Phillips County News - One Nation, Under God

From the first day that hunters were allowed to harvest bison that wandered out of Yellowstone National Park there have been protests. A bison advocate jabbed a hunter with a ski pole that first...

Wow! Another accolade for Bozeman. Now, according to Time.com, it’s one of the greatest places on the planet. That information appeared on my facebook feed -- surprise, surprise -- compliments of a...

Leaving Malta, a couple of weeks ago, headed south on vacation, we managed to slip between storms sweeping the country. Except for a stretch of snow-covered highway through Island Park, Idaho, we had...

Barb and I are enjoying a closeness while traveling we hadn’t experienced before. We’ll see how long it lasts. For the past 30 years we’ve fled Montana in March seeking warmer climes. It used...

I’ve got most of the gear on the list of required stuff to call yourself an outdoorsman in Montana. But like that line from an old Meatloaf song “I won’t do that.” “That” in this case bein...

Winter started early. The snow that fell in November is still here, hidden under all the snow that’s fallen since. Another storm is on the way, promising more snow and a third bout of sub-zero...

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks inform me regularly when lion hunting season closes in each district. I don’t hunt mountain lions, but I like living in a state where I could if I...

I was sitting on the patio at the lake last summer enjoying the sun when I noticed an object high in the sky to the north. It was roughly the shape of an oval with a bright, shimmery border. It...

With all the snow this winter it’s getting hard to tell who’s new to Montana and who’s not. Almost everything’s covered. That lump in the snow might be carefully planted shrubbery or it might...

I finally gave in. Admitted I was tired of the snow. The endless winter. The unrelenting cold. But while many of our neighbors seek refuge in the Arizona desert once winter tightens its grip on...

My wife tells me I need a special counsel. Apparently, she’s fed up with all the documents I have stored in the basement of her office. She insists a special counsel is necessary to move all of my...

When Barb and I moved to Malta from Bozeman 17 years ago I jokingly told people I was moving back to Montana. Bozeman, like many places in the state had begun to look like everywhere else in the...

Even in Montana where we like to think of hunting as part of our heritage, there aren’t nearly as many hunters as there once were. That doesn’t bode well. Hunting license sales account for about...

I experienced a disturbing moment during the recent cold spell. While outside shoveling the sidewalk a few days ago in -27 degree weather, I realized that I was quite comfortable. I wasn’t too cold...

Growing up in southern Indiana I always wished for a white Christmas but seldom saw one. Snow, when it did fall, never lasted long. Then I moved to Cooke City where it can snow every month of the...

The writer of a letter to the editor in last week’s paper claimed the reintroduction of wolves to Montana is an effort to exterminate the deer and elk in the western part of the state. As a result,...

Why didn’t anybody tell me this was going to happen? I never understood why my father took to the couch when he turned 70. But he did, and for much of the rest of his life that’s where he...

The bull was bedded in the timber at the top of a spur ridge running off the mountain. There were no tracks on the side from which I approached so his appearance caught me by surprise. My rifle was sl...

I fear organized sports are robbing our youth of their outdoor heritage. What with seasons and tournaments that run the entire school year, and summer sports camps, which fill in the void, there’s...

The weather finally changed. I should have written about it sooner. It seldom fails. Pen a column lamenting the endless days of clear skies and balmy temps, and by the time those words reach print...

The weather on the opening weekend of the general hunting season surprised more than a few folks. Hunters fled camps when snow collapsed their tents. Others awaited rescue after their vehicles got...

Apparently desperate times call for desperate measures. Montana Supreme Court candidate James Brown (not the King of Soul) has recently started warning us that President Biden is coming for our jobs...

I try to avoid writing about the weather because it usually changes when I do. Here’s hoping it works this time. Since bird season opened on Sept. 1 nearly every day has been clear, sunny, and warm....

If I had it to do all over again I’d become a social influencer. It’s a calling that seems to fit me. I have little talent. I don’t sing, dance, act, or play a musical instrument. My athletic...

It’s the season of the backup. Dot came up lame last week. She may have blown out a knee. I’ll know more when we go back to the vet. In the meantime she’s supposed to take it easy, which means n...