Full Cry Column
November 2003

Clint Stubbe (Northern Working Airedale Terrier Association correspondent)

Well summer is over as I write this and what a scorcher it has been. This has been the hottest driest summer in many years and it seemed that most of Southern BC was on fire at one time or another this summer. Twenty thousand people were evacuated and two hundred and forty-four homes were lost in the Okanagan town of Kelowna as fires raged virtually unchecked through the tinder dry forests and closer to home the Kutetl creek fire needed only a change in wind patterns to bring it down on the towns of Nelson and Proctor. At one point there were 800 fires burning in the Southern part of the province. Many forestry workers myself included were put out of work due to hazardous conditions brought on by weeks of hot dry days with no trace of rain. At one point this fall the entire bush was closed for three weeks to all access of any kind effectively ruining the archery elk season I had looked forward to all summer. I drove home from work one evening prior to the shut down through a valley clouded with dense smoke as fires burned unattended on the hillsides there being not enough man power to attend to fires that didn't immediately threaten homes. It was an eerie feeling and I hurried through without stopping to watch.
This past week I have been working in one of the burned forests running road line in to salvage some the burned wood and it is quite a sight to see as all the underbrush is totally reduced to ash and you wonder if some of the trees still standing will crash down on you at any moment as many of the roots are completely burned away leaving only empty casts in the soil to show they ever existed. What was once a living forest is now lunar landscape in black and shades of gray totally devoid of life. As devastated as this landscape looks now I know that nature's powers of regeneration are formidable and in a couple years it will be lush and green again. Even now after only one short week of rain small shoots of the aptly named fireweed are already poking up out of the ash. My friends and I hunted an old burn area about ten years post fire and can attest to the fact that life returns with new vigor to these old burns and much new future wildlife habitat was created by many of these fires. Forest fire suppression is a debatable topic and while no one wants to see homes or property destroyed I for one was not displeased with many of the burns that occurred this summer.

Max Searls Sr. of McLeese Lake BC sent me a nice letter about his Airedale Buck whom I wrote about in the March newsletter. Max wrote: "Hi Clint, I will tell you a story about Buck's first cougar. This took place in 1974 and Buck was eleven months old when I moved to Canada from the USA in May 1972. The month before we moved my oldest son Mike and Buck went bear hunting close to home and Buck treed a large six-foot brown bear so I knew I had a good dog at that early age. Buck as you know had a lot of Lion Heart blood in his veins.
In November of 1974 I was checking lynx sets on snowshoes and moose season was still open. On the way to a set I crossed a set of moose tracks and decided I would take a look on the way back. I found the moose at the head of a big meadow and shot it with my rifle. I decided to take a light load out with me and built a cache for the rest of the meat, which I would carry out a load at a time every time I checked my traps. When I came back a few days later there were cougar track at the gut pile and ribcage. Ol' Buck looked at me so I said, "Get him" and the cougar was treed within a quarter mile. I shot the cat and skinned it and carried a load of moose meat out as well. It was a nice young tom.
When I returned next trip there was another cougar track and Buck caught him also in a short race so I took his hide out with a load of meat. After a few more trips I had all the moose meat out and I put the moose hide in the cache to use the moose hair for covering my lynx and fisher sets.

MY DOGS WORKING A BEAR HIDE

The next winter was a cold one and lots of snow; many times it was 30 to 50 below. I was checking lynx traps one day and had caught a cougar but he had pulled out but cut his foot in the process and was bleeding a little. I went back home and got Buck, one of his pups and also my middle son who wanted to come with me. I put Buck on the track but he really didn't like, he would go for a bit but then would come and check back in. I have found that when a cougar is bleeding a little my dogs were always a little reluctant to push real hard. We had left our snow machines and were on snowshoes and after a couple of miles we came to the meadow where I had shot the moose the year before. The cat had headed for the old cache and had pulled the old moose hide down and had drug it back down his trail to an old spruce tree that had branches growing right to the ground. When we came along Buck went ahead to the cache and started back stopping about 15 feet from the spruce tree where the tracks headed. I was less than 50 feet from Buck and could see fear in his eyes, at that time I could see the boughs move and a cougar's head appeared. I up and shot the cat between the lookers. When I skinned the cat out all that was in his belly was moose hide and hair. There were no deer in the area because of the deep snow and too much snow for the cat to get a moose so he was starving. That was three cougars that I got off of that one moose kill.
Here's a little tip, if you ever wish to keep meat in warm weather when in the bush use a cup of salt and a tablespoon of pepper and a tablespoon of allspice. Rub this mixture well into chunks of meat three inches thick by however long and hang it in the sun but pierce the ends so it cam drain. It will in time dry clean out and last for as long as you want. If you are traveling hang it out in the air as much as possible.
Max"
Thanks for the letter Max that is quite a story. Max as I have stated before is a trapper and ex guide and he ran Skelton Valley Outfitters for many years as well he is also a maker of custom knives. Max ran his Airedales on bear and cougar and is an interesting fellow to talk to as he has lots of tales to share.

I received a very interesting email from a Mr. Scott Glisson, which I will share here.

"Clint I was a Georgia Game Warden until last year and I had the honor to be selected as a K-9 handler. I did a lot of background work on breeds of dogs that could be used for law enforcement work. After the dust settled there was only one choice the KING OF TERRIERS. Remy was the best dog I have ever been around. Remington's drive and heart was beyond belief. His best asset was his tracking ability and game recovery. I can't count how many cases we made together. His career was four years of road service to the citizens of Georgia. My chain of command then wanted the German Shepard for the only breed to be used for service. Mr. Henry Johnson was behind me in getting Remington, and for that I will always be thankful. Remington was from Billy Harkins' Owl Town Kennels. His Sire was Steel and the dam was Lucy. Both are proven Bear dogs and also work on wild hogs. Remington's finished weight was around 55lbs. He was very hard and almost tireless in his running and swimming. I was told Remington was the only duel certified Law Enforcement Dale in the South and I believe he was an above average Airedale. He was used for a people location and also evidence recovery. During our work we had many adventures and also some eye opening experiences. But Remy was always looking out for me and could read people better than any person I ever knew. His last case was where a husband killed his wife and reported her missing three days later. The Glynn county police asked me to clear the home and see if Remy would alert on her scent trail. I asked for a worn article of clothing, a sweater was given to me. The sweater had hair and make-up on it so I felt the scent was going to be strong. I put Remy to sit and told him "take scent". And he did as I asked and started walking in circles in the garage. He then sat and looked up at me. The sit is given upon a known scent from the K-9. That is he found the scent trail left from the victim. I then gave the command to find and he left the garage and worked the estate grounds Northwest of the house. He tracked hard to the corner of the flower garden next to the wood line. Remington walked in tight circles and then sat in the corner of the garden. To be honest I was not sure what he was telling me at this point. So I said, "show me" and he started to dig up the garden were he alerted with the sit. I told the officer in charge of the scene, "She is buried under the flower garden right here". Detective Leon ****** of the county police looked at me and said, "Are you sure" and I said yes. I finished the area and Remy alerted on another spot adjacent to the first location. This had me thinking my dog was not sure of the source of the scent. But the lead detective used the find for leverage in his interrogation of the husband. The missing lady was killed in the garage and dragged to the flower garden where she was buried with a backhoe. Remington was right on the money, the depth was four feet underground. The second location where Remy alerted was done by the husband to throw off anybody looking for a burial site.

BILLY HARKIN'S DOGS WITH A CAUGHT HOG

The reason for the second alert now comes into focus. A transfer of scent from the victim to the backhoe then the backhoe relocated the scent to the second location. Not as strong but to the dog still worthy of an alert from the sample. Well to say I was proud is not giving Remy his just reward. He was proud after that day and he was called in on several other murder investigations. Thanks for the chance to tell others about a great friend and officer Remington Steel, Badge K-2
Scott Glisson"

That is a great letter and what a great feeling to know your Airedale had helped bring a murderer to justice. I think that Airedales are an under utilized resource when it comes to working dogs and as this letter demonstrates they do have what it takes to serve in that area. Perhaps they lack the intimidating appearance that seems to be the fashion with many working dogs but I know from personal experience that they do have enough brains and nose to do everything that I want a dog to do. Personally I don't mess around with cold tracks as I find they are a waste of time when a much better track may be just around the corner so I find that an Airedales nose is perfectly adequate for my style of hunting. The oldest track I have ever put my dogs on was a 22 hour old trail of a wounded spring bear where my old Airedales Timber and Turok tracked the bear to his den where he was harvested for a grateful hunter. Admittedly this was a blood trail but I was still proud of the dogs as they weren't trained on blood tracking and this may likely have been their first. They recovered one other after that on a bear that was hit in the early morning and recovered in the late afternoon. Nowadays I pretty much like to see the bear before I turn out and the shorter the race the happier I am.

The last item I have is a letter from Bob McClellan in Fort Jones California. He posted this on a message board and forwarded it on to me.
"It's still hot and dry here, and deer season is open, but I had a brand new digital calling unit in the side pocket of my day pack and I wanted to try it out.
The morning started out with a disappointment. I headed for one of my hike in spots across the river, with the idea that I could at least get away from the road hunters. Over the years I have been walking out a certain ridge on an old surveyor's trail, and I have called in coyotes, fox, bobcat, and lion by calling at intervals along the ridge. All this time I have been under the impression that this was BLM (Bureau Of Land Management) land. It came as a complete surprise this morning when I pull up to my usual parking spot and found a brand new "NO HUNTING, NO TRESPASSING" sign nailed to a tree!
I sat and drank a cup of coffee while debating what to do; then turned the truck around and headed for another place. I'll have to check this out more thoroughly some other time.
I drove to another place, then leased the dogs and walked up an old road to an abandoned homestead site. The spot I picked had been good for a bobcat and a gray fox last year. I set the caller about 30 yards from my sit down spot and turned the dial to the distressed rabbit sound. Let it play for a full half hour, and never saw so much as a blue jay. At the end of the half hour I turned a dog loose to hunt away from me, but he was soon back. I leashed him and hiked up a side canyon to another place.
It was hot by now, and I was down to a tee shirt (camo colored). There was an old bear track in the dust of the road, and fox sign was scattered about where they had been feeding on the manzanita berries. This was tighter cover, so I switched to the distressed woodpecker sound; stuck the caller down in a bush, and backed away under the limbs of a pine tree with the dogs.
Didn't take long! In less than 5 minutes I saw the flash of gray fur in the timber. The Airedales saw it too, and were on their feet and straining at the tie cords. I turned Kelly loose, and he was away after a fox. I turned Casey loose, and he left in a different direction; apparently after a second fox that I hadn't seen.
Hot and dry as it was, I didn't have much hope of either dog catching his fox. I was stuffing the leashes and caller back into my pack when Casey barked treed up the hill. I went to him, and found him looking up in a small stand of 4 or 5 pine trees. Well, I wish I could say that I found the fox and have pictures to prove it. The truth is I spent the next half hour looking those trees over as well as I could, and couldn't find a thing.
I have no doubt that the fox tapped a tree, and kept right on going. Dry as it is, Casey couldn't work the track any farther, and figured the fox was up. We went back to the truck, ate lunch, and headed for home. I'll rest that spot now until we get some wet and cooler weather. Next time the story could have a different ending!
Bob"
Just goes to show things don't always go the way you want them to.

Well that's it. The quote of the month is: "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." Aesop

As Henry Johnson always said: "Until next month, let me hear from you Airedale people and don't forget to put your arms around those black and tan dogs with the beards and the moustaches and talk to them. They are people dogs and family members.
Respectfully submitted, Clint Stubbe, Northern Corresponding Secretary for the Working Airedale Terrier Association. No rules, regulations, officers, dues or formal affiliations. It's more a state of mind.