Ya'll wanta read the most factual book about a real mountain man, you need to read Journal of a Trapper by Osbourne Russell. True account of real life mt man , in his own words. All others may or may not be true, prolly a lot of fiction.

FINE FIGURE OF A MAN, YES?

THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW.

Just ordered the book! Didn't know it existed, thanks!

Journal of a Trapper?

16 ways to rape a goat??

#16 Dayum I'm missing out!!!

Im not a betting man but would have to bet 40% of members have never saw this movie

I have seen it enough to bring the average up.........Way up! I bet I have seen it 25+ times. Has been my favorite movie for years and now my son wants to watch it every time its on tv.

Me too. At least 10 days. Most of the time I'll catch it on flipping channels and then just watch till it ends.

A bit of trivia.... my mother-in-law is from Red Lodge, MT. Her uncle was a game warden in Southern MT for 33 years and his district touched Yellowstone. TALK ABOUT SOME STORIES THIS MAN TOLD.... when you could get him to talk. My wife and I spent a lot of time out there in Red Lodge and Yellowstone area in the mid to late 90's. Uncle Vern Waples has since died but that old man was not only a game warden but a historian, a paleontologists, artifact collector, gun collector, etc... he had guns that were used in the battle of Little Bighorn and a collection of indian artifacts that would make a museum envious. And that SOB wouldn't even give two points to my two sons when I asked him as Uncle Vern said: "Richard, these artifacts were made in Montana by Montanans and they need to stay in Montana." Pissed me off!!! He had TONS of points or arrowheads... I cussed him under my breath but still, it would have been a great gift for my two sons from their great, great uncle to "have" and of course, never sell.

Anyway, Jeremiah Johnson lived on my mother-in-law's land (actually, Uncle Vern Waples' land) in a cabin, hut, four walls of wood, very small wooden room just outside the downtown area of Red Lodge. They've since moved JJ's cabin (it's really, really small and cabin ain't the word to use.... shack is more like it) to the downtown area of Red Lodge, MT.

Supposedly, the story is supposed to be true about the liver.

What happened to all of Uncle Vern's artifacts, guns, etc... when he died? They're in museums in MT, one of them in Red Lodge and the Smithsonian in Wash., D.C. got a lot of things... guns, etc...

Gizzard Stones, if you know what those are. He did let me have some gizzard stones that I found when he took us to a place in the Pryor Mountains where gizzard stones could be found. FYI, G S's were stones in the gizzards of dinosaurs. Uncle Vern found an area that had them as confirmed by a paleontologist that Uncle Vern would not even tell where he found them. That location remains a secret today.

My story keeps getting longer...sorry. Uncle Vern took my wife, myself and a couple friend of ours to this location to gather some gizzard stones and he laughed talking with me and made the statement that if we could ever find our way back to that location, he would not bring us there in the first place.... and then I pressed "Mark a Waypoint" on my GPS (around 1999-2001) that he didn't know I had. I would have never exploited this place but I wanted to keep the location for my kids to take back there one day but as you might imagine... I lost that waypoint and the location remains a secret. It's somewhere in the Pryor Mountains.

GOOD STORY BUCKTROT

"I told my pap and mam I was comin' to the mountains. To trap...and be a mountain man. Acted like they was gutshot. They says 'son, make your life go here...this is where the peoples is.' I says 'Mother Jue, the Rocky Mountains is the marrow of the world.' And by God I was right.

"Yes you were."

I ordered and just finished the book "Crow Killer". If half of that is accurate he really was a mountain man and killed hundreds of Indians. I didn't realize that most everyone scalped the Indians they killed just as the Indians scalped everyone they killed. The book speaks of several folks that survived after being scalped. Folks were tough in those days. They saw many beauties and survived many tough hardships. The mountain men were very vengeful.

Great book!

I can tell you that my wife's great uncle Vern, was a tough, hard-ass and he was from that area (Red Lodge, MT). As I said, he was a game warden in that area and he'd brave the elements and spend the night in the mountains all the time and just toughed it out. He never wore shorts and didn't think men should wear shorts. He didn't smile too much but loved to teach about the history of Montana and Wyoming. He was a tough old man... I would say with a love of Montana and nature but his heart was kinda salted over when it came to people.

I was walking with him one time next to his house off of Rock Creek, when I spotted a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. I, of course, wanted to do the right thing and put the bird back in the nest but he didn't want me to. He thought the baby bird's death was nature's way or design and said there's a reason that baby bird is there. "Let it be. I'm sure it will die but that's Mother Nature's way.", he stated. That old fart left to go to town and I went back out of that creek bank and put the bird back in its nest. He was probably right but I felt better.

Uncle Vern didn't have a heart for an "individual" animal but fought like hell to save land, species of animals and wanted to keep nature as it was.... without man's interference. He was a mountain man, a historian, a preservationist, paleontologist, biologist, conservationist, and one hell of a collector of Native American artifacts; he was one of the most interesting individuals I have ever met and they don't make'em like Uncle Vern Waples anymore.

Uncle Vern was the one who owned the land that Jeremiah Johnson's old cabin sat on and Uncle Vern sold the property. Whoever bought the land actually donated it to the Carbon County Historical Society.

Here's an old story as told by Uncle Vern Waples: http://ravallirepublic.com/mobile/article_ce261ba1-1ee0-5415-b7d4-3ec54cfccb98.html

One other thing that was funny about Uncle Vern. Somehow, the movie, Dances With Wolves came up in discussion one time and Uncle Vern did go see the movie.... but "I got up and walked out!". He said that movie was full of chit and said that he just could not watch it for all the inaccuracies! LOL. I guess when you live it.... it's hard to watch it being portrayed inaccurately.