Coursing Cats And Bears

From colonial times until the early 20th century, the indispensable tools of the American hunter included a good rifle and a dependable dog. Setters and retrievers being more the symbol of upper-class wingshooters, the typical hunter had a trail hound or a hunting cur. These men and their dogs hunted game ranging from squirrels to grizzly bears, and together played no small part in the conquest of the American frontier. Although less common today, big-game hounds, and the men that breed, train and hunt them, continue to play a critical role in our nation's game management.

From the descendants of George Washington's foxhounds to Daniel Boone's "dark hounds" used on coon, bear and other varmints, the American trailhound moved West with the frontier. During the Rocky Mountain fur-trade era (1820s-1840s) there are references to hounds amongst the mountain men and the Indians.

Early Texas Ranger, "Bigfoot" Wallace, was an avid cougar and bear hunter, and General George Custer brought his hounds along on campaign. Most Western ranchers owned a few good hounds to keep the local predators in check, but when particularly troublesome animals were encountered, bear and lion bounty hunters and their dogs were hired.

These bounty hunters were the last of the mountain men and the foremost experts on Western wildlife. In 1914, the young biologists of the new US Biological Survey sought the knowledge, advice and services of these men in the first attempt to scientifically manage Western wildlife. The Biological Survey first approached the greatest houndsman in history--Ben Lilly.

In 1906 Lilly left his home in northern Louisiana seeking new hunting grounds. Traveling always on foot, he and his dogs hunted only bears and mountain lions. His legendary endurance, fanatical commitment to hunting and keen insight into predator behavior has never been equaled. He lived off of the land without a camp outfit and stayed afield 12 months of the year, hunting every day except Sundays.

Lilly was respected by everyone he met, including President Theodore Roosevelt. During Roosevelt's famous Louisiana bear hunt in 1907, Lilly was Roosevelt's hunting guide.

"There is a white hunter, Ben Lily [sic], who has just joined us, who is

a really remarkable character," Roosevelt wrote to his daughter Ethel. "He literally lives in the woods. He joined us early this morning, with one dog. He had tramped for 24 hours through the woods, without food or water, and had slept a couple of hours in a crooked tree, like a turkey.

"He has a mild, gentle face, blue eyes and full beard; he is a religious fanatic, and is as hardy as a bear or elk, literally caring nothing for fatigue or exposure, which we couldn't stand at all. He doesn't seem to consider the 24-hour trip he has just made, any more than I should a half-hour's walk before breakfast."

Although as a hunter Lilly had no equal, he was lacking as a guide. The hunters simply couldn't keep up with him, and he left them behind as he plunged into the thick canebrake swamps, doggedly following the bears' trails. Ben Lilly's passion drove him to hunt, not to guide others.

As he crossed Texas and roamed into Mexico, New Mexico and Arizona, Lilly lived as close to nature as was humanly possible. In the process he grew close to the bears and mountain lions he hunted. Considering himself "one of the family of animals," Lilly could predict the actions of his quarry with uncanny ability. He knew more about mountain lions than anyone else alive, and he was the greatest bear and lion hunter that ever lived. But Ben Lilly never evolved into a conservationist.