Political conventions often feature unique offerings. But the gun/shovel/duct tape raffle and the bullet-“pocked” outhouse at the Montana GOP convention might have pushed the envelope.

Former GOP presidential candidate and U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the convention’s featured speaker on Saturday, got a raffle ticket for what might in any other part of the country seem an unusual combo – a 12-gauge shotgun, a shovel and a roll of duct tape.

But the 500 convention-goers burst into laughter to the obvious S-S-S – “Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up” – reference to the contentious issue of wolves. The Ravalli County Republican Central Committee, which sponsored the raffle, clearly had signed on to one widely suggested “management” plan by opponents of federal protection for wolves.

Gingrich said that if he wins, the prize will go to his 10-year-old grandson, who just got his first .410 bore shotgun.

There was less laughter – although plenty of picture-taking – of an outhouse labeled “Obama Presidential Library” parked outside Missoula’s Hilton Garden Inn, where the convention took place.

Nothing on the outhouse indicated who was responsible for it, although it made an appearance in the Memorial Day parade in Corvallis in Ravalli County.