Maybe it's a good thing. Not a single Montana town cracked the top 10 list of Outdoor Life Magazine's "2009 Best Places to Live." In fact, we barely made the top 20.

Hooray for that! I figure we've got enough competition for moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat licenses here in Montana. And then, there are all the elk, bear, mule deer, white-tailed deer, antelope and mountain lion hunters, not to mention the cutthroat, rainbow, brown, bull, golden and lake trout, bass, walleye, northern pike and paddlefish anglers crowding the outdoors.

So there's really no need to trumpet the Treasure State. Let all the Outdoor Life readers seeking a great place to live move to Idaho. Or go to the Dakotas -- both made the top 10.

Lewiston, Idaho, earned the top ranking as the best outdoors place to live. Marquette, Mich., got second, and Idaho Falls tied with Rawlins, Wyo., for third in the magazine's June-July issue. Poctatello, Idaho, took fifth, Bismarck, N.D., took sixth, and Sheridan, Wyo., took seventh.

"Outdoorsmen want world-class hunting and fishing, but like everyone else, they also want to have a high quality of life," said Todd Smith, editor-in-chief of Outdoor Life. "The towns on this list offer the best of the outdoors as well as decent homes and schools and good-paying jobs. They are truly dream towns for sportsmen."

The only Montana town to make the top 20 list was Glasgow, tied for 20th -- barely squeaking onto the list despite the fact the magazine's very own hunting editor, Andrew McKean, hails from there. (Do I detect a little hometown cooking from the Outdoor Life umpire on this one to get one Montana town on the list and then to choose which one?)

My guess is that there are a lot of people -- minus the real estate brokers -- happy to see such little fanfare about Montana on the list. Let the Outdoor Life readers move, clog the license drawings and crowd the hunting and fishing spots elsewhere.

Outdoor towns

Here's the full top-20 list for outdoor living according to Outdoor Life:

1. Lewiston, Idaho; 2. Marquette, Mich.; 3. (tie) Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Rawlins, Wyo.; 5. Pocatello, Idaho; 6. Bismarck, N.D.; 7. Sheridan, Wyo.; 8. Pierre, S.D.; 9. Rochester, Minn.; 10. Carbondale, Colo.; 11. Kodiak, Alaska; 12. Kanab, Utah; 13. Cody, Wyo.; 14. Granby, Colo.; 15. Page, Ariz.; 16. Sioux Falls, S.D.; 17. Saratoga, Wyo.; 18. Colorado Springs, Colo.; 19. Mountain Home, Ark.; and 20. (tie) Roseau, Minn., and Glasgow.