I just got this email from Outdoor Life. Very interesting read. I hope its not a dupe. I did a search and nothing came up/

http://www.outdoorlife.com/pho...ers?cmpid=enews20111

Ben Lilly was an effective hunter for sure. He almost single handedly erradicated the bear and mountain lion from Texas.

Some of the old men in my family knew him and spoke of him when I was a child...as my family were houndsmen too.

There are a couple of real good books about him...read them both multiple times as a kid. The Best...Ben Lilly's Tales of Bears, Lions, and Hounds; edited by Neil Carmony. Then from the famous writer J. Frank Dobie...The Ben Lilly Legend.

The oldtimers always said that when Ben took to a track...that varmint was as good as dead.

He shot a .35 Remington Pump.

A friend of mine just got thru reading one of the books about Ben Lilly.

In it, it stated something about Ben Lilly's wife or one of his wives leaving him because he left on a hunt for either a lion or bear and stayed gone so long she got tired of waiting for him to come home.

I probably got that all wrong, but it went something like that.

I heard or read somewhere that once Ben got on a track, he did not stop until the animal was dead, no matter how long it took or how far he had to follow it.

Well, some women just have no patience. That's why you shouldn't take 'em huntin'. Circular problem.

Dobie is a great writer. "The Legend of Ben Lilly" is one of those books you'll want to read again from time to time.

Not Africana, but a contemporary eccentric of Ben Lily was a man named Nat Straw. There is an excellent biography of him called Mogollon Mountain Man by Carolyn O'Bagy Davis. It is published by SanPete out of Tucson. His stomping grounds were mostly the Gila Wilderness country around Silver City. He and Ben Lily knew each other and they employed some of the same methods. Straw walked everywhere and didn't have any use for dogs. Yet his exploits are equal to Lily.

Coincidence, I sold my fursrt edition copy of the Ben Lilly book to his grandson, a retried Arizona Wildlife Manager. I was pleased I had it for him.

I have another book along similar lines that some might find of interest.
HUNTING BIG GAME WITH DOGS IN AFRICA, Er
M. Shelley. Signed. Becktold, 1924 First
Edition. This one is pricey and if there is interest we can negotiate. I found one for sale on Amazon for $350.00