I have a younger brother Jeff who married a girl from Twin Bridges, Montana. Twin Bridges was once called Lott Bridges, and Lynn is a Lott! Once one of the most powerful ranching families in southwest Montana, the Lott family remains an integral part of this community.
Jeff and Lynn's oldest son Clark was a part of the Windsor, Vermont story for a little over a year. He lived with Michelle and worked for Windsor Worx. He is now at BYUH in Laie, Hawaii. Number 2 son Jacob is currently living with Paula and I and working at the law firm.
Last Thursday, Jake, Chris, Nate, our friend Garth and I loaded up the Buick and headed up to Montana.
We had 3 objectives. Harvest wild animals for meat (kill deer), watch cousin Phil play in his high school state champion quarter final football game, and have Jacob ordained an Elder by his dad. Mission accomplished.
We arrived about 2 in the morning Friday morning. Thursday evening, cousin Scott (shown here with Nate's buck head like unto a hat), had gotten his first deer, a doe just out back at Jeff's place.
As we rolled up the ranch dog Hondo greeted us with a deer head in his mouth! It was absolutely the perfect start to a perfect visit. While everyone else was still sleeping, I got up to a beautiful morning and looked out the window to see deer just north of the house.
The view out this upstairs window was as beautiful as anywhere in the world.
Jeff and Lynn moved their house over the Continental Divide from Butte where it was in the old mining part of town about 10 years ago, they have made it very comfortable, but it is not quite finished.
It was from the window in Phil's room upstairs in the white gable that I took the prior pictures. As I walked out that morning, I saw a number of deer as well as birds. The Black-billed Magpies have made a real comeback in this part of the country, and I saw where Scotty had dressed his deer the night before.
Later that morning while I tried to take a nap, the boys set up targets and sighted in their guns just outside the window! But by about 4 pm, everyone was ready to set out to slay the beast.
Chris, Jeff and I went out along the river and toward the back of the property. Jeff and Lynn's 60 acres lies along the Beaverhead River. At the north end of the property, the Big Hole comes in from the west, and once they converge, the river becomes the Jefferson. Look up the Lewis and Clark expedition sometime and you will find that they camped at this confluence, probably right on the property!
Unfortunately, Chris did not get a shot at a deer on this jaunt out the back. He was vigilant though!
We hadn't been out long when we heard shots from the southeast, where Nate, Jake and Garth were hunting. We got a text a few minutes later that Nate had gotten a deer. So we loaded up in Jeff's pickup truck, and headed across town to the area between the town ball field and the cemetery. Sure enough, there were the boys trudging through the swamp dragging a buck! As you can see from the top picture, Nate was pretty happy!
Yeah Nate is bad A, but frankly he was pretty bushed by the time we got the carcass in the back of the truck.
The process brings the deer back to Jeff's house where the deer are hung in the garage, skinned and then hang for a day or so before cutting and wrapping. This one was pretty big, and it took some effort to get it hung up.
A lot of testosterone! Lynn was a trooper feeding this bunch the whole time, but I am afraid she was severely outnumbered! Kevin, Garth, Chris, Phil, Nate, Jake, Scott and Jeff! I was behind the camera all the time.
Scott provided plenty of subject matter for photography!
Some half-hearted hunting took place Saturday morning, but it had snowed and was really cold! No luck, and so at noon we all headed over to the high school to watch Twin Bridges play it much larger opponent in the state 8 man football championship. Twin was not expected to win this one, but the final score tells the story of what happened!
Phil is a freshman and yet played an amazing part in this incredible win. He was actually one of 3 players mentioned in the newspaper later that afternoon as a hero of the game. He is number 56 in the next couple of series of photos.
The football dads had all shown up with snow shovels and cleaned the field. It was snowing off and on during the game, but the field stayed pretty clear.
He had a number of sacks on a very tough quarterback throughout the day.
Truly a fun family activity!
Scotty was feeling his oats, and Nate had to help him come back to earth.
Later that afternoon, the boys went out yet again to see if they could fill another tag.
Within a very short time we heard another shot, and headed out in the pickup to retrieve another deer. Once again we saw the hunters making their way across the swamp dragging a carcass.
Take a look at the snow in the back of Jeff's truck!
This time, Chris and Jake had teamed up to bring down a doe. Chris at first thought he had missed, until they dressed it and found two entry wounds.
The evening was spent hanging, cutting and wrapping the animals. All of the extra parts were just thrown out the door of the garage for Hondo to eat. Garth had to tease him a bit first however.
I guess 4 heads are better than 2!
Certainly a successful hunt.
So, I said it was a trifecta. The perfect score. We have seen the hunt and the game, but what happened Sunday morning was really the crowning event. Jake was ordained an Elder after being sustained in Oregon, a text being sent to us in Montana, and following a Fast and Testimony meeting where the Vial/Lott family celebrated the love of family and the reality of spiritual connections among them. After church we loaded the car and made the 12 hour trek home, very happy that we had made the effort. Much love to Jeff and Lynn and thier family for hosting us and making this a memorable 3 days.
