Richard Thomas Memories

 ANTELOPE HUNT

We arrived at our hunting area two days before the opening day of the antelope season and with the county and topographic maps of the area I had sent for, we found the spot we wanted to camp at. We found the rancher and got written permission for access to camp and hunt the ranch. The next day we scouted the ranch for antelope, water holes, ridges, valleys, etc. That night we decided on our plan. 

The next morning before sun-up Wathada drove me to a ditch near a water hole for the cattle and antelope and then Wathada drove up to the top of the ridge and parked. From 6: 30 am until 11: 00 am I saw 10 to 20 antelope but all small. The largest horns were 8" to 10". In the meantime Wathada was watching 3 or 4 large herds (10 to 20 in each herd), in the valley the other side of ridge from me. 

When I got to the truck she told me all this and said that there was a big buck in the herd just up the valley near the ridge. We looked at them with our binoculars and saw the big buck with a good set of horns. I started my stalk down the back side of the ridge until I was within shooting range. As I looked over the ridge, the big buck had moved out in to the valley some. I missed him with my first shot and he only ran a few yards. I hit him in the rear hip with second shot and he began to turn around and around like a dog chasing his tail. When he stopped my third shot put him down. Wathada and I drove the pickup down to the antelope. After field dressing we loaded the antelope on to the hood of the truck and started for town to the butcher. On the way we were stopped by the Game Warden for inspection. The game warden told us the age of the antelope. The next day we picked up our meat and skin and went to the Taxidermy. He took our fresh meat and give us processed meat. He also told me that if the prongs were longer this antelope would have made Boone and Crockett.

PHOTO: The room in Red & Wathada's house in Downey, California, that we called the "head room" where all of his trophies were displayed. It was also Wathada's library.

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Here is a link to an article that explains Boone & Crockett

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

Richard Thomas Memories

BLACK BEAR HUNT

I had contracted a guide from Colorado with his hunting dogs. They had some people from Michigan that had been hunting mountain lions in Colorado and came to California to hunt black bear, When I got there the hunters from Michigan were on their last day and no bear. They were hunting on the east side of the Sequoia National Forest. When my turn came we decided to try the west side and went to the town of Porterville, California and my guide hired a local guide (Stormy). I later used him for a bobcat and mountain quail hunt. 

We were road hunting with four wheel drive 4x4 trucks working our way up the mountainside with the two best dogs on top sniffing the air for the scent of bear. This was our third day out but my first day alone with the guides. We soon reached the snow line and the big pine trees. We saw some old tracks but no fresh tracks. Soon we saw this large track and stopped to look. After some discussion between the guides (I had three) they agreed to put the best three dogs out. They thought the track was 12 to 24 hours old. But the bear in this area don’t range far. 

PHOTO: Bear tracks

We sat and listened to the dogs. In about 15 or 20 minutes we could tell that they were coming back down the mountain. We jumped in the truck and drove up the road approximately a quarter of a mile and as we rounded a bend in the road we saw the dogs cross the road about 50 yards ahead. We drove to where they crossed and got out to look at the tracks in the snow. That bear track looked the size of a grizzly bear track to me (haha). In 10 to 15 minutes we heard the dogs barking like they do when they have treed a bear (these same dogs also hunt mountain lion). The two young guides took off running down the mountain toward the sound of the dogs. The older guide and I started to work our way down this very steep mountain. About a quarter of a mile down, we found the dogs, bear, and young guides saying, “Look up there.” About 60 feet up this big pine tree sat this bear looking down from time to time at us, feeling very safe. 

We took some pictures and got all the dogs tied up or someone holding them. Then they said, “He’s all yours, take him.” I loaded six rounds in the 44 mag, took good aim at his left front shoulder area and fired. To my surprise, I hit him in the left rear shoulder. This one hit. He made three quick jumps up the tree before I could fire my second shot. This one hit him in the upper middle of his back, breaking his spine and going on through to his heart. 

Down he comes, hitting the ground with a thud, and rolled into some logs in a sitting position. I ran up to within 20 feet, ready to finish him off if he attempted to get up. He acted like he was going to get up, so I shot him in the chest area. Later when we skinned him out is when we knew that last shot had not been necessary. However, they say to keep shooting until you know they are going to stay down. More pictures and the skinning begins. We quartered him out and seven of us took the hide and approximately 100 lbs. of meat back up the mountain. 

More pictures, and we loaded the dogs and found that one was missing. Of course, it was the best one. She was still wearing her tracking collar, so we started to drive in the direction of the strongest signal. About four miles later we came to the end of the road in a lot of snow and large Sequoia trees. The two young guides took the tracking instrument and hand held CBs and headed off through the snow and trees. After one hour we would blow the truck horn every 10 to 15 minutes. After one more hour we could pick them up on the CB. We kept blowing the truck horn now every five minutes. About 20 minutes later they were back to the truck with the dog. By now it was almost dark. They said that when they found the dog she was cold tracking a mountain lion. So back to town for a shower and a good dinner.

Richard Thomas Memories

MERINO SHEEP HUNT

We returned to the lodge for lunch and made plans for the afternoon hunt for the Merino sheep. The guide asked the group what kind of hunt they would like, the easy way or the hard way. I asked what is the hard way because we want a good head to mount. The guide said that a good or trophy head would require a lot of mountain climbing . Ron, Frank and I said we would take the hard way. 

Soon we were on our way again in a jeep. This time we were on the other end of the island which was all mountains. We began our climb and soon realized how out of condition we were. Upon reaching the top the guide had spotted a large group of sheep on the next mountain side. Before I could find a good sheep to shoot Frank and Ron started shooting and the sheep started running, I took a quick shot at a nice ram running, but missed. Both Frank and Ron got a good ram. After the guide capped out Frank's and Ron's rams he told them to go back down the same way we came up and we would meet them at the jeep. 

The guide and I started our hunt for more sheep. Soon we spotted three on a smaller mountain below us. The guide said follow him and he started down this steep area full of rocks and shale. I could not stay on my feet so most of the way down I was on my backside sliding. After what seemed like a long time we reached a trail and started following this trail. Soon the trail was a ledge on the side of this mountain, then we came to a spot where the ledge stopped for a few feet. Our guide just jumped across this opening opening and disappeared around a cliff. Well I did not jump across this open area, because it was 500 feet straight down. 

Soon the guide was back and said what's the matter. I said I was scared and was not going to cross this open area. He said that it was the only way down. I said I was going back up and find another way down. However after looking back up I agreed this was the only way down but I was not going to jump this opening. After a long talk with myself and the guide we agreed that if I put my left foot on a rock that was protruding from the cliff and jump from that he would grab me on the other side. 

At this time I knew that I was not getting off these mountains alive... 

Finally I did jump, though, and we were on our way to where we had seen the sheep. We lay looking at the sheep across this small valley. We could now only see two, one white and one black. Because the black sheep are rather rare I decided to take the black one. The shot was only about 200 yards and from the prone position I hit him with the first shot. However he did not go down so the guide said take him again, The second shot did put him down. 

After some thanks and congratulations the guide said, "you start for a valley the other side of the next two mountains and I will cap out the ram and meet you there." Because of being out of condition and the altitude, again I thought I would never get off this mountain alive. Soon however I was at the last mountain top before the valley. As I sat down to rest, here came our guide and said "let me take your gun with me back to the jeep and the other guys. We will meet you down at the river," and he pointed to the river down in the valley below. So I started down. From time to time I would slip on the grass and land on my backside. 

When I reached the valley floor I was in the thick brush for a few yards before the river. As I was going through the brush I came upon a sow and her piglets. They went one way and I went the other way as fast as I could. When I reached the river I realized I had been on these mountain's 6 hours and was in need of a drink of water. I laid down by the water's edge like you see in the movies and began to drink. 

By now it was getting dark After about thirty minutes I saw the lights of the jeep coming up the trail next to the river. After they picked me up we started back to the lodge. In a few minutes we needed to cross the river to the larger trail. However we became stuck in the middle of the river with the water running through the jeep up to the seats. We all got to the shore line without getting too wet by jumping from the hood of the jeep to shore. The guide started up the trail for the lodge for help, which was about nine miles, so we looked around for some shelter from the wind. 

About nine o'clock we saw some car lights coming down the trail. The manager knew where we were hunting and when we were not back when we should have been they started out looking for us and found our guide. We were sure glad to see them because we were getting cold. We started to load our guns and things in to the pickup and they said that they were going to pull the jeep out. Well they couldn't pull it out from that side so they decided to cross the river and pull it out backwards, In the process of crossing the river they got the pickup wedged between the jeep and river bank so now we had both stuck. We decided to push the pickup backwards, however it would not move, so we suggested we tip the jeep on its side. The manager did not want to do that and said let's try again to push the pickup backwards. This time we were successful and started back to the lodge. It was now eleven thirty. 

The next day I went along to help drive any game when needed and was glad to go home.

Richard Thomas Memories

 HUNTING TRIPS

The following are some of my hunting trips later in life when we lived in California from 1979 through 1997 when we retired and returned to Michigan.

WILD BOAR HUNT

My friend Ron Kohagura and Harmie called and said they were going to schedule a hunting trip for sheep and wild bore and wanted to know if I wanted to go with them. Of course I said yes, where and when? They said to Santa Cruz Island and as soon as we can get reservations. 

We were to fly from the Camarillo airport and were only allowed 50 lbs. of luggage each which included guns, beer or liquor. Both Ron and Harmie were beer drinkers so this was a problem. I on the other hand only drink the hard stuff so I took a fifth of vodka and Mr. T's bloody Mary mix, so I had no weight problem. 

The trip over to the island was short but beautiful. You could see the whole island which is 3 ½ miles wide and 13 mile long. Our plane landed on a grass runway in a valley. We arrived early afternoon and got unpacked and went directly to the rifle range to check our rifles to be sure nothing had happened to them on the way over. Now that everything was ready for the next day's hunt we were ready for dinner and a drink. To my surprise both Ron and Harmie wanted a bloody Mary before supper, so by the time we all had two drinks my bloody Mary mix was gone, so that was my last drink. 

The next morning came early with coffee and rolls. The first half of our hunt was for the wild boar. We all loaded into two jeeps-4 hunters and 2 guides. Our first area to hunt these tuskers was a small valley with rolling hills on each side. The guides told us that we should go up on the side hills and wait while they made a drive of the valley toward the hunters. However because some of the hunters were hung over they did not choose to climb the hills. I was not hung-over so I did what the guides suggested. Soon after the drive started a large sow came running down the valley and the shooting began. With hunters on both sides of the valley it was a wonder no one got shot. However the last hunter did have a clear shot and got the sow. 

From my position on the hill I could see the entire valley. Soon I saw a pig in the brush just in front of the guides but was too close to the guides to shoot, so I waved at the guides pointing at the brush in front of them so they stopped and began to throw rocks to keep the pig moving down the valley. I could tell by the way the pig was going that it was following a trail and would soon be at a small opening in the brush and that would be my best chance to shoot, so I put my scope on the opening to get a shot when it walked through the open area. To my surprise it stopped in the opening to look around. I fired and it dropped on the spot. To my pleasure it was a nice boar. I was glad I did what the guide told me to.

Richard Thomas Memories

 MILITARY SERVICE

In 1952 I enlisted in the Michigan National Guard.  I had to attend meetings for training every Monday night, and two weeks in the summer, usually at Camp Grayling, in Michigan, but one time we went to Fort Knox, Ky. I rose to the rank of Sergeant first class SFC and was a Tank Commander. The weekly meetings were at the National Guard Armory building in South Haven, Michigan. When I first enlisted we had the Sherman M-4 and M5 Tanks but the last two years we had the M-50 med. tanks. I had three enlistments for a total of 8 years, 1952 –1960.  

Richard is on the left.

Richard Thomas Memories

SOUTH HAVEN

I remember having a lot of fun in this Model A, going to South Haven and parking on Main Street in front of the drug store, or as close as we could, and watching the girls go by.  Going down to the beach to go swimming after the movies.  One time when we were swimming off the south pier with Lester Schrantz and Louie Koslink, Louie got caught in the undertow and was sucked into a hole in the side of the pier. Ralph and Lester had to go down and get him. It’s a wonder they found him, let alone get him out.  He had swallowed some water but was all right. We were all scared so we went home, and as far as I know none of us ever told anyone about it.

Richard Thomas Memories

 OUT OF GAS

 I don’t remember how old I was when this picture was taken but it reminded me of the time that my cousin Ralph Till and I were coming home one night in the winter time and we ran out of gas about one mile from his house.  I said to Ralph, I guess we are going to walk from here, and Ralph said no, we are going to ride. As he was removing the gasoline cap, I said how do you figure that? Ralph said get up here and pee in this gasoline tank.  Ralph had a 1929 model A Ford. The gasoline tank was above the engine and the gasoline was gravity feed.   Did you know that gasoline is lighter than water? Well it is. Anyway, in the bottom of the gas tank (all gas tanks back then) is a tube that sticks up about 1/4 inch or more, so we knew that we still had some gasoline in the tank. 

So... when we peed in the gasoline tank, the gas floated up to the top and the car started and we drove home.  The next day we removed the gasoline line from the bottom of the tank and drained out the water and gasoline and put in new gasoline. 

Richard Thomas Memories

SUMMER AT THE SADDLE CAMP 

 The first day after we unloaded all the horses two other boys and I decided to go for a ride. I picked this Texas pony because he was wild and needed to be ridden to settle him down so we could use him with other people.  We went down the road a mile or so and stopped to adjust the saddles, but when I went to get back on the pony started turning around and around. Finally he got away from me and he went back to the stable without me.  When I got back to the stable I sure was embarrassed. I had lost my horse the first day on the job. I got back on him and just he and I went for a long hard ride. When we got back to the stable he sure was tired and was not acting wild any more. 

 There were a lot of summer camps for both girls and boys near Paw Paw lake that came over to ride, so I got to meet a lot of nice girls. Needless to say, this sure was a fun summer.

Richard Thomas Memories

SUMMER AT THE SADDLE CAMP

When I was about 12 or 13 years old I worked one summer at Mr. Henry Meachum’s stable at Paw Paw lake across from the Pleasant View  bar and grill.  I lived in a one room building with only a small bed and a wash basin, and an outside toilet. I ate my meals at nearby restaurants and took my bath in Paw Paw lake.  I got to go home one night a week to get clean clothes and other things.  

One day a lady and her daughter came for her daughter to ride. She was around 5 or 6 years old. I put her on one of our ponies named Queenie and took her across the road to a field that had a circle that the horses would walk around. I started Queenie going around and went back to the stable to do other things. Then I heard the mother screaming so I ran out to see what was wrong. The mother was pointing across the road, and I saw that Queenie had laid down and the little girl was just sitting there waiting for something to happen. I went over and made Queenie get up and started her going around again.  Again I went back to the stable and started doing other things, and soon I heard the mother yelling for me. Sure enough, Queenie had laid down again. This time she got up before I got to her. I started her going around again but this time I stayed until time was up for the ride. All this time the little girl thought this was just great, and only the mother was upset. 

Richard Thomas Memories

PONIES AT THE HARTFORD FAIR 

I always had a pony at the Hartford Fair.  Some times I would have one from Don Chidester or from Bill Shepherd.  One year I had one from each.  I would sleep in the horse barn all during the fair. All the Hartford School kids were given the week off. The school authorities started that because of the 4H and because most kids stayed out of school anyway. My mother worked at the Methodist church tent so she would check on me each day before she went home. 

One time one of the ponies was from Texas and was kind of wild. I was riding him around in the race track infield when the bridle broke and the bit fell out, so the pony took off for the barn on a dead run.  My cousin Junior Till had his pulling team there and saw what was happening and ran his team out in front of the pony. The pony stopped, but I did not. Fortunately, I was not hurt.  

My cousin Ralph Till was at the fair the next day and said that he could ride that pony. When he got on the pony it began to buck and rear up, and one time the pony fell over backwards and almost fell on Ralph.  

PHOTO: I ran across a website with old pictures of Hartford. This is one of them -- Van Buren County Fair. I don't know what year exactly, but this was probably near the time that my dad had ponies at the fair.