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Famous Hunters – Benjamin Vernon Lilly

Jed — Sat, 29 May 2010 04:17:13 +0000

One of the most famous hunters in history was a man named Benjamin Vernon Lilly (December 31, 1856 – December 17, 1936), nicknamed Ol’Lilly. He was a notorious big game hunter and houndsman; a real mountain man. To this day, he remains famous for hunting down large numbers of grizzly, cougars and black bears.

Lilly was born on December 31, 1856, in Wilcox County, Alabama. His family soon moved to Mississippi, but by the age twelve he was living with an uncle in Louisiana. This is where he learned to track, trail, and kill bears and cougars.

His 180th black bear was killed in 1906 as he was living in the Big Thicket country of Texas. President Theodore Roosevelt hired Lilly as a hunt master but Lilly proved to be a poor guide as he was only content in guiding only for himself. Lilly moved to Mexico a couple of years later and this is where he killed his first grizzly bear in Chihuahua, Mexico.

The years between 1911 and 1916 proved very profitable for Lilly; he was hired at $75 a month as a forest guard/trapper for New Mexico’s Apache National Forest. Each year Lilly killed up to fifty bears and lions. In 1916, Lilly became a government lion hunter in the New Mexico-Arizona District, but he was a “mountain man” at heart and did not like having to obey the early game laws. He was ultimately terminated in 1920 for spending excessive amounts of time killing grizzlies and not enough time killing lions and wolves.

In an attempt to wipe out bears and cougars, Lilly joined other early hunters, who rendered themselves and their lifestyle obsolete. Ben Lilly, and the other hunters like him, did their jobs well. Grizzly bears were eventually abolished in the Southwest.

Ben Lilly, a true mountain man and bear hunter, found his final resting place near the headwaters of New Mexico’s Gila River on December 17, 1936. He died a few short days prior to his eightieth birthday on land he had traveled and hunted for many decades

Check these famous Ol’Lilly quotes

“Anyone can kill a deer but it takes a man to kill a varmint” (bears,mountain lions, and wolves).

“Property is a handicap to man”

My favorite: “I never saw a man with his face shaved clean until I was a big boy. When I saw him I thought he was a dead man… walking about, and I was mighty scared.”

Maybe this quote is a little of all of us: “My reputation is bigger than I am. It is like my shadow when I stand in front of the sun in late evening.”

Here are some books about Ben Lilly if you’re interested:

Or (I don’t have an image for this one): Ben Lilly’s Tales of Bears, Lions and Hounds

Guided Spring Grizzly Bear Hunt – 2009

Jed — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:38:32 +0000

If we spend enough time hunting most of us will develop strong feelings for certain game species. The grizzly bear demands many of these deep feelings. Envy for his strength and freedom. Respect for his cunning, aggression and independence. Fear toward his short temper and his random unpredictable personality. Awe in his isolation, and choice of habitat and beauty of the same.

The first days of the Lewis and Clark expedition found their crew watching for and fearing this beast. The developed respect for the grizzly in a hurry. President Theodore Roosevelt’s trips to the west did the same and this president started the 1st national park, Yellowstone, partially due to the grizzly bear.

The grizzly is almost always referred to as a male, likely due to his aggression potential. He is a killing maching with massive muscles, speed, teeth and claws. I think the temperment is his greatest weapon but also his downfall. Few have ever met him and felt sorry for him.

Enough about his traits. I wanted to harvest a grizzly bad and about 15 years ago I started the quest. I had exposure to him on several sheep hunts in northern Canada but never had a tag or time to put it all together.

Harry Leuenberger’s area, just north of Glacier National Park, in BC, I thought provided as good an opportunity as any to get grizzly, and I know Harry well. With almost a yearly visit to Harry’s area for a variety of species, I had seen the grizzly on random occasions, often closer than was comfortable.

After several dedicated hunts for grizzly in Harry’s area I hoped 2009 would be different. The winter this year hung on giving the hunting area a very late spring, leaving many of the lush green slide areas still covered with snow

Jed, my son, Bart the guide and I spent the hunt glued to the binoculars. We were seeing several large grizzly tracks the biggest being in a large high basin called Morrisey. After hours behind the binoculars we finally spotted old Ephraim across the valley in a small cooly. He was large and black. We planned the stalk and took off. We were within about 200 yards when a sow trotted by us in the direction of the boar. The new couple had a brief introduction and were off to thicker cover. We backed out.

The next evening after another whole day of glassing we spotted the couple smack on top of one of the higher mountain tops. With light fading we took off after them once again. On the mountain rim, following their tracks and rubs, we spotted the grizzlies moving slowly along in head of us. It was too dark for a continued sneak so out we backed for the second time.

The next morning we glassed the pair on the very top of their mountain. They seemed to be enjoying the deep snow and each other’s company. To get at them required a backside of the mountain approach, over the top in the 15 foot snow. The snow was semi-packed, thank goodness, from the daily freezes and thaws with the top being slushy. After a marathon hike and an oink through the deep snow we carefully crested the hill.

As we glassed the 2nd large draw coursing almost straight down from our ridge top perch we spotted the bears as they flopped over the 3rd bowel. We did another half circle down around them and back up to the rim above them. Crowning the top we had the bears at 300 yards with them frolicking in the snow.

The boar stood out, black and 2-3 times the size of the female. I belly crawled to a ridge rock shortening the distance to 260 yards. The first shot broke the boars onside front leg and entered the chest. As the boar rolled and streamed down the hiss we kept shooting and soon we had our bear half a mile down the mountain in a tangle of trees.

We spent some time making sure the sow was gone then proceeded with the photo and skinning chores. He’s very dark, almost black, 71/2 to 8 foot square, old and mine.

Jed smacked a nice black the next day and we headed home.

HUGE!! That’s what summarized a grizzly harvest. This bear, as a trophy, ranks with my sheep grand slam for respect as a species and the thankfulness that these bears exist in huntable numbers. I may never hunt him again but this hunt I’ll live again and again!

Bear Hunting Trophies – Photos

Jed — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:55:20 +0000

A black bear hunt offers us so many trophies. By keeping your camera handy you can get great photos of a live animal, many times.

Black bears are so abundant that even as a silent, shy animal the odds of catching a bear by a stream or in a grassy spot are good. I have a not too professional photo I took from a tree stand several years ago that has six average sized bears in the picture.

On different hunts I’ve seen black bears walk down a trail right to me, climb the tree my son and I were in and this spring I shot a fair sized British Columbia black bear at less than 10 yards.

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I just had these photos emailed to me. This is a great black bear trophy for someone. Enjoy….

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This is a really nice bear.

Bear Hunting Resource Pages

Jed — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:59:07 +0000

We’ve recently added Bear Hunting Resources on the left-hand side of the site. Please take a look and let us know if there are any other resources you would like. We’ll continue to add. Right now they include:

Shot Placement and Bear Vitals

Bear Skull Cleaning – European Mount

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Judging a Bear – Selecting a Large Male Bear

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Bear Bum Hunting Design

Jed — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:20:21 +0000

The design on this bear hunting blog has raised a question or two with a sympathetic non-hunter. Last Christmas I received from Lynne, my wife, a computer generated caricature

of me in a hunting setting. So, that’s me in the design/painting. I like it. A guy named Bryan Beaux Beus is the computer animator, artist person. Check it out. Here’s a bear and little deer from the painting.