............tomBest Bobcat Men
buddy
buddy, dont over look our old buddy larry sowa, before he went plumb nuts over running them stinky old bears larry was just as good a cat dog man as i ever new... larry ,linden and rod use to really get a kick out of catchen them cats alive ............tom
............tom
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Jason Waterhouse
- Open Mouth
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- Location: Northern Vermont
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Travis Stirek
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- Location: Tonasket Washington
James Ray Brooks of Darrington,Wa. gets my vote.I have seen him on so many occasions say he was gonna go out "for a little while".And four or five hours later come back with two cats.Two things I always noticed about him was he always had tiny dogs and two it was so fun to get him going in the late summer and fall by asking if he wanted to go bear hunting.He would always tag along but when ya teased him about loading his dogs up you were in for a ten minute ear chewing about dumbing down his cat dogs LOL I haven't seen him for quite a few years now but I sure appreciate the advice he would always give me about catching cats.
It has been fun, and maybe a little bit sad, to hear some of these names I have not heard much since I moved to Minnesota. It is also fun to hear some names I have never heard befor, and wonder about all the great bobcat men who have ever been out there roaming those hills.
Some of the names will not be spoken, because they were barely known.
Here is one I bet no one has heard of: Vern Poole.
Vern died while I was still living in Oregon. With his death, and the death of Everret Manor, was the end of an era in that part of the coast range.
There was quite a history of bobcat men in that area and they knew each other, and in most cases were freinds toward each other, but it was a closed circle and almost impossible to gain entrance from the outside. I nick named them "the secret cult of the bobcat", because everything had to be so secret.
These guys had come up with a strain of dog that died when Vern did. The dogs were red in color, but had lots of different stuff in them.
They would not let the dogs out, and seldom raised puppys. It was a system that almost prevented pups because they preferred females, and the really good ones were spayed because they would not have their hunting hindered at all with female problems. It is not hard for a strain handled in that way to die out, as they did, but these guys were hunters and not breeders. It seemed like they usually had kind of a southern accent, even though I know some of them were born in Oregon. It made me wonder if their "vow" of secrecy had it's roots in prohibition, as that is what it reminded me of.
I would see Vern in the mountains at times, but it was always just about like seeing the flag of a deer bounding away from me through the woods, because he would never allow me to talk to him, and would avoid me completely if he knew I was in the woods. I talked to his wife once, and that was the closest I ever came. Vern had been a professional boxer in his youth.
The closest I ever saw him was when he was old and his health failing. He was sitting in Everret's truck watching Everret threaten to kill me with a club for cutting my dogs in on a cat that his dogs were already working. Honest to God, I had no idea his dogs were even in the woods, but they were, and that country is cut up enough that I couldn't hear them.
Well that incedent somehow broke the ice, and I later became freinds with Everret. But I never once was able to exchange words with vern.
Everret was pretty proud of his dog box he had made. It looked just like a tool box. and you could not even find a dog door on it. I tihink he had them jump in from the top, and it was vented only in the back. And that is just the way the "secret cult of the bobcat " was. No one knew anything about anything.
Everret was the one that taught me the method outlined in the "members" section under "an old time training method." Beleive me, I treasured the fact that he spoke to me at all, and I pass on the method with a sense of reverence.
Everret is also the one who taught me how to train house cats to lay trails for him up to a mile long as they returned to his home after being released in the mountains that bordered his place. If there was a Ninja type discipline for training dogs to recognize and cold trail the slightest traces of scent, Everret had it. He felt that most dog do not cold trail any where near their potential for the task, and he had alot of things he did with his dogs to try and help them realize their potential.
Everret in some ways was too young to have maintained fully all the attitudes of the "cult". I am sure he would have been veiwed somewhat as a sell-out by the fact that he became a government hunter. The fact that he opened up to me would have disqualified him too, and I am pretty sure he would not have if Vern had still been alive. Everret was pretty close with Del Cameron, and I often heard about the hunting they had done together. Everret had nothing but respect for Del, but didn't like his dogs too much.
I have similar emotions as Buddy expressed about some of these men. There are some I would like to go pay a visit, or telephone at times. They are not answering any more.
I am privileged to have known them. Thankyou God.
Some of the names will not be spoken, because they were barely known.
Here is one I bet no one has heard of: Vern Poole.
Vern died while I was still living in Oregon. With his death, and the death of Everret Manor, was the end of an era in that part of the coast range.
There was quite a history of bobcat men in that area and they knew each other, and in most cases were freinds toward each other, but it was a closed circle and almost impossible to gain entrance from the outside. I nick named them "the secret cult of the bobcat", because everything had to be so secret.
These guys had come up with a strain of dog that died when Vern did. The dogs were red in color, but had lots of different stuff in them.
They would not let the dogs out, and seldom raised puppys. It was a system that almost prevented pups because they preferred females, and the really good ones were spayed because they would not have their hunting hindered at all with female problems. It is not hard for a strain handled in that way to die out, as they did, but these guys were hunters and not breeders. It seemed like they usually had kind of a southern accent, even though I know some of them were born in Oregon. It made me wonder if their "vow" of secrecy had it's roots in prohibition, as that is what it reminded me of.
I would see Vern in the mountains at times, but it was always just about like seeing the flag of a deer bounding away from me through the woods, because he would never allow me to talk to him, and would avoid me completely if he knew I was in the woods. I talked to his wife once, and that was the closest I ever came. Vern had been a professional boxer in his youth.
The closest I ever saw him was when he was old and his health failing. He was sitting in Everret's truck watching Everret threaten to kill me with a club for cutting my dogs in on a cat that his dogs were already working. Honest to God, I had no idea his dogs were even in the woods, but they were, and that country is cut up enough that I couldn't hear them.
Well that incedent somehow broke the ice, and I later became freinds with Everret. But I never once was able to exchange words with vern.
Everret was pretty proud of his dog box he had made. It looked just like a tool box. and you could not even find a dog door on it. I tihink he had them jump in from the top, and it was vented only in the back. And that is just the way the "secret cult of the bobcat " was. No one knew anything about anything.
Everret was the one that taught me the method outlined in the "members" section under "an old time training method." Beleive me, I treasured the fact that he spoke to me at all, and I pass on the method with a sense of reverence.
Everret is also the one who taught me how to train house cats to lay trails for him up to a mile long as they returned to his home after being released in the mountains that bordered his place. If there was a Ninja type discipline for training dogs to recognize and cold trail the slightest traces of scent, Everret had it. He felt that most dog do not cold trail any where near their potential for the task, and he had alot of things he did with his dogs to try and help them realize their potential.
Everret in some ways was too young to have maintained fully all the attitudes of the "cult". I am sure he would have been veiwed somewhat as a sell-out by the fact that he became a government hunter. The fact that he opened up to me would have disqualified him too, and I am pretty sure he would not have if Vern had still been alive. Everret was pretty close with Del Cameron, and I often heard about the hunting they had done together. Everret had nothing but respect for Del, but didn't like his dogs too much.
I have similar emotions as Buddy expressed about some of these men. There are some I would like to go pay a visit, or telephone at times. They are not answering any more.
I am privileged to have known them. Thankyou God.
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Tim Pittman
- Open Mouth
- Posts: 501
- Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2007 4:47 am
- Location: oregon
- Location: creswell,oregon
- Contact:
David , I really enjoyed both of your writes.I've been hunting bobcat with Dewey since beginng of season last year and he's all u wrote and maybe a little more tome because we've got to be good friends.As far as Everett and Vern go I have heard their names in a few of the stories.Dewey just popped in and would like to exchange numbers with u so send me a pm and i'll shoot u 1 back.
Thanks Tim Pittman
Thanks Tim Pittman
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cecil j.
- Open Mouth
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- Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 5:00 am
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- Location: olympia wa 98501
- Contact:
Re: best bobcat men
heyryan goodwin wrote:one of the best bobcat men that i ever had the privilege to be around would, 1 be Elmer Blankinship,and another would be Ted Ore these two men from two diff places had some of the best cat dogs around in my opinion so coo-does for them two old timers.
hey i remember elmo he an tommy barns jr. was keepers of a walker line they got started on cat/from there first of that line bought as offspring from ronnie monroe an shorty martens high sierra walker line in gault ca. my hunten buddie/ralph aston of sacramento ca. went an lived for a few yrs in ore and got too hunten with tommy and come told me how good a dog man tommy was/ tommy then hisself over the phone too me anoyt elmo in wa. and i later contackted elmo once . They was from all acount I hurd Ore an Wa best cat dog men . In ca. Raymond Coatney,Harlen Maxxwell, Boone Shockley was the best cat hunters i ever met oh yea Cokey Tripplett and Hommer Simms too .
I`d like to talk too tommy Barnes again and what ever hapened too him ?
jack
cecilpepper@yahoo.co or cectlj@yahoo.com, or Pepper519@comcast.net
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cecil j.
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jack franks/ hey didn`t he also live in burney ca in the ear
there was a jack franks in burnney ca i met in the woods by the back side of mt shasta on the flattground woods . he was a dog jocky/dog braker an bear hunter/in his late 40`s or 50`s back in 76 when i met him . Must be another Jack Franks than you know I guess/ was a nice man but i didn`t know him/cept at his house he had a hound i had previousley owened/on a chain . he asked me about the walker an i explained what i`d gleaned about that dog . if your from ore. do you jknow-tommy barns jr. ? i`d like to contack tommy again . also i hear ronnie monroe moved too ore. i`d like to talk to him too.jst wrote:anybody know Jack Franks? He is first rate in my book.
tell em it`s jack pepper from ca. my ph no i`ll give if you can get me in contack with either hunter
your story is good an puts a lot of truck behind the ore boy`s cat hunters/woodsie hua/y God !
Tim, It is really good to hear Dewey is going strong, and still helping out young hunters. He is a good man, and a great hunter. I sent you a PM.
Cecil, I have not heard Tommy's name much any more either. I know he witnessed a horrible logging accident where his son was killed. It makes my heart heavy every time I think of it. I think after that, Tommy kind of dropped out of the scene. I still pray for him when I think of it. I wish there was more I could do, but I dont know what it would be, since I was not close to him.
When I met Tommy Barnes, I had been away from home awhile and a little rough. I knocked on his door there in Forks, Washington (on the tip of the Olympic Penninsula) and got the shock of my life. When the door opened, there stood the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The fact that I had not seen a woman in a while might have influenced my perception, but to this day, I remember her as the most beautiful woman I ever saw. This was Tommy's wife. They had bought a comercial grade sewing machine and she was making fur garments out of Tommy's bobcat hides. At this time he was catching in the neighborhood of 100 cats each season.
Elmer Blankenship said that Forks, WA is a bobcat hunters heaven, and a bobcat hunter's wife's hell. There is (was) just nothing there for a woman. That is a large part of the reason why Elmer moved away from Forks, and I can only immagine it was a large part of the reason Tommy moved away from there also.
At the time I met Tommy, I know that he had been fooling around with some Sam Faulk stuff. Sam would not keep anything that would not bite a bear, and yet Tommy said he was having some success with them as bobcat dogs. I did not know that Tommy had gotten anything from Shorty Martin and Ronnie Monroe.
I myself bred a female to a direct son out of Spring Creek Rock that Shorty Martin had. He had a direct son of Finely River Banjo at the time also. I think Ronnie was at Shorty's house when I showed up there. I had heard those guys like to sit around and play bluegrass music, so I brought my mandolin along. They were good musicians and it was a good time.
Tommy Barnes did a little trading with Al Lutrell back around that time.
He sold his Babe dog to Al for $20,000.00 Of course that made the headlines of the bobcat hunters Gazette. But the next headline a few days later was when Tommy bought her back for , I think, $22,000.00
That was alot of money back then.
I was sitting on Ray Mear's porch the first time Al Lutrell (Sr.) drove up that long dirt road to Ray's log cabin. Babe had been heavy in Ray's breeding and Al was up there to do a little research. Ray's son Lonnie was the man who had promoted Finely River Dan, and Ray himself had Dan's littermate brother "Sonny". Ray had around 40 dogs at the time. Every one of them was important to his program, and he could spend 1/2 hour talking about any one of them, and everything in their background.
Ray had been in an auto accident and was not longer able to care for those dogs. Ray lived in the hills above Salt Creek, and was only about 20 minutes from where I lived in Dallas, so I went up there daily to care for his dogs, and help Ray and Bernice with anything heavy or difficult. They had no electricity, and I did not look forward to the day when the big propane tank had to be loaded up and taken to town for a refill.
They used the propane for light and cooking, but used a wood stove for heat.
Ray trained cats too, but not for the purposes Everett and Vern had. Ray would not have anything but a pure white cat. He always had one trained to live in his feed shed. The cat was trained to never come out if the door was opened. Ray would start the kitten about like you might start a pup. He would put the kitten in a barrel with a live mouse and stuff like that, until that kitten was "mouse minded" and ready to be depended upon to do the job.
Ray Mears was a combination hunter, but he sure taught me alot about bobcat hunting. He would drill me like a lawyer about every single detail of my hunts and then he would comment on every issue, and usually have a story or two that related in some way. I know it was very hard on him to not be able to hunt, so he was hunting through me about the same way I am hunting through all you good folks on this board (since I no longer hunt).
Once he told me a story about a dead battery in his truck. He built a fire in front of the truck and burned it down to coals. Then he rolled the truck over the coals to warm up the battery and the engine oil, and Zing! it started up like a new battery. About a month later, I was stranded in the mountains by a dead battery, and due back at the church were I was a pastor. I remembered Ray's story, and I just remember shouting "Ray Mears I love you!!!" as I turned that key and my engine popped off like new after warming it up with coals. I was a little late for the meeting, But at least I made it.
Cecil, I have not heard Tommy's name much any more either. I know he witnessed a horrible logging accident where his son was killed. It makes my heart heavy every time I think of it. I think after that, Tommy kind of dropped out of the scene. I still pray for him when I think of it. I wish there was more I could do, but I dont know what it would be, since I was not close to him.
When I met Tommy Barnes, I had been away from home awhile and a little rough. I knocked on his door there in Forks, Washington (on the tip of the Olympic Penninsula) and got the shock of my life. When the door opened, there stood the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The fact that I had not seen a woman in a while might have influenced my perception, but to this day, I remember her as the most beautiful woman I ever saw. This was Tommy's wife. They had bought a comercial grade sewing machine and she was making fur garments out of Tommy's bobcat hides. At this time he was catching in the neighborhood of 100 cats each season.
Elmer Blankenship said that Forks, WA is a bobcat hunters heaven, and a bobcat hunter's wife's hell. There is (was) just nothing there for a woman. That is a large part of the reason why Elmer moved away from Forks, and I can only immagine it was a large part of the reason Tommy moved away from there also.
At the time I met Tommy, I know that he had been fooling around with some Sam Faulk stuff. Sam would not keep anything that would not bite a bear, and yet Tommy said he was having some success with them as bobcat dogs. I did not know that Tommy had gotten anything from Shorty Martin and Ronnie Monroe.
I myself bred a female to a direct son out of Spring Creek Rock that Shorty Martin had. He had a direct son of Finely River Banjo at the time also. I think Ronnie was at Shorty's house when I showed up there. I had heard those guys like to sit around and play bluegrass music, so I brought my mandolin along. They were good musicians and it was a good time.
Tommy Barnes did a little trading with Al Lutrell back around that time.
He sold his Babe dog to Al for $20,000.00 Of course that made the headlines of the bobcat hunters Gazette. But the next headline a few days later was when Tommy bought her back for , I think, $22,000.00
That was alot of money back then.
I was sitting on Ray Mear's porch the first time Al Lutrell (Sr.) drove up that long dirt road to Ray's log cabin. Babe had been heavy in Ray's breeding and Al was up there to do a little research. Ray's son Lonnie was the man who had promoted Finely River Dan, and Ray himself had Dan's littermate brother "Sonny". Ray had around 40 dogs at the time. Every one of them was important to his program, and he could spend 1/2 hour talking about any one of them, and everything in their background.
Ray had been in an auto accident and was not longer able to care for those dogs. Ray lived in the hills above Salt Creek, and was only about 20 minutes from where I lived in Dallas, so I went up there daily to care for his dogs, and help Ray and Bernice with anything heavy or difficult. They had no electricity, and I did not look forward to the day when the big propane tank had to be loaded up and taken to town for a refill.
They used the propane for light and cooking, but used a wood stove for heat.
Ray trained cats too, but not for the purposes Everett and Vern had. Ray would not have anything but a pure white cat. He always had one trained to live in his feed shed. The cat was trained to never come out if the door was opened. Ray would start the kitten about like you might start a pup. He would put the kitten in a barrel with a live mouse and stuff like that, until that kitten was "mouse minded" and ready to be depended upon to do the job.
Ray Mears was a combination hunter, but he sure taught me alot about bobcat hunting. He would drill me like a lawyer about every single detail of my hunts and then he would comment on every issue, and usually have a story or two that related in some way. I know it was very hard on him to not be able to hunt, so he was hunting through me about the same way I am hunting through all you good folks on this board (since I no longer hunt).
Once he told me a story about a dead battery in his truck. He built a fire in front of the truck and burned it down to coals. Then he rolled the truck over the coals to warm up the battery and the engine oil, and Zing! it started up like a new battery. About a month later, I was stranded in the mountains by a dead battery, and due back at the church were I was a pastor. I remembered Ray's story, and I just remember shouting "Ray Mears I love you!!!" as I turned that key and my engine popped off like new after warming it up with coals. I was a little late for the meeting, But at least I made it.
/
i new al lutrell and remember the first real cat dog he owned , bruno al bought him from leroy crain back in the early 60's.. i never hunted with anyone much back then but did run into al lutrell and bill pewonka a few times they cat hunted some of the same country i did.. al always keep top cat dogs and if he seen one work he was out to buy it..last i heard he lived in eastern oregon and was out of dogs.......tom wingfield
Wingpatch, it is interesting to me that Al Lutrell sr's lead dog in the early 80's was named "Bruno". I doubt very much that the dog was 20 years old so he must have had a string of "Bruno"s. I have heard of a young man named Al Lutrell who has been hunting a dog named Bruno very recently. I can only guess this is Al Sr's grandson, and the Bruno line lives on. His dogs at the time I knew him were Walker looking but not tri-colored, as they were only red and white.
This is the same time when Elmer Blankenship was hunting his Hammer dog he still talks about some. Bob Skillman was hunting "Skillmans Mike",
who produced some good dogs when Tommy Barnes bred to him. It seems like he even bred his Babe dog to him. I beleive Skillmans Mike was down from "Kendalls Little Milly". This was a name that often came up when I asked old timers to tell me of the best bobcat dog they ever knew of: Little Milly. She was a registered treeing Walker.
Earl Davis, another great cat hunter from Forks, WA., was hunting his Goldie dog. Dewey Walton was hunting his Pee Wee dog. Both these dogs were registered treeing Walkers also.
Actually, it was Earl and Dewey who probably defined my own hunting more than any of the others. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would have Earls line of walkers and spend a lot more time with Dewey, and when the Pied Piper showed up from Wisconsin offering lots of empty promises he would never fulfill, I would have offered him supper, and showed him the door.
I was just thinking about my own hunting style that I have developed over the years and realize that much of it came from what I saw and learned from Dewey Walton in the very short amount of time that I got to spend with him. He did things differently than any other hunter I have ever known. And I never really started catching bobcats on a regular basis until my pup from Earl Davis reached maturity. She changed everything. She was from a line of beautiful little registered walkers that had brains and a temperament like a good cur dog.
Earl is gone, but Dewey is not. If any of you ever have the chance to spend a little time with Dewey, jump at the chance, and pay attention. He didn't charge me for the time with him, but if he had charged me 1,000.00 it would have been the best 1,000.00 I ever spent.
This is the same time when Elmer Blankenship was hunting his Hammer dog he still talks about some. Bob Skillman was hunting "Skillmans Mike",
who produced some good dogs when Tommy Barnes bred to him. It seems like he even bred his Babe dog to him. I beleive Skillmans Mike was down from "Kendalls Little Milly". This was a name that often came up when I asked old timers to tell me of the best bobcat dog they ever knew of: Little Milly. She was a registered treeing Walker.
Earl Davis, another great cat hunter from Forks, WA., was hunting his Goldie dog. Dewey Walton was hunting his Pee Wee dog. Both these dogs were registered treeing Walkers also.
Actually, it was Earl and Dewey who probably defined my own hunting more than any of the others. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would have Earls line of walkers and spend a lot more time with Dewey, and when the Pied Piper showed up from Wisconsin offering lots of empty promises he would never fulfill, I would have offered him supper, and showed him the door.
I was just thinking about my own hunting style that I have developed over the years and realize that much of it came from what I saw and learned from Dewey Walton in the very short amount of time that I got to spend with him. He did things differently than any other hunter I have ever known. And I never really started catching bobcats on a regular basis until my pup from Earl Davis reached maturity. She changed everything. She was from a line of beautiful little registered walkers that had brains and a temperament like a good cur dog.
Earl is gone, but Dewey is not. If any of you ever have the chance to spend a little time with Dewey, jump at the chance, and pay attention. He didn't charge me for the time with him, but if he had charged me 1,000.00 it would have been the best 1,000.00 I ever spent.
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Paul Conway
- Bawl Mouth
- Posts: 160
- Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:01 am
- Location: Pennsylvania
- Location: Northeastern PA
?
al' s gran son is al jr., and i would say they have named many dogs brono over the years. i owned a dog out of kendalls millie dont know if it was the same millie or not, rodger warren owned her then and my dog was out of rogers dan dog and millie. my dogs name was dutch at 14 months old he was a cat dog .al bought another dog off me out of pat patersons rebel and his dottie dog, his name was bawldie he made a very good cat dog at a young age.i sold him to big al he hunted him some and sold him for 10 grand and shipped him to texas he smuthered in the plan cargo hole on the way.al bought dottie from pat pattersons and breed her to several top cat dogs, dottie played a big part in al's breeding...i am pretty sure the bruno dog you are talking about goes back to al's bawlie and dottie. later on i think al and fransis baker bred around each others dogs alot...friend in sport tom wingfield
Last edited by wingpatch on Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Daniel Tremblay
- Bawl Mouth
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- Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:52 pm
- Location: Oregon
- Location: Oregon
Here is a picture of a pup from Al's gene pool. From what i've been told they froze some of bruno's stuff and used is this last summer to produce my pup.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee36 ... _14/sd.jpg
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee36 ... _14/sd.jpg
