In the accompanying photos, you can see the superb craftsmanship that went into the beautiful hand crafted 2010 Commemorative Lobo Watch Knife produced by master knife smith Rick Dunkerley, of Lincoln, Montana.

Rick is one of the top rated knife craftsmen in the U.S. today, known for his exquisite Damascus steel blades and awesome knife designs. The knife in these photos was put up for auction, through the website and e-mail, in February, March and April of this year. The winning bid was placed by the great folks at Wimps Body Works, in Hamilton, Montana. And the proceeds from that auction went toward Lobo Watch operation and lobbying expenses - mostly to help cover website expenses and to help defray expenses when travelling to wolf rallies, wildlife agency meetings, or other wolf related events.

Rick Dunkerley is a former Montana big game outfitter, who has watched the elk, moose, deer and other big game populations crash way too rapidly over the past 7 or 8 years in the back country areas where he once packed hunters into remote areas like the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area or the Scapegoat Wilderness Area, for the hunt of a life time. Those areas are now nearly big game wastelands. The rich wildlife resource that once made those areas special to the few who could trek 10...20...30 or more miles from the nearest road have been destroyed by non-native Canadian wolves.

Likewise, with game now practically wiped out on most of the wilderness lands and in the National Forest surrounding the Lincoln area, the wolves there are now coming to town. Rick Dunkerley owns and operates a cattle ranch adjacent to city limits, and has also suffered losses to wolves which continue to make it difficult to earn a living as a livestock producer. The wolves played a big role in why he got out of the outfitting business, and now they are impacting his ranching. Rick is like most other Montanans these days, they've had enough and they are now ready to fight back. And one way he is doing that is to help finance keeping this website up and running, and filled with the ammunition concerned sportsmen and livestock producers need to fight our enemies - the anti-hunting and anti-human life environmental groups and organizations who are simply using the wolf to achieve their goals of putting an end to hunting and to lessen the human role in life on this old Earth.

Recently Rick sent me an e-mail to inquire if I had any ideas for the 2011 Commemorative Lobo Watch Knife. My only response was..."You are the artist, use your own judgment to come up with the design and embellishment you feel best represents our cause."

He plans to get started on the knife early next month, and we should be able to display his artistic craftsmanship and get the bidding under way by February 1st. I'm excited to see what Rick Dunkerely comes up with for 2011.


To take a look at Rick Dunkerley's exceptionally artistic work and the variety of knife styles he crafts, visit his website at www.dunkerleyknives.com.