Hunting is a Montana culture

By KYLIE RICHTER

Lake County Leader

I’m not a big game hunter. I like to look for animals, but I don’t really like shooting them. I go for the smaller things. Like gophers. You know, the little rodents that make huge holes in your fields. Growing up, we had an infestation. Shooting gophers was how I learned gun safety. I’m not sure that I would call shooting gophers a “sport” but I’ll go with it for this column. 

This past weekend, I took a road trip to the little town of Lima, Mont., for the 21st annual Gopherfest. It is a pretty big deal down there. This year they had over 100 contestants. 

The proceeds from the event went toward the community pool in Lima. People who wanted to compete signed up in the morning, and were handed a gun safety sheet and a list of local farmers and ranchers who wanted people to come do some gopher extracting. 

I few years back, a reporter from Bozeman wrote an article about how terrible it was that people were shooting these rodents in mass quantities. Apparently, the next year, Gopherfest almost doubled in size. I think he probably did the exact opposite of what he wanted to accomplish. Hunting is a Montana culture. I guess the reporter forgot about that. 

One of the people I went with was a friend I made in college through journalism. His name is Tyler, and he happens to be paralyzed from the neck down. 

Long story short, he was injured in a firework accident at 20 years old. Today, at 30, he’s one of the happiest people I know. He hasn’t let this injury stop him from living his life. A special set up on his wheelchair allows him to mount a gun. He looks through the scope and uses a series of different puffs to make the set up and his chair move where he wants it to go. He’s a pretty good shot. Well, better than me anyways.

When Tyler was injured 10 years ago, the community of Lima rallied around his family and had a huge benefit to help pay for his medical expenses. This past weekend, it was apparent that the people from Lima still look out for Tyler.  The sense of community in Lima a pretty cool thing.  I think the rest of us could probably take a few tips from them.

Like the reporter from Bozeman, not everyone agrees with killing animals. I respect that opinion. However, you can’t forget that in Montana, hunting is part of our culture.

In the past few weeks, I’ve noticed that shooting sports seem to be a big deal here. While those people aren’t shooting furry nuisances like gophers, I still think it’s a form of hunting. 

I would think that most kids in Montana have been around guns at some point. Hopefully their parents taught them proper gun safety. Last week I interviewed the 4-H shooting sports club leaders in Ronan. They teach shotgun, air rifle and bow shooting, in a safe and fun environment. According to them, shooting sports is one of the fastest growing clubs in the country. 

Some people might be a little worried about the idea of teaching kids how to use guns, but programs like 4-H are teaching kids to be successful and responsible adults, and in environments like that, I don’t think our youth can go wrong. Unlike us gopher slayers.