The Madison River joins with the Jefferson and Gallatin at Three Forks, Montana, where the water continues to the Missouri. The Madison uncharacteristically flows north through the Madison Valley between the Tobacco Root Mountains and the Gravelly Range. Nestled in that valley is a little town called Ennis, which was established at about the end of the Civil War. The current population is around 850 and I think I found that river town’s most interesting resident.
Getting 250 pounds of elk meat from Montana to West Virginia requires the assistance of a meat processor/packer. Sure, you could have loaded up multiple coolers and put them on the airplane but when you do that there is no guarantee your protein will land at the same airport you do. My hunting partners and I rode into town with my elk and headed straight to Deemo’s Meats, the local butcher shop. That’s where I met Harmony Cronin.
Elk and deer carcasses were piled waist deep around the receiving door at Deemo’s, and the mercury was doing all it could to climb the thermometer to 10 degrees. In the middle of all that frigidness was a blood covered, knife-wielding woman named Harmony Cronin who was commanding the operation. I watched her single-handedly drag an elk carcass to her workstation, hook it to a hoist, and then proceed to peel off the hide as gracefully as an exotic dancer would slide out of a corset.
Harmony is originally from Denver and after some wandering settled in Ennis, Montana. During her travels she found herself sharing a house with some rats. She set a trap line, caught one, and killed it. That changed everything for Harmony. Dramatically impacted by the experience, she skinned the rat, ate it, and tanned its hide. She became obsessed with the process of using and repurposing animal parts and began to skin and tan every critter she could find. For Harmony, roadkill was free entertainment.
While living out of the back of her truck in Ennis, Harmony was tanning hides and making leather goods to sale to tourists traveling to and from Yellowstone. One night at a local saloon, while taking advantage of a hunter’s inebriated state, she managed to secure an elk hide, and then she soon after she found herself at Deemo’s Meats where she landed a job as an elk skinner. Part of her compensation are elk hides at a discount and elk brains she can use for tanning. Harmony likes to tan her hides the old fashion way and she does much of her sewing with bone needles. She can professionally skin an elk in about 45 minutes and generally does this about four to six times each day. By the end of season Harmony will have pulled the hide off more than 250 elk and about half that many deer.
We talked for about 30 minutes and with the elk she was working on stashed in the freezer, she hooked an already skinned Montana whitetail to the hoist and reached for a propane torch. One match later and Harmony was coursing the hide with the flame. She put down the torch, pulled out her knife, and went to work on the front leg, “Gotta get rid of the hair, I don’t have the time to pick off all the hair a hunter who does not know how to skin a deer leaves on his carcass. When the flame hits the hairs, they evaporate.”
And then, like she had done it a thousand times, Harmony put the buck’s front leg in an arm bar and broke it with a snap. A disturbing smile crossed her face and she said, “I love that sound.” I stepped back a few feet. As cool as that was, coming from a girl who’s been growing her hair for eight years and skinning dead things for entertainment, it kind of made my knees hurt.
If you’re ever traveling through western Montana, take the time to drive through the beautiful Madison Valley and visit Ennis. It’s about 152 miles north of Idaho Falls, ID, and about 52 miles southwest of Bozeman, MT. Hunters should check out the Jumping Horse Ranch and enquire about their combination elk and deer hunts. They’re an incredible bargain, and they have some of the best whitetail hunting you’ll find anywhere. If you’re a knee-deep fisherman kind of guy, go by The Tackle Shop and ask for John Way. He’s Orvis endorsed and can get you the gear and get you in the water where you need to be too.
But life is really about people and if you really want to see and talk to someone who’s extraordinarily unique and talented with a blade, go by Deemo’s Meats and ask for Harmony. Go sober, she has a way with intoxicated hunters.
This story originally appeared in the first edition of Under Orion, which is available for purchase HERE.
Most interesting indeed. Many years back, my wife skinned various road kill such as fox, bobcat, badger, coons, etc. We still have a few of the skulls. If I ever get up that way, I’ll check it out. Will look at hunting there as well.