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Pat McVay flips through a hunting photo album. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
established the early science of wildlife management that still guides agencies across the U.S., including FWP. “When you talk about Pat, you do hear the word ‘leg- end’ batted around a lot by the kids and parents,” Fraley says. “We’re privileged to have Montana’s first hunter
education instructor in the Flathead.”
The way McVay describes it, the privilege has been all
his own. Long before he shot the trophy elk of a lifetime that now hangs in his home, he had achieved rewards far greater than any single animal. Thank-you letters fill his home, from mothers and fathers who are grateful for passing on a love of the outdoors to their children. One man even showed up to McVay’s home a couple years ago and re-introduced himself. He was a student of McVay’s almost 40 years earlier and simply wanted to stop by and share his appreciation.
McVay says his best memories are afield with fam- ily and friends. Just last fall, he helped set up an annual hunting trip for its 50th year near Malta. Friends, family and nearby ranchers all came together one night inside a wall tent with fiddles, harmonicas and stories to share.
“Couldn’t have been a better bunch of people,” he says.
After 95 years, all the memories are hard to keep straight. All McVay needs to do is gaze at the big bull elk in his living room, and the stories start coming to life, adventures of a legendary lifetime.
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A 6-point bull elk that McVay shot in Northwest Montana. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
“My granddad gave me a .22-caliber rifle when I was 6 years old. I was in first grade. My brother had one, too, and
he was a few years older. We were on our own out there on the ranch south of Great Falls. He just told me be damn careful. That’s the only advice we got.”
PAT MCVAY
OCTOBER 14, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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