Book for bear hunters

[antlercarver]

Read Born under a stump by Russ Hulet. Story of Bill Hulet who shoots more than 3500 bears, not a misprint. He works for timber companies where bear are damaging young trees that have been replanted after timber harvest.

[CBintheNorth]

Stat I read was just under 3,200 bears, which is still an obscene number. All in a 600 square mile area.
I usually enjoy autobiographies by people that are a bit more ......humble, I guess.

“Born under a stump, suckled on sow bear milk and raised in jail,” he proclaims. “I know every root in these parts, every huckleberry meadow, bee tree, strand of swamp grass and skunk-cabbage patch. To hunt bears, you’ve got to be as tough as a good old bear dog. Well, I’m tough, and I’m the best there is.”

[antlercarver]

I have his book but can`t find it right now. One story where he was drinking with a bunch guys, being entertained by a dancing hooker and as she came around he touched her bottom with his cigar, She went screaming out and rushed back in with a pistol. As every one was trying to get out, Bill was shot in his calf.

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by antlercarver

I have his book but can`t find it right now. One story where he was drinking with a bunch guys, being entertained by a dancing hooker and as she came around he touched her bottom with his cigar, She went screaming out and rushed back in with a pistol. As every one was trying to get out, Bill was shot in his calf.

Sounds like a real “upstanding” guy. I’ll skip reading that book, glad he got shot.

[antlercarver]

His final count was 3556 bears

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by antlercarver

His final count was 3556 bears

That's not a hunter, just a killer, I'm with Chef.

[Ackleyman]

" To hunt bears, you’ve got to be as tough as a good old bear dog. Well, I’m tough, and I’m the best there is.”
If he hunted for 35 years he shot over 100 bears a year. "Im the best there is...??"
No , just another A**-hole slaughtering wildlife..

[walking buffalo]

The Tree Farm companies are the true evil in this man's life.

Understand this, and remember the interconnectivity of Nature, then perhaps we can stop making these mistakes.

[huntinstuff]

Originally Posted by antlercarver

I have his book but can`t find it right now. One story where he was drinking with a bunch guys, being entertained by a dancing hooker and as she came around he touched her bottom with his cigar, She went screaming out and rushed back in with a pistol. As every one was trying to get out, Bill was shot in his calf.

Sounds like just a wonderful person. I wont say "wonderful man" because he wasnt a man...Im glad he is dead.

[Demonical]

Sounds like it might be an interesting read.

[antlercarver]

There was almost no mechanical log harvesting then and it took many men who had families that depended on the trees that the bears were destroying. Here we shoot gophers for fun and even have a bragging gopher count.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by antlercarver

There was almost no mechanical log harvesting then and it took many men who had families that depended on the trees that the bears were destroying. Here we shoot gophers for fun and even have a bragging gopher count.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Lilly

[Pathfinder76]

Originally Posted by huntinstuff

Sounds like just a wonderful person. I wont say "wonderful man" because he wasnt a man...Im glad he is dead.

What a bizarre statement. I have ancestors (ancestors that I have had a lot of personal interaction with) that would trap or shoot, on average, 30 bears a year. Grizzlies and blacks. They were cattlemen and loggers. Real men. They did what they knew. They had families to feed, not nature to commune with. Yet they likely understood nature fairly well.

Having long hair and sitting cross legged with arms extended and thumb and forefinger together does not make one an expert on the wild world.

[hansol]

Shoulda aimed higher.

Originally Posted by antlercarver

I have his book but can`t find it right now. One story where he was drinking with a bunch guys, being entertained by a dancing hooker and as she came around he touched her bottom with his cigar, She went screaming out and rushed back in with a pistol. As every one was trying to get out, Bill was shot in his calf.

[JD848]

Originally Posted by antlercarver

I have his book but can`t find it right now. One story where he was drinking with a bunch guys, being entertained by a dancing hooker and as she came around he touched her bottom with his cigar, She went screaming out and rushed back in with a pistol. As every one was trying to get out, Bill was shot in his calf.

The only thing I might believe is the hooker shooting to low. She should have shot a few feet higher, then again he was probably running away .That would make sense from a coward .

[antlercarver]

What Bill Hulet did was a job, same as when I did commercial fishing. When the fish plant stopped paying for the fish, I stopped killing 1000s. When the timber companies stopped paying for bears killed, he stopped killing bears. If you have not read the story, you are judging something you know nothing about.

[antlercarver]

Originally Posted by JD848

The only thing I might believe is the hooker shooting to low. She should have shot a few feet higher, then again he was probably running away .That would make sense from a coward .

I suppose you would stand and argue with a angry woman with a pistol, no matter how the situation started.

[roper1]

Haven't read the book, hadn't heard of the guy, but surprised the hate he is attracting. Lest we forget the American buffalo hunters that killed millions of buffalo, sanctioned & welcomed & necessary in the eyes of our forefathers who were there at the time.........

[Pathfinder76]

And the Ivory poachers. It’s funny who we glorify and vilify.

[huntinstuff]

Originally Posted by Pathfinder76

What a bizarre statement. I have ancestors (ancestors that I have had a lot of personal interaction with) that would trap or shoot, on average, 30 bears a year. Grizzlies and blacks. They were cattlemen and loggers. Real men. They did what they knew. They had families to feed, not nature to commune with. Yet they likely understood nature fairly well.

Having long hair and sitting cross legged with arms extended and thumb and forefinger together does not make one an expert on the wild world.

Nothing bizarre about it.

If you are sitting in a place with a hooker (still someone's daughter) and you purposely burn her with a cigar, quite likely you are a piece of garbage. Dont care if he shot a million bears...has nothing to do with it.

Still glad he's dead

Your ancestors sound like good honest, hard working people. 👍

[JD848]

Originally Posted by antlercarver

I suppose you would stand and argue with a angry woman with a pistol, no matter how the situation started.

Twist it anyway you want ,he burnt the women with his cigar and she aimed to low.

Bear hunter or not .

[Rio56]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

The Tree Farm companies are the true evil in this man's life.

Understand this, and remember the interconnectivity of Nature, then perhaps we can stop making these mistakes.

so very true . Makes one wonder how much have we changed to current logging and resource management practices ..
Yes , ancestors did make mistakes and with time and social changes we see a diff angle .. bears , buffalo and lots of other issues

The point is we should have learned from it..

[Grizzly Adams1]

Originally Posted by Rio56

so very true . Makes one wonder how much have we changed to current logging and resource management practices ..
Yes , ancestors did make mistakes and with time and social changes we see a diff angle .. bears , buffalo and lots of other issues

The point is we should have learned from it..

I'm going to argue we've gone too far, Wolves and Grizzlies being cases in point.

[Rio56]

Grizz
That's exactly what i'm saying

and for some to praise ancestors for the wrong deeds done is not understnding that changes are needed ..
we all have ancestors !

[JD848]

In burns where fresh trees sprout up bears eat up many ,this makes for a healthy size of tree to grow .Over 1000 years the forest grew well with the help of bears . There just tiny fresh sprouts and thick like hairs on a dogs back.

I have down over 350000 acres of forest prep for tree planters to put them in ,Every 15 years i fly over these sites and there's bears like crazy in Ontario since they shut down spring bear hunting and I seen little sign of bears eating 12 inch planted trees .

In BC and mountainous area's foot planters just walk along or planes drop seeds ,but it takes 15 years to see trees growing properly .bears may feed on these planted trees ????

I understand they way things were done years ago ,bears, elephants ,lions buffalo ETC ,think bears were more of a hazard to farmers and humans and wildlife these lumber camps took for food.

There were no shortage of trees to cut 100 years ago because my grandfather logged and farmed his whole life ,my uncles never ever talked about bears eating planted trees .They killed bears for furs and food .All those lumber camps had horses ,so horses were well protected from grizz or black bears .

No horses logging was tough ,so I can see bears being killed to protect these horses and they were lumber camps spread for 3000 miles .

Just a thought ,but if it was my job I wouldn't tell a soul on my numbers I killed ,folks find that a bit much. I surely would have went logging before hunting bears all year ,that's just me .I wasn't in Bills shoes.

When rubber came around in the Congo ,king Leopold of Belgian killed some say 10 to 30 million people and tortured millions cutting of limbs over controlling the rubber market .And very few ever talk about this .

[walking buffalo]

In the Pacific Northwest, these tree Farms hired people to kill every bear because the bears would scratch some of the trees, which would often cause the tree to become infected by a mushroom.
This fungal infection would make the tree less valuable to the tree Farm.

Killing these bears by the tens of thousands was not for safety, it was (is) an attempt to reduce or eliminate a fungus.
Eliminate the bears as a means to eliminate the mushrooms.


Killing bears was simply for maximizing profit.
To the tree Farm corporations, every tree mattered, and if one out of a thousand was damaged by bears, the bears must die.

Why were the Bears scratching the trees?
Some trees were possibly to be a marking post...
Most of these trees were scratched in a brilliant symbiotic relationship between Bears and the Whole forest.
Here's the connectivity....
Bear scratches the tree,
Fungus infects the tree,
Bees feed on the fungal mycelium!
It is becoming better known that Bees MUST have mushrooms for survival.
The Bees pollinate the forest,
The Whole Forest prospers,
Which helps feed the bears.

Of course thousands, tens of thousands of other creatures also benefit in ways from the action of the Bears.

Remove the Bears, lose the mushrooms and then the bees, and collapse the Natural cycle within the forest....


If the tree Farms didn't hire this bear killer, he wouldn't have money for booze and hookers, and wouldn't have gotten shot....


Unfortunately, modern tree farms are not much better these days...
Monocultures planted with genetically altered clones, herbicide spraying, fire suppression.... they simply starve out competitors such as bears rather than using an outcast and a bullet.

[JD848]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

In the Pacific Northwest, these tree Farms hired people to kill every bear because the bears would scratch some of the trees, which would often cause the tree to become infected by a mushroom.
This fungal infection would make the tree less valuable to the tree Farm.

Killing these bears by the tens of thousands was not for safety, it was (is) an attempt to reduce or eliminate a fungus.
Eliminate the bears as a means to eliminate the mushrooms.


Killing bears was simply for maximizing profit.
To the tree Farm corporations, every tree mattered, and if one out of a thousand was damaged by bears, the bears must die.

Why were the Bears scratching the trees?
Some trees were possibly to be a marking post...
Most of these trees were scratched in a brilliant symbiotic relationship between Bears and the Whole forest.
Here's the connectivity....
Bear scratches the tree,
Fungus infects the tree,
Bees feed on the fungal mycelium!
It is becoming better known that Bees MUST have mushrooms for survival.
The Bees pollinate the forest,
The Whole Forest prospers,
Which helps feed the bears.

Of course thousands, tens of thousands of other creatures also benefit in ways from the action of the Bears.

Remove the Bears, lose the mushrooms and then the bees, and collapse the Natural cycle within the forest....


If the tree Farms didn't hire this bear killer, he wouldn't have money for booze and hookers, and wouldn't have gotten shot....


Unfortunately, modern tree farms are not much better these days...
Monocultures planted with genetically altered clones, herbicide spraying, fire suppression.... they simply starve out competitors such as bears rather than using an outcast and a bullet.

In 40 years I never sprayed one pint of herbicide ,if the contracts wanted spraying I refused to bid on them. Make the rows deep and wide and they grow . Some companies do spray , but not this guy . I like wildlife to much to poison there food source.

Then again I drove past 3 reserves last week ,garbage dumps on the sides of roads for a mile long and as far as could see, Bears were everywhere eating plastic and old stuff from years ago. Never been that angry in years ,stewards of the land my arrs ,what a mess and a none caring bunch for there own land .Never seen such a mess.

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by huntinstuff

Nothing bizarre about it.

If you are sitting in a place with a hooker (still someone's daughter) and you purposely burn her with a cigar, quite likely you are a piece of garbage. Dont care if he shot a million bears...has nothing to do with it.

Still glad he's dead

Your ancestors sound like good honest, hard working people. 👍

Yup, that’s my point too. Anyone who would purposely hurt a woman like this is scum, and it’s a huge warning sign that he would do more if allowed to.

[Stinky Buffalo]

At least now we know why most bears had an innate fear of humans when we were young.

[antlercarver]

He dove in to find and save a drowning boy. When his dog went into a bear den and was being chewed on, he went in putting his rifle against the bear shooting and killing it, I imagine it would have been busy in there. He volunteered in the war for a few years. Some people are really big and others just take up a lot of space.