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rHfc BEDFORD GAZETTE, BEDFORD, PA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, IV?MtnLion Hunt Yields Good YarnsBy Terry UacbThe unfulfilled dream of many a big game huntei — a trip tothe unchartered high country of Utah to hunt mountain lions — became reality last month forthree county men.Don Amick of Fishertown,Gene Beegle of Bedford andHarold Clayeomb of Osterburg recently returned from a 12-day trip. Heavy snow caused by ifiel- (storms that were downpours onadel- ~ ~g Inring,hreecondningrt 12linaltheIj_theDirkrun it offthe Hast Coast blanked the area with three to five feet of snowthat allowed just four actual days for hunting Still, Amick and Clayeomb got Dions and Beegle very nearly.bagged one;Clayeomb arranged the trip with Cap Atwood, an outfitterI from DeBeque, Colo. Atwood is one of the West's best knownguides and has appeared on several outdoor program specialson television.Each of the thre* rount.y menh aidrix,»nley•h trhad a guide Atwoodstai from Es-(Xtdh,handT igerin inif If?is a 61v a 1 k s, Hoss Cart 1-1 » the valksup in theeven But-hack,whencKaevalkslines, va incd InJoseippeduniori b yin to»cond-Lostheworkedwith Clayeomb while A m i r k | had Larry (run of Vernal, Utah.) Beegle had Arnold Buttons, an; ex-western film calante, Utah Am ck n ded Gun220-pound giant who talks and looked likewright of Bonanza,The hunt was set Escalante Area andtons had nevei covered scan* of the ground.The men tented a house in Escalante (a town the size of Fishertown) and set up a base of operations there Trips to hunting areas were made infour-wheel drive pick-up,4 withstake sides foi horses and dogs.Each man and his guide hunted alone. Trucks were taken as fa» as possible and then horses were unloaded. Hunts averaged about 25 miles a da\ (on the horses).Getting lost was to be expected “We’d follow streams andeventually come to a ranch,Amick notedThe men hunted two days and and jthen were forced to delay four Ider, jdays because of weather Beegle tracked a lion most of his second dav but darkness allow-ed the cat to escapeRather than wait for good weather, Beegle then left the group and joined his wife inPhoenix, Ariz. They returned later and hunted together but didn't get a lionArnicK killed his lion Feb. 21. the third day he was aide to hunt It was in an area known as Hell’s Backbone and he was about 28 miles east of Escalante at a meeting point of a canyon and Big Boulder River The dogs picked up the scent and had the big cat treed four times while running two miles in the deep snow Arniek riskedmissing the kill when he shotwith his camera rather than his if pi, gun the third time the lion took|to a treeHu.! The animal eventually brokeYork from the tree but with the dogsclose behind, soon ran up ano-thei one, a Pnnderosu P i n e Amick was 75 yards away when he squeezed the trigger on his 7 mm magnum. The shot caught the cat behind the right shoulder and proved fatal.Stretched out, the big tom cat measured nine feet Its weight was estimated al 185 pounds A check of its pads revealedBa«FOAskthe 1 Kane ericamgagaii in gGobefanknow safe, the iI pans out ITh: leagiserttago, dou bro.sUageBuwill veteSeat Leafdope1 don’stafThat’s » 165-mountain lion that was bagged Feb. 21 In Utah by Don Amlok, left, of I Ishertown. Onter is llarold Clayeomb who also bagged a lion. Right is I.arrv Ciurr Amick’* guide. A third member of the hunting party was Gene Beegle of Bedfordwas approximately six years old. I that made the going rough, the,hunting daysClayeomb made his kill Feb. 28, the last day of the hunt, in an area known as Calf Creek Plateau. The hunt was concentrated along a tributary of Lake Powell, a body of w-ater with 1,8»H) miles of shoreline.Dogs treed the cat but it jump-hunteis got eight miles up theicanyon and within a half mileof the top lefore being blocked by a solid five feet of snow. It was far too deep a snow for the horses and the effort came to I a premature end.Without the snow, which pored clear and took shelter in a mally is less than a foot deep shallow cave — the opening was m late February, the expeditionthis in 11 gers. ur ofirkeim inMackth to lome r torunabout three feet wide and the cave was 12 feet long Dogs followed the lion right into the cave. Some were clawed before being called off. With the dogs out, Clayeomb wrent in. The kill was made with a single shot — from a 357 magnum.may have made the top.Amick believes the combination of four wheel drive trucks and horses is an ideal one for hunting the mountain country. The trucks permit daily travelto a better equipped base camp and then back to a hunting areaClayeomb was six feet from the without loss of timea _ JBi A • ja — •• ... _firstIdingoutmgs.ntnes•Iphui s theSBKhilt; M Ult,v (truthTues-I v ilt;-Sox,I vi eitcat when he fired.The animal was eight feet long and wrns a male alout threeyears old.Both cats were brought home and taken to Alum Bank taxidermist Ward Barefoot who’ll have them ready by September.Mountain lions are becoming increasingly rare, even in the wilds of Utah. The male will kilt kittens, given the opportunity. Adult lions normally travel within a two-mile area in a giv cm week and prefer a diet of venison. They average about twodeei kills per weekThe men, as a group, made one attempt to hunt an area kiiMwn as Straight Cliffs Plateau According to the three guides, it’s never been covered by lion hunters.It’s located 35 miles south of Escalante and requires a 20-mile trip across a desert The only access to the lofty plateauis via a switchback road builtyears ago by an oil company.snow and iniuldersDespiteWithout the trucks, the hunt would have been confined to a limited area.However, even of more value are the horses. They’re born and bred to this terrain, Amick noted. We learned to sort ofgive them their head. They have the agility of billy goats.Still there were times......Amick’s horse once made a jump (with rider aboard) that ended in a snow drift over its head. Gurr (Amick’s guide) was thrown against a tree when his horse stumbled while descending a steep hillside.Beegle, led by Buttons, had perhaps the most harrowing rides. The two horses and riders made their way along narrow paths, sometimes just three feet w’ide, with nothing below but sheer mountainside. A break in the path called for a jump with no room for error.The deep snow and protruding rocks made the going rough for the horses. Their legs wfere cut and bleeding from the kneesdown by 10 am. each of the [conditionThose non-hunting days allowed time for excursions into neighboring towns and exploring the land.Amick, alone on one of these trips, came across 2,000 acres of ranch and surrounded by rather steep hills and virtually isolated from the world.The land was divided into two spreads and one of the owners, spotitng Amick, invited him for a mea! A huge brown bear hide stretched across a living room wall quickly caught Amick’s attentionThe rancher explained the bear came from the near-by hills. Dogs cornered the big animal and their barking brough the rancher who was not far away on horseback,He had no gun but gave chase when the bear broke for the woods. The rancher, hand with a lasso, dropped a loop over the animal’s head and eventually managed to choke it to death.Amick’s guide found the story and size of the bear hard to believe. The two returned thenext day to the ranch w’herethe guide made an examination and took measurements. A check with Boon and Crocket statistics showed the bear was one of the largest of its kind ever killed in the United States.The rancher announced he would register it with Boon and Crocket.Another interesting sidelight of the trip was the discovery of inud homes once used by cliff-dwelling Indians. The Indians have long since gone, but the mud structures, protected from the weather, remain in goodyourarmdun.mosfarTlyourgerRoolarermy,catecamNlt;pourRoyEansedioleswaythea 4-runBi this maj Orio reec thou in t the reco yeaiSo14-8andYaned 1terathehittcthroT)yalissonizatilt;* »(UP!)k ad t by n ft eldtakoutseaBwhwe’chlt;;incDadoex-rylarChhoimeex-
Newspaper Details
Bedford Daily Gazette
Bedford, Pennsylvania, US
Wed, Mar 12, 1969
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Aimee B.
USA 23 Sep 2022
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