Montana Bowhunters Association PO BOX 3515 Bozeman, MT 59772
Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit # 120 Bozeman, MT 59718
INSIDE: 2026 MBA Convention Highlights Widhalm Africa Hunt 2026 Bridger 3D Shoot 2025 Missouri Breaks Archery Elk Opening Day, Last Day And Freezer Math CWD and Genetic Resistance. It Is Time to Stop the Culling.
Regional News!
OFFICERS
REGIONAL REPS DIRECTORS AT LARGE
MBA
www.mtba.org
Regional Representatives Region 1
Mike Iten
620 Eckelberry Dr, Columbia Falls, MT 59912 ...........406-590-6140
rwidhalm14@gmail.com
Region 2
Marlon Clapham
4455 Hoover Lane, Stevensville, MT 59870 ................406-777-2408
Mbaregion2@gmail.com
Kevin Robinson Kent Anderson
5990 Ferry Drive, Helena, MT 59602 .........................406-475-1916
arrowedtraditions@gmail.com
Liberty Brown
275 Vigilante Tr., Bozeman, MT 59718 ......................406-581-7216
Region 4
Ty Benson
316 W Barnes St., Lewistown MT 59457 ....................406-366-9615
Mark Schwomeyer 201 Big Sky Lane, Lewistown, MT 59457 ........................406-350-0173 markschwo@gmail.com
Ben Buller
1108 horn Street, Billings, MT 59101
josh.horizonhuntingsafaris@gmail.com
Region 6
Garrett Backman
Po Box 566, Scobey MT 59263....................................406-783-7083
Region 7
Kent Undlin
Garrettbackman@gmail.com
kundlin2@hotmail.com ..............................................406-853-6116
AT LARGE DIRECTORS
EVEN YEARS
Tristan Manuel
48538 Anderson Rd, Havre, MT 59501 - HiLineTraditional@gmail.com................................406-399-5114
Troy Pottenger
17814 S Hungry Hollow Dr, Harrison, ID 83833 - tpottenger@gmail.com...........................208-691-6098
Libby Roberts Snelling Guy Stickney
1567 Sleeping Child Road, Hamilton, MT 598406
32 Cottonwood Way, Miles City, MT 59301 - wallguy31@yahoo.com....................................406-951-2506
ODD YEARS
Todd Anderson
616 Stephanie Avenue, Miles City, MT 59301 - tdanderson67@gmail.com.............. 406-942-0575
Brian Koelzer
80 Jansma Lane, Manhattan, MT 59741 - Rocknrollbowhunter3@yahoo.com.......... 406-570-7997
Patrick Koelzer
1112 Park Ave #A, Belgrade, MT 59714 - pkmasonrymt@yahoo.com........................ 406-570-9450
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
The MBA Magazine is a quarterly publication of the MBA and is intended to inform, entertain and educate its members on happenings within the organization and to bowhunting in general. PUBLICATION DATES AND DEADLINES
FALL ISSUE, DEADLINE, July 15 WINTER ISSUE, DEADLINE, October 15 SPRING ISSUE, DEADLINE, January 15 SUMMER ISSUE, DEADLINE, April 15
302 Wyoming Ave • Billings, MT 59101 schultzy@iwks.net • 406-598-8550
1ST VICE PRESIDENT
Stephanie Prater 416 Entrance Ave • Lewistown, MT 59457 mthuntress406@gmail.com • 406-461-6949
PAST PRESIDENT
Stephen LePage 2574 Divide Rd • Lewistown, MT 59457 mbaregion4@yahoo • 406-535-5636
4143 King Ave East, Billings, MT 59101 .....................406-672-5616 buller_ben@yahoo.com
Josh Shaver
Ken Schultz
mbareg3@gmail.com
bensonbuilt@hotmail.com
Region 5
PRESIDENT
2110 Wylie Ave, Missoula, MT 59802 .......................406-531-8243
Kmrmt00@hotmail.com
Region 3
Officers
795 5th Avenue West N, Kalispell, MT 59901 ...........406-366-5727
itenmike338@gmail.com
Robert Widhalm
MBA
Stories, photos, or cartoons should be sent to Stephanie Prater at 416 Entrance Ave., Lewistown, MT 59457 or email: mthuntress406@ gmail.com. All materials are the opinion of the author unless otherwise stated, and are subject to being edited. All submitted or published photos may be used by the MBA in the newsletter, and MBA Photo Album and/or on Facebook. Any questions as to policies of MBA please contact the President. MEMBERSHIP INQURIES
Please send new memberships or renewal memberships to MBS Administrator, Bethany Baily, PO BOX 3515, Bozeman, MT 59772, or register online at www.mtba.org, or ask a member.
MAGAZINE EDITOR
Stephanie Prater 416 Entrance Ave • Lewistown, MT 59457 mthuntress406@gmail.com • 406-461-6949
ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
Bethany Baily P.O. Box 3515 • Bozeman, MT 59772 406-548-8222 • mtba@mtba.org
TABLE OF CONTENTS VOL. 54 #1 Fall 2026
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Ken Schultz 1ST VICE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Stephanie Prater
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Montana Bowhun PO BOX ters Ass ociation 351 Bozeman, 5 MT 597 72
On the Cover
Gene Wensel, Bo & Schafer Koelzer and Skylar Macdonald
PAST PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Stephen LePage
Non-Profi t Org. U.S. PO STAGE PAID Permit Bozema # 120 n, MT 59 718
5 REGIONAL REPORTS 9 DAL REPORT 10 BLAST FROM THE PAST Marlon Claphman
11 2026 ELECTIONS 12 2026 CONVENTION & BANQUET HIGHLIGHTS
16 WIDHALM AFRICA HUNT Robert Widhalm
18 2026 BRIDGER 3D SHOOT Kevin Robinson
INSIDE :
2026 M B Convent A Highlig ion hts Widhalm Africa H unt 2026 Bri 3D Shoo dger t 2025 M is Breaks souri Archery Elk
Opening Last Day Day, Freezer And Math CWD an Resistancd Genetic to Stop e. It Is Time the Cullin g.
Regiona l News!
OFFIC ERS REGIO NAL RE DIRECT PS ORS AT LARGE
20 2025 MISSOURI BREAKS ARCHERY ELK
Garrett Backman
24 OPENING DAY, LAST DAY AND FREEZER MATH
Kevin Robinson
26 MEMBER GALLERY 28 MBA MEMBERSHIP FORM 29 BUSINESS & CLUB MEMBERS FWP COMMISSIONER CONTACTS
Fall 2026
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MBA
Committees Legislative: CHAIR: Stephanie Prater • Stephen LePage Liberty Brown • Kent Undlin • Guy Stickney
Financial: CHAIR: Bethany Bailey
Landowner/Sportsman: CHAIR: Stephanie Prater Mike Iten • Mark Schwomeyer • Tristan Manuel Guy Stickney • Kent Undlin • Todd Anderson
Nominations: CHAIR: Stephanie Prater Brian Koelzer
Awards: CHAIR: Kent Anderson Marlon Clapham • Liberty Brown Brian Koelzer
Membership: CHAIR: Steve LePage Mike Iten • Ben Buller • Ron Aasheim
Convention 2027 (Region 2) Kevin Robinson Tristan Manuel • Ken Schultz
Magazine: CHAIR: Mike Iten Stephanie Prater • Kevin Robinson Kent Anderson • Guy Stickney Brian Koelzer
Bridger Bowman Shoot: CHAIR: Kevin Robinson Ken Schultz • Brian Koelzer
Bow-Ed: CHAIR: Mark Schwomeyer Al Kelly • Marlon Clapham Ben Buller • Tristan Manuel • Garrett Backman
Governance CHAIR: NA
PTMAE CHAIR: Marlon Clapham Kevin Robinson
Tentatives CHAIR: Stephanie Prater Mark Schwomeyer • Guy Stickney
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OFFICER REPORTS
PRESIDENT - KEN SCHULTZ 1ST VICE PRESIDENT - STEPHANIE PRATER PAST PRESIDENT - STEPHEN LEPAGE
1ST VICE
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
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Greetings All, opefully this letter finds everyone in good spirits and good health. Early tags are officially out!! Hopefully everyone had the magic potion this year and was drawn for some awesome tags. I didn’t draw anything special, but that’s usually the case for me. I will be working the general areas like many folks in Montana. Thank the Good Lord that we still have those areas to hunt. I know many states are getting pretty thin for general area hunts. The MBA Convention went over with a bang! We had a great time and auctioned off some incredible prizes all around. Thank you to all our sponsors, donors and helpers who made this year’s convention a great success! Those of you who able to attend, I hope you had a great time and enjoyed the festivities. Next year’s convention will be in Missoula and we’ll have final dates locked down very soon if we haven’t already. More to come! We’ve elected several new Board Members, and we are super excited about the new crop of leaders. We have such a great group of folks on the Board. I’m pretty honored to be a part of a great organization. If you are interested in being a leader on our board, please contact me directly. We also are looking for some of our current board members to fill positions. (Secretary, Treasurer and 2nd Vice President) to name a few. We had a few folks step off the Board after many years of service. I want to personally thank them all for their committed service and leadership. Hopefully someday they’ll come back around after catching up a little and serve again. (Mandy and Cliff Garness, Justin Dahl, Robin Mestdagh, Luke Pisk, Jerry Davis). Thank you all for everything you contributed!!! I will try to keep you posted on any upcoming legislative items like crossbows, etc. We will be reaching out for support from all. Good Luck on the rest of your tags this season and get out there and have some fun with family and friends. With that I’ll leave you with the reminder to “Shoot Straight and Always be a Straight Shooter!”
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pring bear and turkey seasons have come and gone as well as most special drawings. Make sure you read the hunting regulations before hitting the field as many changes occurred during the season setting process. We got out a few times this spring, had a couple encounters with turkeys, but the Montana bear season for us was truncated due to a new sow sub quota. The bear season closed in our area in just 6 days! We headed up north to Saskatchewan to chase bears instead with some great friends for an excellent adventure. There was absolutely nothing like it. The guides were top notch, the bears were everywhere, and the laughs shared in camp made for some serious memories and type 2 fun. My husband and I both tagged beautiful color phase boars and even got to enjoy a little walleye fishing the last day. Our banquet and Bridger Shoot have both come and gone. Thank you to the many donors, sponsors, volunteers, vendors, speakers, attendees, and board members who made both events possible. The banquet will be hosted in Missoula next year so plan on being there and mark your calendars now! We’ve got several new board members which is always great to work with other passionate bowhunters. We still have some open positions and would love to fill them! Please reach out to Ken or me if you’d like to join our dynamic board! It’s been a mild winter, beautiful spring and summer is just getting started so get outside and enjoy! Good luck this upcoming big game season! >>>---------------------->
Stephanie Prater
Ken Schultz
Stephanie Prater
Ken Schultz
Fall 2026
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OFFICER’S HEADER REPORT
PAST PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Hello MBA membership!
I
really enjoyed seeing everyone at the banquet and would like to give a heartful “Thank You” to all those dedicated MBA members that made it possible! I always enjoy seeing the best bowhunters in Montana and getting to hear all the stories. It feels like a loving family and we only get together on Christmas and 3D shoots.
I would also like to give a shout out to the new Board of Directors. I acknowledge that it feels intimidating to join the Board, but those that make the leap are welcome and your MBA is only as good as our BOD. We always need new perspectives and new ideas. The BOD can get stale and I strongly believe we need new blood to keep the Club relevant and moving forward in a positive direction. Thank you for making the leap! What is even more important than that are the BOD members that have stayed on to keep the Club’s compass needle pointed in the correct direction. Thank you to all of the BOD that have stayed on and given many, many hours dedicated to legislative fights, membership recruitment, commission hearings, helping disabled bowhunters, organizing fun events, defending and expanding your bowhunting seasons. The names are too numerous to list, but I love and thank all of them. They keep this Shit Show running and they are AMAZING! XOXOXO,
Stephen LePage
Avian Pox
Stephen LePage
REMINDER:
Mailing Labels ShowYour Membership Renewal Date
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REGIONAL REPORTS
REGION 1 MICHAEL ITEN ROBERT WIDHALM REGION 2 MARLON CLAPHMAN KEVIN ROBINSON REGION 3 KENT ANDERSON LIBERTY BROWN REGION 4 Michael Iten TY BENSON (NO REPORT) MARK SCHWOMERYER (NO REPORT) each year!) to the open country and isolated pockets REGION 5 BEN BULLER JOSH SHAVER (NO REPORT) REGION 6 GARRETT BACKMAN (NO REPORT) REGION 7 KENT UNDLIN (NO REPORT)
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MICHAEL ITEN ROBERT WIDHALM
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ith each newsletter I struggle with a topic to focus on and write about. This is one about goals. Perhaps it would have been a timely article for the January newsletter, but with application season currently underway it’s heavy on my mind. Before I launch into this topic, I would like to take a moment to say how thankful I am that Robert Widhalm has joined me as a Region 1 representative. Both he and I have discussed ways to increase engagement and grow our membership in our area to strengthen MBA’s and bowhunter’s voice in Montana. From potential 3D shoots on the shores of Flathead Lake to hosting well known speakers for pint nights to having classes on backcountry first aid. Stay tuned! There’s something about Montana that keeps a bowhunter grounded. The country is too big, the animals too wild, and the conditions too unpredictable to not get educated in a season. Success here isn’t accidental, it’s earned over years of effort, failure, and persistence. That’s why setting meaningful goals matters, especially when you’ve spent enough time in the field to know that filling a tag is only part of the story. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to take elk in five of Montana’s seven hunting regions. Each one came with its own terrain, challenges, and lessons. Looking back, it wasn’t just about notching tags, it was about building a deeper connection to the landscapes and the animals that define Montana. Montana isn’t a one-size-fits-all elk state like Arizona or Nevada. From the thick timber and steep mountains in the west (that seem to get steeper
of elk in the east, each region demands a different approach. Setting a goal to hunt and eventually harvest in multiple regions forces you to grow as a bowhunter. You learn quickly that what works in one area won’t necessarily translate to another. Calling strategies, spot-and-stalk tactics, access challenges, even how elk respond to pressure, all of it changes. Those differences sharpen your instincts and push you beyond your comfort zone. Not to mention the furry tractors (grizzly bear) on the west side to the spawns of Satan (rattlesnakes) and deer flies of the east that test one’s mental fortitude. For me, the goal wasn’t just to see more of this beautiful state, it was to become more adaptable. Every new region stripped away assumptions and replaced them with experience. These include assumptions from the extremely thick timber of the South Fork in Region 1 to the open and vast sagebrush and coulee country of Region 6. Each region left its mark. In some areas, success meant covering miles of steep forested ridges and trusting your legs as much as your instincts. In others, patience and glassing played a bigger role than aggressive calling. There were hunts where elk talked nonstop where I experienced—for several hours’ midday— multiple herd bulls glunking, bugling, raking and cows mewing with several satellites on the outskirts longing for some action. Then there were others where days of complete silence forced me to rethink everything. Moments like those lead me to question my mental acumen and why I bother hunting with a stick and string. What tied them all together was the reminder that elk hunting is never static. Conditions change daily, and the hunters who succeed are the ones who adjust. Setting a goal like harvesting elk in each of the seven regions of Montana is a long-term pursuit, and that’s exactly what makes it worthwhile. Some years, you don’t even find elk the way your eScouting would steer you towards. But each season adds another layer of knowledge. Over time, those layers build confidence, not the kind that guarantees success, but the kind that keeps you going back. For over a decade I prided myself on filling my elk tag. Then came 2024 when I had a permit for an HD in Region 4 that I had completely miscalculated. As Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” could easily encapsulate this hunt. Thinking that if I went further than others and “kept grinding” it would grant me success, but I should have focused more on the fringes and boundaries. I think I’ve learned more from failures than from my successes. Long-term goals also change how you define success. It becomes less about a single moment and more about the process. Scouting new country, learning access points, understanding pressure, and finding elk where you didn’t expect them.
With five regions behind me and two more to go, there’s no rush. If anything, the experience so far has reinforced that the experiences have been the reward—as cliche as that sounds. The two regions that remain are Region 3 and Region 5. For whatever reason, these two remain my least two favored to hunt elk. Is it apathy? Is it because I prefer to hunt where I was born and raised in Region 2? Or being lazy and hunting an area that I know like the back of my hand? I’ve found that hunting in the timber using vocalizations and spot-and-stalk is more enjoyable than glassing. These two regions will lean towards the latter hunting strategy. With a daughter currently enrolled in college in Dillon, we have rifle hunted there together. To say I was overwhelmed by the number /of hunters in this region would be an understatement. However, I do have an archery elk hunt planned for Region 3 and am anticipating a different experience. Those remaining regions represent more than unfinished business. They’re an opportunity to continue learning, to experience new parts of Montana, and to keep the challenge alive. Because in the end, that’s what keeps bowhunting meaningful. Not just the harvest, but the pursuit of something that pushes you to become better season after season. Persistence has become my advantage. Every bowhunter sets goals differently. For some, it’s a bigger bull than last year, one over 300”, 340” or a “mature 6x6”. For others, it’s simply more time in the field or spending time with friends and/or family. For me, it’s been about exploration, growth, and experiences using Montana’s landscape as a proving ground. While it’s great to hunt with friends and family, I’ve found that I prefer to hunt solo for archery elk and it’s a large contributor to my overall success. If there’s one takeaway, it’s this—set goals that make you uncomfortable. Push beyond familiar ground, test yourself in new terrain, stretch your limits and break away from what’s familiar. We only get so many revolutions on this rock we call earth, make the most out of it. Montana and the elk that call it home will do the rest. Two books I just finished are Do Hard Things by Steve Magness and The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter which are highly recommended reading. Hopefully, this article didn’t come across as self-focused, but one where you, the reader, focus on a goal that expands your horizons, causes some discomfort, and allows you to grow as not only a better human, but a better and more focused hunter. September is a short five months away (at the time of this writing in April). But until then, let us keep practicing our craft by bending the limbs, settling in, executing a clean break, and releasing the carbon and experiencing “the mythical flight of the arrow”. All the best,
Michael Iten
REGIONAL REPORTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
Fall 2026
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invited to attend and have a booth, so Merri, Libby and I will attend for the MBA’s representation of what we do.
Robert Widhalm
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ey! I’m excited to be a co-representative for region one with Mike Iten. Mike and I have known each other well for the past five-ish years now. We hunt together quite a bit and have a lot of the same thoughts and ideas for using our role to help the MBA improve as an organization. My number one goal is to leave this organization better than how I found it. We are looking into ways that we can bring in more yearly memberships from bowhunters in our area with pint nights at local breweries, working a booth at the yearly outdoor expo, and potentially at the RMEF Big Game Days. Aside from this, I’m passionate about getting my kids in the outdoors and teaching them what I know. My beautiful wife, Shiloh, deserves all the credit for supporting me to take on this added role in an already action-packed family schedule. In a few short weeks, I’ll be taking my five-year-old son, Colt, on our first overnight spring black bear/turkey hunt in the mountains and I’m not sure who is more excited. Stay tuned.
Robert Widhalm
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Marlon Clapham
I have newsletters that go back to around 1995, and I was wondering if anyone would like back issues that you may be missing, I’ll try to get them to you. Text me at this number or email is the best way. 406-777-2408 Till Next Time. Be Safe.
Marlon Clapham
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big thanks to Ken and the Billings crew for putting together a great convention this year. It was great to see familiar faces and meet some new ones as well. Somehow, I’ve been thrown into the MC position at the past few conventions which is an honor. I cannot think of a better place to try out some inappropriate jokes and one-liners than in front of the MBA family. I thought I would’ve gotten more laughs when I read Pam Bondi’s name for the lifetime membership raffle; too soon, I guess. If you have any suggestions or opinions of my performance, please email your thoughts to grumpy.folks.w/no.sense.of.humor. com and our staff will be happy to help you! Next year’s convention will be here in Missoula, so I’ll have plenty of time to produce some new material.
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MARLON CLAPHAM KEVIN ROBINSON
Next up the MBA Bridger shoot is coming right up May 30-31. Come get in on the action at the Morton’s place. Tent camping, storytelling, target shooting and just an all-out great time. We’re spicing it up this year so don’t miss the action.
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nother Convention come and gone. Billings crew put on a fine show for the membership. We have a new Administrative Services Agent, Bethany Baily, who was thrown straight into the fire, Mandy of course was there to show Bethany the ins and outs of how she did things, now Bethany gets to make it her own. All good, Larry, Bethany’s significant other was with her all weekend for more than just moral support, she did work his butt off. Thanks Larry. Great job, the both of you, looking forward to working with the two of you for years to come. Our Keynote Dinner Speaker, our own, Brian Koelzer regaled his Grizzly Bear hunt with support from a great slide show, and entertaining recap of the entire hunt. Great job Brian. The Seminar speakers put many folks in the seats and were well received. Our regional game made a few bucks and the raffles were all good. Now it’s time for Region 2 to step up as we get to host the 2027 Convention here in Missoula. Kevin, our area rep. has already been hard at it getting the Hotel booked. Now we need to bring in seminar and dinner speakers. If anyone has any ideas of who you might like reach out to Kevin. Spring is setting up to be a busy one with the Youth Events around region 2. We already have had a good start, The Conservation Elders who the MBA supports has had a very successful fund raiser to support the kids they send to Youth Camps around the state. Last year we sent 225 kids to camp, this year looks to be more. Will update later. The Helena Youth Expo will be April 18th, the Hamilton Event is May 2nd and the East Missoula Event will be May 16th. The there is going to be a Conservation group from Anaconda putting on a gathering May 9th, the MBA was
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Well, that’s about all I got for now, hope to see some of you at the events going on around the state this spring.
As I write this the deer and elk permit draw results just came out so I hope some of you drew your dream tag, I struck out again. Also, today our fine Montana senators Steve Dianes and Tim Sheehy voted to open the boundary waters to a Chilean Copper and Nickel mine, America First, thanks guys! What else is terrible before I move on to better news, oh yeah, our president thinks he’s Jesus.
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The MBA’s Bridger 3D shoot held in Bozeman May 29th-31st. This will be our first time solo hosting the event. The crew will be needing plenty of volunteers to pull this event off. Kevin, Brian and Liberty are the persons to call for questions.
WWW.MTBA.ORG
Marlon is hosting a R.I.P. Carp Safari BBQ at canyon ferry mid-June. Reach out to him for information and potentially a group campsite. As a reminder, the MBA could not renew our Carp Safari permit through the Bureau of Reclamation, so this party is just for fun. Black bear and turkey seasons are now open! I hope everyone has some action chasing those critters and I hope you shoot straight! Until next time, enjoy our wild America!
Kevin Robinson
Kevin Robinson
REGIONAL REPORTS
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KENT ANDERSON LIBERTY BROWN
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ransitioning. No not the stuff you’re seeing all over the place in society but transitioning from one world of archery to another. I have been committing myself since around 2009 to try and solely go after game with my compound and leave the rifle at home. It has truly become something I’m very passionate about, but there was always a lingering feeling to try something new.
Finally, it was deer season. I had a tree we have hunted out of for several years and have killed multiple deer out of. What really got me thinking about a traditional set up was that I had lots of deer at under 15 yards. This shot was doable. I went in for the rut in mid-November. The very first day I passed on a buck that I likely could have shot. I wasn’t ready for my season to end. Finally on the 5th day a small buck gave me a shot, and I grazed his back at under 10 yards. It was my last morning I had to hunt before heading home. The sun began to rise, and the deer were on their feet moving. It was a great morning. Finally, I saw a small 4x4 headed my way. I grunted and got his attention. He saw my decoy setup and couldn’t resist. He came right under the tree, and I made a great shot at under 10 yards, the made it 50 yards, and I watched him tip over. This is where it gets even better was the realization of what I had just done. I was like a kid once again on my first hunt. The excitement was awesome, and I was officially hooked. There will be plenty of hunts where I still hunt with my compound, but it may be less and less. I know how truly fortunate I am to have success in my first season and won’t take that for granted.
I used to rely on upgrading my bows around every three to four years as it seems the advancements in technology were occurring around that time frame. I have never truly been bored with tinkering with my compounds, but there was that lingering feeling that there was a broader horizon ahead. It wasn’t until last year in 2025 that I really decided to take the leap and put my compound down and focus on shooting traditional archery. My older brother ended up getting a longbow and as it goes, showed it to me in person. That was all it took! I started researching and looking into bows. I was torn on if I was going to do this was I going to go all in and order a custom bow, buy a factory recurve, or find the middle ground and buy used. I went the last route and bought a used custom bow. I found a 48# longbow at my draw length. I had in my head I wanted something that I would enjoy shooting and wasn’t going to be too much bow starting out. The practice and research happened fast. I started shooting daily in July and reached out to those around me that had been shooting for years. One thing about traditional archers is that they are the easiest people to pull information from. Everyone is willing to help you through the process and give great advice. After shooting for days on end, at times too much, where I had to let my body recover, I started to develop my shot. I was determined to try to kill my antelope and deer this year. At this point I was confident out to 15 yards and knew my limits. I sat in a blind for antelope for a few days and had a doe at 23 yards. This is usually a chip shot with my compound, but with the longbow I knew better. You learn quickly how tough this feat will be. I didn’t end up shooting anything at this point. I went into elk camp and stuck it out with my compound and ended up killing my best archery
Kent Anderson
members from across the state come together to share ideas, catch up with old friends, and enjoy some excellent seminars and presentations. Events like these remind us of what a strong bowhunting community we have in Montana. We also recently wrapped up the Bridger 3D Shoot, and despite nearly two inches of rain over the weekend, it turned out to be a fantastic event. A special thank you goes out to the Morton family for generously providing their workshop, which gave our staff, vendors, and volunteers a dry place to gather while shooters braved the weather and enjoyed the course. The rain certainly made for some memorable shooting conditions, but the positive attitudes and enthusiasm of everyone involved made it a great weekend. I’d also like to thank all our sponsors who donated raffle prizes, refreshments, and support for the event. Their contributions help make these shoots possible and allow us to continue promoting bowhunting throughout the region. We were especially excited to welcome several new members to the Montana Bowhunters Association during the event. As always, I’d like to remind everyone that the MBA is a volunteer-driven organization. Everything we accomplish, from advocacy and conservation work to youth programs and events; is made possible by members who are willing to donate their time and talents. If you’ve ever thought about becoming more involved, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’d love to have your help. Thank you for your continued support of the Montana Bowhunters Association, and I hope to see you at a future event. Sincerely,
Liberty Brown
406-570-4280 mbareg3@gmail.com
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hope everyone is having a great summer and finding time to enjoy Montana’s outdoors. It’s been a busy few months for the MBA, and I wanted to share a few updates from around Region 3. First, congratulations and thank you to the Billings representatives and volunteers who put together another successful Montana Bowhunters Association Convention. It was great to see so many
REGIONAL REPORTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
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have had a great summer so far chasing kids for sports and watching them grow. My boy got a new bow for Christmas, and we have been sighting it in and getting him ready for Big Sky State Games and Archery League. He won the Big Sky State Games Archery Club division and he was excited. We had a good turnout for the Big Sky shoot and have had a good turnout for the archery league we do.
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As for me, it has been a good summer doing things with the kids and family. I came short for drawing tags this year and only got my 900 archery tag for hunting season. Everyone is doing well and enjoying their summer and family.
Ben Buller
BEN BULLER JOSH SHAVER
Contestants Gage
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DIRECTOR’S AT LARGE
DIRECTOR’S AT LARGE
TODD ANDERSON BRIAN KOELZER PATRICK KOELZER (NO REPORT) TRISTAN MANUEL TROY POTTENGER (NO REPORT) LIBBY ROBERTS SNELLING (NO REPORT) GUY STICKNEY
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hy do we hunt? Why do we hunt with archery equipment? I always remind my wife that hunting is the best way to obtain cheap, healthy and delicious meat for our family. As hard as I try, she still doesn’t believe the cheap part (ok neither do I, but she absolutely agrees that the last two are accurate! That said, our family is a game eating family. We all look forward to a freezer full of deer, elk, and antelope. Now that doesn’t always happen but most years we are blessed with this outcome. As our kids grew up the vast amount of meat they ate was wild game. One time when my young son bit into a juicy beef burger he got a strange look on his face and asked what kind of animal it was. Had to laugh, he preferred a juicy elk burger to beef and to this day that remains true. We hunt to eat and we choose archery because the challenge of getting close and working hard for the harvest makes that wild game taste that much better. A couple years ago my son harvested a nice antelope buck and as we approached the downed antelope, we found the tip of a broken knapped knife laying not 2 feet from the antelope! My son and I pondered how long ago did this hunter knap this knife? Was it used to butcher his kill at that exact spot where he just killed an antelope? How many of his family ate the animals he harvested? Did he use a bow or an atlatl? Did they pick this very spot as we did because it was a natural spring? So many questions, but one thing we agreed on is there is no way we were even half as good a hunter as the human who made this knife blade! Hoping you all have a successful season and can fill your freezers!
Todd Anderson
Brian Koelzer
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ell, spring has officially sprung. A tad early and drier than it should be but we all know that so no need to expound. I’m hoping there is some rain in our future… First and foremost, I’d like to thank Ken and the Billings crew for putting together another fine convention. As always, it’s fun to get to see everyone and catch up on stories from the past year. I’m already looking forward to Missoula next year! It was an honor to be asked to share some adventures during supper in Billings. I enjoy telling stories of success, almost, and how I really messed it up. The stories I enjoy telling most are about my wife and young boys. Their introduction into the bowhunting lifestyle and outdoors breathes new life into my childhood dreams that I’ve got to not only live but exceed. The far north beckons and mid-June will find my whole family pointed north with a group of MBA members in search of big bears and big fish. I’m looking forward to this as much as anything in recent memory. Hopefully a story or two comes from this new adventure. The older I get, the quicker time passes. Don’t let a good opportunity pass you by if it’s offered. Tomorrow is promised to no one so make the time you have here with the people that are important count. >>>————>.
Brian Koelzer
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ope everyone is having a great spring. Good luck to everyone that put in for tags this year! It was great to see many of you at the Billings Banquet and Bridger shoot.
Tristan Manuel
Director at Large Montana Bowhunters Association
Tristan Manuel Fall 2026
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DIRECTOR’S AT LARGE-CONTINUED
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his last spring I attended the 48th Annual Convention and Banquet in Billings. This was my first time attending one. It was a great experience. It is a great opportunity to meet and fellowship with other passionate bowhunters from across our great state. I highly recommend attending to any members that, like me, had not attended one prior. Obviously, we would like to see everyone make this an annual event if your schedule allows. My wife and kids were able to make the trip with me. Although my boys are still too young to really partake in the convention and banquet activities, the highlight of the trip for them was the pool and water slide. I really enjoyed the seminars, and the keynote delivered by our very own board member, Brian Koelzer, was quite a tale of adventure that any bowhunter would enjoy. Next year’s convention is in Missoula, and I guarantee it is sure to be a good time. The board is still in need of another Region 7 rep, so reach out if you live in Region 7 and have an interest or even if you know someone that might. As I write this, it is likely you are gearing up for whatever permit or tag you were fortunate to draw this year. Hopefully you drew a great tag or permit, however thankfully if you are a resident, we are blessed with great general season hunting opportunities even if you didn’t. Let’s keep it that way! Shoot straight!
Guy Stickney
Guy Stickney DAL - Even
Blast from the Past Still coming from the year of
1996
I happened across some information that works into the statement I posted in the last issue, That History Repeats It’s Self. Looking back from just last year the Pope & Young Club, eliminated the so called Let Off rule for compound bow. I found this in the 1996 MBA News Letter “Pope & Young Club’s Compound Let-Off Ruling Upheld”. Following is how they posted their thoughts. The Pope & Young Club has upheld its long-standing rule which limits the acceptable let-off of compound bows to 65 percent. The directors stated that with the widespread marketing of the higher let-offs folks were inquiring as to how the P&Y Club policy would hold up. “For the purpose of entering a harvested animal into the P&Y Record Books a bow shall be defined as a Longbow, Recurve Bow or Compound Bow that is hand-held and hand-drawn, and that has no mechanical device to enable the hunter to lock the bow at full of partial draw. Other than the energy stored by the drawn bow, no device to propel the arrow will be permitted. A let-off of sixty-five (65) percent on a compound is the maximum allowed as defined by A.M.O.’s method of measuring let-off and allowing for a minor deviation to rigging and manufacturing variables.” Of course, as we know this ruling was widdled down until just a few months ago it was dropped altogether. And so, Montana followed suite. Here is another headline that was on the internet. “Help Stop the Senseless Torture of Innocent Plants!” This came from The Worldwide Institute for Maintenance of Plant Species (WIMPS) is an organization seeking your support to stop the senseless vivisection occurring at university, government and industry sponsored research laboratories! Your tax dollars are utilized to fund these macabre and worthless atrocities! Instances of plant abuse such as overfertilization and even wilting have been thoroughly documented at these facilities. Research videotapes stolen by
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WIMPS investigators posing as plant caregivers reveal vegetableabusing scientists in their routine heinous acts of plowing, pruning and fumigating innocent plants. After experiments are completed, these poor plants are ripped from the soil during the prime of their vegetablehood, and chopped, boiled, steamed or pureed! This injustice amounts to a Vegetable Auschwitz that must be stopped. What gives these researchers the right to maim and torture harmless plants simply to perpetuate the lives of a few billion of their own species? An alga is a fern is a shrub is a tree. Vegisectors insist that their research benefits the plant community, but they are simply interested in lucrative government and industry research grants. Plant agriculture causes tremendous ecological destruction (i.e., erosion, eutrophication). Many of these scientists are actually vegetarians who destroy innocent plants for their personal nutriture when alternative sources of food are available. Plant products are not a dietary essential, and can be replaced by supplements of artificial fiber and vitamins. Plant products contain toxins shown to cause cancer. Much vegisection is superfluous because biological phenomena can be modeled by computer, and plant cells can be cultured. Many advances in botany owe nothing to vegisection. The fact is that plants are not ours to eat, wear or experiment on. Only after adopting a philosophy that includes vegetable rights, and putting an end to vegisection can we achieve non-violence for all life and world peace. Write your congressperson, then send your contributions to: ME WIMPS 1410 Bleeding Heart Blvd. Radish, Mt. 10101 The following is someone else’s opinion and not the opinion of this publication or organization. (As I really enjoy a fresh cut garden salad, especially right before a good thick steak!!) I just thought it was cute, when I first came across this, I thought it was real and what will folks try to stop next. Anyway, I liked it, something a little different.
Marlon Clapham (Your Sorta of Historian) I have a lot of back issues of the newsletters. Can we put an advertisement that if anyone wants back issues to contact me and I’ll try to get them what they request. I have so many I’m going to put them in the recircle bin if no one wants them. I go back quite aways. They can get my contact from the newsletter and it’s best if the text me. Thanks Marlon 406-777-2408
2026 ELECTIONS
2026 ELECTIONS!! Greetings All, First and foremost, I want to “thank” all the folks that came out to volunteer their time for the MBA Convention in Billings this past Friday night. We could not have done it without you! There are too many names to mention, so Thank You everyone! We had a great time and really appreciate those that took time to attend! Here is a list of new New Elections and Re-Elections to the Board. Thank you to all that took time to vote. Congratulations to all and we look forward to working with you on the board.
Region “1” - Robert Widhalm - New Elect Region “2” - Kevin Robinson - Re-Elect, Marlon Clapham - Re-Elect Region “4” - Mark Schwomeyer - Re-Elect Region “6” - Garrett Backman - New Elect Director at Large - Libby Roberts - New Elect Director at Large - Guy Stickney - Re-Elect President - Ken Schultz - Re-Elect I also want to take time to thank those Board Members that have stepped off the Board. We really have appreciated all your input and your dedication over the past years!!! Cliff Garness, Mandy Garness, Justin Dahl, Jerry Davis. You all have a big part of who we are. Thanks again Everyone!!!!
Ken Schultz/MBA
2026 CONVENTION DONORS
Thank you to these donors as well: Red Rock Sporting Goods Custom Concrete Rustic Mountain Furnishing Hurst Bows Great Falls Archery Club Wenzel Family Libby Archery Club Michael Downer Antler Creek Designs Doc & Eddy’s Colleen & Steve Garness Pat Parker
Fall 2026
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2026 BANQUET AWARDS
PAUL SCHAFFER AWARD CADEN CRAVER Kevin Robinson Interview with Caden Craver, recipient of the 2026 Paul Schafer Award. K: Out of all the special achievements the MBA awards, I think my favorite might be the Paul Schafer Award. I struggled with bowhunting for a long time as a whipper snapper before I was successful and that feeling you get when you’re finally succeed is pretty incredible. Did you know who Paul Schafer was before the award? And were you surprised when your name was announced? O: I did not know who Paul Schafer was before the award and was not expecting my name to get called. I really didn’t even know they gave out awards like this. I had never been to a hunting related banquet, so I didn’t know what to expect and I sure got an experience that I won’t forget. K: When is your first memory of shooting a bow? O: My first memory of shooting a bow was in 2nd or 3rd grade so 8 or 9 years old and I was mowing lawns to save up to go 50/50 on my first bow with my dad. K: Who inspired you to bow hunt? O: My dad Cory was the first person to introduce me to bow hunting as well as my mom Amy. Also, my dad’s friend and my boss Chad Tiffany spent a lot of fall nights in the tree stand and ground blind with both my parents and many more recent nights in the tree with Chad. My dad and Chad are the ones who set my baseline for what’s right and wrong and raised me to become a woodsman. K: If you could go back in time to hunt when would that be? Dinosaurs? Saber toothed cats? Ice age? Civil war? Last hunting season? Anything goes! O: The thing that made me interested in making and hunting with a sIf I could go back in time to hunt it would be three years ago rifle season, it was the three of us—Chad, my dad and I. We had split up and I was with Chad and we cut two sets of fresh bull tracks in the snow and followed them into the timber. About a 1/4 mile into following the bulls, I spotted a 320-class shed horn on the ground in front of me, so I picked it up and continued. I was three years younger at the time and was way too impatient to timber hunt hard so I was sidetracked with my horn and was talking to Chad about how we should try to find more. About that time, he stopped walking and went silent. I heard very faintly “put the dam horn down and shoot that bull.” I was still in a daze with my horn in my hand and when I had finally got my gun up I had about 2 seconds to shoot. It wasn’t enough time for me, so I didn’t shoot and they ran. We tried to follow up on the bulls, but they knew the gig was up and I wish I had been more attentive so I would have another amazing story to tell and a bull on the wall to prove it. K: Favorite Montana species to hunt? O: My favorite Montana species to hunt is almost a tie between elk and whitetail. I think I would have to pick whitetail because I tried as hard as I could to kill one specific buck for 3 years straight and could not do it. The buck was one of the smartest animals I have ever encountered while hunting. K: What would be your dream hunt? O: My dream hunt would be a bow hunt in Alberta or an Alaska moose hunt. K: Goals for this coming season? O: My goals for this upcoming hunting season are to harvest another animal with my bow. It could be elk, deer, or bear and I want to shoot a bull this year that is 6 1/2 years old or older or a buck that I believe is of age class.
K: You tagged a big whitetail buck last fall too, correct? I’m a bit of a whitetail connoisseur myself! O: I did notch my deer tag in bow season this last year on an amazing non typical 8x8 150 class whitetail. I went out after school to my grandparent’s half section out north of Belgrade. We had history with this buck the year before. He was a 6x5 that year and we decided to pass him up and see what he would bring for the next year. It was well worth it. He went crazy and way bigger than the year before. I sat in my tree for about 1 1/2 hours before I saw through the trees this mess of horn walking right where I wanted him to come through. He slowly fed out further away from me on the edge of my shooting lane. He finally came fully into my shooting lane at about 35 yards and fed as he walked, so I made a little grunt, and he stopped at 38 yards quartering away and I shot. My arrow made a full pass through, and it was a little higher and further back than I wanted to for the quarter away shot. He ran out of sight, so I waited for about 10 minutes and then it started to rain. It didn’t rain long but it did rain hard. All my blood was washed away. I had called my dad when I shot so him and Chad came out to aid in recovery, but it was impossible to follow this deer with all the blood washed away. We scanned all we could with our lights until about midnight then gave up for the night. I were still determined the shot was lethal. I told my parents I was not going to school the next day because it was going to be warm and I was not going to let that amazing deer go to waste. I woke up at shooting light the next morning and headed back out to the ranch. I got out there around 7:30am and started walking. I spent 3 hours gridding the brush that he had ran to, but nothing turned up. About the time I got done gridding the brush I thought he went in. My dad showed up out of nowhere and was just as determined as I was to find this deer. We went across the fence into another pasture that was the only other place we thought he could have gone. We spent another hour in that brush and still nothing. We were headed back to the other pasture and out of the corner of my dad’s eye he saw a white belly. We found him dead only about 20 yards in the other pasture. We dragged him back to better lighting and took some pictures. Later that day I made it back to school for my last two classes of the day. We were happy that we had lost no meat. The grass under the deer was still dry so he had died faster than the rain hit but with no blood. It took us over 16 hours to recover him. K: Epic story and an epic season with your bow! Congrats on your accomplishments and congratulations on receiving the 2025 Paul Schafer award!
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LEE POOLE AWARD MARLON CLAPHAM Marlon Clapham has quietly, sometimes loudly, served Montana’s bowhunting community, every day for decades. When he’s not testifying to keep crossbows out of bowhunting season, he is planning for the next youth archery expo, mining the community for new blood, and teaching authentic bowhunter safety. Recently on short notice, he generously showed up to help with BSA’s archery merit badge class. He has more wealth of bowhunting experience than most people know. He’s modest. He continually works to serve our para archers and para bowhunters across the country and was recently featured for an adaptive device he designed and machined for a young archer in NY. Most Montanans would never know the bounty of amazing game he’s taken with a barebow recurve, because he’s humble. The Lee Poole MBA Lifetime Achievement Award would be one way to appreciate Marlon and his many efforts over the years. Thank you Marlon!
SPECIAL ACHIEVMENT BERNIE WIDHALM Bernie Widhalm has been member of the MBA since the first convention in Kalispell. He served for ten years on the board and was involved in the first crossbow fight that originated in Cut Bank. Bernie has been a bow ed instructor for 37 years and started bow hunting in 1965. After killing a forky mule deer in 1966 he was hooked on bow hunting. “I started making knives in 1989. I started with a piece of steel and files for making the bevels. A few years ago, I bought a 2” x 48” belt grinder and used it until I could afford a better machine. I bought a 2” x 78” professional machine few years later, made by Bur King. I bought several books on knife making and a lot of time making knives improved my skills and knife quality. I buy most of my steel from knife supply houses. I use mostly 440C stainless steel, with a few other steels as well.” Bernie has been to every MBA convention except for two years. This year’s special achievement award was given to Bernie for all his years of dedication to the MBA and his gracious donations of his hand-built knives. Thanks Bernie!
Fall 2026
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2026 MBA BANQUET HIGHLIGHTS
AWARD WINNERS 14
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LIVE AUCTIONS
2026 CONVENTION HIGHLIGHTS
Fall 2026
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MEMBER STORY
Widhalm Africa Hunt Robert Widhalm
As the live auction began at the 2024 MBA banquet
, I was enjoying my bottomless beer and listening to the festivities. I was sheepishly eyeing one of the South African hunt packages, thinking “That would be an incredible adventure, but there’s no way I can pull it off.” I passed the pamphlet around the table, and we chatted about the packages, noting that the Mpunzi Safaris package seemed to have the better combinations of accommodations and animals. Little did I know, my wife Shiloh (also enjoying her bottomless beer) was in a “you only live once” kind of mood. The Mpunzi Safaris hunt package eventually took center stage and after one bid, the auctioneer made his final calls of “Going once… Going twice…” Much to my surprise, my wife reached across the table and grabbed my bidding number. Before I could comprehend what had happened, we had bought ourselves seven days, seven animals, and a chance to see the other half of the world. In the days following, I got in touch with the owner, Louw (Pronounced LOW) and we made a gameplan for 18 months out. In the meantime, Shiloh and I went to work getting our finances squared away. We paid down our debt, started using different money saving/short term investing apps on our phones, and kept our spending in check while also picking up any overtime that we could. It was surreal when the time finally arrived. We kissed the kids goodbye and left them in the capable hands of their grandparents. We travelled to Port Elizabeth, South Africa by way of Denver and Frankfurt (highly recommend a long layover and a bratwurst). We spent two days adjusting to the time change, exploring Port Elizabeth, and relaxing to the sound of the Indian Ocean right outside of our patio door. Louw and his wife Michelle were warm, professional, and gracious. They drove over an hour to collect us from our Airbnb and take us to the lodge deep in the Eastern Cape. The rolling hills, lush undergrowth, and abundant game heightened our excitement. We were immediately greeted by the whole crew, including our PH Riley and the owner’s son Schalk. It was immediately clear the thought and care that Louw places on pairing his hunters with a PH. Riley and I were like long lost hunting buddies, with similar hunting styles and a mutual passion for bowhunting. The next seven days were unforgettable. We savored family-style gourmet meals and luxuriated in elegant accommodations. At dawn giraffes traced the horizon on an opposing plateau while, over coffee, we glassed Cape buffalo and regal eland drinking from a watering hole below the lodge several hundred yards. The staff anticipated our every need, turning the stay into a true retreat; Shiloh kept saying she felt she could finally switch off and relax.
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Kudu have very similar behavior and herd dynamics to elk. Learning this gave me a better idea of where to focus my attention on the landscape with my optics. Shade+thick cover+swirling winds=kudu
It was incredible seeing these 2,000-year-old pictographs. It felt surreal bowhunting the same ground that these African bushmen did from so long ago
Oh, that’s right, and there was hunting! Each day spent with our PH Riley and our tracker Bokkie was like one big highlight reel. The topography of the area really gave us the ability to mostly spot and stalk the animals we were hunting, but with a few ground blind sessions sprinkled in we had a nice variety that kept it fun and engaging. The expertise and hard-working nature of the crew made it feel as though anything was possible, and our trophies are evidence of that. One of the most outstanding aspects was their dedication to true conservation. Riley has an incredibly skilled eye and was adamant that we only harvest animals that were fully grown and past their breeding prime. As we hunted Springbok on a neighboring ranch, we spent a significant time scouting; not for our trophy, but to ensure there were multiple breeding males in the area. I’m happy to report that I was able to harvest Mpunzi’s first bow-kill springbok, all while ensuring the longevity of the herd. My kudu bull was harvested with just as much attention and care. Often called “Grey Ghosts,” kudu have an incredible ability to hide in plain sight. Their big ears, large eyes, and keen nose made stalking into bow range extremely difficult. After several oh-so-close failed attempts with a bow and knowing our time was winding down, I reluctantly shifted to the rifle. We passed up over 30 different bulls in two and a half days looking for the right one, and boy did we find him. With faded stripes on his coat and only a couple remaining teeth, this bull was past his breeding prime, and the old man was not long for this world. Packing him out was a team effort, which required calling upon neighboring farm workers and a whole lot of muscle. Shiloh’s main goal was a zebra. We decided the second day of our hunt would be zebra day. Early in the morning, Shiloh shot from over 400 yards and was just a hair off, missing the heart by less than an inch. We quickly learned that zebras are tough sons of guns. We spent the entire day tracking him over multiple draws and ridges. The teamwork and collaboration we experienced with the Mpunzi team was incredible. It was all hands-on deck, and nobody wavered in their confidence that we’d go home with a pickup full of zebra. Bokkie, Schalk, Riley, two terriers, and the two of us all spent the day glassing and tracking. We successfully put him down mid-afternoon and celebrated with cold beers back at the lodge. I could spend days talking at you about our experience. We ended up harvesting two springbok, a blesbok, a zebra, a kudu, two warthogs, an impala, and a duiker. We cannot recommend Mpunzi enough. The conservation, teamwork, accommodations, and welcoming team made our stay unforgettable. Sometimes, the trip of a lifetime (so far) is only one impulsive bid away.
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“Pig! Big pig!” Our tracker told us when we happened upon Shiloh’s nice warthog at a waterhole.
Springbok are the equivalent to hunting Pronghorn but are slightly smaller in size.
A great view from a promontory just above the lodge.
Photography was something our PH took the extra time to do right. He would carry rags and a water bottle to make sure the animal was clean during pictures
This fire was built in the early afternoon in the main lodge to cook fresh wildebeest, kudu, and zebra steaks on for dinner that evening.
These little duiker are extremely territorial and fun to still-hunt through the dense scrub. They are one of the “tiny ten” antelope species in Southern Africa. Fall 2026
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2026 BRIDGER 3D SHOOT
THE MBA BRIDGER shoot this year was wet and wild! A big thanks to all the hardcore folks who pushed through the foul weather and made the event a success. The Morton’s were kind enough to allow for the use of their big indoor shop space for our vendors and the MBA merch sales. A HUGE thank you to Bob and Tom Morton for their help and use of their beautiful ranch every year for the Bridger shoot. We can’t always count on perfect weather, but we can count on a great time shooting bows with our MBA brethren! Also, I want to welcome a handful of first time MBA members that signed up at the shoot. Big thanks to Bridger Brewing for quenching our thirst, Braza for the burgers, and Biscuit Bandits for the breakfast treats. We had some great raffles donated by Stone Glacier, Aspinwall, MKC, Zinks Archery Targets, Guidefitter, Cudaway Knives, Kennetrek, Bob Wards, MTNTOUGH Fitness Lab, Vortex, Murdochs of Bozeman, Meateater Store, Sitka, DeadNutz Archery Targets, Chain Butte Boots and The Wandering Crone. And to our vendors for sticking with us through the cold wet weekend, Cudaway Knives, Rockin C Blacksmith, Montana Lazerworks, Charlie 22 Outdoors, Chain Butte Boots, The wandering Crone, Guidefitter, Gameday Men’s Health, Wilderness Survival Systems, Shed Pursuit, Wolfs Arrowheads, and Beartac. We invite you to our next years shoot for sure! We all have different reasons and goals for coming to this shoot. Some of us want to push ourselves for the top score and some are just hoping to hit foam. No matter your skill level or bow of choice we hope you enjoyed the event and we hope to see you back for a bigger and better MBA Bridger shoot in 2027! Thank you to all the participants, volunteers, vendors, donors, and the Morton family for their amazing hospitality.
SETUP
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HITTING THE TARGET
Shoot straight and keep hammering…
3D SHOOT PARTICIPANTS
2026 BRIDGER 3D SHOOT
VENDORS
RAFFLE
Fall 2026
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MEMBER STORY
2025 Missouri Breaks Archery Elk By: Garrett Backman
The first words I heard after one and a
half rings were “Did you catch up to them?” I barely got my response out of my burning lungs and desert-dry throat “I did, I’ll meet you back at camp. I need water.” I then hung up and walked a quarter of a mile before I had to lay down in the shade of a tree. My watch still showed my heart rate in the 170s even though I was up on the flats above the cuts now and the only things I was carrying were my bino harness and a longbow with a quiver currently short one arrow. I still had another mile left to walk to camp and I realized I may be in a little bigger situation than I thought. I sent a pin to Blaise with a text that said, “If you beat me to camp grab waters and head this way.” I then spent at least 5 minutes sitting in the shade kicking myself for not grabbing a single bottle of water when I dropped my pack and took off. Finally, I got up and started to trudge my way through the 90-degree September sun back to camp. The trip started on a wet note as I headed to the Breaks on the 12th, a day ahead of Blaise to beat an incoming storm and make sure we could still reach camp before the roads turned into the gumbo that they’re famous for. After crawling the last few miles in four-wheel drive and pitching camp by headlamp in the rain, I got into my sleeping bag just before midnight. Forty-five minutes before sunrise my alarm went off, and my 2025 elk season officially began. Day one started off hot, both temperature-wise and with elk action. I walked from camp out to one of our glassing spots overlooking the prairie and a patch of trees that the elk like to hang out in. I took note that no one else had camps set up in the other usual spots as I walked along the side of the road that was a slimy gumbo mess. From the first glassing spot all I saw was two small mule deer bucks feeding along the edge of a cut. Since no one else was around and I didn’t expect anyone else to be showing up until late in the afternoon unless they had a mud bog truck, I hung out longer than I normally would have.
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Just as I was about to get up and hike around to the next glassing spot, I heard a faint bugle that sounded like it came from two cuts to the south. I pulled my bugle off my pack and sent one back his way. A few moments later he answered. My heart rate jumped and I quickly loaded my pack back up, threw it on, and started my walk to get around to the head of the cut I figured he was in. We played cat-and-mouse for nearly an hour. Every time I thought I was closing the distance, he’d drift away. Eventually I got to the edge of the timber and realized there was nothing between me and him but open prairie. He was out somewhere in a little bowl or waterway or cut but I didn’t know where and every bugle was further away. I knew I didn’t have a prayer of sneaking up on him in the wide open even if I knew where he was, so I finally threw in the towel and sat down and ate a midmorning snack. Just as I was shoving the empty Ziplock bag into my pocket I had a weird feeling come out of nowhere. I looked up just in time to see a bull 150 yards away coming over the top of a bare prairie hill headed straight at me. My heart stopped for a second then quickly made up for its missed beat by shooting up to double time. I grabbed my bow and slowly scooted to my right to a pine tree with some low hanging branches I could hide behind and stood up. I grabbed an arrow out of the quiver, set it on the cut-out rest of the longbow, and clicked the nock onto the string like I had done a million times since the age of 5. I peeked through the pine needles and could see he was still coming towards me but taking his own sweet time. It felt like an hour, but it was only a minute, and he was within 30 yards of the trees and within 60 yards of me. My maximum range on an elk with this bow is 40 yards if everything is perfect, which it never is. Realistically, I wanted him inside 30. He slowed down and started looking hard for the herd that he had been talking to all morning. Eventually he stopped walking altogether and stood there trying to see behind every tree. I tried to range him but kept getting - - - in the range finder as it tried to send its laser through the thicket of pine needles I was hiding behind. I slowly leaned over and tried again. 40 yds it
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read out. My heart doubled its pace again and I could feel my ears pounding. I kept telling myself “Don’t look at his head. Don’t look at his head. Don’t look at his head.” I took a breath and leaned again to confirm the range. Big mistake. I looked at his head. My breath caught. He was by far the biggest bull I had ever been this close to in a hunting situation. I forgot the whole reason why I had leaned over as I just stood there heavy breathing with my mouth half open.
away with much more than you could with whitetails. Had the wind swirled and he smelled me? I didn’t feel a shift; it was in my face that entire time. Divine intervention? Strong possibility. Either way I felt like I had messed up an opportunity of a lifetime. Eventually I got myself back to steady and a somewhat normal heart rate and sent a text to Blaise that I was just drawn back on a big one, but it didn’t happen and I would give him the run down when he showed up that evening.
He took another step forward and then one sideways and was suddenly quartering to me. My heart dropped and I realized he was not seeing what he was expecting to see and was getting ready to get out of Dodge before some human tried to send a pointy stick his direction. He took another sidestep and was now broadside. Then another and he was quartered away. I realized I was letting an opportunity slip away. I fumbled around and shoved the diaphragm that I put in my pocket during my snack break back into my bone-dry mouth and willed my saliva glands to work double time so I could make some sort of noise to keep him interested. Finally, I squeaked out something that sounded partially calf, partially cow, partially a cat that just had his tail stepped on. But it worked. He wheeled back around and immediately started slow walking straight to me.
The rest of the day was spent glassing and walking. I walked back to camp midafternoon to finish unpacking and took note that the road was already getting back to drivable and a group of three had made it past my camp and up to the top of the hill and were setting up their stuff. Blaise showed up that evening and said the road was fine until the last little bit but even that wasn’t bad. I gave him the run down on my little adventure and what else I had seen that day, and we made a plan for the morning.
“He’s at the tree line, that’s 30 yards.” I thought. “That’s 4 more steps, he’s gotta be about 25.” “He’s still coming, that’s for sure within 20.” “Is he going to stop or is he going to walk directly into me?” “Ok he stopped. I’m not moving and there’s all this pine between us, why does it feel like he’s staring into my soul.” “Is he going to turn and give me a shot?” “Can he hear my heart beating and me breathing?” All these thoughts were in quick succession. Then suddenly he was broadside and walking to my left. “Oh my God this is going to happen.” Was the last thought I had before he stopped with his head behind a tree, perfectly broadside, somewhere between 20 and 25 yards. I pulled the bow back and found my anchor. I adjusted just slightly to my right to get my aim perfect and heard my bottom limb tink and a crack as it met a twig sticking out of a branch from a deadfall tree that was at my feet. I wasn’t the only one that heard it. Immediately the bull shot out of there and up and out of the draw quicker than I could imagine something with that much bone sticking out of the top of his head could ever maneuver through that many trees. I let down after realizing I had held full draw the entire time he was running away and just stood there trying to catch my breath and not tip over on my wobbling legs. How on earth did that little twig snap scare him off that bad? I thought elk were so used to other elk making noise that you could get
The next morning, we glassed a couple herds scattered across the prairie. Our best hope was that another group of hunters would bump them toward the timber. Around noon Blaise said, “It looks like those guys are headed out to the elk.” I spun my spotting scope to the left and sure enough there they were moving at a good clip toward the elk. As we sat and watched it became increasingly obvious that their plan was to walk across the prairie, straight upright, directly at the elk. Unfortunately for them but fortunately for me, their plan didn’t work. We watched as the furthest west herd all stood up and made a mass with all eyes on the other hunters, then began to trot in our general direction. As they moved our way across the prairie, other herds and groups joined in with them while we debated which drainage they’d choose. When the herd split, we grabbed our packs and raced north after the larger group. The noise of a confused and flustered elk herd was almost deafening as we crept through the timber on the edge of one of the cuts that the herd had made it to. Branches were being broken, cows were mewing, bulls were bugling, calves were trying their best to be heard above the racket. We slipped ahead of the herd and waited behind some blowdown. Cows filtered past, then a spike, then a mature bull. Just as he entered range and Blaise was getting ready to draw, the lead cow barked and the entire herd exploded uphill. Disappointed, we grabbed our packs and hustled south hoping to catch the other half of the herd before they reached the flats, where getting close would be nearly impossible. After about a quarter of a mile I stopped dead and Blaise ran into my back. “Did you hear that?” “You know I’m half deaf,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 22
Fall 2026
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MEMBER STORY-CONTINUED
I didn’t hear a thing.” “I definitely heard a cow.” “How close?” “I couldn’t tell.” Immediately a bull bugled, and it was close. We both dropped to our knees and hurriedly took our packs off. We crawled ahead to the top of the little rise we were on and looked ahead to see the back end of the herd was just over 100 yards from us moving away. We devised a quick plan. Since we knew there was no shot to call them back to us, we split up. Blaise shadowed the herd while I sprinted around and ahead, hoping to cut them off before they got too far out. If either of us bumped them, they’d likely head toward the other. Either all that running I did in the offseason was for nothing, or I was just overly excited because it didn’t take long before I was sucking air. I got to the point where I was sure I had gotten ahead of them and started working my way through the trees in their direction but instead ran straight into the middle of the herd. One cow saw me beneath the trees and barked. After a brief staring contest, she wheeled away, taking the rest of the herd with her. Since they were already headed for the prairie, I figured my only chance was to race even farther ahead. I guessed which drainage the herd would use to leave the flat and ran for it. By the time I reached the rim of the cut my lungs were on fire, but I heard a cow call for sure. Then another. They beat me to the cut but not by much. I got over the left side edge to stay hidden and ran my way through the maze of dead fall and brush. As I neared the bottom I stopped, then crouch-walked over the edge. To my left was a stream of cows and calves working down the bottom of the waterway. Straight ahead was a giant bush, and to the right was nothing but trees and the cut I had just run down. I quickened my steps and headed straight to the bush. I could hear the rest of the herd down in the narrow waterway straight below me. As I neared it, I nocked an arrow and stepped left in hopes I could pop around and have a 15-yard downward shot. The calls were getting fewer as I made the last couple steps to edge, looked over, and saw nothing but dust still swirling and the back end of the last cow heading off down the waterway to my left. Then, I heard a noise to my right. I spun and drew almost simultaneously as I saw two bulls coming down the waterway. As they neared me, one stayed in the waterway and the other turned to his right and side-hilled his way up the bank opposite of me. Still at full draw, I waited for the one who climbed out to get directly across from me before I made a kissing noise with my mouth. He stopped and turned his head to me as I settled and let the string loose. In slow motion I watched the pink and white fletchings spin through the air and the arrow bury into his side. He gave a buck and took off down the bank, back into the dry waterway, around a bend, and out of sight. I was just in sight of camp when Blaise appeared at a jog with every one of his pants pockets and both hands full of water bottles. We walked and he talked about what happened from his point of view and how he couldn’t get caught up and around them while I drank bottle after bottle of water. When we sat down at camp I said, “Well, what do you say we go blood trail a bull?” “No way.” “Yeah, I don’t know how big he is, I don’t know how good the shot was, but I know it buried up to the fletchings and blood was coming out.” After some high fives, a retelling of the story, a breakdown of everything on OnX, we grabbed some food, took everything but water and processing gear out of our packs, and headed out. First blood was easy to find, and blood was good around the bend and for the next 50 yards, then it turned into a dribble, and then nothing. We went back to last blood and zigzagged the draw four times before finding blood again about 50 yards farther on. After that the trail went back to steady for 30 yards before I looked up and thought “That’s odd that there’s a dead tree limb down here.” Then the realization hit me. I stopped and raised my hands. Blaise came up next to me and said, “Do you see him?” I just pointed ahead and he started beating me on the back. I pulled up my binoculars and sure enough, there was the right side of an elk rack sticking out of the yellow grass. My immediate thought was that there was no way this was actually my elk. We just stumbled onto someone else’s kill or one that died from fighting. After four years of chasing around elk with a stick bow and having nothing but heartbreak and disappointment there was no way that it all came together. Fortunately for me, Blaise thought to record the moment because I don’t remember walking up and laying hands on him. I just remember looking down and seeing a Zwickey Eskimo sticking out of his side while I had both hands on his right antler. After the initial shock and excitement of the moment we realized his left antler was broken off and hollow inside for about three inches just above the third point. It took us until almost midnight to get all the meat off and in game bags. It was after one in the morning before we’d packed all the meat and hung the head in the nearest tree, about 500 yards away as the crow flies. We were back to camp around 2:30 and by 8:30 the next morning we were adjusting our packs with the first loads to bring out of the prairie and up onto the flat and into camp.
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The organization is organized exclusively for charitable, religious, educational and/or scientific purposes or to foster national or international sports competition under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue code. Improve and conserve walleye and other warm water fish in suitable bodies of water. Organize and educate fisherman to promote walleye and warm water fishing. Develop and maintain forage fish programs in suitable bodies of water. Support building and maintaining suitable warm water fish hatcheries and develop a hatchery program which can accommodate the needs of warm water fishing. Support any worthwhile fishing, hunting, wildlife or recreational program organized for pleasure or other non-profitable purpose. Dedicate its members by social and educational means to the conservation and propagation of warm water fish; to support true sportsmanship in a lawful and legal manner among those who fish; to promote and encourage good fellowship among sportsmen; to encourage support of fish and game laws; to work for the respect and knowledge of the just rights of property owners and to work for, support and encourage a close, friendly relationship between property owners and sportsmen. Dedicated to introducing youths to fishing; educate them to become ethical and responsible sportsmen that respect and conserve fish and wildlife, respect and preserve our public lands and public access and abide by fish and game laws and acknowledge the just rights of property owners. Have a positive presence in our local chapter communities through participation in worthwhile projects and activities.
Fall 2026
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Opening Day, Last Day and Freezer Math
MEMBER STORY
Kevin Robinson
Kevin Robinson I’ve done something year after year that I guess you could call a tradition, bowhunting opening day and the last day of archery season regardless. If my “freezer math” is satisfactory then I casually take my bow for a walk on that last day of the season, which is January 15th for whitetail does here in the river bottoms of region 2, and maybe get a crack at an unlucky doe. That last day hunt will occur rain or shine and is a no pressure bow hunt with some scouting and some shed hunting mixed in there. Let me first explain what “freezer math” looks like for my small household.
One bul l e l k + one w h i t e t a i l b uc k + on e m a t ure w h i t e t ai l d o e = f u ll f r eez er or
One bu l l e l k + on e w h i t e t a i l b uc k + t w o y e a rl i n g d o es = f u ll f r eez er or
NO bu l l e l k + N O w h i t e t a i l b uc k + 5 w h i t e t a i l d oe s = f u ll f r eez er If that math doesn’t add up by Christmas, then those last few weeks of bow season tend to be a $h!t show of crunchy snow and pressured whitetails on pins and needles not to mention elk that have gone seemingly underground. One thing is for certain is that I will have a bow in my hand that last day and the goal may be adjusted according to the math. This past January found me needing to sort out that freezer thing. After a long week of cold temperatures, the deer had been keyed in on the leftovers of alfalfa hay fed to the landowner’s small herd of cattle. I’m not sure who was more desperate, me needing that venison or the big old doe needing those alfalfa scraps. I didn’t feel desperate when I released the string!
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CWD and Genetic Resistance. It Is Time to Stop the Culling Bennie J. Rossetto, M.D., FACP
ARTICLE
Kalispell
I have not seen anything on CWD genetic resistance in the hunting pubs until Bugle finally picked up on this Oregon research (see below), but they still gave it a negative slant. I have been trying to convince our F&G biologists and commissioners that we have taken the wrong path in CWD “management”. If you want to keep it out of Arizona (it is probably there by now), you need to ban all importation of deer and elk body parts int the state. Continuing to promote culling in adjacent states (as Heffelfinger has) just brings CWD prion-contaminated carcasses across your borders.
carcasses that has proved to be unsuccessful in Montana over the last 9 years. During this time, we have only succeeded in spreading the disease all over Montana, North Idaho, and elsewhere. We have spread the prions to class 2 landfills (where scavenger birds spread body parts around), dumpster sites, taxidermy shops, backyard alleys, meat processors, tanneries, skull cleaners, and secondary roads. Imagine when we find it in Tule elk and Columbian whitetail deer after their recovery from near extinction, and Roosevelt elk to add to their battle with hoof disease.
I have been forwarding wildlife biology research abstracts to Montana biologists, wildlife veterinarians, and other interested people for several years. I was on the Montana Citizens Advisory Committee that established our plan of action prior to our first reported case in 2017. We brought in researchers from Colorado, Wyoming, Wisconsin, and other states to report on their approach to the disease. The dogma at the time was to cull extensively around the site of the first case, establish a prevalence rate, and go from there. Do something, even if it is wrong.
All the while we have been interfering with natural selection. Preexisting genetic resistance has been found in many deer and elk herds tested (as well as other species). The prevalence of a resistant allele (there are many different ones) in a population tends to increase over time, indicating a survival advantage. Some resistant animals never become carriers (varies with allele type). “Resistant” CWD carriers do tend to live longer. This has been used as an argument to continue to cull (see RMEF’s Heather Abernathy quote) since their droppings and urine leave CWD prions in the soil, and plants take them up. But by the time we discover CWD in a population, the prions are already in the ground. Our goal is to allow resistant populations to establish themselves, not to eradicate prions from the soil.
Since then, research has revealed genetic resistance in many populations tested. The 225F allele in Colorado mule deer (phenylalanine replaces serine in the host prion) results in low homozygote carrier rates, and longevity of heterozygotes). 96S in whitetails does the same. Other alleles have been found in other deer and elk populations. The game farm industry has been breeding genetically resistant animals. I was pleased to read “Genetic Variant in Oregon Elk Could Help Slow CWD Spread” in the July/August issue of Bugle by Lee Lamb. Several months ago, I sent the abstract of this study to the large group I referred to above and expressed hope that Oregon might avoid the culling and dispersal of
We should allow natural selection to take its course. Stop the culling. Leave carcasses and neural tissue in the field. Prions will still be transported in boneless meat but can be dealt with more judiciously (another story). It took the scientific community over two decades to quit marginalizing Pruisner and his prion hypothesis. Let’s not continue scientific bias in another form.
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CONTACT NUMBERS
Region 1
Region 5
CommissionerRegion1@mtfwp.org 406-438-1714 Kalispell, Montana
CommissionerRegion5@mtfwp.org 406-438-2551 Billings, Montana
Ian Wargo
Vern Gagnon
Region 2
Region 6
Jeff Burrows
Lesley Robinson Commission Chair
CommissionerRegion2@mtfwp.org (406) 438-1148 Hamilton, Montana
CommissionerRegion6@mtfwp.org (406) 301-0787 Dodson, Montana
Region 7
Region 3
William Lane
Susan Kirby Brooke
CommissionerRegion7@mtfwp.org (406) 438-0143 Ismay, Montana
CommissionerRegion3@mtfwp.org (406) 438-0460 Bozeman, Montana
Fish & Wildlife Commission Members
Region 4 KC Walsh
Commission Vice Chair
CommissionerRegion4@mtfwp.org (406) 438-3625 Martinsdale, Montana
https://fwp.mt.gov/aboutfwm/commission
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Active as of August 2026 Cudaway Knives
Morgan Keenan
96 Laura Loise Lane #5
Bozeman
MT
59718
Elk Creek Family Outfitters
David Hein
1021 Toole Circle
Billings
MT
59105
heinline@bresnan.net
406-670-4366
Frontier Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine Michael Jensen
45 Broken Spoke Ln
Great Falls
MT
59404
mjensen@frontierpt.com
406-781-6318
Hamilton Advanced Dentistry
Daniel Wharton
129 Copper King Ct
Hamilton
MT
59840
dwharton@hadmt.com
Kutawagan Outfitters
Brennan Schmidt
Box 431
Candle Lake
SK
S0J3E0
Canada
Libby Sports Center
Ardell Filler
204 West 9th St
Libby
MT
59923
406-293-4641
225 N Roberts
Helena
MT
59620
mthslibrary@mt.gov
406-444-2681
Libby
MT
59923
moodydirtylaundry@gmail.com
406-291-1609
Montana Historical Society Library & Archives Dan Karalus Moody Dirty Laundry
Jay Moody
221 W. 9th St.
Mountain Copper Creations
Jim Clapham
4085 Old Marshall Grade Road East Missoula
MT
59802
mtncop@mtncoppercreations.com
406-880-9411
Mountain Top Traditional Arrows
Rod Kelley
51 Brown Rd
Sand Coulee
MT
59472
rodmt406@gmail.com
406-736-9999
Twite Realty
Mark Twite
8015 Indreland Road
Missoula
MT
59808
newhomes@montana.com
406-880-1956
Wilderness Survival Systems
Angela Keck
2544 S Dakota St
Butte
MT
59701
angela.l.keck@gmail.com
406-660-2001
Zinks Big Sky Archery Targets
Terry L & Dylan Zink PO Box 1272
Marion
MT
59925
zinksbigskyarcherytargets@gmail.com
406-253-4670
Fall 2026
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