Howdy
I'm Earl Southard, Owner/Operator of Trailmaster Holsters. Thanks for visiting my website! I hope you find my site interesting and easy to navigate.
Please don't hesitate to give me a call at
1-406-564-3220 or drop me an email at trailmaster@trailmasterholsters.com if you have any questions.
Since I maintain this website along with designing and handcrafting all of the holsters you see on this site and in the catalogs, this site is a continual work in progress. Keep checking back to see if we’ve added any new holster lines or products. Once again, thanks for considering Trailmaster Holsters and I hope you find my brand uniquely practical.
About the Trailmaster
A Small Home Business
Trailmaster Holsters is a relatively small business and is, by every sense of the definition, a mom and pop business. I design and manufacture all the holsters. My wife of 36 years helps with the paperwork and keeps me in line which, by the way, is the hardest job of all! Nothing fancy, nothing corporate, just a small, sole-proprietorship business based on hard work and rock-solid core values.
USAF First Sergeant (Retired)
Prior to starting Trailmaster Holsters, I served 24+ honorable years in the U.S Air Force retiring as a First Sergeant in 2006. I spent the next 3-years training and working for BNSF Railway eventually becoming a Division Trainmaster. I resigned from the railroad and literally spent my last cash on an industrial leather sewing machine. I started Trailmaster Holsters in February 2009, working out of a bedroom in my home. After outgrowing the home where Trailmaster Holsters started, we have finally settled in a small, new home with an unfinished shop built into the garage area, just outside of Great Falls, Montana.
Trailmaster
I received the nickname “Trailmaster” from close friends after the many extended wilderness backpacking trips I've helped plan and successfully executed over the last 20+ years. Most of those friends have now retired from military service and some still show up in the summer to go on yet another backpacking trip, now known as "holster-testing trips!" I've shared many a warm campfire with these gentlemen as we have enjoyed a humble meal, often from the same tin heated over an open fire. Each trip with these men was an adventure of a lifetime. I'm truly blessed with the opportunity to have had so many trips and it is my honor to have served with these men, both on and off duty.
About Us
Backpacking Bio
Since the early 1990s, I’ve logged 1,500+ miles on foot hiking and backpacking in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in Montana, and many other states to include the California and the Alaskan outback (mosquito heaven). I was born in Western Colorado and raised in Northwest Colorado on a small farm south of a little town called Craig. I worked for the Forest Service for two full summers building and maintaining trails in Colorado's remote wilderness areas. My explorations in the wilderness eventually lead me down a path to designing, making and using holsters for my own personal use. One thing lead to another and now I offer my personal style of holsters and other leather products to those outdoors people who, like myself, love our country regardless of its faults and are proud to live in a free land where we have the right to own and carry firearms of our choosing.
I Carry in the Mountains
I normally carry a firearm when in the backwoods regardless of the activity whether it is backpacking, hunting, fishing, or just hiking around with friends and family. I feel blessed to have the freedom, while it lasts, to enjoy the choice and right to own, carry and use firearms of my choice in many of my recreational activities.
May God Bless Our USA!
Give me a Call
Thanks for considering my holsters. If you have any questions, comments or concerns please don't hesitate to email me at trailmaster@trailmasterholsters.com or give me a call at 406-564-3220. If for some reason I’m unable to answer your phone call, please leave a message and I will get back with you.
Very Respectfully, Earl Southard, Owner/Operator Trailmaster Holsters