PEAX Equipment

Shirley's Fish and Bird License, Sheridan Monatana, 1946

R

Rancho Loco

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 2, 2010
Messages
1,100
Location
Bozeman, MT
I was looking around in an old house's attic yesterday, pleased to not find hot knob and tube wiring or drifts of vermiculite, but this.

I'm betting Shirley was a little firecracker.

IMG_20180509_195141.jpg
 
She'd be about 94, wonder if she's still around, or any relatives. That would be cool to find her/them and give it to them.
 
That's awesome. I love bits of history like this.

And JOIN YOUR LOCAL ROD & GUN CLUB for heaven's sake!
 
I am surprised how high of license number (141268) she had. Do they start at the initial licensing year or restart every year?

Looked high. I would treasure that find unless I could give to her family (hopefully still hunters).
 
bobbydean said:
I am surprised how high of license number (141268) she had. Do they start at the initial licensing year or restart every year?

Looked high. I would treasure that find unless I could give to her family (hopefully still hunters).
Click to expand...

I wonder if each licensing agent/seller is given a booklet with a range of license numbers since they couldn't just print out new licenses.
 
Mthuntr said:
I wonder if each licensing agent/seller is given a booklet with a range of license numbers since they couldn't just print out new licenses.
Click to expand...

That's how it's worked in the past - each LSA gets a few books to sell licenses with numbered licenses, etc. It's only been 10-20 years since we've gone to electronic licensing. I used to work at a fly shop in the early 2000's that still used the paper system.
 
I remember about 10 years ago still getting that waxed paper licesnce. Wish I had kept them all. Lady use to give free haircuts if you didn't punch your tag, so that's where they went.
 
406LIFE said:
I remember about 10 years ago still getting that waxed paper licesnce. Wish I had kept them all. Lady use to give free haircuts if you didn't punch your tag, so that's where they went.
Click to expand...

I think I have every license I've ever bought since we went to electric licenses. Along with every unused tag I've had. I could make a really really tasty tag soup.
 
What happened to Shirley? I dig these types of rabbit holes. I've spent a few hours since this post scouring the internet, and I can tell that Melton was a prevalent surname in Beaverhead, Madison, and Silverbow counties in the mid 20th century. Shirley was either born in 1923 or 1924, and I have searched all the Montana papers, findagrave.com, the Montana Memory Project, etc. Have not found much.

Shirley was a housewife in 1946, and If I had to guess, I think she had a daughter and named her Shirley. A lot of these articles list her as living in Twin Bridges, which is only 10 minutes north of Sheridan, where she lived in 1946.

In 1956 Shirley Jr. was in 7th grade, and went to a Halloween Party.
Melton1956.JPG

In 1960 at the age of around 17 Shirley Jr. attended a ball, and was also a member of the Twin Bridges Assembly of Rainbow Girls, and she was the recorder. Her mother, from the hunting license above, was a chaplain.

Melton Ball 1960.JPG


MeltonChaplain1960.JPG

1960 Montana Standard also lists her as living in Silver Star and as being elected to the board of a credit association, and who knows if it is mother or daughter.


In 1962 Shirley Jr. was married. In '56 she was in 7th grade, so maybe 13 years old. So in '62 she was likely 19ish.

melton.JPG


My High School Government teacher grew up in Sheridan Montana, and the Jefferson Valley where Sheridan, Twin Bridges, and Silver Star all sit is a tight community. He said he would ask some family about her.
 
Last edited:
"If you forget your license - forget your rod and gun"

I'm so thankful games wardens can call in this information today.
 
I have dug into this a bit more. I wrote an author named Marica Melton who has written a few fictional books centered around historic Montana. She grew up in Dillon, which as the crow flies is only 26 miles from Sheridan where Shirley lived in 1946. She was kind enough to write me back, and it turns out she was not related to Shirley. She did say there was more than one Melton family in Beaverhead County at the time, and they were unrelated.

Rancho Loco's post was very cool and has given me a lot to think about, and it would be neat to be able to find out what happened to Shirley The Huntress.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Deadfall and Deadlegs
Replies
5
Views
1K
thomas89
T
S
Bird dog PSA - Grass awns
Replies
10
Views
1K
ismith
ismith
Flatbrimmer
Gallatin County 4H 2022
Replies
9
Views
864
MNElkNut
M
44hunter45
Cramps for Gramps - or - Misadventures in early cow hunts 2022
2
Replies
30
Views
3K
44hunter45
44hunter45
Irrelevant
It’s Groundhog Day again.
2
Replies
27
Views
2K
trb
trb
Ollin Magnetic Digiscoping Systems

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
111,048
Messages
1,944,961
Members
34,990
Latest member
hotdeals

Share this page

Back
Top