AN ISLAND DAY WITH DAVE YEATS

By Roger Allick

to students and bowhunter education instructors alike. These traits describe a special person I have had the privilege of knowing and becoming friends with the majority of my adult life. (That equals a lot of years.) Enter, Dave Yeats, from Columbia Falls, MT.

When someone mentions “the bucket list” it’s usually in the context of things they would like to do or achieve at some point in their life. They may even talk about a “5-year plan” with some other ideas they add on as time passes, that they want to achieve. So, what do you do when you don’t have those 5 years to complete what you desire? You most likely get a bit creative and really prioritize what you can get done in a lot less time. Usually, this is driven by something far beyond anyone’s control. In Dave’s case, it was an inoperable glioblastoma brain tumor.

With Dave’s diagnosis, he and his wife Luci had some hard choices to make in a very short time. But in their usual “we can do it” way they set about doing the “revised” bucket list items. One of those bucket items was to make another trip out to Wild Horse Island State Park on Flathead Lake. He and Luci as newlywed youngsters had made their initial voyage to the island in a canoe some 46 years earlier in life. As they relived their early adventure, they felt lucky to have made it back to the mainland without capsizing the canoe. (Flathead Lake has long been known to have some pretty nasty waves when the wind picks up).

My wife Pat and I were honored to help with checking this item off their bucket list. We gladly volunteered the use of our boat for the journey across the lake. The challenging part was finding the right day that Dave was feeling up to the trip after going through two rounds of chemo and the weather needed to cooperate as well. Dave and Luci decided to pick the Monday on Memorial weekend in May 2021 to make the journey. It was a wonderfully warm bluebird day and I was sure hoping we would be able to spot some sheep not too far from the shoreline as Dave did not have the stamina to hike very far. The stars aligned as we began the hike up the trail. We didn’t have to go far before a herd of 18 ewes with a couple of lambs came across the trail and down the hillside right past us. We were so excited for Dave when those sheep appeared when they did. We all got some great pictures as they passed by. Then, Dave said, “that was neat but I would like to see some nice rams.” To that I replied okay let’s go on up the trail and see what we can find, all the while thinking, I hope we can find some rams. As we made our way over a small rise and after hiking about a half mile, we spotted a group of six rams bedded on the hillside. After glassing them for a while from our cover of timber, they started getting up one by one and slowly started feeding our way. As we were enjoying our lunch, next thing you know we were among them as they fed right by us. Now we were really excited for Dave as we did find a nice group of rams and we took some great photos. As we made our way back down the trail to where the boat was beached, we were all talking about how neat it was to see the sheep and what a nice day it was only to have one more special surprise. Another large herd of rams and ewes show up just a couple hundred yards from the boat. There were a couple of rams that were very large in this group and really piqued Dave’s interest in this herd of sheep. It was special to see that new enthusiasm in Dave come out right then as we could see he was tiring from the amount of hiking we had already

From left to right Roger, Pat, and Dave

From left to right, Pat, Luci, and Dave.

Dave at P & Y convention with his sheep

completed. It was a wonderful end to our day on the island before we had to head back out on the water for the trip home. What a treat and precious time for Dave and Luci to revisit Wild Horse Island that they had visited when they were newlyweds. Pat and I felt so fortunate to be able to spend this special time with our friends Dave and Luci.

Dave had accomplished a few other special bucket list items throughout his life as a bowhunter in search of big game to challenge his skills. For those of us in the bowhunting community, in this case, that means getting a special license for each of the big three in Montana; Moose, Goat, and Bighorn Sheep. Over the course of his hunting lifetime, Dave was lucky enough to draw a license for each of them. He then proceeded to harvest each of those coveted special draw animals with traditional archery equipment. That’s a pretty amazing accomplishment in itself for one of these animals, let alone doing it for all three. All of them are wonderful representatives of their species, with his Bighorn ram being exceptional.

Along with enjoying bowhunting seasons for many years, Dave has been involved in teaching Bow Hunter Education classes for over 40 years. With that amount of class time, Dave has inspired a multitude of students. While we first met Dave through the Montana Bowhunter Association, Pat and I were two of those fortunate students.

He was recognized as a volunteer instructor in the eyes of the state when Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks sponsored the Bowhunter Education Program in 1987, though Dave had taught BHE classes before that. He was one of two people still teaching in Region 1 from the original group of MBA members that gathered one evening in Kalispell in 1979 to create a plan for teaching bowhunter education to the public. This group chose the IBEF (International Bowhunter Education Foundation) manual as guidance for the classes. Dave has been teaching a class every year since and has been “the go-to guy” for teaching Bowhunter Education classes in the Columbia Falls area for quite some time.

Dave and Luci were longtime members of the local Flathead Valley Archers club for over 25 years. He also had a couple of awards he earned over the years:

• Game Warden Award given to an instructor for dedication to the program by the wardens in the

Region 1 • 5 years through 25 years MT FWP Service Awards for teaching the BHE Program • 30 years MT FWP Service Award for teaching the

BHE Program • 2021 Instructor of the Year Award in Region 1

Dave’s never-ending enthusiastic outlook on life is a true inspiration to everyone he came in contact with. His endless optimism for sharing information with students and the opportunities that exist for them in the outdoors was hard to deny.

Dave treated everyone he met with genuine openness and respect. He shared a tremendously positive attitude with his students, fellow bow ed instructors, and most importantly, his wife Luci. He continued to work diligently every season trying to get Luci lined up on an elk. His perseverance and “can-do attitude” were amazing. Dave was always appreciative of time spent in the outdoors. Whenever he talked about his time spent in the outdoors, it was always a success story, regardless of whether an animal was harvested or not. This speaks volumes to the old question: “Is the glass half empty or half full?” For Dave, the glass was always full. Another positive lesson taught by Dave Yeats that we could all learn from.

As an instructor, mentor, friend, and Luci’s loving companion, Dave is deeply missed but will always be remembered.