My cool new pheasant belt buckle

My friend was wearing this cool buckle the other day, and since it had a pheasant on it, it caught my eye. I commented to him what a cool buckle it was – which led to the story behind the buckle, and eventually to me getting my own cool pheasant belt buckle

This friend of mine was born and raised in the small town of Froid, MT – right in the heart of Montana’s best pheasant country. I didn’t learn of this till after the fact, but apparently Froid celebrated its centennial last year (in 2010) – 100 years as an official town in this great state we live in. To commemorate the event, Froid produced 100 silver belt buckles (made here in MT by Montana Silversmiths). The town auctioned off the buckles – the first one going for $300 or so. And each auction winner could pick their number (each buckle was numbered 1-100).

My friend called his parents in Froid to ask if there were any buckles left, and they told him to call Kathy at the general store. My friend gave me Kathy’s number, I called and to my good fortune, there were still 3 left that needed owners. I realize its a bit after the fact, but I snagged me a pretty cool buckle (officially #65) for only $75.

I’m happy if my $75 supports the town of Froid, but I’m also hoping that if I proudly wear this buckle in the Froid area when stopping to ask landowners if I can hunt their land, it might, just maybe, get me on to land that I otherwise wouldn’t see. It’s worth a shot, right?

On a related note, my wife (Dixie) absolutely hates big belt buckles – so needless to say, she’s not fond of my pheasant buckle. We took the family out 2 weeks ago to shoot some family photos. Dix and I were getting a couple shots of just us, when I reached in my back pocket and grabbed my buckle that I had brought along. I held it in place while the photographer shot the pic, and the kids were busting up in the background. Dixie thought her hair was out of place or something, but they were just laughing at me ruining the picture with my ugly buckle It’s an enhancement if you ask me. But if I left it to Dixie, this buckle would never see the light of day. (Good thing she doesn’t know the password to my blog account

PS – I’m sporting the Beretta Rugged Nailhead Shirt and Dixie is wearing the Filson Women’s Long Sleeve Shooting Shirt.