Trophy Room Construction
Our First Years in Business!
Warren and I started dating when my sister and I cooked for his Dad's hunting camp in 1979. By the next year, we had married and had Jeremiah. Warren worked construction, and we were living in an apartment in Gardiner. I was trying to drive back and forth to Bozeman to finish my teaching degree. You can imagine how miserable we were!
One day, Warren heard that the camp we now have in Hellroaring was for sale for $25,000. We went to the bank and tried to borrow $12,500. The banker (an old family friend of Warren's Dad) told us they would have him "selling pencils in the street, if he loaned us money!" Of course, Warren got more determined. We found someone with a "real job" for the Forest Service that was willing to co-sign with us. We got the camp, but then needed a base of operation. Not an apartment in Gardiner!
Warren knew that (our place now) was standing empty and that the owner, Harold Jans lived in Nebraska. Warren called him (on a pay phone, as we didn't get a real phone for many years) and asked if we could trade him work on the place to live up here. I was standing right next to him. I thought he was sounding a little lame, but he got off the phone, forced a smile and said that all was well and we would move up the next day. The place was a mess; garbage, old cars, rundown corrals and event bullet holes in the floor of the cabin. Throughout the spring, I would ask Warren to call Harold about how we should do something. He would make these calls, but he always seemed a little odd while talking to him. We worked hard all spring and built all new corrals. One day, a fancy car pulled up in the yard and Warren told me to take Jeremiah into the barn. I wondered what was up? I then found out that we never had permission to move up. Warren, however, figured that we would just get all the work done, and ask Harold again, in person. I have never been so amazed at anyone's chatzpah!! I would have been worried sick, if I had known we were trespassing. He told me then, that he would dial a fake number and pretend to ask Harold , to appease me!
We lived in this little one room cabin and had running water during the summer months. It was always frustrating to see green grass for weeks, but still no water running down from the creek until June! After Aimee was born, we splurged and built on a tiny little addition with two bedrooms. There was not much insulation, so it was HOT in the summer and in the winter, we had frost crawling up the walls. Jeremiah burrowed under lots of blankets. Aimee had an oxygen tent over her crib, and that always helped keep her warm. I did all the cooking for hunters in this little cabin. Always a crowd, but always fun! We still have hunts that remember this cabin. One of them was so shocked, he told us years later, that he thought we lived in a wood shed!
Our old barn was so low and leaning, that you had to be careful when you threw up a saddle, or you might knock the light bulb out. Finally, it was leaning so bad, Warren thought a horse might suck back and pull the whole building over. In 1993, Warren met Mike Van Handel and they made a trade; hunting for rock work. Warren had dreamed about a new barn for years, and had spent many long winters re-working the plans. This was Mike Van Handel's (along with son, Joe, and father, Arnie) first project for us (except the wishing well) and one of our hunters, Bob Slansky, brought out his team of carpenters from Ohio to do the roof.
A team of horses and a "slip" (widowmaker) is how we cleaned corrals, before we had traded some hunters for a Bobcat in 1994. Before, Jeremiah was old enough to help Warren with the slips, I would drive the team for him. We could always count on fighting the entire time. I would do something wrong with the team, Warren would cuss, I would get mad and the fight would be on, but unfortunately, we had to finish the job together. I remember lots of times, wishing the "widowmaker" would really get the job done!
Of course, we didn't have a dime to buy horses or mules, so Warren would go up and down the valley, getting wild livestock from people. We would get to use horses and mules, if we would gentle them down and break them. We were bucked off lots of times, and so were the groceries and the hunters' gear. Our first trip into camp of our first year took us 14 hours. I had Jeremiah on the saddle in front of me, (and I was pregnant with Aimee) and Warren was leading and repacking the wild mules. my horse stumbled about 11 p.m. (we hit the trail that morning) and Jeremiah flew off into the dark. I was under my horse on the downhill side with my chaps hung up on the saddle horn. Warren had to cut my chaps loose, without cutting my leg. Just as he jerked me out, my horse rolled over. I would have been killed! I was scared to that my only child was dead, as he had not uttered a word. Warren felt around (no flashlight) and found him about 20 feet away, and got us back on our horse and somehow we made it into camp!
When Aimee was born, she spent many months at Denver's Children's Hospital. While visiting her there, we also went to the Museum of Natural History. Warren was enchanted! He had never seen anything like it, and loved the tribute it paid to the wildlife and nature. He has been planning this trophy room since 1983!
Anyway, as you can see, it has been a long journey! The trophy room is something we have dreamed of for years. Just a really comfortable room for our hunters to sit back, relax and take pleasure in the animals that are so cherished by all of us! We hope you will be our guests for many years to come and be able to enjoy it with us!
Jessie & Judd
Judd and Jessie were bought from Tennessee in 1993; they came up with a semi-load of other mules. Judd, at the time, was coal black; as he got older he slowly became gray. It is very unusual for two animals to become so attached to one another, but with Judd and Jessie that happened. You could say they pretty much fell in love with one another. Although true to a woman's nature, Jessie can be a little fickle at times as she would like to make Judd jealous. She would cozy up with another horse or mule, then when Judd would come over she would kick at him or nip him, but soon Jessie would go back over near Judd again.
They are the two mules any guide would catch because they were so solid. you could count on them at all times. You had to put them together in the string, Jessie ahead of Judd. If you separated Judd would bray the whole time and kick up a fit! Out in camp, those two would get tired of people and just wander off after we turned them out at night. One time, they left in October and we could not find them until one day in November when they showed back up at the house in a blizzard. Judd and Jessie were no worse for wear, just ready to be back at the corrals with hay and grain to eat.
Jessie got hurt two years ago, when she was picketed to a tree out in camp and Judd was not. She pulled the tree loose (not a very large one) and hurt her shoulder all because Judd had wandered off. Therefore, we put them on pasture together for we did not have the heart to let Judd be away from his love. Through thick or thing, you could count on them to be together. They did have their spats and what couple doesn't? However, soon they would be side by side again.
They have each packed 175 elk for us since we bought them! They packed in camp almost every year up there. The miles those ol' mules have gone is incredible, some of it in the darkness and some in the daylight, those ol' ears swinging back and forth as they walked the trails of the wilderness.
We will miss them, but are glad they got to live out there lives together!
Thanks to the generosity of our hunter, Gale Lunenborg and his wife, Deb. Jessie and Judd now have a lifetime of grass in Nebraska.
Happy New Year from all of us at Hell’s A’ Roarin' Outfitters! I hope that everyone’s 2005 was as great as ours. Our summer was as busy as we’ve ever been, with horse back rides and fishing. Our hunting season was completely full, as it always is and very successful. We ended up with 83 elk, 30 deer, 8 goats and 5 bears. The bulls we got were beautiful, and we took more really huge elk, than we have in any other year. I go out every morning and glass and I’m seeing more young bulls than I have in years. This is very encouraging and uplifting for someone who loves game like I do. Obviously, the parvo virus that is spreading through the wolves has been a positive force on the elk herd.
Only 8 pups in the northern wolf packs have survived this year. I’m hoping that the elk numbers will recover in the next several years. It’s hard to believe the wolves were introduced over 10 years ago! The deer numbers are tremendous, and I’m seeing bucks of all ages.
I’m going to take a moment and brag about the 3x4 buck I killed the last day of the season. He’s very heavy horned and mature. I was guiding Jeff Verstegen and his son Derek for elk, as they had both filled out their deer tag. We were glassing Decker Flats, and watching a large herd of elk swimming the Yellowstone, when Derek spotted this buck. I asked if they minded if I went after him, and they were agreeable. The chase was on, and we were all enjoying the excitement of chasing him. We got up to him, and he was rutting pretty hard. One shot and a few minutes later, he was dead. I was thrilled to see this “giant” of a buck lying before me, and appreciated the good sports that Jeff and Derek were. I thanked Jeff for being my guide, and then took a moment to look around and appreciate my life and what I do for a living. I’m lucky to be able to do what I love most in the world! I’m devoted to nature, and the animals, and hunting them. This feeling has never left me in over 40 years. I have almost never missed a day of hunting in the last 30 years of guiding. I appreciate every sunrise and sunset that I experience while hunting. I have the utmost respect for elk, which are so adept at becoming a “ghost in the woods”. No matter how big the elk, I never get over the excitement of the hunt and kill.
To all of my hunters, I’d like to thank you and I’m anxiously awaiting the season of 2006. I would also like to thank all of my guides for their hard work and dedication.
Respectfully, Warren
2005-2006 - Alan Balavaged Trapping Season
April 5th, 2005 - Warren Legally Shoots a Wolf Harassing Livestock
April 5th, 2005
Spring is in the air of Montana. Snow melts one day, and the next day we get a storm that leaves a few inches. All in all, it's been a mild winter for our elk herds. The elk are dropping their horns, and we've found some beauties right around the haystack!
We had a very successful late hunt. We got 11 bulls and 8 of them were over 350. Jeremiah got one of his hunters, (a 12 year old boy) one that scores 388 gross and 378 net! There's a picture on the 2005 elk pictures page.
The biologists have cut the number of elk tags in next year's "late hunt". There will only be 63 bull tags and 100 cow tags. We'll be sending out those applications in the next few weeks.
January 6th, 2004
Click Here to read the article from the Billings Gazette
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