Liberty Belle
Well-known member
Do you Canadians know any of these fellas? Wish we had more hunters like them down here!
Mountain men: On the law's side when the time is right
PATRICK WHITE
April 18, 2008
In books and movies, they are grizzled men with hoary beards and whisky breath who roam barren hills in search of beaver pelts and winter meat. They subsist off whatever scurries past their rifle sites and spurn the company of others.
Tales of Canadian mountain men have enraptured audiences for more than 300 years, since stories of the first coureurs de bois - unauthorized fur traders - started making their way back to Europe.
While he lives in a modern trailer, drives a new pickup and prefers a handlebar mustache to a foot-long beard, Kim Robinson, the hunter and trapper who bagged accused killer Allan Schoenborn in the hills around Merritt, B.C., on Wednesday, can be seen as the latest in a long pageant of infamous Canadian outdoorsmen who've flirted with both sides of the law.
"What struck me about this capture was a sense of historical continuity," B.C. historian Jean Barman said. "We forget living in Toronto or Vancouver that this kind of life still exists. But it's still very much part of British Columbia, and always has been."
In interviews with various media outlets, Mr. Robinson, 51, has described himself as a hunter and trapper who's killed about 200 mountain lions. He's crossed police in the past for killing nuisance bears and selling bear gall bladders. He swears, drinks, refers to police officers as "city slickers" and he carries a grizzly claw in his pocket.
"He should be back in the Wild West days," a neighbour told The Canadian Press.
Western Canadian lore is filled with stories of backwoods vigilantes such as Mr. Robinson who added their outdoor expertise to lengthy police manhunts.
In 1906, Simon Gunanoot, a Gitxan man living in B.C.'s Kispiox Valley, shot a dock worker and a stump farmer.
Police organized a posse of local hunters to track down the fugitive. They never found Mr. Gunanoot, who eventually turned himself in after hiding in B.C.'s vast wilderness for 13 years, ending the longest manhunt in Canadian history.
In 1918, Dominion Police on Vancouver Island hired local barkeep and hunter Dan Campbell to track down union activist Albert (Ginger) Goodwin. Mr. Campbell found and killed the labour leader in the hills around Cumberland.
And in 1932, the RCMP enlisted several Yukon trappers to help track Albert Johnson, the so-called Mad Trapper who had shot two Mounties. Relying on Inuit and Gwitchin trackers, a large posse of Mounties and civilians eventually surrounded and killed Mr. Johnson.
"I wasn't at all surprised that it was someone like [Mr. Robinson] and not the police who found the guy," said Scott Ellis, general manager of the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C. "There are quite a few trappers out there who would help out. They have a really specific skill set and local knowledge that police might not. If someone is holed up somewhere in the hills, you need someone who knows all the holes."
Mr. Ellis added that it's rare for the RCMP to ask for help from local backwoodsmen any more due to legal issues. Even so, Mr. Robinson wasn't the only hunter keeping an eye out for Mr. Schoenborn.
"It's the start of bear season," Mr. Ellis said. "I know a lot of hunters and guides around that area who were just going into the woods looking to assist."
Michael Schneider, an experienced B.C. guide and outdoorsman, said fellow hunters develop "bush wisdom" that provides strong gut feelings when it comes to tracking. "It becomes common sense after a while," he said. "You learn to look where there's natural shelter and water."
Mr. Robinson paced streambeds and south-facing slopes surrounding Merritt until he finally found Mr. Schoenborn after 10 days of searching.
Among the Guide Outfitters' membership, Mr. Ellis said, there are a number of reclusive trappers living in remote areas without phones or even electricity.
"These are people who are deeply in touch with the land," he said. "They don't tend to get a lot of good press. We tend to forget they exist until we need their help."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080418.LMOUNTAIN18/TPStory/National
Mountain men: On the law's side when the time is right
PATRICK WHITE
April 18, 2008
In books and movies, they are grizzled men with hoary beards and whisky breath who roam barren hills in search of beaver pelts and winter meat. They subsist off whatever scurries past their rifle sites and spurn the company of others.
Tales of Canadian mountain men have enraptured audiences for more than 300 years, since stories of the first coureurs de bois - unauthorized fur traders - started making their way back to Europe.
While he lives in a modern trailer, drives a new pickup and prefers a handlebar mustache to a foot-long beard, Kim Robinson, the hunter and trapper who bagged accused killer Allan Schoenborn in the hills around Merritt, B.C., on Wednesday, can be seen as the latest in a long pageant of infamous Canadian outdoorsmen who've flirted with both sides of the law.
"What struck me about this capture was a sense of historical continuity," B.C. historian Jean Barman said. "We forget living in Toronto or Vancouver that this kind of life still exists. But it's still very much part of British Columbia, and always has been."
In interviews with various media outlets, Mr. Robinson, 51, has described himself as a hunter and trapper who's killed about 200 mountain lions. He's crossed police in the past for killing nuisance bears and selling bear gall bladders. He swears, drinks, refers to police officers as "city slickers" and he carries a grizzly claw in his pocket.
"He should be back in the Wild West days," a neighbour told The Canadian Press.
Western Canadian lore is filled with stories of backwoods vigilantes such as Mr. Robinson who added their outdoor expertise to lengthy police manhunts.
In 1906, Simon Gunanoot, a Gitxan man living in B.C.'s Kispiox Valley, shot a dock worker and a stump farmer.
Police organized a posse of local hunters to track down the fugitive. They never found Mr. Gunanoot, who eventually turned himself in after hiding in B.C.'s vast wilderness for 13 years, ending the longest manhunt in Canadian history.
In 1918, Dominion Police on Vancouver Island hired local barkeep and hunter Dan Campbell to track down union activist Albert (Ginger) Goodwin. Mr. Campbell found and killed the labour leader in the hills around Cumberland.
And in 1932, the RCMP enlisted several Yukon trappers to help track Albert Johnson, the so-called Mad Trapper who had shot two Mounties. Relying on Inuit and Gwitchin trackers, a large posse of Mounties and civilians eventually surrounded and killed Mr. Johnson.
"I wasn't at all surprised that it was someone like [Mr. Robinson] and not the police who found the guy," said Scott Ellis, general manager of the Guide Outfitters Association of B.C. "There are quite a few trappers out there who would help out. They have a really specific skill set and local knowledge that police might not. If someone is holed up somewhere in the hills, you need someone who knows all the holes."
Mr. Ellis added that it's rare for the RCMP to ask for help from local backwoodsmen any more due to legal issues. Even so, Mr. Robinson wasn't the only hunter keeping an eye out for Mr. Schoenborn.
"It's the start of bear season," Mr. Ellis said. "I know a lot of hunters and guides around that area who were just going into the woods looking to assist."
Michael Schneider, an experienced B.C. guide and outdoorsman, said fellow hunters develop "bush wisdom" that provides strong gut feelings when it comes to tracking. "It becomes common sense after a while," he said. "You learn to look where there's natural shelter and water."
Mr. Robinson paced streambeds and south-facing slopes surrounding Merritt until he finally found Mr. Schoenborn after 10 days of searching.
Among the Guide Outfitters' membership, Mr. Ellis said, there are a number of reclusive trappers living in remote areas without phones or even electricity.
"These are people who are deeply in touch with the land," he said. "They don't tend to get a lot of good press. We tend to forget they exist until we need their help."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080418.LMOUNTAIN18/TPStory/National
