Hunters in the Town of Keene

Elmer Elsworth and the District Game Warden

Elmer Elsworth first came to the Town of Keene as a chauffeur for the Charles Gibson family. During the period of Elmer's service with the Gibson family, he married Daisey Hall, the twin sister of Grace Hall Brown. Ed Hall was their brother.

Elmer was a very affable and charming person. Through his associations and experiences with the local country people, Elmer soon became a very ardent fisherman and hunter.

Perhaps the most notable of Elmer's accomplishments was his ability to tell exciting stories, most of which related to his avowed skill and success while fishing along the mountain streams and hunting in the local woodlands.

The native people soon came to realize that Elmer's fertile imagination combined with his intense desire to magnify his own skills and accomplishments, caused him to exaggerate the truth by a very considerable degree. Elmer always caught more and bigger fish, shot more and bigger bucks, than any local nimrod, but he made these accounts so exciting and interesting that the local people granted him considerable tolerance without challenge.

On a certain sunny Sunday afternoon in the vicinity of Luck's Garage, Elmer had captivated an audience of men among whom was one stranger, whom no one recognized or had any cause to fear. On this occasion, Elmer was in rare form. With great detail he described several hunting and fishing experiences, not all of which were by any means within the limits of the law.

As Elmer paused momentarily to catch his breath, the stranger stepped forward and said, "Sir, I would like to introduce myself. Although I am here in plain clothes, I am the District Game Warden."

Before the Game Warden could continue his remarks, Elmer quickly interrupted and said, "Sir, since you have been so kind as to introduce yourself, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Elmer Elsworth and I am the biggest damn liar in the Town of Keene!"

Doc Goff? You bet!

Joe Gives Tom a Lesson in Bear Trapping

Joe Dukett was a Frenchman who lived in the Town of Keene. He was married to Hulda Edmonds, sister of Jane Edmonds Grimshaw, both of whom were daughters of Asa Edmonds.

Joe lived on the Grist Mill Road on the west side of the Ausable River at the upper end of the mill dam. He worked in the Wallace "Wall" Murray's sawmill which was located at the lower end of the dam between the Hull's Falls Road and the river.

Joe had a neighbor named Tom Smith who wasn't as skillful or as prosperous as Joe. Joe was an excellent, skillful worker, who at times was known to drink a little too much hard cider or similar spirited refreshments. Tom, unfortunately, was not so gifted or so prosperous as Joe, and furthermore, he stuttered or stammered very badly, especially when excited.

Desiring to help Tom support his family, Joe said, "Tom, someday I'll show you how to set a bear trap. If you learn to catch a bear you can get a cash bounty from the State. You will have the meat to use, and, the hide, when tanned, will make a warm cover for your bed." That was wonderful news to Tom.

One day, when Joe was not working at the mill and having had a few snorts of firewater, he decided to show Tom How to catch a bear. Taking a bear trap and bait in a packbasket they went up into a notch on Owl's Head Mountain where Joe selected a suitable place to set the trap.

However, Joe, for some unknown reason, perhaps related to alcohol, proceeded to do last things first. He set the trap and placed it on the ground a few feet behind the spot where he was to work while building the "Cubby" ( a small, inviting enclosure where the bait would be placed and, at the entrance to which, the trap would be set.)

A "cubby" is a miniature house that one constructs in a very selected spot at the entrance to a crevice in the ledge or at the edges of a cave-like slanting boulder. The sides of the "Cubby" are fashioned of logs and brush. The entrance of the enclosure is left open at the front. A log is placed on the ground across the entrance; the bait, perhaps the rib cage of a deer, is tossed in the back of the "Cubby" and the trap is placed just inside the enclosure. The bear smells the bait, comes to get it, steps over the log and into the trap.

After prematurely setting the trap, Joe gave his attention to building the "Cubby". Tom watched carefully. When Joe finished his work, he stood up and took a few steps backward to admire his accomplishment.

Tom, seeing that Joe was going to step into the jaws of the gapping trap, tried to warn his friend saying "You, You, You, You, You, God Damit, Your in it!"

How did Tom get Joe out of the trap? Did he chop the leg off just above the trap? Or did he hoist Joe over his shoulder and with the trap dangling from Joe's leg carry him back to Pete Well's Blacksmith shop in Keene?

Well, that is another story!

THE AMR BEAR HUNT

An incident occurred along about 1912 which has considerable local color. For some years previously, Wesley Otis had been the game warden who undertook to protect the AuSable Club lands against the poaching of local hunters. The job of being game warden was not an enviable position due to the intermarriage among the native families. Since the St. Hubert's resident was inclined to shoot his fresh meat anywhere he might have the opportunity, it was difficult to select an agent from among the natives who did not himself have a conflict of interest or who had not been tarred by the same poaching brush.

In the period of which I speak, it happened that "Wes" Otis had been replaced as game warden by LeGrand Hale. The Hale and Otis families had been friends and neighbors for many years, but there was, nevertheless, some rivalry and irritation over the status of game warden versus poacher.

Early one morning in the fall of 1912, Rob Otis, Wes Otis's son, and Frank Heald went hunting. They shot two nice bucks, dressed them and, while sitting on a log having a smoke, along came a very large bear.

The next day these hunters returned to Rob's home with a big, big black bear which they had shot. The huge animal was the largest known to have been killed in the St. Hubert's - Keene Valley area. This unusual trophy was hung on a limb of the maple tree which still stands in front of what was then Rob Otis's home - the first house on the left as one goes north beyond the Episcopal church at the St. Hubert's settlement.

Among the people who came to see this huge black bear was the local game warden and neighbor, LeGrand Hale. LeGrand didn't ask any questions, and Rob and Frank did not volunteer any information.

LeGrand was an excellent woodsman and hunter who, having a high suspicion that the bear might have been killed on forbidden land, quietly proceeded to investigate.

The bear's thick coat of hair was not damaged. Obviously two men could not carry or drag an animal of that size. The question was, where was the bear shot and how did the hunters bring it home?

LeGrand , knowing the good hunting areas and the habits of his neighbors, walked up to the Lake Road where he noticed wagon tracks, but saw no horse tracks. This observation considerably aroused LeGrand's curiosity. Following the wagon tracks, LeGrand returned later that day and, passing the Otis home, he perched the very large heart of the bear on a picket of the fence in front of Rob's home.

Having found the entrails of the bear, LeGrand wanted his neighbors to know he had found where the bear was shot. The evidence on the picket fence was a silent reminder that he, LeGrand, for one, knew where the bear had been killed.

Among good neighbors there was no need for discussion and no need to file a formal report. After all, didn't the AMR make the no hunting rule to protect the deer? As time passed, the facts became more generally known.

The hunters, having killed the unusually large bear, were faced with the problem of getting it home for exhibit, which they were most anxious to do. However, the matter of moving a 500 or 600 pound animal through the woods presented a considerable problem.

That undertaking was skillfully accomplished in this manner: Under cover of darkness the previous night, a two-wheeled sulky was "borrowed" from the stable of Spen Nye's livery. Tying bags on their feet, the hunters drew the sulky up the Lake Road from which, at a certain point, they cut a trail into the woods where the bear was laying.

By tipping the phils high in the air, the men were able to lash the animal to the framework of the sulky. Pulling the phils of the sulky down to a horizontal position, the bear's weight was raised and suspended on two wheels. From there the road was all downhill to Rob's home!!

A later, unconfirmed story is: the hunters skinned the bear, had his hide tanned and during the next summer, sold the large, prime pelt to one of the AMR's "no hunting" club members for a premium price!!!

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