Five of the 7th Cavalry's twelve companies were annihilated; Custer was killed, as were two of his brothers, a nephew, at Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the LAKOTA and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand. The battle in 1876 was fought in the Banks of the Little Bighorn River. Here I was fishing this great river, one more " bucket " list checked off. With over 10,000 Trout per mile and the opening of this river after being closed to " Non Tribal Member's " made it so. Every fly fisher-person on the planet would be invading the river. I wonder who won the battle after all ?
Walkabout was born so I could fish on, the original plan was to buy a planeload of hats, fly to Montana, sell them at the fair to pay for the trip, fish the Bighorn and go back to New Zealand or Australia where I was living my present " Walkabout " of life.
That was 25 years ago, OMG had I known then......." A story for another day " In any case we are still here " Onward through the fog " ( San Francisco Rugby Clubs Motto ) , I always knew my patience would in the end leave me as the last man standing ! Since those days many a fish has been released, a few for dinner, so many stories, so many journeys behind and so many more to come. This new Walkabout Website is just a small step on the way. I hope you like the products I share and enjoy my self. If you like them stay tuned, plenty more to come in the years ahead. If there is something of interest let me know and I will write about it.
Over the last 25+ some odd years I have taken my " Road show " to just about every Fair, festival , rodeo, sport & air show across N America, I met thousands of amazing Americans & Immigrants like me, loving this country for all it has to offer for those willing to take one step out the door. Its been an amazing journey. Now at 60 its time to Walkabout in a new direction, South maybe ? or North to Alaska who knows but with my bags packed well who knows where !
Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544 (1981), was a Supreme Court case that addressed the Crow Nation's ability to regulate hunting and fishing on tribal lands by a non-tribal member. The case considered several important issues concerning tribes' treaty rights and sovereign governing authority on Indian reservations. The original dispute was over access to fishing on the Bighorn River within the exterior boundaries of the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. The Court would eventually rule that the "exercise of tribal power beyond what is necessary to protect tribal self-government or to control internal relations is inconsistent with the dependent status of the tribes, and so cannot survive without express congressional delegation."