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Ben Lilly Extraordinare Viint. Photo # 9 #7682459
09/30/22 02:23 PM
09/30/22 02:23 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 62,661
Minnesota
330-Trapper Offline OP

trapper
330-Trapper  Offline OP

trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 62,661
Minnesota
AMERICAN HOUNDSMAN BEN LILLY-

After the honorable David Crockett of Tennessee, Ben Lilly was said to be the greatest bear hunter in American history. He reputedly killed more bear with a knife in hand-to-hand combat than Ol’ Davy ever attempted to “grin” down. In truth, Ben Lilly no doubt killed more black bears and mountain lions, or panthers, as he called them, during his lifetime than any hunter in history.
Realizing in his late 20s that he yearned for a life in the wilderness and that he could indeed make a living by hunting “varmints,” he became very skilled at tracking down black bears, mountain lions and eventually, a small number of western grizzlies. A deeply religious man who refused to hunt on the Sabbath, Lilly truly believed that eradicating the land of bears and panthers was his God-given duty, and he dedicated his life to that pursuit.
Ben Vernon Lilly (1856-1936) was born in Wilcox County, Alabama. His family migrated to Kemper County, Mississippi, where he spent most his boyhood. He was raised with a strong Christian ethic. Lilly’s father, Albert, was a blacksmith, and young Ben took to the trade and learned it well.
When Lilly was 12, his parents sent him to a military academy in Jackson, Mississippi, where he promptly ran away. His whereabouts remained unknown to the family for nearly a decade until his bachelor uncle and namesake, Vernon Lilly, ran into him by chance in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was working in a blacksmith shop. Uncle Vernon offered his 23-year-old nephew a job on his thriving cotton farm in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana. Within a year, Uncle Vernon died, and Lilly inherited the farm.
One day at the farm, he had a chance encounter with a black bear. During the ensuing scuffle, he ended up killing the “varmint” with one of his handmade knives. The experience changed his life. He had found his true calling. The thrill of the hunt beckoned and, in due time, he would heed its call.
[Linked Image]

Last edited by 330-Trapper; 09/30/22 02:25 PM. Reason: Numbered photo# 9

NRA and NTA Life Member
www.BackroadsRevised@etsy.com




Re: Ben Lilly Extraordinare Viint. Photo # 9 [Re: 330-Trapper] #7682487
09/30/22 02:58 PM
09/30/22 02:58 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,432
Georgia
warrior Offline
trapper
warrior  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,432
Georgia
One the finest Bama boys ever produced. Many of us Bama boys wanted to follow in his footsteps.


[Linked Image]
Re: Ben Lilly Extraordinare Viint. Photo # 9 [Re: 330-Trapper] #7682518
09/30/22 04:15 PM
09/30/22 04:15 PM
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 4,913
Idaho Falls, ID
G
Grandpa Trapper Offline
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Grandpa Trapper  Offline
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G

Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 4,913
Idaho Falls, ID
Why would he want to eradicate the land of black bears?

Re: Ben Lilly Extraordinare Viint. Photo # 9 [Re: 330-Trapper] #7682522
09/30/22 04:32 PM
09/30/22 04:32 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,432
Georgia
warrior Offline
trapper
warrior  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,432
Georgia
That was the day of free range. You fenced your garden plot and turned your cows, hogs, sheep and goats out to run the woods. My great grand dad had a decent sized herd of woods cattle and some hogs. You would round them up once a year and earmark them.


[Linked Image]
Re: Ben Lilly Extraordinare Viint. Photo # 9 [Re: warrior] #7682534
09/30/22 05:05 PM
09/30/22 05:05 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,059
Ames, IA
MikeTraps2 Offline
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MikeTraps2  Offline
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Posts: 2,059
Ames, IA
Frank Hibben has some stories about hunting with Ben Lilly in his books Hunting American Lions and Hunting American Bears, very good reading.


Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure

Theodore Roosevelt
Re: Ben Lilly Extraordinare Viint. Photo # 9 [Re: 330-Trapper] #7682540
09/30/22 05:17 PM
09/30/22 05:17 PM
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 284
Montana/Florida
G
Gene Dziza Offline
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Gene Dziza  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 284
Montana/Florida
That is a great picture of Ben Lilly. I drove to the the Ben Lilly monument in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. Ben would get on a lion track on bare ground and follow it for days if need be. He just slept out where he was with a bedroll, and would pick up the track the next morning. They say he was a religious man and would catch his dogs on Saturday night and pick up the track again on Monday morning, but he took Sunday off. Quite a character, that Ben Lilly. On the same trip I looked up Dale Lee in Tucson Arizona and drove to his house but was not able to meet up with him. That would have been something to meet him. You guys remember Wiley Carroll? He invited me to his place as I recall in Ely or Elko Nevada, I believe. I would have loved to meet him too. I still have letters from Wiley that I cherish. I have a list of dry ground lion hunters he recommended I hunt with. I remember Marvin Glen and Karen LeCount on that list.

Re: Ben Lilly Extraordinare Viint. Photo # 9 [Re: 330-Trapper] #7682557
09/30/22 05:51 PM
09/30/22 05:51 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,976
MD
D
DaveP Offline
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DaveP  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,976
MD
Maryland's Meshach Browning was credited with 4 or 500 bears over 44 years

[Linked Image]

Last edited by DaveP; 09/30/22 05:52 PM.
Re: Ben Lilly Extraordinare Viint. Photo # 9 [Re: 330-Trapper] #7682562
09/30/22 06:12 PM
09/30/22 06:12 PM
Joined: Jan 2022
Posts: 1,752
Eastern W by God V
Crowfoot Offline
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Posts: 1,752
Eastern W by God V
Originally Posted by 330-Trapper
AMERICAN HOUNDSMAN BEN LILLY-


One day at the farm, he had a chance encounter with a black bear. During the ensuing scuffle, he ended up killing the “varmint” with one of his handmade knives.
[Linked Image]


Looks of that hat n' jacket, he'd just gotten done with one
smile
Whataman !

Re: Ben Lilly Extraordinare Viint. Photo # 9 [Re: 330-Trapper] #7682568
09/30/22 06:27 PM
09/30/22 06:27 PM
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 5,849
ohio
Ohio Wolverine Offline
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Ohio Wolverine  Offline
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Posts: 5,849
ohio
I've read a few stories about him , one where he went to Japan after a bear for some reason, it was hard for the Japanese to hunt.
He would sleep in a tree also.
Very interesting individual.


We have met the enemy and the enemy is us!
Re: Ben Lilly Extraordinare Viint. Photo # 9 [Re: Ohio Wolverine] #7682581
09/30/22 06:50 PM
09/30/22 06:50 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,140
Texas Hill Country
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Cedar Hacker Offline
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,140
Texas Hill Country
There used to be a member on here whose grandmother or great grandmother knew Ben Lily when he was out in Arizona and New Mexico and he had a picture of Lily that she had.

I just can't remember who it was.


Sit on your horse on top of a ridge, look out across the country and tell me there is no God.

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