Bill Muhlenfeld is owner and publisher of Distinctly Montana magazine and other publications. He lives in Bozeman with his partner, Anthea, and always finds time to enjoy the great outdoors, when he is not writing about it.... 

There are many stars in Montana.

No, I’m not talking about Jeff Bridges, Andie McDowell, David Letterman, Phil Jackson or Ted Turner. They are mere stars of the moment, flashes of fleshy brilliance in the bottomless void of space and time. The stars I speak of are those in Montana’s night sky, where they mingle with other, nearer bright objects—the moon, Venus, Jupiter and the like. These are, perhaps, also just flashes against a backdrop of infinity; but in human terms they hold permanence and marvel.

Upwards of 70% or more of the U.S. population cannot see the night sky, the very same heavens that we in Montana can enjoy every clear and cloudless night. There are most definitely exceptions. When standing outdoors one side of my home the sky is brilliant, magical, the Milky Way curling its smokiness though the dark pitch of eternity. On the other side of my home the nearby city’s lights refract in an unearthly glow, and the stars cower from dimness to invisibility. I sometimes wonder if the people living in town venture out just a few miles to view the night sky, or if they are part of that unknowing 70%.

Does it matter? Well, I think yes. It is a powerful reminder of life’s connectedness, our insignificance, and the impossible brevity of our own existence, individually, and as a species. My own life takes on a different shade of being when I take time to notice Montana’s night sky, which makes me wonder if others experience the same thing, and if we all wouldn’t be much better off if the world just turned off all its lights at night.

Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Repeatedly stifled in efforts to transplant bighorn sheep in new locations in Montana over the past few years, the state’s wildlife commission chairman said it may be time to rethink the state’s conservation strategy for the popular big game species.

“I guess what I’m hearing is we don’t have any place in Montana to place sheep,” said Dan Vermillion, Fish and Wildlife Commission chairman, at the group’s last meeting.

“Not with the criteria we’ve established,” said John Vore, FWP’s game management bureau chief. “Much of our historic sheep habitat didn’t have domestic sheep.”

Vore said recently that he’s preparing a presentation for the commission that outlines the criteria for where sheep can be established and places that the department has already looked at that don’t meet those guidelines.

“We keep looking at areas, and we’ve looked at many, many,” he said.

Under the state’s conservation plan – adopted in 2010 – FWP set a goal of creating five new huntable populations of bighorn sheep in the state by 2022. Yet time and again the department’s attempts to transplant wild sheep have been thwarted.

MORE>>>Spokesman Review

8:02 a.m. Four runaway horses were spotted on East Ridgewood Drive.

8:46 a.m. A Columbia Falls resident reported that the neighbor man was urinating in his front yard again.

11:42 a.m. A woman called from California to report that her local tenants took her mailbox down and replaced it with a mailbox of their choice.

1:36 p.m. A local gas station employee reported that someone stole three cans of Mike’s Hard Lemonade as well as three things of tobacco.

2:41 p.m. A complaint was made about the notorious “taco dog” on Klondyke Loop in Somers.

3:42 p.m. A woman saw her stolen car cruising through town.

5:32 p.m. A Foothill Road resident reported that the neighbor’s dogs harass him with their incessant barking.

6:42 p.m. An employee at a local casino complained that a customer fell asleep while gambling.

8:06 p.m. Someone heard the ominous sounds of gunshots and a running chainsaw somewhere near the Tally Lake Campground.

11:56 p.m. A bear was rooting around near a dumpster off of Highway 2 East in Columbia Falls.

 MORE>>>Flathead Beacon

Joseph Shelton is a freelance writer who graduated from Montana State University with a degree in English Literature. He lives in Bozeman, where he enjoys hiking, reading, and being a misunderstood artist-type.

The following is an unedited (except for the writer’s name) letter sent to me in response to my call, in my ghost article, for some of the Montana’s interesting stories of the unknown.  This one in particular speaks to just how much more there may be to heaven and earth than is dreamt of in our philosophy.  Happy Halloween, folks. 

“Sir, I saw your information in the magazine "Distinctly Montana.

Regarding your interest in paranormal stories my story is based on a true event.

In September of 1996. I was living in an apartment in Sea Tac, Washington. It was a Saturday around 1:00 p.m. I was watching television. My television was on a stand in front of a patio with

glass sliding doors. Next to the patio area of the 2nd story apartment to the right of the patio and living room was the dining room which connected into the kitchen. The kitchen and living room were separated by a wall.

As I was watching television, I noticed a 1 inch tall man come running out of the area of the dining room. He must have been in the kitchen.  I noticed that the man was about late 40's in human years with short dark brown hair. No mustache or beard. He had dark brown eyes.

When the man came out of the kitchen he was running next to the wall between the kitchen and living room. He was running as fast as he could. He never once looked at me because I looked right at him as soon as he came around the corner of the living room and dining room area. I tried to look as carefully at him as possible so I could be sure of what I was seeing and because he was running as fast as he could so I knew I would only be able to see him for a few seconds before he was gone.

The man was no taller than 1 inch. He had a look on his face like he was slighty scared that I would see him. He never tried to check. He just looked straight ahead as he ran.

The little man's features of his face were exactly like human features.He had ears and hair, etc.

The body was the same as a human's body. He had on a white short sleeved dress shirt with black slacks.

I never seen the little man again after that day. I had only lived in the apartment for about 3 weeks when this happened.

The only thing that I can say is that I did see the man. He was 1 inch tall and I was able to look as closely as possible at him as he ran along the wall of the living room which I did because it was all happening very quickly since he was running.

It might sound impossible. I can only say what I saw was not a mistake. I have since read stories of fairies or little people living in Oregon and Alaska along with other parts of the world.

I never expected to see a little person in my life. I am glad I did."