By Dr. Henry Anthony Ebarb J.D
Chapter One Hunting Methods
Goodpapa hunted animals for food and for selling their pelts for money. This article will contrast his hunting methods with those of his six son-in-laws who were on average some forty plus years younger that Goodpapa. The point that needs to be made is that there was a serious competition between all of them on their hunting trips. They gave Goodpapa no breaks because of his age and he asked for none.
First, Goodpapa owned only two guns. An old single shot twelve gage shotgun loaded with the cheapest shotgun shells he could buy. The shotgun shells were called short brass shells and contained a lot less gun powder than the more expensive shells one could buy. In addition, Goodpapa only used one size, number six, for all game hunted regardless of what he hunted, and he purposefully took a limited number of shells on a hunt to insure he did not waste a shot unless he was sure of he could bring down his target or trap it without firing a shot. He also owned an old single shot 22 rifle, and again, he bought only the cheapest, shortest, least amount of powder shell he could buy. Depending upon which gun he was taking on a hunt, I vividly recall he taking out the container of shotgun shells or 22 rifle bullets, and counting out a specific number to take along, normally three shotgun shells or ten 22 rifle bullets.
Second, Goodpapa always carried on his hunts a razor sharp knife, an equally sharp ax (double blade), a knife sharpener, a file, and a box of matches. He also selected a hunting dog, depending on the type of animal to be hunted, from his pack of well trained dogs. Each dog was trained for its propensity to hunt a particular animal. Sometimes he took several dogs along at the same time. Some of the dogs were cross-trained, so to speak, because they had a propensity to hunt more that one type of animal. In short, Goodpapa hunted with his dogs as a team and used methods to bring down game without using expensive ammunition that were cost effective.
Goodpapa’s six son-in-laws, on the other hand, were all avid hunters, and they all vied for Goodpapa’s company and delighted in competing with him in a serious way. They hunted with several types of shotguns, long barrels, short barrels, twelve gages, 16 gages, 20 gages, double barrels, over and under barrels, bolt action with extra clips of ammo, automatics, and pump action. One son-in-law even had a 10 gage long 30 inch barrel shot gun. They all had an arsenal of rifles too numerous to list and all containing extra magazines to be able to fire many rounds of shots. They all had several types of pistols of every kind. They purchased the most expensive powerful shells one could buy and took along every size of shot from “00” to bird shot in large quantities, on hunting vest in large rows across their chest. When they got ready to go on a hunt, they packed several boxes of shells of all sizes. Most of them were silent hunters, hunting by creeping through the woods, stealthy, and shooting anything that moved. The sound of their guns going off was like a war zone. They might fire dozens of shots and only kill a few animals. They were shooting animals on the run, jumping high up in the trees. After the animals got hit they could get hung up in the tree, requiring several other shots to break loose the branches, before scoring a kill.
As the oldest grandson, Goodpapa had no sons, took me along on the hunts from the age of around 5-6. Listening to the gun shots going off in the deep woods of old growth forest, by Goodpapa’s son-in-laws, while calmly sitting with our backs to trees and waiting for the dogs to run an animal up a tree, and guard any escape route while they waited for Goodpapa and I to get to the treed location, was a perfect example of how patient and calm a person Goodpapa was during the hunts. Goodpapa methods of hunting were developed and implemented to make the most kills for the least expense. Once we arrived at the treed location, Goodpapa first located the animal’s type and location. Sometimes the animal made the mistake of trying to hide in a hollow tree, or hole in the ground. While the dog or dogs continued to guard any escape, Goodpapa took out his very sharp knife and cut a branch, with a fork at the end. The length was determined by how deep the animal was in a hollow or below ground in a hole, and with his ax, he cut a large club. Goodpapa carefully and slowly thrust the forked limb, fork facing down, until he could feel the body of the animal. Once he felt the animal’s fur, he started twisting until he firmly had a grip on the animal, and then he began to slowly pull the animal out. His killing method was actually very simple. As the animal was pulled out to the top of the hollow or out of the hole in the ground, he clubbed the animal on top of its head and thereby made a kill without firing the expense of a shot. If the animal was deeper than any forked branch that Goodpapa could find available, he thrust the limb down as far as it would go, blocking the entrance to the area in question. Gathered up lots of dry leaves and set the leaves on fire dropping the smoking leaves into the hole. After the animal breathed the smoke, it didn’t take long for it to try and make a run for it, thereby, impaling itself on the fork being held by Goodpapa. If an animal stayed out of a hole hiding in the branches of a tree, Goodpapa sat down, directed me to walk around the tree slowly until the animal turned away from me, trying to hide. Once he had a clear shot, he yelled at me to stop, and he fired. In all my years of hunting with him, I never saw him miss. If he didn’t have a clear shot, he turned the dogs away and they continued to find another animal, letting the treed animal go free.
After a hunt, all the hunters gathered around and showed off how many and what types of animals they had bagged. It never mattered to Goodpapa if he didn’t have the most kills. What mattered to him was how many shells or bullets he had used to bag his kills. Of course, there were game limits on how many one could kill, therefore, a lot of ties occurred, and very seldom did anyone go away without something to tell and brag about. And, as a side note, our family followed the game rules, and bagging more than the legal limit was not an option.
Chapter Two Trapping
Goodpapa was a seriously skilled trapper (Goodmama gathered and collected the bait he used) in making and using all sorts of snares and traps such as: Wire snares set on trails, with wooden drags, several steel traps set on logs, animal trails, in hollow tree openings, along creek banks, ultra light wooden (cypress tree) bird traps set in the fields, sling shots to bring down birds, minnow jar traps, seines, nets, hooks, lures, trot lines, yo yos, and turtle capturing methods. He trapped for food and to sell the pelts for money. He trapped salamanders and rats with special traps to feed his hunting dogs, and to protect his crops, such as, peanuts, corn, peas, and cotton. His methods were designed to spend the least amount of money on bagging the game, even if that included, and it did, hunting at night with dogs and torches .
To give one the flavor how Goodpapa and Goodmama saved money, Goodmama ground corn, raised in her own fields, on her Indian grinding stone, gave the ground corn meal to Goodpapa, who took the corn meal, put it into a minnow trapping jar, then, put a caught minnow on a hook, caught perch, cut the perch up into small parts, put the perch parts on trot lines, and yo yos, all to catch large fish or turtles. In addition, Goodmama collected, in a large red lard bucket, chicken guts, chicken heads, and dead baby chickens to use to catch turtles, and to bait his traps.
It is important to note that Goodpapa was an outstanding tracker. This was important because it told him exactly where to place his snares and traps to catch a particular animal. He was so adept at tracking, he could tell the type of animal, sex of the animal, size, and the age of the track. Following along with him was like being in school as he talked constantly about what he was seeing and what would take place the next day after setting a snare or trap. Once he gave me a lesson, he followed it up later to see if I was grasping the knowledge he was passing on. Of course, it was great and exciting to compare what he predicted would happen with what actually took place. To belabor the point, going out into the woods was a complex journey as one had to know how to avoid danger, such as, thorns, snakes of all kinds, poison plants, like poison ivy, oak, nettles, ticks, chiggers, spiders, bees, yellow jackets, hornets, and red bugs. One couldn’t make noise and scare away the game or step on certain places and leave scent that would scare animals away from the traps and snares. Personally, I loved being quizzed by Goodpapa on the names of various trees, types of tracks, identifying animal noises, and what type of traps that we should set. Getting squeamish about reaching into a bucket and touching rotten smelly chicken parts and guts and was not an option.
Let me describe the method he used to set snares that had a wooden log-drag attached. Goodpapa would follow the trail of a fox or coyote until he was sure the animal was traveling on a certain trail and in a certain direction. He then formed a loop, lasso type of wire and placed it between bushes on the animal’s trail at neck height. He attached the end to a small wooden log, about three to four feet long. The snare was designed to let the animal get its neck caught in the loop, and as it felt the lasso tighten, it took off and drug the log along until the log got caught up in the bushes. After the animal takes off, one must be able to track it until it gets hung up and
use a club to kill the animal. The sight of a snarling animal required a certain amount of courage to walk up to it and clobber it over the head and all the while avoid getting bitten. Goodpapa was like a surgeon, the sight of danger and/or blood never bothered him in the slightest.
Goodpapa used two types of steel traps to catch game and fur bearing animals and each required a different method of installing. First, was a steel trap with two long oblong like springs that required pressing at the same time to open the jaws of the trap, flipping over the spring to set the plate that an animal would step on and release the jaws of the trap on its leg. The trap had a log chain nailed to a tree or nailed to a log drag. The other steel trap was a round trap, without the oblong springs, and was perfect to put on top of giant logs that animals used to cross creeks, rivers, and streams.
First, to set the oblong trap, Goodpapa scouted out the various trails along streams, rivers, and creeks until he knew, by the tracks, that it was an animal that he wanted to catch. Once he targeted a particular animal, he set the trap and baited it to insure success. The traps were always set during the daylight hours and checked in the early morning. Goodpapa had at least three areas that he set traps everyday during the winter, and he expected me to be at his house before day to check the traps with him before school. I carried a large sack to put the trapped animals and slung it over my back. Goodpapa always used bait, something smelly, to attract the animals. He set his traps on trails, covered by leaves, in hollow logs, hollow trees, and generously spread the smelly bait around the trap, all in an effort to mask his human smell.
To set the round trap, Goodpapa used his ax to chop out and carve a hole in the middle of a log that was laying across a creek, river, or stream. He set the springs of the trap, placed it into the hole, covered it gently with leaves (some leaves he wet with water), and rubbed the smelly bait all over the log and under the trap.
After we trapped animals, and killed them, we took them to Goodpapa’s house and curried the hides. Goodpapa used his very sharp knife to surgically remove the hide from the animals body, and he was careful to not cut the fur or leave any fat on the fur. He used different methods to cure the hide such as nailing the hide to a building’s wall, or attaching the hide to a square frame. For certain animals, such as mink, opossum, and fox, he used a flat board and slipped the hide over the flat board, with only the inside of the hide facing out, to dry. The fur was not exposed to the sun for those animals, but hthe frame was hung on a wall to dry.
My favorite time was when the fur traders showed up to purchase Goodpapa’s hides. Now, over seventy years later, I know the whole process evolved around Goodpapa showing off his curing skills, and the size of the animal, in order to negotiate a higher price. Now that I know how negotiations take place, I found Goodpapa’s persona evolved around being congenial, respectful, honest, trustworthy and received, a fair price, that pleased him for his furs. Of course, Goodmama always brewed fresh coffee and Fry Bread to offer to the fur trader. They worked as a team with Goodmama instructing Goodpapa, going into the sale, on her opinion of the furs potential value.