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The Mighty Wapiti |
Dedicated to those hardy and robust ridge running seekers of the mighty wapiti. This pamphlet came from my grandfather, Paul Temple of Dillon, Montana.
They mounted the bull elk and I think that the local butcher shop got my grandfather out of trouble with the fee to the taxidermist. The above photograph is of the mount in the butcher shop in Dillon, Montana. The mount was there until approximately the early 1950's when they donated it to the Bearverhead County Museum. For many years when my family would visit Dillon, I would proudly look up at the elk mount with a little paper slip with my grandfather's name on it. In 1978, when we were first married, I asked someone at the museum that if I made a donation then could I get the mount and they agreed. Unfortunately we did not have a place to display him and so I forego that adventure. In March of 2003, I was coming back from California and decided to take a break in Dillon. I drove by my grandmother's old home and then stopped by the museum. The same old question came up and they told me to write them a letter. I wrote the letter and forgot about it. They pleasantly surprised me to receive a response and for a donation the elk mount came back to an heir of Paul Temple. Although my sister, Gayle Temple Sheldon is not real "big" on taxidermy mounts she told me that this was one that they would take care of for the future. The mount is now on display at The Meadowlark Gallery in Billings, Montana. On the way back to Billings, I stopped and had Fred King in Bozeman who is an offical scorer for the Boone and Crockett Club and to my pleasure it made the minimum. There was a slight bit of controversy as to where it was killed but it was not a contender for the top slots so it was not a concern to us. I just thought that it was memorable to have a bull from the 1920's hit the book.
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