Hunting with Ben Lilly, the Last of the Mountain Men

This story, “Final of the Mountain Males,” initially ran within the Might 1948 challenge of Out of doors Life. Ben Lilly, a legendary hunter and houndsman of the American West, was born in Alabama in 1856 and died in New Mexico in 1936.

MANY OF MY FRIENDS had informed me to not see the outdated man in any respect. “He’s bushed and he’s and he’s harmful,” they mentioned. “He talks to imaginary canines, and he sees folks that aren’t there.”

I went out to the ranch close to Silver Metropolis, New Mexico, nonetheless, and located Ben Lilly, who was then about eighty years outdated. The pale blue of his eyes, as we shook fingers, disturbed me. They have been calm blue eyes, with all the unhappiness of a person who had lived a lonely life. It was the blue eyes you seen first and the spherical and wrinkled face afterward. His white hair had not been minimize for a lot of months and hung down over his gnarled ears and brow like a forkful of hay. His cheeks have been pink and he appeared to radiate latent vitality. If Lilly was as sick as I had been informed, his look gave no indication of it. 

However I felt uncomfortable in his presence. His placid look had an air of inquiry about it, as if he always anticipated me to say one thing. 

“Lions, younger man? I count on it’s panthers you imply. I’ve killed a heap of them.” It was apparent that Lilly wasn’t speaking to me, for he by no means once more glanced in my path, nor even appeared to sense my presence in any respect. He went proper on speaking, ignoring my questions and making no effort to remain near me or ensure that I had heard. We merely began strolling from the spot the place I had first met him and stored on strolling. We have been gone three days. I had not come to see Ben Lilly on any informal go to. There was a compelling goal in my questions, for I had undertaken a research of the American cougar, or mountain lion. This outdated lion and bear hunter was the primary from whom I hoped to study a lot. 

Vary Was Shrinking 

A profession is doing what you need to do after which discovering somebody to pay you for it. I used to be lucky sufficient to do exactly that. In 1933 I used to be supplied a place searching mountain lions. A bunch known as the Southwestern Conservation League, centered at Albuquerque, New Mexico, professed nice curiosity in these most colourful of American animals, about which there was little or no data, and concern that they have been changing into enormously diminished in numbers. 

Mountain lions, which previously ranged all of North America from Canada southward, have been now to be present in solely small fragments of their former vary, for probably the most half within the rugged mountains of our Western states. Lions nonetheless existed within the rank fastnesses of the everglades of Florida and within the comparatively untouched wilderness of central Mexico. It was solely in such wild spots that I would but discover sufficient cougars to get a complete story of their life and habits. 

The Southwestern Conservation League furnished me a automotive, a horse, and a horse trailer. My pockets bulged with letters of introduction to the varied skilled lion hunters of the Southwest with whom I would hunt to realize the data desired. My directions have been complete and versatile. “Discover out all you possibly can about lions,” was all I used to be informed. The undertaking was to take twelve months. 

Truly, I have to confess, the enthusi asm with which I ready my tools and began forth on the search was not due completely to the zeal to study. The searching fever had seized me, fanning my efforts to a pitch of anticipation. The cry of searching hounds was ringing in my ears as I began out. Within the ensuing months, on some tons of of lion trails with probably the most well-known hunters within the enterprise, I got here to know the cougar for what he is among the most fascinating and attention-grabbing animals in our entire repertory. 

However as I requested my first questions and sought a kick off point, the reply was at all times the identical: “If you would like details about lions, go to Ben Lilly. He’s the dean of lion hunters.” Ranchers, forest rangers, seasoned hunters all mentioned: “Ask Mr. Lilly, he is aware of greater than anybody else.”

A Tenacious Tracker 

In telling me about him, they recounted tales of how he left cash in banks throughout Texas and New Mexico and by no means stored any accounting of it. He wrote checks on scraps of wrapping paper or a fraction of bone. Ranchers informed me how “Mr. Lilly,” as they known as him, even behind his again, slept and ate together with his canines and adopted the monitor of a lion or bear with the tenacity of a terrier. And he had made a dwelling everywhere in the West searching animals for stockmen who wished to be rid of troublesome predators. 

However as I began out that morning by the facet of the outdated hunter, I questioned if I used to be not too late. Earlier than we had gone just a few hundred yards it appeared apparent {that a} younger cowboy of whom I had requested instructions in Silver Metropolis was proper: Ben Lilly was “as nutty as a fruit cake.” 

He talked quietly as we walked alongside. He recited the occasions and painted the scenes of his previous—which will need to have been filled with the baying of hounds and the thrill of the chase—with full lack of emotion. Though he spoke of panthers and bears by the hundred, the story which he wove together with his phrases was the story of himself, definitely some of the outstanding lives that has ever been lived. 

About fifty years earlier than, Ben had had a spouse and three kids again in Louisiana. There he had killed his first bear with a pocketknife, and with the blood had acquired a lust for killing. You can scarcely consider, as you seemed into his mild blue eyes, that he had killed a number of thousand bears and a number of other hundred mountain lions—excess of another dwelling hunter. Ben was a wonderful shot. He might shoot a lion via the paw within the prime of a pine tree after which drill it via the center because it fell finish over finish via the branches to the bottom. 

When his spouse, to whom he referred as a “daughter of Gomorrah,” thrust a rifle into his hand on a Louisiana morning a few years in the past, she informed him that if he should hunt and shoot, he might no less than exit and kill a hawk that was bothering her chickens. Ben didn’t come again from his spouse’s errand for nearly three years. His rationalization was that “the hawk simply stored going.” 

An Interior Urge 

Throughout that point he scoured the Louisiana canebrakes alone, searching he knew not what. Every bear that he killed appeared solely to make him avid to trace down and kill one other. It was as if he had an internal urge to find the fullness of life—which isn’t full. 

As Ben Lilly talked and walked, he revealed greater than as soon as that he regarded himself as a wild animal. Actually he confirmed way more feeling for a number of of the person lions he had killed than for any human being he talked about. He spoke a number of instances of “my pal, Narrowneck”—a lion he had killed within the Mogollon Mountains of Arizona a few years earlier than. He additionally informed of a litter of lion kittens which he had fostered after he had killed their mom. He fed them on milk and cared for them the most effective he might, solely to kill them too after they have been grown.

Policeman of the Wild 

“Panthers don’t get together with us,” he mentioned in half rationalization. Lilly, it appeared, regarded himself as a policeman of the wild, a self-appointed leavener of nature. Bears and lions have been endowed with a capability to wreak evil. A number of instances he referred to panthers because the “Cains” of the animal world. They couldn’t assist that, however evil they have been and so needs to be destroyed. 

Throughout a pause in his recital, as we stopped for breath on a little bit ledge excessive above the river, I requested him if he thought that each one bears and mountain lions needs to be killed. He didn’t reply my query for 3 hours, nor give any indication that he had heard me in all that point. 

“A person must be accepted into the household,” he mentioned irrelevantly. “You may’t reside with them and you may’t hunt them if you happen to aren’t a member.” Apparently Ben Lilly meant, as I gathered from his later remarks, that he regarded himself as a full-fledged member of the wildlife neighborhood. He professed fairly merely to talking the language which the animals understood. 

He recounted how he had addressed a bear which was dropped at bay on a rock. Simply earlier than he drove his searching knife, tied to a protracted pole, into the bear’s facet, Lilly addressed his sufferer in a court-room method: “You might be condemned, you black satan. I kill you within the identify of the regulation.” And, so he mentioned, the bear answered: “I can not escape and I die.” 

This verbal alternate with animals, dying and in any other case, punctuated Ben Lilly’s account many instances. I had the distinct feeling that he talked with them extra simply than with males, and that if I had been certainly one of his lion canines I’d have realized much more. 

It goes with out saying that his ideally suited was the wild. The methods of individuals and of cities he understood virtually in no way. Most of his life he had spent on the path, at all times by himself apart from his canines. After three days with him I used to be satisfied that he might speak with animals. I’m not sure of the opposite even now. 

As we climbed the rocky trails above the lowlands, hanging ever farther again into the brushy hills, I questioned the place we have been going. I had made no preparations for an prolonged journey; I supposed we have been simply going for a stroll. I hadn’t introduced with me a lot as a bag of lunch. 

Lilly, regardless of his age and seeming feebleness, climbed steadily, speaking as he climbed. The farther we acquired away from the scattered ranches, the wilder the nation grew to become, the extra he appeared to suit together with his environment. The place I had first met him, together with his again towards an adobe wall, he had seemed to be a damaged and dying outdated hunter who had been on his final chase. Now, as we paced alongside a cow path between the piñon and juniper hills, he appeared to suck new life from the odor of the woods. 

In His Component 

The farther we went, the lighter was his step. He swung his head backward and forward as he moved among the many timber, as if taking the wind in animal style, and his pale-blue eyes learn at a look each element of the path. This was his ingredient; he was certainly part of it. Each chook that flitted previous, each floor squirrel, appeared to know him and to acknowledge him as a creature of the wild. I used to be the outsider. 

However thankfully the outdated man appeared unaware of my presence, though he stored up a gradual run of speak. I had the sensation that he normally talked out loud to himself when he was within the discipline. It additionally started to daybreak on me that Ben Lilly hadn’t the slightest intention of returning to his ranch house close to Silver Metropolis, and that I used to be on the path with him definitely for the day, and doubtless for the evening that may comply with. A shiver of apprehension unfold over me regardless of the new solar. 

Ben Lilly was describing, with gory element, a grizzly-bear hunt within the state of Coahuila, Mexico: “Outdated Man Sanborn set me on him. They was grizzlies, 4 of them, and I tracked them down on my own and killed them. They was desert bears, light-colored with a stripe down their again; however desert or mountain, they didn’t get away. I killed the 4 of them, introduced their skins again to Sanborn. Skins don’t matter, it’s the meat that counts.”

X-ray Imaginative and prescient 

Fascinated by these bits of philosophy that Lilly wove into his discourse, I virtually forgot my apprehensions at being alone with him and so far-off from my base. He informed me, as an example, that he might see the interiors of animals and males via their skins. Certainly, these penetrating blue eyes may need X-ray imaginative and prescient. 

However greater than as soon as, Lilly implied that if you happen to stored solely the skins of animals you didn’t have something in any respect. Apparently their hides, and the garments of males, have been merely shabby coverings to hide what was beneath. A very perceptive individual might penetrate this exterior disguise. Why preserve the pores and skin of an animal he had hunted down, any greater than we might need the garments of a useless man? Of the 1000’s of animals that Ben Lilly had killed he had by no means stored a single pores and skin for himself. 

Though he spoke about folks a lot lower than he did about lions, it grew to become obvious that his opinion of most people was very low. He felt somewhat sorry for them, being confined in homes and in cities the place the air was “rancid.” The few folks he knew in New Mexico, he mentioned, “by no means took their place.”

Benefits of Solitude 

It was many hours earlier than I spotted what he meant: that they didn’t take their respectable place within the scheme of untamed issues. They didn’t match with the birds and the squirrels. They weren’t part of the neighborhood. Right here was this outdated man, extra lonely, extra peculiar than anybody I’d ever met, feeling sorry for me and for different people as a result of we had not been accepted into the wild neighborhood. 

Ben Lilly identified that there have been so many buzzing distractions in a city {that a} man might by no means discover himself, as he might within the solitude of the woods and mountains. There with the animals, amid the timber and ledges, the soul of an individual can develop. Solely in such environment can a person study sufficient to change into a member of the neighborhood. It grew to become apparent because the afternoon wore on that Lilly and I have been touring, as quick as our legs might carry us and the roughness of the path would allow, from my neighborhood into his. 

By late afternoon we had coated eight or ten miles of the rugged, dry terrain of the foothills. The outdated hunter gave the impression to be exhibiting his infirmity for the primary time since we began. His breath got here in whistling gasps and his speak dwindled to some disconnected sentences. 

He was within the midst of a potent little bit of philosophy that may have performed credit score to Thoreau, when he stooped ahead at a little bit bend within the path with a fast motion as if he had discovered a priceless coin among the many pine needles. He pointed a weather-beaten hand at an vague monitor or melancholy which he appeared to see—pointing extra to guarantee himself than to mark out something for me to take a look at. 

“He’s right here once more,” he muttered beneath his breath, and began off diagonally away from the path with a brand new burst of vitality. He half ran, at all times bending ahead and with each fingers prolonged as if his finger ideas have been delicate to what he hoped to see. He apparently was following a path which solely he might make out, although I might see no tracks imprinted within the débris on the forest ground. Every so often he pushed his battered outdated black sombrero again on his head and wiped his ruddybrown brow with one sleeve. After every of those momentary halts he began off once more, certain of himself for just a few yards, then hesitating as soon as extra. 

I had seen canines path this fashion when the monitor was troublesome, however Lilly didn’t seem like taking a look at any specific place on the bottom in entrance of him. It appeared as if some sixth sense was guiding him extra unerringly than the scenting capacity of a keen-nosed searching canine. 

A Weird Efficiency 

From his peculiar actions, I judged that we have been following a bear or a panther, however we had no hounds with which to trace down the scent and we had no gun to shoot the animal if we caught up with him. I had heard marvelous tales of Ben Lilly, however by no means in my wildest expectations did I visualize a grizzled outdated man who adopted a lion monitor on pine needles unaided by any canine. 

The entire course of appeared so weird, so out of conserving with actuality, that when Ben Lilly paused once more, as if doubtful as to which strategy to go, I ventured certainly one of my uncommon questions: “What are we after, Mr. Lilly?” These penetrating blue eyes appeared to bore via me with an virtually hostile air, as if he had all of the sudden change into conscious of my alien presence in his searching territory. Each time I seemed into these eyes they astounded me. Their mildness was deceiving. The placid expression which they habitually wore hid an internal man which few if any knew. Tenacity, stubborness, lust for the kill—all these properties have been there, however invisible. 

Following Phantom Path 

Now, in these far-off hills with the shadows of the afternoon slanting lengthy throughout the timber on the slope the place we stood, the eyes seemed virtually scary. I had the fleeting thought that the following time the outdated man turned his again I might slip away and make my approach again to city in some way. Ben Lilly was a madman and was following a phantom lion monitor into unknown locations. 

In these seconds when his eyes bored into me as if I used to be the hunted, Ben Lilly appeared to recall who I used to be and why I had come. “It’s him. He lives right here,” he answered enigmatically—and turned as soon as extra to renew the monitor. 

I fell in behind him and adopted step for step. When he swung his head, together with his shaggy white hair bulging from beneath his outdated hat, I swung my head too. When he dropped to 1 knee to look at the bottom I seemed there additionally. If I have been to study the lore of the wild, right here was a wild man who might train me. 

On this method, then, we traveled throughout one mountain slope after one other, via a low saddle and down right into a brushy canyon ringed by ledges of reddish stone. Within the gathering twilight we got here to the place a facet gully minimize precipitously via, in a shadowy black scar stuffed with brush and tangled bushes. Lilly, shuffling alongside the naked rock on the sting of this little facet canyon, threw again his head in order that the solar confirmed a ruddy pink upon his cheeks and the tip of his nostril. As I checked out him from the facet, he appeared like an outdated Dutch burgher, filled with the enjoyment of dwelling, who had maybe taken an excessive amount of ale. 

However Ben Lilly, regardless of the jovial outlines of his fascinating face, was not radiating good humor, no less than to the issues of the wild. He was nonetheless halfcrouched ahead, swinging his head backward and forward to take the wind. He was sniffing like a canine scenting a covey of quail. He uttered a single grunt of satisfaction, as if to say, “I believed so on a regular basis!” 

He dropped down under the little ledge of rocks and ran backwards and forwards for just a few steps within the brushy gully beneath. It was so darkish among the many bushes that I doubted whether or not even he might discern any tracks, regardless of how plain they could be. In a second Ben Lilly was pulling one thing from beneath a giant cedar. It was the leg of a deer, connected by a ragged strip of pores and skin to the remainder of the carcass. Subsequent, from beneath the leaves, he uncovered the top of the deer—a buck with stubby horns that have been in velvet. 

A Lion Kill 

Now, coming close to within the gloom, I might make out the lengthy sweeps and scrapes of some mighty paw that had gathered up this leafy débris to cowl the useless deer. Its abdomen was eaten clear away, with parts of the bowels and viscera torn and bloody. This shut, I too might scent the stench which Ben Lilly’s eager nostrils had caught on the ledge above. 

This was a lion kill. It was the primary one I had seen, however there may very well be little question of what it was, for there have been the cougar’s tooth marks and the gashes made by its raking claws on the buck’s neck and shoulder. I had heard that lions cowl their meat after they’ve eaten a meal, and the outdated man had adopted some dim path to this very carcass. 

The outdated panther hunter had whipped out a giant clasp knife and was pulling off the sticks and leaves that adhered to the haunch of venison which he held in his hand. With the gleaming knife he trimmed the torn and putrid pores and skin and dried blood from the highest of the leg. He sniffed critically on the clear floor which he had laid naked. Once more he gave that inarticulate grunt of satisfaction and swung the deer leg to his shoulder. It was virtually darkish as we climbed out of the brushy little gully and began up a hogback towards the primary ridge that towered excessive above us. 

The outdated man appeared vastly happy with himself and resumed a working line of speak, solely a part of which I might hear as I climbed behind him. “He at all times goes via that saddle,” Lilly was saying as we topped out over the ridge. “Panthers at all times go the identical approach.” 

I didn’t notice what a outstanding piece of lion monitoring I had witnessed, nonetheless, till I too had tried my very own hand at it, not as soon as however many instances. It additionally didn’t happen to me till a lot later simply how unusual and peculiar the entire day had been. We had began off with none preparation or provides. We had headed for an unknown vacation spot which we had by no means reached. We had adopted a phantom lion monitor which I by no means noticed. We had a haunch of venison with out firing a shot or with out even carrying a gun. On this entire improbable hunt I had been with a whitehaired outdated man who, everyone informed me, was mad. I definitely had entered a world which few have ever seen. 

Scattered clouds obscured the southwestern stars as we dropped down over the primary ridge. I might see the outdated man—wanting like a hunchback with the deer leg on his shoulder—outlined for a second towards the twilight arc of the sky. Solely by his working speak might I preserve monitor of him within the darkness after that; but he appeared on acquainted floor, and regardless of his age he went as quick as he had within the full daylight. 

At Mouth of Cave 

He dropped down under an outcropping ledge on the slope of the ridge, and I heard the haunch of venison hit the leaves as he threw it down. Whereas I stood, questioning the place we have been, he scraped collectively just a few leaves and sticks and struck a match. By the sunshine of the tiny flame that benign face of his was once more introduced into aid, and the sight reassured me; pitch blackness and a madman are an superior mixture. 

The little hearth leaped up via the dry branches that the outdated man heaped upon it, and I noticed that we have been on the mouth of a shallow cave. Because the flames grew greater and brightened, I made out an outdated pair of grey trousers held on a ledge on the rear. The stump of a blackened and wax-spattered candle was mounted on a projection above my head. There have been two or three outdated baggage that appeared to include meals, and a few flour sacks piled one on prime of the opposite. Ben Lilly had been right here earlier than. 

At that second he was pulling a battered skillet from below the leaves in the back of the cave. With clear strokes he whittled slabs of venison from the deer leg by the hearth. In just a few moments there got here the scent of roasting meat and the cheerful campfire heat mirrored from rocky partitions.

Hearty Urge for food 

We ate in silence—slices of venison, and skinny oatmeal. There was no sugar, no cream, no leavener however a handful of soiled salt, however the meal tasted scrumptious. I used to be amazed on the quantity that Lilly might eat. Chunk after chunk of venison disappeared via his scraggly beard. With out saying so, he gave the impression to be having fun with himself immensely. I had the distinct feeling that I used to be the excuse for his happening this tour which took him away from the civilization he so clearly hated.

Mattress of Leaves 

Supper performed, Ben Lilly merely lay again within the dried leaves by the sting of the hearth and was quickly loud night breathing contentedly. There was nothing for me to do however comply with his instance. I used to be stunned at how comfy. I felt.

The following morning, once I woke up, the outdated hunter was hunched over the hearth as earlier than, cooking extra venison within the bent skillet. He voiced no phrase of greeting; he merely shoved the outdated skillet towards me for my share of the meat. Earlier than I might eat, nonetheless, I needed to have water, not solely to clean the wooden smoke out of my eyes, however for a protracted drink, for we had had none for the reason that afternoon earlier than. I began off down the ridge towards the canyon under and didn’t come again for an hour. 

After I returned, Lilly was seated within the leaves together with his again towards the rocky ledge, studying a small and battered Bible which I had not seen earlier than. I ate my breakfast in silence. The outdated man didn’t search for, however continued studying half aloud.

Day of Worship 

That entire day we sat there within the leaves by the ledge. Ben Lilly by no means checked out me in all that point, so far as I can bear in mind. He stored on studying, mumbling an occasional passage to himself as if he derived enormous satisfaction from mouthing the phrases. Every so often he turned the canine’s-eared pages with an ostentatious flourish. 

As earlier than, I hesitated to query him—particularly now when he appeared so absorbed within the Bible. Because the hours wore on, I fidgeted beside the useless hearth. Once more I debated taking the again path and leaving Lilly to his solitude and to his Bible. I had stood up and paced backwards and forwards for the tenth time when the outdated man, with out wanting up and seemingly as a part of the verse he was studying, mentioned sternly, “Sit down, younger man; it’s Sunday.” 

Now, we had began out on this memorable journey on a Friday. So until, like Alice, of Wonderland fame, I had in some way misplaced a day, Ben Lilly was mistaken and it was solely Saturday. However I didn’t argue the purpose. The ranchers had informed me that at the same time as a younger man he would neither hunt nor journey on a Sunday; so every time his canines treed a lion or a bear that day, they needed to preserve the beast there till Monday morning. 

Lilly handed his Sunday and my Saturday in virtually full withdrawal. I heartily wished he would learn his Bible to me, for in that case I may need joined him spiritually. Because the day wore on I gained no less than a small measure of that utter satisfaction with solitude that was a trademark of Ben Lilly. There was not a single distracting sight or sound on this wild spot. Not one of the world’s troubles appeared to succeed in this far. There isn’t a doubt that the aged hunter had discovered an internal peace which few obtain. 

Subsequent morning we arose with the daybreak. It was chilly and some cloud wisps confirmed towards the rising solar. Ben Lilly was talkative once more. As we ready our breakfast of venison and oatmeal, he informed tales of bear hunts and lion chases everywhere in the West. He spoke of being lured from vary to vary, from state to state, by tales of larger and extra quite a few bruins and panthers. He had employed out to many ranchers to seek out predators of their sections. Apparently he had made a great deal of cash in his life, however had spent little or no. It was by no means the pay that attracted him, nonetheless; it was ever the lure of the hunt. 

Step Much less Sure 

We got here down out of the low mountains by a unique ridge. Even with the trail slanting ever downward, Lilly appeared extra faltering than he had been on the journey to the cave. He stumbled often and shuffled his ft and his knees would hardly bend. 

As for his psychological processes, if he have been mad he was mad in a set path. His each thought was of searching and the wild. It was all he knew, however he knew that extra completely, extra intimately than another man I’ve ever had the nice fortune to fulfill. 

As we paused within the shade of a tree on a rocky level, the outdated man informed me confidentially that he had written two books. I informed him I might be very a lot complimented if he would let me learn them, admitting that I too wrote every so often. He reached into his pocket for his Bible and, opening it, withdrew a chunk of brown wrapping paper. Written in a daring hand on the wrinkled scrap was a single line: “Panthers is unusual cautious.” That was all. Ben Lilly returned the folded bit to its place beneath the duvet of his Bible with the air of 1 who had let me see an important treasure. Then, with out additional remark, he began alongside the path. 

His Final Hunt 

Upon reaching the ranch late that afternoon, we shook fingers and parted. Lilly appeared hardly to see me as he turned away. His blue eyes have been misty and had a far-away stare as if he noticed clear via me to the Nice Past. 

He was not very distant from the searching grounds the place all of us go; for 2 years later, within the poorhouse on Silver Creek, Ben Lilly, the good hunter, died. He was alone on the finish, misunderstood by the people round him. The wilderness was his world, the wild issues will need to have marked his passing. 

Learn Subsequent: Ben Lilly and the Desert Grizzly, From the Archives

So far as I do know, the hunt which I took with Ben Lilly was his final. It was one I shall always remember. We tracked down no recreation and we fired no shot, however I realized extra about lions than on any subsequent hunt. Actually it was on these three days with a half-mad outdated hunter that I caught the spirit of the chase. I used to be contaminated with a little bit of the vitality and single-mindedness that had introduced Ben Lilly via a lifetime of monitoring to the top of the path.