Natural Tree or Trained to tree?

[al baldwin]

Think it was late spring 1969, Leon Elliott stopped by to invite to join he and Bill McSpirett for a bear hunt. He had spent the day trying to kill a bear that was killing sheep on the Dement Ranch, Stated his dogs had bayed the bear several times but he had turned his ankle bad & was unable to get the bear killed. Early next morning we arrived at the pen where Sam Dement had his bucks penned. The bear had been back & made a kill, we turned couple start dogs lose and they soon had a good track, We dumped the boxes and there was well over a dozen dogs on that bear. Short time later dogs were bayed and the canyon was roaring. I thinking in less than an hours time Bill & I arrived at the location Where Belle was the only dog baying the bear, Deacon was with her, he was about year old but was not barking. We both got bullets into the bear and soon had the biggest I had ever seen killed. It was then we discovered there was 3 or four dogs that needed taken to the vet. Leon/s very good redtick dog was hurt more serious than we realized and died the next dat in the hospital. Bill had a couple who had to be treated but survived. Leon had a good plott that that to this day has never been found, we search for next few days with no luck. Leon hauled the bear to Coquille Or. and it weighted 437 lbs. on a state certified scale. True story as I remember it. Al

[al baldwin]

Sorry correct spelling Bill McSpirit

[lawdawgharris]

That’s a another good story. I’m guessing the plott got mortally wounded before they got to the final spot where y’all dispatched him?


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[al baldwin]

Yes assume that is what happened. Thinking back Leon/s redtick was rather large dog named Duke. Believe Duke was the first box dog I had ever seen or heard of. Bill/s dog that got hurt the worst called champ, good looking walker dog. Can/t be certain if that hunt took place in late spring or fall, do recall it got warm that day. That bear was fat, makes me think maybe fall. That was only bear I ever seen that was sitting down when we arrived at the bay where we killed him. In this terrain is very brushy, you can be right on top of a bear & not be able to see the bear. Tom Barnett, once told me the advantage belle had over the other dogs on a bay up she knew where the bear was when most dogs were not certain. I was not smart enough to figure that out & maybe he was wrong.

[lawdawgharris]

Al that might be at least a partial truth. The other day one of our dogs had three or four sows and some shoats bayed. It was really thick and from 10-12 feet away I couldn’t see them. He was baying hard and cautious but when our young dog went in to honor him, he wouldn’t bay. I watched him check the scent and knew by his body language that he smelled them but he could not see them. He only started baying when he ran too close to the briars investigating and a sow rushed him. The visual allowed him to understand what the older dog was baying and trust his smeller. Because they were still and quiet though, that young dog thought his nose and the older dog were both liars.


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[macedonia mule man]

Fellows, I believe a dog can always find what ever it after by its nose not eyesight. They may not bark unless they see it but they know where it is located in the thicket.

[al baldwin]

This hunt we are leaving the Coquille River water shed, taking about a 40 mile trip over a high mountain into the Rogue River Water shed, hunting near a small community called Agness Or. I sure it was a Labor Day weekend, thinking 1972. I had worked a swing shift but was up & ready when Tom Barnett arrived at my place at 5 am. As usual tom was hauling about eight good dogs and i added my two. Suppose we had driven about an hour and was near the Powers, Agness divide when a cougar ran across the road in front of us. At that time cougar were not as easy to come by as they are now, and we were not about to pass up an opportunity to tree a cougar. We dumped the box & the race was on, cougar ran more than most up a very steep mountain. The first dog to locate was a young female I had got from Fred Riley, Fred said she was out of finley river chief or chief Jr. I was nervous, thinking did she cause a false tree as we climbed that steep mountain. Relieved to see a cougar treed. We soon arrived at the Agness garbage dump located out in the wilderness and soon had a bear going. The bear ran short distance and bayed up, As we got near the bayup the bear would move, this happened several times, then we had a bayup and the bear stayed until we right in on top of the dogs. Unable to see the bear but thinking it has to be right here, I eased up on a wind fall. All of a sudden that bear stood up on it/s hind legs and was smelling the air, I quickly got a bullet in him. The bear took off, Tom followed and finish him off. We were able to get bear out, very steep downhill pull to Shasta Creek & float him down stream and managed to get him loaded. Bear weighted 357 state certified scale. That is the only bear I ever saw stand up and do not know how would got a shot off at that bayup if he had not stood up. True story as I remember it. Tom Barnett was the true bear hunter, loved the challenge of trying to kill a bayuped bear. I was just his sidekick.

[lawdawgharris]

That sounds exciting with the bear. It’s funny how you can think you’re in control only to find out you aren’t in a split second. That bear standing up like that threw a wrinkle in it for you. I remember hunting a Boy Scout ranch one winter. It was COLD! Any standing water had ice and it was drizzling and sleeting off and on. We had a split bay so my buddy and his son went to one and I took my catch dog to the other. When I get there I see we have a big sow bayed,170-180pounds. They we’re standing at the top of an embankment of a pond and when my catch dog hit, they rolled down into the water. There was a dead cedar tree that was leaning out into the water and a stob of a broken limb had gone perfectly under the strap of the cut vest over her back. She couldn’t get lose and so she’s hung up out in the freezing water. I wasn’t worried about her drowning because she couldn’t get off of it but she was still in the freezing water. The sow looked up and saw me and here she came to me. As she got to me I caught her by both ears. Of course it was a chore holding her because the bay dogs were trying to help at this point and it wasn’t helping. Luckily they were all mature dogs and I sent them on to the next hog. About that time my buddy was walking up and says “what are you doing?” I said well, this sow is being a typical female, she’s just trying to get in my britches! He laughed and asked if I’d like some help which I thought was a pretty good suggestion. He got her by the hind legs and they started tying her while went and got my catch dog. The first step into the water was mid shin deep, the second was knee deep, and the third was somewhere near the center of the earth! I couldn’t get that dog I hung fast enough. Thankfully, my buddy lived a stones throw from where we were hunting and we left the dogs baying and I went and got a warm shower and dry clothes on and we went back to catching hogs. I probably won’t ever forget that hunt and just out of control I was when I thought I wasn’t.


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