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Rugg's Outfitting is a small, family owned and operated company with its origins starting when Raymond Paul Rugg, Sr. -- Grandpa Rugg -- purchased the Hole-in-the-Wall property in 1947 and build the first lodge in 1948. The Hole-in-the-Wall burned down in 1961, was rebuilt in 1962, and then later sold in 1965. Raymond Paul Rugg, Jr. -- Ray -- packed his first hunting party into the hills by himself in 1956. The several days late arrival of a party after Grandpa and all of the other guides were in the back country to pack game out from the base camp required the 12 year old Ray to guide the latecomers into camp by himself. For nearly the next two decades, Ray worked on and off again as a professional guide. When he returned from the military service in 1970, he guided at the Hole-in-the-Wall until it was sold in 1973. By the spring of 1975, Ray had had so many hunters requesting that he guide them that he finally took his outfitter's exam in 1975 and began outfitting and guiding in Montana again. In 1978 he decided to expand his operations and bought an outfitting unit in Idaho's Selway-Bitterroot area. From that time up until 1995, Ray outfitted in both Montana and Idaho. In 1994 Ray sold his ranch in the Mission Valley of Montana and moved to Superior, on the Clark Fork, in order to be closer to the outfitting areas. In 1995 he sold the Selway outfitting and in 1996 bought an Idaho outfitting area closer to his Montana area. While all of Ray's four sons have helped out with the outfitting business in various capacities throughout the years, youngest son Kip passed his outfitter exams in 2007 and has taken over the Superior Ranger District operations, along with the River operations. Ray still heads up the outfitting operations in the Nine Mile Ranger District and the St. Joe Ranger District in Idaho, while son Korey, a wastewater operator for the city of Missoula pitches in whenever he is needed.  |
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