Subsistence Hunter/Fisherman of the Week. Scott Talbott

Well, this series really didn't take off, did it?  I.e., I haven't kept up with it.

And this time, I'm taking the easy route by posting a link from elsewhere, albeit one that pertains to Wyoming.

Scott Talbott, 63, pushed Wyoming Game and Fish colleagues to be wildlife advocates: Beloved warden rose through the ranks to become second-longest-tenured director in the state agency’s history.

I can recall hearing Talbott's name a lot, but I don't know much about him.  I know, however, even less about the current director and that concerns me.  In recent years the state's leadership has increasingly been less concerned about the land ethic and more about private property interests. Governor Gordon hasn't been as bad in this area, at all, as I feared, still I know nothing about the current director.

Last edition:

Subsistence Hunter/Fisherman of the Week. Douglas Crowe

Labels: Doug Crowe, Personalities, Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week, Subsistence Hunting

Subsitance Hunter/Fisherman of the Week. Douglas Crowe

You probably have to be a lifelong, or at least a long time, resident of Wyoming to remember Crow now, but he was a great man.

Born in 1939, and passing away four years ago on Thanksgiving Day, Crowe was a local character who authored a slightly fictionalized account of his early years in the book A Growing Season. Born in Kansas, he came to Wyoming as a teenager with his family and was shipped off to the UC Ranch for summer work in an event which would end up defining the rest of his life, a fairly typical Wyoming story, really.

Crowe served in the U.S. Army, married upon his return, and the went to Casper College and UW to earn a PhD in Zoology in 1974.  From there he became a very significant wildlife manger for hte Wyoming Game and Fish, and ultimately served in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife and a host of southern African fish and game organizations.  He was dedicated to wildlife.

He was also a great author, although it only expressed itself in a handful of books.  A column in The Wyoming Wildlife, while he worked for the Wyoming Game and Fish, was the first thing I read it in every time it arrived.

Crowe was outspoken and folksy, but hugely intelligent and dedicated.  He epitomized wildlife management in Wyoming of his era and is greatly missed.

Subsistance Hunter/Fisherman of the Week: Dick Proenneke

Dick Proenneke may be the ultimate modern subsistence hunter and fisherman in so far as the Western World is concerned.

Proenneke was born in Iowa in 1916.  His father was sort of a jack of all trades laborer, which is and was common to rural areas.  His father was also a veteran of World War One.  Dick followed in his father's footsteps prior to World War Two, leaving high school before graduation, something extremely common in that era (less than 50% of males graduated from high school prior to World War Two  He joined the Navy in World War Two and took up hiking around San Francisco while recovering from rheumatic fever contracted in the service.  Having the disease was life altering for him, as he became focused on his health.  He received a medical discharge from the Navy in 1945.

After the war he became a diesel mechanic, but his love of nature caused him to move to Oregon to work on a sheep ranch, and then to Shuyark Island, Alaska, in 1950.  From 1950 to 1968 he worked for a variety of employers, including the Navy and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  He moved to the wilderness in 1968, at age 52, the year that in many ways gave us the Post Post World War Two World we are now seeing collapse.  He lived there, as a single man, until 1999, when old age forced him out of the woods and to his brother's home in California.  He died in there in 2003, at age 86.  His cabin now belongs to the Park Service.

Proenneke loved photography and left an extensive filmed record of his life in Alaska.

There's a lot that can be gleaned from his life, some of which would probably be unwarranted, as every person's life is their own.  Having noted that, however, it should be noted that Proenneke is not the only person to live in this manner in Alaska's back wood, including up to the present.  So he's not fully unique, but rather his high intelligence and filmed record has made him known.

It's also notable, fwiw, that he was a single man.  Basically, if looked at carefully, his retreat to the woods came in his retirement, as he had very low expenses up until 1968, and had worked for the government for many years.  He never married, so he never had a family or responsibilities of that type.  Many of the men who live in wild Alaska have married into native families, so their circumstances are different.

Probably every young man who loves the outdoors has contemplated doing something like what Proenneke actually did, while omitted the decades of skilled labor as a single man that came before it.  And in reality, Proenneke, had lived over half his life as a working man with strong outdoor interests, rather than in the wilderness.  People really aren't meant to live the way he lived, in extreme isolation, save for a few.

Related Threads:

Dick Proenneke in Alone in the Wilderness

Dick Proenneke in Alone in the Wilderness part II

Subsistence Hunter of the Week: Jack O'Connor

Arizona born writer/professor/big game hunter Jack O'Connor was, in my opinion, the best firearms author the country has ever produced, and certainly the best one on the topic of North American big game rifles.

Born in Arizona in 1902, he was partially raised by a bird hunting maternal grandfather, due to his parent's divorce when he was five years old, which influenced him heavily.  His paternal grandfather was a judge who also ranched, which also influenced him a great deal.  His mother became a university professor after that, at the University of Arizona, which he ultimately would as well.  As a very young man, he'd briefly worked as a market hunter for an uncle's saw mill.

O'Connor served in the military twice.  He joined the Army at age 15 during World War One, but was discharged due to tuberculosis.  He later joined the Navy in 1919, serving as a hospital corpsman until discharged in 1921.

He took to big game early on.  By profession, he was a writer, as noted first being a college professor.  He was the first journalism professor at the University of Arizona, a position he left to write in sporting journals full time in 1945.  In that role, he became famously associated with the .270 Winchester and Mountain Sheep hunting.  Not too surprisingly, he moved to Idaho in 1948, where sheep are indigenous, although he stated that this was in part as he felt Arizona had become overpopulated following World War Two.

While associated particularly with sheep, O'Connor was the class western North American hunter, and hunted every big game animal native to the region, frequently with his wife.  He was a noted conservationist as well.

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Townsend Whelen

By occupation, Townsend Whelen was an Army officer who came into the Army through the National Guard, having first served in the nation's oldest military branch from 1895, and then having served in the Army from 1902 to 1936, leaving the service at the rank of Colonel.

At first an infantry officer, and then later an ordnance officer, Whelen had grown up outdoors in New York's Adirondack's and then moved to Pennsylvania, where he first served in the National Guard.  Joining the Army in 1902 as a commissioned officer, Whelen enjoyed military service at a time at which being a career officer tended to leave abundant free time for other pursuits, which in Whelen's case amounted to rigorous outdoor pursuits, including, and indeed principally, consisting of backwoods and wilderness hunting.  Indeed, his Army service included this as it took him to remote locations which remained very wild at the time.

A dedicated hunter, Whelen is in part remembered today for his association with the .30-06 military round in a hunting application, principally chambered in sporting variants of the M1903 Springfield rifle.  His name today is attached to the .35 Whelen cartridge, which was a wildcat cartridge based on the .30-06 during the time at which he was the superintendent of Frankfurt Arsenal.  It followed the development of the .400 Whelen which was also based on the .30-06, and about it Whelen recounted:

About the time we completed development of this cartridge (the .400 Whelen), I went on a long hunting trip in the Northwest, and when I returned, Mr. Howe showed me another cartridge he had developed. The .30-06 case was necked to .35 caliber to use existing .35-caliber bullets. Mr. Howe asked my permission to call this cartridge the .35 Whelen, but he alone deserves credit for its development.[ 

35 Whelen 

The 35 Whelen was designed by James Howe, of Griffin and Howe, partially in response to letters from Leslie Simpson and Stewart Edward White, suggesting that a good all-round rifle for African use would be one of 333 to 350 caliber, with a bullet of 250- to 300 grains (ideally 275 at 2500 fps. Both men (along with Roy Chapman Andrews and the Rev. Dr. Harry Caldwell, who were active in Asia,) perhaps the finest big game shots our country has produced, were aware of the outstanding performance of the 318 Westley-Richards with a 250-grain bullet, the 333 Jeffrey with a 300-grain bullet and the 350 Rigby with a 310-grain bullet on thin-skinned dangerous and non-dangerous game in Africa. It is of passing interest that the bullet for the old British 333 Jeffery is much like the 300-grain copper tube bullet which Winchester introduced for the 338 Magnum. The 35 Whelen was the first of 3 (three) efforts by Griffin and Howe to produce a cartridge that would meet this ideal. All were in 35 caliber. The 35 Whelen is simply the 30-06 necked up to 35 caliber and it’s about as easy to form from '06 brass as is the 270. Later, an "improved" version of the 35 Whelen, with venturi shoulders like Weatherby cartridges, was made up, but it never caught on. The 35 Whelen, now available in several factory rounds, and factory chambered in several different rifles (although some gunsmiths still sell properly formed brass for it) has racked up a tremendous record all over the world, rivaling the 375 Holland and Holland in its effectiveness. It was originally designed, partially, as a substitute for the 375 H & H, since rifles for it could be made up using inexpensive 30-06 actions rather than costly magnum-length Mauser Actions. It has killed, with aplomb and efficiency, all of the trophy animals in the world, with the possible exception of the “Big Three” (elephant, rhinoceros, and cape buffalo.) It can be loaded down to 35 Remington speeds for light recoil and pot-shooting, or loaded up to provide terrific stopping power--more than should ever be needed by a competent rifleman facing American big game. Although not legal in certain parts of Africa for dangerous game (some countries require that rifles of at least 375 or 400 caliber be used,) solid nose bullets are available so that, in a pinch, it would probably serve. It is easy to rebarrel an action to this cartridge-- it does not even require opening up the bolt face or free-boring; the rimless brass for it, as with the 358, is cheaper and easier to manufacture than the belted brass necessary for the 350 Remington, 35 Griffin and Howe (or Holland and Holland, as it is sometimes known) and 358 Norma Magnum. There is still a great future awaiting the 35 Whelen and, now that the 22-250 has been legitimized, perhaps we can hope that the 35 Whelen will meet the same good fortune.

Whelen, in addition to being a prolific hunter, was very active in shooting sports, and a prolific author as well. 

Last prior edition:

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week, and Agrarian of the Week, Tom Bell.

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week, and Agrarian of the Week, Tom Bell.

Wyoming rancher Tom Bell, a Fremont County rancher who lost an eye from flak during World War Two, fits both of these categories this week.

Indeed, he nearly defined them.

So, too, the memories of youth return on occasion to bring the warmth of old friendships remembered and old experiences renewed. Some of my fondest memories are of the dog days of August. Then much of the ranch work was done and cares slipped away. School was in the offing but far enough away to leave free time. And even after school hours, there was still time to slip away and meditate beside some branch of the river — a retreat unsurpassed even yet in my mind’s eye.

It was during those days that we often fished. Two boys and a girl, a boy and a girl, two boys, and on many occasions — a boy. Whether together or alone, the memories recalled are always pleasant.

We caught fish, sometimes excitedly, but mostly we just fished. It didn’t really matter. They were the pleasant hours when teenage cares could be temporarily submersed.

Tom Bell.

Bell was born in Winton, one of the variety of Sweetwater County mining towns that once existed before they boiled down to Rock Springs and Green River.  His parents moved him to Lander when they took up farming during the Great Depression.  He graduated from high school in 1941 and lost his eye as a crewman on a B-24 run over Austria.  He graduated from the University of Wyoming with a Masters in Zoology/Ecology in 1957, was a founder of the Wyoming Outdoor Council and the High Country News, as well as being a rancher.

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Albert Nelson

He was Wyoming's first game warden, hired in.1899.

While contrary to what is sometimes suggested, he occasionally had deputy game wardens in his three-year stint, his statewide, hands on, role was a monumental task.  He received funding at the amount of $1,200 per year, from which he had to pay himself and deputies who received $3.00 per day.

Last edition:

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Theodore Roosevelt

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Theodore Roosevelt

Perhaps no American, and indeed perhaps no human, has done more for the cause of wildlife conservation than was done by President Theodore Roosevelt.

A great naturalist, a great man, and a great President, he was also an avid hunter and fisherman.

Last edition:

Subsistance hunter/fisherman of the week. Aldo Leopold

Subsistence hunter/fisherman of the week. Aldo Leopold

Famous for his writings and the creation of "The Land Ethic", Leopold came to his views on nature and philosophy because he was an avid lifelong hunter.

Leopold bow hunting in New Mexico, 1938.