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FLYFISHER'S GUIDE TO MONTANA
by Greg Thomas
Belgrade, MT
Wilderness Adventuers Press, 1997
374 pages
For a thorough, entertaining guide to the trout-filled rivers, streams, and lakes of the Treasure State, one could hardly find a better resource than Flyfisher’s Guide to Montana by Greg Thomas. In addition to maps, photos, and hatch charts, Thomas provides valuable lake and stream facts such as seasons, special regulations, access sites, area fly shops, and local campgrounds. Also included are species identification charts, lodging information, and loads of other useful information for beginners and seasoned anglers alike. What truly set the book apart, however, are the introductions to the dozens of Montana water bodies Thomas has fished day-in and day-out for many years (he logs 250+ days on the river each year, the lucky dog). From informative descriptions to engaging personal anecdotes, each one rings with first-hand experience, solid expertise, and the inimitable enthusiasm of a genuine trout bum. Flyfisher’s Guide to Montana can be purchased at area bookstores or through the publisher’s website, www.wildadv.com.
-mike england
UNFORGETTABLE DAYS
Montana Trout Fishing
Helena, MT
Riverbend Publishing, 2002
65 pages
There are a few places on earth where fishermen’s dreams are forged within a framework of grandeur and natural beauty—an elegant overlay in which fish are a single element among many. Montana is just such a place: a vibrant commingling of fish and fly, mountain and meltwater, trout and topography. And in Unforgettable Days: Montana Trout Fishing, all these natural splendors—from the brilliantly speckled rainbows and browns, to the explosions of color along the riverbanks, to the grand and lofty peaks rising in all directions—come to life in a striking photographic compilation. Interspersed throughout are witty, poignant excerpts by some of fishing’s most eloquent voices. With arresting images of mountainous backdrops, wide-open spaces, and crystalline rivers, Montana Trout Fishing reminds us how easy it can be, amid our vehement pursuit of thick-bodied Montana trout, to forget about the fishing altogether.
—mike england
IN OPEN SPACES
by Russell Rowland
New York, NY
Perennial/HarperCollins, 2002
370 pages
Set in the prairies of eastern Montana from 1916 to 1946, In Open Spaces is about the lives of the Arbuckle brothers. First we meet George, a man on the brink of baseball stardom, whose life ends unexpectedly under mysterious circumstances. Jack, the black sheep of the brothers and a WWI vet, returns to the family after a lengthy disappearing act, only to try and reclaim the family ranch. There’s Bob, the youngest of the four, whose new marriage seems to build barriers between himself and the rest of the family. And then we have beleaguered Blake, whose keen awareness of Jack’s actions causes him to wonder if Jack had anything to do with George’s death. As the story unravels, we watch the brothers’ lives become more entangled in a web of turbulent family dynamics. Who will run the ranch? Who will escape the pressure of family? Who is telling the truth? Through Blake, the narrator, Rowland delivers a rich and compassionate narration, and the result is a book you simply can’t put down.
—shannon kelley
BLIND YOUR PONIES
by Stanley G. West
Bozeman, MT
Lexington-Marshall Publishing, 2001
574 pages
In the small town of Willow Creek (not far from Three Forks, Montana), as basketball season begins and ends, Stanley West takes us through the lives of those participating on and off the court. These characters are profoundly damaged in one way or another. The high school basketball coach, Sam Pickett, is full of undying pain over the murder of his girlfriend. Another member of the faculty staff (who later becomes his lover) is wracked with remorse over the death of her child. A school board member aches for his lost love, and a student struggles with his abusive father who we later discover has a full closet of his own secrets. While the players and the town come together in hopes of a long-awaited winning season, we watch them struggle and win—in the game, and within themselves as the season progresses.
—shannon kelley
MARK OF THE GRIZZLY
by Scott McMillion
Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 1998
249 pages
In Mark of the Grizzly, Livingston resident and environmental authority Scott McMillion explores the conflict between society’s admiration for bears and its actions related to bear habitat and control. The book is a collection of several stories of bear encounters from 1977 to 1997 in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, and around Montana, Alaska, and British Columbia. A blurb on the cover promises Stephen-King-like suspense and the book delivers. These dramatically written accounts will captivate even the most distracted of readers. But Mark of the Grizzly is more than just a collection of bloody, violent bear-attack stories; each of McMillion’s “grisly bear” tales offers a lesson about avoiding, preventing, and reacting to bear-human clashes, while revealing the questionable effectiveness of bear spray and guns. McMillion is careful to point out that this endangered species fundamentally avoids conflict but acts naturally when it feels threatened. Ultimately, Mark of the Grizzly scrutinizes the attitudes surrounding bear-human relations and lands squarely on the bears’ side. “Holding a grudge against bears,” McMillion writes, “would be like holding a grudge against automobiles because one of them cracked your head open or broke your leg on an icy street.”
—tina orem
GREAT MONTANA BEAR STORIES
by Ben Long
Helena: Riverbend Publishing, 2002
179 pages
Like the title indicates, Kalispell’s Ben Long presents a collection of bear stories from across Montana. With grizzly bear and black bear accounts going back as far as 1830, Great Montana Bear Stories is not as graphic as Mark of the Grizzly—this book still commands a healthy amount of respect for bears, but focuses less on the attacks and more on the lessons learned from them. Here readers get to know some of the more legendary bears of Montana like Giefer, Popeye, Lenny the bulletproof bear, and the Falls Creek grizzly. Long has taken an anthropomorphic approach to describing many of the bears in his stories, and many readers will be so captivated with their unique personalities that they’ll find themselves rooting for the bears. There is a lot of practical advice to be had from this book, and the stories are more evidence that bear spray and guns can’t guarantee safety. Like Scott McMillion, Ben Long isn’t afraid to take a stance in defense of the bear population and habitat, and he persuasively argues that humans are by far the more dangerous of the two species.
—tina orem
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