LAST EDITED ON Jan-09-05 AT 10:19PM (MST)[p]Howard Copenhaver, one I listed as a hero died earlier this year. This thread made me look him up as I knew he was getting up there in years. Well he went to the happy hunting grounds in the sky in Feb 2004, I recommend reading his books. I'm lucky to have a signed copy of each, he wrote to me about always wanting to pack into wyoming but never had the chance. He totally changed my mind about outfitted hunts, the people that are guided are usually at the top of there profession, and didn't have the time to do it on there own, lived in the city, etc. He respected these men and offered his services with the attitude he could learn something from these men, not as taking city slickers into the hills...
Here is a little on Howard,
Howard Copenhaver, 89, was mentor to many other guides
Howard Copenhaver, a pioneer outfitter in the Bob Marshall Wilderness who shared his wealth of experiences in four popular books and was the unofficial mayor of Ovando, died Feb. 6, just a month shy of his 90th birthday.
He started packing visitors into the rugged backcountry of the Bob Marshall by mule string in the late 1920s, when it was known simply as the South Fork (of the Flathead.) The young conservationist, Bob Marshall, was just making a name for himself around that time with his marathon hikes there.
"I highly admired Howard," says Jack Rich, a Seeley Lake outfitter whose father guided and pursued other endeavors with Copenhaver in those early days. "He was one of my mentors. I grew up around him and my dad in the Bob Marshall. He was one of those independent, self-made men. And tough as nails. When you looked at him, you'd wonder how he could make it from breakfast to lunch. You had to look twice to make out his shadow. But he could go all day" in his grueling tasks as a rancher, logger and livestock handler.
A long list of past and present backcountry outfitters in western Montana got their start under Copenhaver's tutelage.
"You can't name an outfitter I don't know," Copenhaver said in an interview with the Missoulian in 2001. "About two-thirds of 'em worked for me."
One of those is Missoula's veteran wilderness outfitter Smoke Elser.
"I came to work for Howard Copenhaver as a young man from Ohio in 1958," says Elser. "I wanted to learn how to pack horses and mules. I went to the Whitetail Ranch in Ovando, which was owned by Howard Copenhaver and Tom Edwards. Howard and I hit it off right away and I became very close friends with him and his wife and kids."
Elser worked for Copenhaver from 1958 to 1964, when Elser started his own guiding business. For 40 years he's taught an "Outfitting and Packing" course that has been attended by more than 3,000 people. He says he still teaches the same methods he learned from Copenhaver.
"I learned all his techniques and horse-breaking skills, as much as I could absorb," says Elser. "He was the best teacher I ever had. He was my mentor. He taught me the basics of how to handle livestock, how to pack, and a lot about how to pack mules."
Copenhaver also showed him how to handle guest clients, according to Elser.
"He was a master at what I'd call homegrown communication ability," he says. "He didn't try to use a lot of big words. He'd walk up to you and put on that big smile, and say 'Hi. I'm Howard Copenhaver.' I've been able to make a very successful business myself by following his example. He never thought he was better than anybody, or less than anybody, never mind if it was the son of a president of the United States.
"He was my Montana father," adds Elser. "I'm the luckiest man in the world. I have two dads."
Copenhaver also was a master storyteller, an important trait for wilderness guides, who have to keep saddle-sore dudes entertained during long days on the trail.
"He lived 15 people's lives as far as experience goes," says Howard Fly, who worked for Copenhaver as a packer and now owns the Blackfoot Commercial Co., a gas station and convenience store in Ovando.
Copenhaver shared those experiences and his knack for storytelling in four entertaining books that also include a wealth of local history. His books are "Copenhaver Country," "They Left Their Tracks," "More Tracks," and "Mule Tracks: The Last of the Story."
His backcountry adventures - like the time he spent an entire day being chased up one tree after another by a grizzly bear that had claimed a hunting client's elk - provide much of the grist for Copenhaver's humorous tales.
But one of the most fascinating stories in "Mule Tracks" is an account of the trip he took with his mule string to the New York World's Fair in 1964. The fair coincided with the centennial celebration of the establishment of Montana Territory.
Copenhaver was invited by the Montana Centennial Commission to be part of the state's delegation that traveled to the World's Fair on the Montana Centennial Train. At cities all along the route to New York, the Montana delegation stopped to stage shows and parades that featured a cast of 300 people, including Indian dancers, cowboys, cowgirls, miners, farmers, ranchers and artists, as well as stagecoaches, a wagon train and 175 head of horses and mules. The train's cars were decorated with artwork of many Montana artists.
The tour included a visit to Washington, D.C., where the state's centennial "Wild West Show," paraded along Pennsylvania Avenue and circled the White House. They were greeted by Montana Sen. Mike Mansfield, President Lyndon Johnson and other dignitaries.
When Johnson made his appearance, Copenhaver's book recounts, he got a startling Montana howdy from Kitty Quigley, Miss Montana Centennial.
"I'll tell you what," Copenhaver wrote, "Kitty sure put the cowboy trimmings on that high-toned affair. Like a flash, before anyone could stand, Kitty lets out a cowboy holler and jerks out her two six-shooters, which were loaded with blanks, and shoots into the air. Where they came from I don't know, but we were surrounded by FBI men who had Kitty pinned down and degunned. Almost scared her to death. President Johnson took his place at the mike, and laughing, he greeted us all and gave a welcome speech."
Copenhaver said the trip to the World's Fair was one of his most memorable adventures.
"It was a great trip," he said in the 2001 Missoulian interview. "It doubled the number of people that came to Glacier and Yellowstone the first year."
For more than 60 of his 89 years, Copenhaver showed visiting hunters, anglers and sightseers the splendor of the Bob Marshall Wilderness.
In "Mule Tracks," he spelled out what it takes to be a successful outfitter:
"First, you must love the outdoors and people, also have the ability to learn stock, and your country. How to pick a suitable camp. How to keep your guests out of trouble. In other words, you have to be a half-baked psychologist, a veterinarian, know how to put on a Band-Aid, cook and shoe horses and be one jump ahead of everyone on the trip. If you're caught with your pants down, you're in trouble. Also, make time to tell stories. It's all cow college without going to school. A-number-one in an outfitter's job is to learn how to make your guest see all this beauty through your eyes. He's not used to what he's seeing all around him. You have to point it out as you see it."