Days Gone By - Jack Lay
About the Author
Jack was born in Saskatchewan in 1929, the last of six children in the Matt Lay family. Their mixed farm in the dry 1930's hardly produced enough food needed to survive on and so the family moved to British Columbia in October of 1937. Arriving in the Fraser Valley in a rainstorm and seeing apples lying on the ground, he thought he had died and gone to heaven. A small salmon stream ran through their little farm just west of Abbotsford providing Jack with hundreds of hours of fishing, animal tracking and bird watching entertainment. Getting an after-school job at the local meat market gave him the opportunity to study the bone structure and organs of animals and birds.
With World War II in full swing, the need for manpower in the workforce called Jack from school early. By 1947 Jack had become a full time butcher, keeping him indoors away from the environment he loved, so, for a change of surroundings, he tried logging and road construction. Now a young adult, Jack had acquired two hounds and spent weekends removing raccoons from poultry farms.
In 1948, a new section of the Game Department was started called Predator Control was created. They were going to pay men to hunt predators. It was a job Jack just had to have. He was a little short on education but long on experience and the will to work. Finally in 1955, he was posted to Williams Lake as a Predator Control Officer. One year later he was transferred back to Abbotsford where he spent twenty two years acting on thousands of wildlife problems before retiring.
He continues teaching predator management at the British Columbia Institute of Technology as well as teaching trappers the art of harvesting problem animals and furbearers humanely. Jack continues to hunt, trap, fish and enjoy the great outdoors.
Short Stories:
In Days Gone By
This was the last cougar I hunted before being transferred back to Abbotsford in 1956
I had lived in the Abbotsford area most of my life. The creeks and Mill Lake were full of fish. Pheasants and ducks gave the hunter something to hunt all fall. Trapping mink, muskrats, and red fox filled in the gap over winter. Raccoon and bobcats gave me something to run with hounds any time.
When the B.C. Game Dept started paying men to hunt and trap predatory animals, I new that was the job for me. Five years later they gave me a chance to prove myself working under the top coyote trapper in western Canada, at Williams Lake in October 1955. Eleven men made up the Predator Control section for B.C. I had two good hounds for bobcats and raccoon but not a lot of experience hunting cougar.
The main job of the predator hunter was thinning the Wolf population, and then came the cougar hunting. This cat killed five sheep west of Hundred Mile and had them all in one pile covered with snow. When the hounds cut the tracks leaving the kill area they had a short run before jumping it. Two minutes later it treed. I think that was the shortest hunt I ever had, not more then 200 yards.
There were fewer cats in the early days then to day, and a lot harder to find. Logging roads had not cut into the backcountry as they do now. There were no snowmobiles, cell phones, tracking collars or two way radios. All we had to travel on were snowshoes and lots of will power. When we left the house in the morning you were on your own. If a cougar track was cut most often the hounds had to be held until one was sure the cat was near by so it would tree quickly, and we would not loose track of the hounds in this vast road less forest.
Watch For Hypothermia After the Kill
A farmer in the Lytton area called one evening to complain about four cougar that came very close to his barn the night before, and he was concerned about having that many cougar near by.
This was early March 1958. At that time because of very few cougar hunters it was my job to remove any cougar that could be called a danger to humans or live stock. A friend was visiting when the call came in. I told the farmer I would be there at daylight. My friend was a big game hunter but had not been on a cougar hunt. He asked if he could come along. I told him that I would pick him up at 4 am.
Over coffee at the farm, the story was told about the cats and where they had gone, and how much better they would feel if we could remove them all. The tracks crossed the road and creek then up into a deer winter range. Not knowing the lay of the land and the fact that the next road was twenty-two miles east, I chose to keep the hounds with me. Climbing in 15 inches of snow for five hours brought out the sweat. On a small flat we found a deer kill, about a half hour later we had four cougar lying in one pile. Now it was tea time, I got a small fire going and the tea can full of snow hung over it. Then I noticed my friend had taken off his coat and fur cap. He also said he was to hot and mumbled something about taking his shirt off. I had not seen anyone with Hypothermia before but I new he had it. I got his coat and cap back on and got him pulling the cougar down the hill. It took an hour to get him warmed up and thinking strait. If he had been alone it could have been his last hunt.
A COUGAR IN THE ABBOTSFORD AREA IN 1941
In 1941 I had a paper route west of Abbotsford that took me from South Fraser Way north on Mt Lehman Rd. to Downes, then east to Townline then south and back to south Fraser Way. The big old growth trees had only been cut just a few years. Some of the smaller trees that were not cut and a lot of new growth created some thick brush, between the three small farms on that one-mile stretch of Townline road. The big Center Ice building is on that farm today. The farmer came out for his paper and told me the Game Warden had just shot a cougar that had killed his dog last night. I had to see the cougar, as I had not seen one before. In just a few minutes the Warden came out the driveway with the cougar lying over the fender of the car. To me that was a big cat! Little did I know I would be hunting bobcat in the same area ten years later with my hounds.
This may have been the cougar by the look of the car.
Most people think this new land in the 1940s would be full of wildlife, well I can tell you a teenage boy spent as much time outdoors as day light allowed. Fishing the creeks and looking for anything to shoot with a home made slingshot, walking to school winter and summer. There were no coyotes, beaver, just few raccoon and red fox. I only remember seeing one deer in four years. The clearing of land for farms created a great habitat for the small predators that feed on mice, chickens and ducks. By the mid fifties the red fox populations were exploding. When coyote control was stopped in the 72 and the coyotes took over the Fraser Valley they killed out 99% of the red Fox and most of the raccoon. The black bear population is growing year by year. In the mid fifties I worked as the Predatory Animal Hunter out of Abbotsford. Only three or four bears had to be put down each year, to day it is more like sixty or seventy in the Fraser Valley. The hounds men of the Fraser valley can enjoy there sport running bobcat, cougar and black bear on the hills around this populated area of the Fraser Valley. Deer numbers are also much higher now then in the fifties. Beaver are a real problem, flooding farmland and cutting trees.
Keep Your Hounds Toe Nails Short
We some times wonder why a hound is not working as hard as he can. Well it could be a lot of things; one could be a sore toe. Have you ever had an ingrown toe nail? It’s not life threatening but it will slow you down, and if not taking care of it will knock you off that foot. It also a great place for infection to start. A long nail may put presser on the joints in the foot and become very sore. During our long winters with snow for months the toenails may grow longer then they do in a snow free area. Or when the hound has not been worked for a long time. The nail may stay short by wearing off when running over gravel and dirt. If you have a concrete run it may keep the nails warn down and cutting may not be necessary. If the dogs are run on roads often this will keep the foot and the nails in good condition.
Trimming the long toenail can be a problem. Most dogs don’t like having their nails cut, and made more difficult if not done right. It’s a must you use the proper nail cutter. They are available at the pet shops or other places that sell pet equipment. When making the first cut, make sure the cut is not to short, go little by little. If a drop of blood comes after cutting it indicates you may be a bit to deep and close to a nerve ending. If a stream of blood comes out take note that the cut was deep, and painful to the dog making him dislike having the job done. If this is the first time you try cutting the nails do it a week before going on a long hunt.
Bobcat Tricks on Bare Ground
One would think we have two kinds of bobcats in British Columbia. The ones living on the coast in the thick under brush and large Cedar and Fir trees. The other in open park like Pine forest. When hunting this little cat on the coast they most often play games with your hounds. One of the favorite tricks is to get up on a fallen tree that they can travel a long distant off the ground. In Vine Maple country this can be a hundred yards at times, leaving the hounds were he left the ground. Away from the howling hounds the smart cat will just sit and watch until the hunter leaves, thinking the hounds had false treed. Working on a bobcat that loved to eat domestic ducks. I hunted this one three times only to have him out smart the hounds and me. He would run into the same area each time. Climb a tree I could never find him in. Knowing he was hiding in the area some place I started making a larger circle looking up all the trees. Taking a hound on a leash in case he tried to jump and run. As well looking for the give away tell tail sent of cat urine. Every animal will relieve them self when they get nervous. This cat held it for over an hour before letting it go, from a branch up about forty feet and over a hundred yards from the treeing hounds, where he had left the ground. The hound on the leash soon called the rest over and you can guess what happened next.
A Bobcat taken at Mt Lehman 1955
A Conservation Officer called at 5 pm. to report two cougar had been seen inside a porch when the residents returned home. And the people were afraid the cats might attack their kids. On the scene the next morning with four hounds ready for the hunt. The residents gave me a long story how the dog had barked all night and the cats were not far away. I let two hounds out and took the others on leash, and started making loops around the out side of the yard. The hounds didn’t work as they normaly do, walking stiff legged and just looking different. Thinking the cats may have moved out farther I took a much larger walk around. The hounds found nothing much of interest. I drove to town for lunch then worked the woods around much further until dark and found nothing. The next morning I found no sign of the cats, telling the CO something about this case was funny and returned home.
Some Complaints Of Wildlife Are Lies
Some people only think of themselves.
Check The Weather and Map Before you turn out
If you are going to hunt an area that you are familiar with the weather may not be much of a problem, but hunting over new ground can be a real disaster. Snow, fog, darkness and private land are things we often don’t think much of, until you are in trouble, that could cost you a hound or two. With all the new equipment that is available to hang on your hound so you can find them if in trouble, is not danger free. Most of our hunts start from a road, be it a logging, mining ranch, road or hi-way a working hound can get hit on any of them, night or day when working a track. A lost or working hound is not very smart when it comes to traffic. The map of the new area will show all the roads and some of the private land. It fails to show you what roads are washed out and are no longer passable, and now we may find a lot of bug-killed trees across the road as well. Some of the private land may have no hunting signs all over it and a farmer that dislikes dogs that may run his stock. Remember a farmer or rancher has the right to shoot a dog running his stock. It may be he thought they are running his stock. But that will not bring the dog back. Being caught out in a new area in a real snowstorm or after dark, or when a fog bank moves in is no fun. Yes your directional finders will show what way to go but it fails to tell you of the canyon or an old burned area that is almost impossible to cross in the best of days. With luck your day will be a memory of a bad day that turned out to be a good one.
