A man of many trades and passions: Crooks enjoys sharing his love of the outdoors with others

As a local to Libby for over 40 years, Terry Crooks has always found Libby, and its people, to be his “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

Crooks is known as the man who, 20 years ago this year, shot the largest nontypical bull elk ever killed with a bow in the world, and the second largest taken with a recurve bow. A nontypical bull elk refers to horns that are not symmetrical.

But Crooks is a lot more than an avid hunter, he is also a minister at Libby Christian Church, a college-course instructor, a member of the David Thompson Search and Rescue for over 35 years, former president of the Western Montana Search Dogs and vice president of the National Search Dog Alliance.

During his involvement with search and rescue, former Lincoln County Sheriff Daryl Anderson got him interested in search dogs.

Although being so heavily involved with search dogs wasn’t his initial intention, he’s made it a big part of his life.

Crooks became involved in the Western Montana Search Dogs and eventually the National Search Dog Alliance (NSDA), a not-for-profit, 501(c) (3), that serves communities through the certification and education of search and rescue and law enforcement canine teams and their support personnel.

Under the NSDA, Crooks, along with a search dog, responds to some infamous natural disasters, including a mudslide in Oso, Wash., and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In short, Crooks said helping with Katrina was difficult, but he’s grateful he was able to work with the other volunteers and help out.

“It was sad,” Crooks said. “We were dealing with a lot of people with a lot of loss.”

As a minister, Crooks has worked extensively with teens at youth events, teen camps in Yellowstone and leadership canoe trips on the Missouri River.

In his spare time, Crooks teaches a “Dog Obedience” class at Flathead Valley Community College, a seven-week course on dog training and behavior, working with dog owners to instruct them on how to properly train, take care of, and live in a house with a dog.

“Dogs are an important part of people’s lives,” Crooks said. “As a pastor sometimes, I tell people that I probably save more marriages teaching dog obedience than I do sharing marriage counseling with them.”

Crooks is right at home in Western Montana and has been since he and his family moved to Butte from the Texas Panhandle when he was a teenager.

At the time, Butte was a different atmosphere, “the Wild West” as Crooks put it.

“It felt like I died and went to heaven,” he said.

After spending some years in Butte, the family moved to Libby where Crooks graduated high school, and his father worked as a minister at Libby Christian Church.

Crooks graduated from York College in Nebraska and returned to Libby.

When his father passed away, he followed in his footsteps and became a minister of the church.

As an avid outdoorsman and hunter, Crooks enjoys taking the youth in his church out for hikes and hunting trips.

Crooks wants to pass on his love of the outdoors to the youth and the fond memories he has of hunting since he was a teenager.

One of his friends he’s been hunting with since they were teenagers was Adrian Mathis, the man who, on Oct. 17, 1996, was with Crooks when he shot the record-breaking elk.

However, Crooks wasn’t looking to take down a bull that day.

In fact, Crooks was looking to get Mathis in position to kill the elk, but when everything came together with the weather, Crooks had to take the shot at the giant bull only 15 yards away from him.

Even though Crooks felt bad after taking down the elk, Crooks said Mathis was completely understanding.

“He wasn’t into it for himself. It wasn’t about me — we were just friends hunting together,” Crooks said. “

Crooks said he doesn’t consider himself a better hunter than anyone, but just a man who had the perfect shot, during the perfect moment.

As he looks back on that day, Crooks said the experience is one of the blessings to be apart of in Libby, the community he cherishes.

“People are always looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” Crooks said. “I think for a lot of people [Libby] is it. I always wanted to live in Alaska or some place far away, and after I spent some time in Libby I realized, this is the place.”

The bull Crooks shot 20 years ago still holds the record and sits in The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in Missoula on display for the public to see. And that’s just where Crooks wants it to be.