Pam, Christine & Mike

MIKE – GRADE SCHOOL TO TEENAGER. I am not sure of the year, but think it was around 1957 or 1958 that dad bought a house from Kent Morrisdon on the north end of Parowan. This was the first house dad and mom owned. The house was a small two bedroom home with about 2 acres of land. Dad and mom had one bedroom and the four girls shared the second bedroom. This left Dan and I in the hallway leading out the north side of the house. It was just wide enough to fit a single bed and mom placed a curtain over entrance for a door. In the early 1960’s dad expanded the house and built a split-level addition with a kitchen and dining area upstairs and two additional bedrooms in the basement. Dan and I were able to move into a real bedroom and the girls were able to share two bedrooms. We still only had one bathroom and if you’ve ever tried to share a bathroom with four sisters, you went outside most of time

Dad built a horse shed attached to a chicken coop and tack room. We had two horses most of the time, and on occasion three. Dad bought a milk cow and I am sure it was to teach Dan and I patience and the value of work. When Dan and I were in high school and activities interfered with our milking, dad would have to fill in. It was about this time he sold the cow! We also had an old push lawn mower that was as dull as a hoe. It would take two of us to push it to cut the grass. Again, once when dad had to start mowing the grass he bought a new power mower.

Some of my fondest memories are of mom and dad singing old western tunes as dad played the guitar. They were pretty good and were frequently requested to sing at banquets and parties around southern Utah. As the family grew up, we all sang together at various functions. Once, the Utah Wool Grower Association asked the family to sing at their annual convention in Hotel Utah, Salt Lake City. I was about 10 and was just learning to play the guitar. Dad had Pam and I sing “You Are My Sunshine” at the convention. My three oldest sisters also sang as a trio at school functions, weddings, funerals, etc. All my sisters have very pretty voices. It was from dad’s old guitar that all or the kids learned to play and some in the family are quite accomplished musicians.

I can’t remember the first time I rode a horse, but by the time I was about 7 or 8, I could saddle them with the help of a bale of hay to stand on. I could just barely lift the saddle that high to place it on the back of the horse, and use my back with the latigo over my shoulder to tighten the cinch. Storm, a palomino horse we owned from birth, was pretty fast and I can’t ever remember ever being beaten by the local horses I’d race. He loved to run when you’d let him.

Dan: Dan was the inquisitive one. He was always taking things apart to see how they worked or trying to build something. When dad was building the horse shed, Dan took some of the lumber and started to build himself a hut, two stories no less. He had to be only 9 or 10 years old. When he finished it, he wanted to sleep in it and talked me into going with him. Dad was surprised we made it through the night without it falling over. (If you look over Pam's left shoulder in the first photo, you can see it.)  Another time he got the idea to build an airplane on top of Bish Stubbs’ old dilapidated barn just below our property. He thought if he built it on top of the barn we could just give it a nudge and it would slide off the barn and fly. He talked me into helping. We got long pieces of wood planks and packed up to the barn roof. I can’t even remember how we got them up there. Dan proceeded to cut them into inch wide pieces. Luckily, the project petered out before he had anything that resembled an airplane. Probably would have killed us if when we pushed it off the roof.

One of the funniest things I ever saw was when I was about 10 years old. When bedtime rolled around, Dan would rush in the bedroom, undress, then turn the lights off and hold door shut so I couldn’t open it, then he let loose of the door knob and jump in bed, pretending he was asleep. Of course I’d be cussing him up and down. One day, mom moved the beds around and when he made his jump for the bed, he hit the floor. When I opened the door there he was lying on the floor gasping for air as the fall knocked the wind out of him.

Dan was also a miser when it came to spending his money. Once when we were at the carnival during the Iron County Fair ( I was about 5 and he was 8) he bought a popcorn ball that cost a nickel. He had eaten about half of it and had me hold it while he went to the bathroom. While he was gone I ate the rest and he hounded me for two years for the 2 cents worth of popcorn I’d eaten. I finally had to go find a pop bottle and cash it in to get him off my back.

Early Hunting Experiences: After forty plus years of devoting my life to hunting I have numerous stories. Rather than fill up the pages, I will only touch on a few that helped shape my life. I will write about some of the other hunting experiences and put them in an entire section.

Mike & Pam with Dogs and 11 lion dad
       took in about 1 weeks time

Hunting became a big part of me early in life. Dan got a single action .22 rifle for Christmas when he was about 9 or 10 years old. I would tag along with him hunting rabbits and prairie dogs just north east of our place. I got to pack the bullets and drag the rabbits back to the house for the dogs. Once in awhile Dan would let me shoot his rifle. As I got older I would take dad’s .22 and we’d hunt together. Bullets cost about 25 cents per box of 50 and we didn’t have hardly any money to feed our habit. We were always on the lookout for pop bottles. I didn’t like dad’s .22 because it was a semi-auto and I’d shoot too many bullets, so when Dan wasn’t with me I’d take his gun. Dad was always willing to let us go hunting about anytime we wished because it not only was a wholesome activity, it also helped on the dog food bill, or to feed the mountain lion dad kept in a pen (another story).

When I was about 11 or 12 years old we had a litter of pups sired by one of dad’s best dogs. When the pups were about 4 months old, I had two of them with me just east of the house poking around an old wash. All the sudden the pups started after a critter that I thought was a rabbit, but after a few minutes, they had a feral house cat treed on the telephone pole next to the highway. That was pretty neat, so everyday after school I’d come home and get the two pups and take them hunting feral cats in the fields. The pups become pretty good trackers and we caught numerous cats that winter. Once I came home and let the two pups loose to go hunting. We headed north from the house towards the fields and hadn’t gotten a hundred yards when the pups promptly started trailing a cat. The older dogs at home could hear them trailing and were coming unglued. The pups were heading for the only house in that direction. It belonged to Bessy Stubbs, a widow neighbor. I was running trying to get to the pups before they got to Mrs. Stubbs’ house, but was too late. She was outside with a broom trying to swat the pups, as cats were running everywhere. They had two up a big tree, one upon on the shed, and another trying to get inside the house through the screen door. I was running around trying to catch the pups and haul them out of there when the police came. I finally got control of them and was escorted home by the sheriff. He had a long talk with dad and left. Dad just shook his head, and with a faint smile said, “next time don’t let the pups loose until you get past her place.” I had to go to Mrs. Stubbs’ house and shovel coal for a couple of weeks. The two pups were named Rebel and Buck and we got in more hot water a couple of weeks later when a big cat we were after escaped by running under a grain bin. The farmer accused me of stealing something and was becoming rude when Rebel just about got him as he leaped back into his truck. Once again the sheriff came and talked to dad. Several years later I read a book entitled “Where the Red Fern Grows” and a couple of years later saw the movie when it came out. It flooded my memory of the times I enjoyed with my two pups.

Mike Hunting Bobcat               
(Rebel is the black dog behind the spotted dog)

When I was 11 years old dad let me go lion hunting with him. He would normally hunt anywhere between five and eight dogs at a time. He’d ride horse back to be able to cover more country and keep up with the dogs once they jumped a lion. At my age he figured I could ride a horse well enough and keep up with him. After one hunt I was hooked. There was one small problem, dad hated to shoe horses, so after I went with him a few times, he took me out to the coral and said, “now pay attention.” He demonstrated his horse shoeing skills by putting one shoe on the front, handed me the nippers and rasp and I did the other front foot as he instructed. Then he showed me how to shoe the back foot and I did the same with the other. After he got through demonstrating shoeing horses, he said, “Now, if you want to go hunting with me you’ll have to shoe your own horse.” Needless to say I could shoe a horse pretty good by the next year and dad didn’t shoe too many horses after that. My horse shoeing skills helped later in life as I’d shoe horses for a little extra cash.

The first lion that we captured when I was with dad was when I was 12 years old. A lion had killed ten head of Eddie Larson’s sheep on what they call “plains”, about 15 miles north of Zion Park boundary. At day light the dogs hit the track off a fresh kill and followed it down Hop Canyon north to Straight Canyon and treed it in a big ponderosa pine tree near where the two canyon trails come together. The sheep herder, Rex Leigh, was with us. Dad asked me if I wanted to shoot the lion. I used Rex’ model 94 Winchester 30.30. I shot the lion a little too far back of the front shoulder. It jumped out of the tree and ran down into a dark forested draw. Dad was afraid the wounded cat will kill one of the dogs, so he grabbed the rifle and ran after the lion and dogs. The dogs caught the lion and had it bayed up under a tree. When it saw dad coming it laid back its ears and lunged for him. The dogs grabbed it again before it could get him and he reached over a log and pressed the gun against it ribs and shot it. When Rex and I got there, dad was as white as a ghost. He thought for sure the lion was going to get a hold of him. Fortunately, none of the dogs were hurt.

The next day dad taught me one of the most valuable lessons I learned in my youth. The lion was a female and had a couple of half-grown kittens. Dad didn’t want to leave them to starve to death, so the following day we went back down Straight canyon. The dogs found the tracks of the cubs and trailed them on the north side of the canyon which was a big lava rock hillside covered with a tangled mess of oak. We left the horses tied in the bottom of the canyon and hiked through oak and rocks. At lunch time, we were sitting on a big rock overlooking the valley below eating our sandwiches. Dad looked down the canyon and asked me, “Where are the horses tied?” I looked around and pointed off towards where we had left them tied. Dad said, “No, tell me exactly where we tied them up.” After studying the landscape I had to admit that I didn’t know the exact location. He said, “See that big dead ponderosa about three-fourths down the canyon? They are tide just below it.” He went on the explain that when you are in unfamiliar country wandering around, pick a landmark to help you keep your bearings. The landmark had to be large enough to see from a long distance, and even if you drop down in a valley or ravine once in a while and lose sight of it, you can hike to a high spot or climb a tree and see it. It will always guide you. Then he said it was a lot like life. There are times when we will get lost and lose our way, but there is always a way out especially if we have our landmarks. Dad told me some of his landmarks such as a temple marriage, his kids, etc. I have always remembered that piece of advice. At times I’ve strayed but was able to get back on track by climbing out of the obstacle and searching for my landmarks.