Hunting Thru History

28/05/2024

Ni**od, the mighty hunter before God.

Although "ni**od" is used in popular culture to describe a foolish or dimwitted individual, the origin of the name is quite different. The original Ni**od was a biblical character, a hyper-masculine hunter and king, occasionally described as a giant, who built the fabled tower of Babel.

With the rise of more formalized hunting literature in the 19th century, 'Ni**od' became a common term for any hunter. Charles James Apperley, a Welsh sportsman and author, used the pseudonym 'Ni**od' for his contributions to England's 'Sporting Magazine' and made quite a good living at it.

The modern insult comes, as so many good things do, from Bugs Bunny cartoons. Actually, Daffy Duck is the first to use the insult towards hapless hunter Elmer Fudd, but the description stuck. Few people now remember the original Ni**od, the Mighty Hunter.

09/01/2024

There is nothing like fresh meat cooked over a campfire, after a long day in the woods. There is something primeval about it, something which connects us in an unbroken line to our earliest ancestors. Charles Whitehead describes it well in this quote from his "Wild Sports in the South" from 1860.

"The sight of the smoking food brought every man's thoughts and fingers to the subject before him. As layer after layer of green leaves were pulled off, there presently rolled out what might have been a pig in civilized life, but which we immediately recognized as an opossum. His skin and hair adhered to the wrappings that had been bound around him, and which kept him from the ashes and the burning coals, and nothing now remained but the steamy fat little carcass that would have made a vegetarian forego his creed. Added to this there was a venison steak and some corn-bread...and we feasted like kings, or rather as kings are supposed to feast."

31/12/2023

With most hunting seasons winding down here in the US, it is an excellent time to reflect on the year behind us, plan for the year ahead...and, perhaps, send out 2023 with a bang.

Happy New Year, everyone.

28/12/2023

“The native hunters are wonderfully expert in killing hippos. The usual method is for two men to go together armed with lances which have a line and bladder float attached. They swim up close to their victim and plunge the lances in. The hippo dives at once and remains under water some minutes. The hunters then get a second pair of lances and if they have luck plunge them in too. The lances have very sharp blades and are weighted at the end so that every movement of the hippo makes the wound deeper.”

- Hunting and Trapping Stories for Boys, J. P. Price, 1903

21/06/2023

Just a very cool series from the Boone & Crockett Club. Of course I'm partial to the historical works but every episode is worth a listen

Listen Now > > The story on the following pages was written by William Dallas “Dall” DeWeese in 1888, over 115 years before his elk was ever scored for the Boone and Crockett records book. It is not simply a recounting of the story of his hunt; It is also a priceless look into the past of our hu...

17/05/2023

The "Graveyard Wolf"

In 1944, the inimitable folklorist J. Frank Dobie recounted the story of an East Texas coyote nicknamed "The Graveyard Wolf." This coyote was so named because he always passed by an old, overgrown country graveyard. Such was the prowess of this canine that no hound or man in the area could catch him, and he would come and go as he pleased.

The story of this outlaw eventually reached the home of the owner of an equally renowned canine, one Mr. Jim Laudermilk. His Walker hound, Lindy, was out of the Walker family's own kennels and an excellent tracker. Mr. Laudermilk was known to claim that he would never hunt Lindy with another hound because he didn't want the other dog to feel bad.

A collision was inevitable, and Mr. Laudermilk was prevailed upon to let Lindy run the noted coyote. Picking up the trail was no problem; such was the hubris of the 'yote, that he made no attempt to cover his tracks. Lindy opened up the trail, and the hunters waited near the graveyard to see how things would develop.

Inside of an hour, Lindy appeared at the graveyard. He sniffed around, concerned, then let out a lone howl and headed back the way he had come. The men laughed at how he had been fooled, and Jim seemed embarrassed. However, in a moment his face cleared.

Don't worry, he told the other men. Lindy had realized he couldn't catch up with the Graveyard Wolf. Now, he was simply backtracking to catch the coyote coming up. And he did - 3 days later.

📷 J. Frank Dobie, photographed by Neal Douglass, UNT Library Collection

17/04/2023

Keep your eyes on the sky...
A great photograph for Sports Illustrated in 1958 by Toni Frissell

📷: Toni Frissell, 1958, Library of Congress Collection

17/04/2023

During the summer of 1937, Otisville locals Dale Smith, aged 13, and Everett Betts, aged 7, noticed branches sticking up in the waters of Picnic Lake. The boys were intrigued and reached for the branches, only to discover the “wood” wasn’t really wood at all…

The boys pulled out the antlers and skeletal remains of a huge 6- by 6-foot elk rack. After leaving the skull and bones behind, they took the antlers home and hung them up years afterward. In the 1980s, Smith donated the antlers to the Otisville Area Historical Association. The museum staff sent the antlers to a lab in Florida for carbon dating testing. The results shocked the town—not only were the antlers much older than the original guess of 70 years, but they were remnants of a now-extinct species of elk, the Eastern elk. The carbon dating results posited that the antlers could be from as early as 1520, but were most likely from between 1640 and 1660. Today, the antlers are on display at the Otisville Area Historical Association’s museum. We covered this unique discovery in a past issue of Michigan History magazine, did you read it?

Each issue of Michigan History features a “Facts & Finds” section, detailing a unique historical discovery in our state, as well as interesting feature stories and other special sections. Don’t miss out on more history! Subscribe today at https://www.hsmichigan.org/read/michigan-history.

13/04/2023

How the Alligator got his Tail

This is a good story from 'Forest and Stream' editor Charles Hallock, told while he was on a hunting trip to the Florida Everglades in the 1850s.

Hallock was smoking a pipe around the campfire one night with a couple of his friends and a slave named Caesar. Eventually, a question was brought before the group:

"Now tell me why it is that this animal should have such a big tail, for so small a body, when anyone knows he can't wag it with any pleasure?"

Hallock suggests for ornamentation, or perhaps to attract a mate.

His friend Poke disagrees. He has been watching alligators all day, and it's his opinion that they use them to climb banks, since their short legs don't get them very far.

Caesar settles the matter with some folk wisdom. The alligator's tails are so big, he says, because they suck on them in the winter.

Met with disbelief, the man patiently explains: little alligators in the eggs, just about to hatch, have their tails in their mouths. When he comes out of the egg, he eats "hop-toads, and devil-bugs, and such like, till winter come on, and then he curls up in the mud and sucks on his tail again."

📷: Charles Bull, sketch, 1890

10/04/2023

The Birth of the Walker Hound

Maybe I'm partial, because I own Walkers, but to me they're just about the best dog anyone can have. They'll trail and tree anything from a squirrel to a black bear, and then curl up with you on the couch when the work is done.

The history of the Walker Hounds is a pretty good one. Some day I'll do a deeper dive into the American breeds, but here's the short(er) version, as near as I can find it:

In the beginning, there was the American 'Native' hound, a pioneer mix of European strains. These do-it-all "potlickers" could tree a racoon, trail a fox, or drive a deer according to the terrain and wishes of its master. They serve as the base for all modern American hounds.

As the wealth of the country grew, so too did the desire to match American hounds and horses to European ones, and so the red fox was introduced. It was faster than its American cousin, and presented a problem the the breeders. The old dogs were fine for gray fox and deer, but could not catch up with the swifter red.

In 1850 Mr. John Walker, of Kentucky, wanted more speed in his dog. He acquired from George Maupin a black-and-tan hound of indeterminant breeding known as "Tennessee Lead." According to legend, this dog had been stolen out of a deer drive in Tennessee. Naturally, he had been the lead dog. Stout and heavy b***d, with ears shorter than most Southern hounds and a clear, short mouth, Tennessee Lead was soon the best red fox hunting dog in the state.

A few years later the Walkers would cross in two English foxhounds, and by 1868, they had produced a distinctive hound. Walker breeders broke away from foxhunting around 1945 to produce a fast, versatile treeing hound.

📓: The American Hunting Dog, Miller, 1929. The American Foxhound, ed. Rostad, 1905.

08/04/2023

School children 'hunt' Easter eggs the day before break in San Augustine, Texas.

In case you're wondering, the tradition got started as the Easter egg itself became a symbol for the resurrection of Jesus in the middle ages. At the time, eating eggs was forbidden during Lent, and the consumption of eggs played a large part in the Easter Sunday feasts. Personally, I greatly enjoy a platter of deviled eggs, especially if someone else makes them!

Some historians suggest the hunt actually dates to Martin Luther, who organized games where the men would hide the eggs for the women and children to find; a nod to the resurrection, in which Jesus' empty tomb was discovered by women.

Happy Easter to all!

06/04/2023

If you think your truck bed setup is cool, check out this gentleman's dog box in 1905. Two dogs in the back look like pointers to me, maybe hounds.

📷: T. W. Ingersoll, Library of Congress Collection

04/04/2023

"Foxhunting" by Frank Weathers Long

Frank Long was one of many artists hired by the US government under the New Deal. The artists painted murals in government buildings all over the country, bringing great art to the people and much-needed work to the artists.

This beautiful 1939 "American Scene" style detail can be seen in the US Courthouse in Louisville, Kentucky.

📷: Carol Highsmith, Library of Congress Collection

02/04/2023

The near-extinction of the buffalo, and its impact on the American model of conservation, is well known. Less, perhaps, are the amateur sport hunting 'buffalo trains.'

Railroads in the late 1800s advertised "hunting by rail" to the bored Eastern 'hunter' looking for a piece of the Western action. Harper's Weekly described a scene in 1874 thusly:

"The train is “slowed” to a rate of speed about equal to that of the herd; the passengers get out fire-arms which are provided for the defense of the train against the Indians, and open from the windows and platforms of the cars a fire that resembles a brisk skirmish. Frequently a young bull will turn at bay for a moment. His exhibition of courage is generally his death-warrant, for the whole fire of the train is turned upon him, either killing him or some member of the herd in his immediate vicinity."

May we never forget that as hunters and anglers, our role is conservation of nature, not exploitation.

01/04/2023

The first photo was an unpublished picture taken for the Sports Illustrated feature on Mr. and Mrs. John Olin in 1958.

Mr. Olin's father, Franklin Owen, was a professional baseball player in the 1880s and founded an ammunition company to supply American forces in WW1. Perhaps most importantly, the Olin's Western Cartridge Company bought Wi******er Repeating Arms in 1935.

The rest, as they say, is history.

📷: First Picture - Toni Frissell, Library of Congress
📷: Second Picture - Sports Illustrated Archive

29/03/2023

Two men return from a successful hunt in the Adirondack mountains in New York, 1903. Anyone still use a lever action for deer hunting like the man on the right?

📷: Detroit Publishing Co, Library of Congress

26/03/2023

26/03/2023

I'm basing this on nothing other than the photographer is from Washington DC, but I thhhiiiiinnnnk this was taken in Virginia. The detail is amazing for 1905!

📸Harris & Ewing, Library of Congress Collection

25/03/2023

Loading up after a wildfowl hunt in California, 1958.
I love the feather in the man's cap
📷: Toni Frizzell, Library of Congress

05/02/2023

Bliss Perry taught presidents and moguls while an English professor at Princeton and then Harvard, but his best-loved occupation was fly-fishing the Lamoille river near Greensboro, Vermont. This quote comes from his 1904 article, "Fishing with a Worm"

"If he be, so to speak, but a worm-fisherman, - a follower of humble occupations, and pledged to unromantic duties, - let him still thrill with the pleasures of the true sportsman. To make the most of dull hours, to make the best of dull people, to like a poor jest better than none, to wear the threadbare coat like a gentleman, to be out-voted with a smile, to hitch your wagon to the old horse if no star is handy, - this is the wholesome philosophy taught by fishing with a worm. The fun of it depends on the heart."

We may spend thousands, agonize over the dry or wet fly, choose carefully the hatch...but how many of us achieve the simple fun of a child with a pole and a worm?

Pictured: Two Vermont men with their rods and catch in 1937, the Lamoille River.
Source: Vermont Historical Society Digital Collection

08/01/2023

In 1900, a group of old-time ranchers pitched camp under the jutting crags of Sawtooth Mountain, a volcanic outcrop in the remote Davis Mountains of far West Texas. This was a family affair, with 75 people, around 40 long-eared bear hounds, and a great remuda of horses. Along with the general party atmosphere, the aim was to track and kill the black bear which were then plentiful in that part of Texas.

One morning, a few of the ranchers paused to get their wind at the mouth of a mountain canyon when one spotted the great grey back of a Grizzly bear. They gathered up as many dogs as they could find, but the trained black bear dogs would not follow. Will Evans, who was at the hunt, recounted that "their hair was standing on end, and with their tails tucked under them, they came back to the man and got close under the horses as if they were scared to death." The only dog that would trail was an old stray which did not belong to any ranch.

They trailed the bear through the dense brush and boulders of the canyons, at great risk to man and horse. Several shots were fired, the men working their lever action 30-30s as fast as they could. The poor faithful dog got too close to the enraged bear, and was crushed with one swipe of a massive paw. Finally the great beast lay dead in the mountain fastness.

The skull resides now at the Smithsonian Institute, proof of the only Grizzly Bear known to Texas.

Sources: 'The Pecos News,' 1965, 'Hunting Grizzlys, Black Bear and Lions 'Big-Time' on the Old Ranches, Will Evans, 1950.

08/06/2022

Hunting Horn - Sierra Leon, 1494-1500

This carved ivory hunting horn was a royal gift from Crown Prince Manuel I of Portugal to King Ferdinand V of Castile and Aragon. It was probably made by a Bullom or Temne artist for a European client, as it is in a European style and depicts a European hunting scene, with men on foot and dogs chasing deer.

Ferdinand V was an avid hunter and the famous sponsor of Columbus' journey to the new world. Although he began as "a disputed king of a divided crown" he would build Spain into the most powerful European Empire of his time.

📸: National Museum of African Art

08/06/2022

This print was originally titled and numbered as 5. Hunting Antelope [i.e. Prong-horn]

This print is by well known western artist, Frederick Re*****on (1861-1909). It is one of his first two prints to be issued in color and was published less than a decade after Re*****on first traveled to the American West.

In the collection of the National Museum of American History

30/03/2022

Only 3 of the 32 full color plates from Mary Orvis Marbury's 'Favorite Flies and Their Histories,' 1892.

Each fly sold by the Orvis company was hand tied by Mary or one of the women she had personally trained.

Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons

29/03/2022

John Milligan, America's greatest slingshot expert

Milligan was a machinist from Detroit, and by all accounts a very good one. However, his real claim to fame was his remarkable accuracy and power with his homemade hunting slingshot, the Milligan special.

He hunted small game and birds - often on the fly - and was the ringer at the Annual Michigan Slingshot vs. Bow Rabbit hunt, where slingshots generally won. A report from 'Mechanix Illustrated' in 1951 reviewing the Milligan special claims its three-foot pull could put a ball through a metal garage door with ease.

Photo credits - Joe Clark, Dec 1951. UNT Libraries Special Collections

29/03/2022

The mystery of Dame Juliana Berners, the Fishing Nun.

In 1496, a second printing of the English 'Booke of St. Albans' included a very informative essay entitled 'Treatyse of Fisshynge wyth an Angle.' One of the first descriptions of fly fishing, the essay described how to make a rod and line, and the twelve flies to use to "angle to the trout and grayling." It was attributed to a woman named Julyans Barnes, Prioress of St. Mary of Sopwell. Over time, Julyans became Juliana, possibly a daughter of the noble Berners family.

Her authorship was treated as fact by historians until the 19th century, when anglers questioned the possibility of a woman - nun or otherwise - having the time and ability to publish such an essay. Priory records of the time have been lost and there is no other direct evidence of her life, although some 16th century writers described her as intelligent, educated, and a great sportswoman.

With little evidence either way, I think I'll choose to believe in the fishing nun.

"...you must not use this aforesaid artful sport for covetousness to increasing or saving of your money only, but principally for your solace and to promote the health of your body and specifically your soul." - Dame Juliana Berners

21/03/2022

John Bailey - UK angler extraordinaire, guide, and broadcaster - has written more than 50 books on fishing. In this out of print memoir 'Reflections from the Water's Edge,' I think he hits exactly why people fish or hunt.

16/02/2022

"On both sides the bluffs rose like walls, and where they had crumbled and lost their sheerness, the vast buffalo herds, passing and repassing for countless generations, had worn furrowed trails so deep that the backs of the beasts were but little above the surrounding soil."

Roosevelt, Theodore. Hunting the Grisly and Other Sketches.

14/02/2022

Did you know that Asiatic cheetahs were once tamed and used as hunting companions? This mural by Benozzo Gozzoli in 1449 shows Giuliano de' Medici with one of his hunting cheetahs.

14/02/2022

“I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.”

Today's quote comes from one of the fathers of American conservation, Aldo Leopold.

Leopold served the Forest Service in New Mexico and Colorado from 1909 to 1924, writing the first game and fish handbook, and proposing the Gila River watershed as the first Wilderness Area in the US.

He would go on to serve as the first Professor of Game Management at the University of Wisconsin before, of course, writing one of the most famous conservation books, 'A Sand County Almanac,' published after his death in 1948

Image credit: Aldo Leopold Archives, Univ of Wisconsin