He never mentioned the deer but had some mighty sticky questions about the beer...