Professional outfitter speaks at Co-op Brewery
Taylor Davison
According to Elser, the family outfitting business never had to advertise. The draw of the backcountry and word of mouth was enough.
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RONAN — A special speaker is among this month’s events at the Ronan Cooperative Brewery. On July 21 expert outfitter Smoke Elser paid a visit to share his experiences in the Montana wilderness.
Originally from Ohio, Elser moved to Montana in 1955 to work for the Forest Service in Helena, acting as a lookout on Hogback Lookout. After two years of that, Elser met a man named Tom Edwards of the Whitetail Ranch and went to go work for him as a packer and a cook for summer and hunting trips. After seven years, Elser left to establish his own business.
Elser outfitted in the Bob Marshall for 55 years, both summer and fall. Additionally, he acted as an instructor in packing, horsemanship and minimum impact camping for over 50 years, was a founding member in 1974 and past president of Back Country Horsemen of Missoula and is a past president of the Montana Outfitter and Guides Association and Professional Wilderness Guide’s Association.
Elser claims he’s been mostly retired in the last three to five years. He has about 75 head of horses and mules in the Rattlesnake and still has a barn full of equipment he says he’s just a bit too old to use these days. Instead, he now serves on the advisory Council of Elders for MWA and is currently active on the USFS Region I Pack Train Board.
“I love the business,” Elser said of his years of outfitting. “My wife joined me; she even ran pack trips on her own.” An active family, their daughter also worked for them for a few years as a packer. Each year, their hired workers ran excursions typically lasting eight to ten days with up to as many as 36 guests.
“We’ve had in senators and representatives to people who sold shoes and were gas station attendants, the whole realm of all kinds of people,” he commented. “You meet a lot of people, and our main goal was to interpret the country to our guests. We wanted to make sure they left here with an understanding of wilderness and an understanding of horses and mules, and an understanding of the backcountry. Many of our guests then supported wilderness issues all the way through. Still do.”
Involved in the Wilderness Act of 1974, the Lincoln Scapegoat in 1972, and The Great Bear in 1986, which all came together to become part of the Bob Marshall, Elser said what’s now called the Bob Marshall Complex is about a million and a half acres with around 1,600 trails. Elser has never stopped his involvement in issues he feels are important for the wilderness. Even now he’s involved in the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act, introduced by Senator Jon Tester to add nearly 80,000 acres to wilderness areas and add safeguards for the four crucial tributaries of the Blackfoot River.
During his presentation at the Co-op, Elser shared some of his experiences packing trips, from helping to move a cabin with only chains and logs, to helping one client carry two heavy, mysterious footlockers to a high peak in 1969. Those containers ended up holding a television set, several batteries, and several tent poles he used to form an antenna. To Elser’s surprise, the traveler actually managed to get it set up to catch enough signal for them to witness the moon landing.
In these backcountry trips, Elser said people take away an appreciation of the land. “I think that’s what they take away most of all. And they want to be able to share that with future generations.”
