The Gallatin Game Check Station, Big Gubmint Fatcats, and Thanksgiving Dinner for a Whiner

onpoint

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
2,568
Location
Gallatin Valley, MT
Somewhere around 20 years ago this very moment, I and another MFWP grunt were sitting staring out the window of the FWP Gallatin Canyon Game Check Station. The rush of Thanksgiving morning hunters had long since checked through and they were home bloated and watching football. My comrade and I sat waiting for a truck to pull in off of HWY 191 and give us something to do. We really didn't mind too much, as we were working a paid Big Gubmint holiday, thus earning double time and a half - about $20/hr (I'll let the arithmetic speak for itself, concerning our normal wage - yup getting rich on the backs of MT's hunters......).
A husband and wife stops by to report their day of hunting elk up the Gallatin, and bid us a good night as they head out the door. Outta' the blue, my bud starts complaining to the pair about how it must be nice to be going home to a good dinner while he sits in the Check Station on a Thanksgiving night away from his family and the big meal......
I do the best to look the other way, silent, not real proud to be wearing the ol' FWP patch at the moment and wondering what the couple must be thinking about the whining they just witnessed.
They just smiled and left.
I give my whiny friend a ration of shit and we continue to watch the canyon fade to darkness and get ready for an agonizingly slow night.
About an hour or more later, headlights come in from the wrong (north vs. south) direction, and in comes the lady from before. Son of a bitch. She had a plate of Thanksgiving Dinner for my sniveling co-worker. And only one plate at that.
He gave a big slimy thanks and she just smiled and headed out the door back to BozAngeles, Belgrade, or wherever.
He slopped down turkey, gravy, and stuffing while I did my best to make him feel like the DBag he was.
Just another day(night) at the little hut at the mouth of Montana's Gallatin Canyon, where MFWP used to collect data on a once lauded elk hunting area. Not so much no more......
Some may remember the Gallatin elk hunts of 1991, 1997, or earlier.
But I remember licking my chops as a whiner got his undeserving due...........................
 
Back
Top