Volunteer-run, always
No paid staff, no overhead skimming. Officers serve without compensation and pay their own dues like everyone else.
About the chapter
Forty-one years of showing up.
Ridgeline started with nine hunters, a rented hall, and a raffle table. The mission hasn't changed since.
1984
Chartered
Our story
Founded in 1984 by hunters who wanted their dues to stay home.
In the fall of 1984, a group of nine Bozeman-area hunters chartered the Ridgeline Chapter with a simple idea: raise money among ourselves, and spend it where we hunt. The first banquet drew 62 people to a rented VFW hall and raised $3,100 for a local habitat project.
Four decades later the banquet fills a ballroom, but the structure is the same. We are entirely volunteer-run. Our officers are elected by the membership. Every grant we award is voted on by the board, and every member is welcome at the table when we decide.
What we protect isn't abstract. It's the elk herd on the divide, the kid who shot their first grouse at our youth day, and the right of the next generation to do the same.
How we operate
Three rules we don't bend
Local dollars, local ground
The overwhelming majority of what we raise is granted inside our region, to projects our members can drive to and see.
Open books
Grants, financials, and the annual budget are presented to the full membership each year. Ask any officer for a copy.
Milestones
A few things we're proud of
Four decades of banquets, work days, and kids' first hunts. Here are the moments the chapter still talks about.
1984
Chapter chartered
Nine founding members hold the first banquet in a rented hall and raise $3,100.
1996
First youth camp scholarships
The chapter sends four kids to a week-long outdoor skills camp, a program that has run every year since.
2008
Guzzler project completed
Members hand-carry materials to install two water developments on public land in the divide country.
2017
Heroes hunt launched
Our first fully hosted hunt for wounded veterans, now an annual chapter tradition.
2024
$1.4 million milestone
The chapter crosses $1.4M in cumulative funds raised for conservation and outreach.
Leadership
Your 2026 board of directors
Elected by the membership at the annual meeting. Every one of them is a volunteer, so reach out any time.
- Marcus Ellery President
- Dana Rowe Vice President
- Ted Vanmeer Treasurer
- Priya Sandoval Secretary
- Colton Reyes Youth Program Chair
- Ann-Marie Doyle Events Chair
Our affiliation
Part of something national. Rooted in something local.
As a chartered chapter of Safari Club International, our members are part of a worldwide organization defending the freedom to hunt and funding conservation on four continents. What we raise here, though, stays here. SCI gives us the platform, and our members decide where the money lands.
Come meet us
The best way to know this chapter is to show up to something.
Banquets, youth days, work projects, and shoots, and guests are always welcome, member or not.