Thursday Night Pursuits continues inspirational, exciting stories

Tradition is a considerable part of hunting, but there are few more special than Libby Christian Church’s Thursday Night Pursuits.

For nearly two decades the church has hosted its beloved sharing of faith and hunting and fishing stories with the community.

For five Thursdays, community members are welcome to partake in the event, which ends on Nov. 17.

The first, which was last week on Oct. 20, was attended by hundreds of locals. They saw a video by church parishioners Jim Regh and Bill Armstrong that featured elk of all shapes and sizes, bugling, sparring, resting and playing around an elk wallow.

Then preaching minister Phil Alspaw sat with Larry Lampton for an interview about how Lampton found God as well as some amazing hunting and fishing experiences.

“Pastor David Wilkerson was witnessing to inner city gangs and one of the gang members came to the Methodist church I was raised in,” Lampton said. “I don’t recall all what was said, but something got to me that night.

“After I got married, things really came together for me in my relationship with God.”

Lampton, who married his wife Rita nearly 47 years ago, told the story of how she was attending church, but he wasn’t.

“She told me she was going to get baptized and when she returned, she was all wet. I guess I didn’t realize what took place, but then I got into Bible study and attending church. A year later I was baptized.”

Lampton, who Alspaw described as a Libby Logger who became a logger before joining the U.S. Forest Service, explained how his times outdoors have shown him the presence of God.

“Every time I am on the water or in the woods, the things I see tell me there is a God,” Lampton said. “These are creatures of God and there is no end of creation.”

Lampton said he believes God is real.

“I have witnessed it in my life,” he said. “To me, the rut is a purposeful thing. The calves are born at the same time for the benefit of their survival.”

Lampton, who estimates he’s bagged between 45 and 50 elk, also shared one unforgettable hunting trip that resulted in him tagging a big bull elk while accompanied by his wife, his brother and father.

“It was 1978 and Rita was pregnant with our first son. We were all at camp and my Dad and brother were hunting together and I was hunting above them.

“My Dad saw a bull, but my brother never did see it. My dad shot twice and the elk disappeared. They looked and looked, but couldn’t find it and my brother started to wonder if Dad had seen an elk.”

Lampton said he heard the shots but didn’t know who had fired them. He ran into his Dad, who said, “You’re brother thinks I’m crazy. I shot, but we can’t find it.”

Lampton said they walked to the area and he saw a bull which he shot. Then his brother saw a bull a shot it.

My brother said, “Larry, look at this bull. He got his antlers stuck between two trees and I went I saw it, it stood up and the antlers ripped off.”

Lampton said he and his brother looked at the antlers and saw two bullet marks on its antlers.

“It was the bull my Dad had shot at,” Lampton said.

Lampton also shared tales of guiding hunters in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and fishing in Alaska, Mexico, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

Lampton left Thursday night’s attendees, particularly hunters, with a wise thought about elk hunting.

“Each elk is an individual and we gotta find one that wants to play with us.”