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Post by Lady Trapper on Mar 10, 2007 18:17:58 GMT -5
Most of these guides from the past are from the Yarmouth area. In the following posts you will read of a time and era gone by , of the men and women who lived a life very much in co-existance with the land. We will start off with: CHESTER GREY: Chester was a game warden and also a fire warden. He went to work in 1933 at the Tobiatic Sanctuary and worked there for eleven years. He became Chief Ranger and retired in 1963. Following Chester's retirement Robert Gates Sr. became Chief Ranger. C.C. Burrill was Chief Ranger before Chester. In the late 1930's and 1940's the beaver population was becoming almost extinct in the northern part of the province. For a number of summers Chester land- trapped beaver and transported them to Eastern and Northern Nova Scotia and helped to replenish the stock in those areas.. He was a moose-hunting guide for years. His father , Jusdon , was one of the most famous guides in Yarmouth County during his time. One of the people Chester guided was a writer from the United States, Bertram Spiller. Chester was asked by the government to take Mr. Spiller fishing. He took him to the Tobiatic Sanctuary where there were large fish. Mr. Spiller wrote an article about Chester.
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Post by Lady Trapper on Mar 10, 2007 18:18:33 GMT -5
LAWERENCE MOOD: Lawrence started guiding in 1915 in Birchdale. He guided for deer, and for fishing. He guided for bird hunting in Braemer and he guided with his brother in Dugas Lake, Digby County. Lawrence also had his own camp where he took hunting parties. Some of the people he guided came from New Jersey. They traveled to his camp by ox team. At one time there was a bounty on bear and Lawrence and his partner, Edwin Hamilton trapped and shot around one hundred bear over a period of time. During the war he operated a bus into Yarmouth to earn his living. He also sold firewood. He would bring the wood to town to sell and pick up groceries and deliver them on the way back from Ohio to Kempt. .
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Post by Lady Trapper on Mar 10, 2007 18:18:59 GMT -5
TOM JEFFREY: Born in 1902, Tom started guiding in the early 1920's. He guided at Oak Hill cabins for fifty-four years. He was caretaker for the last ten of those years. Most of the people coming to Oak Hill were from the United States. He began by taking fishing trips and later hunting trips. He worked for many years for Lloyd Ring in Birchdale. Tom also had a camp of his own on the edge of the Blue Mountains and another at Nephcead Lake. One person he guided was a Mr. Steckel who was the leader of the U.S. Republican Party and who worked for the Motor Vehicle Branch in Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. Steckel was one of twenty-five people who ran the camp. He was an avid fisherman. Another individual, Wilfred Koritem, spent many hours feeding squirrels as a pastime and he also hunted at Bartlets. Tom remembers guiding in Birchdale with the first aluminum canoes in the area. They would spend anywhere from ten days to two weeks at a time in the woods. A guide would make from one dollar to two dollars fifty cents a day. Lloyd Ring supplied the food and canoes.
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Post by Lady Trapper on Mar 10, 2007 18:19:28 GMT -5
ALEC JEFFERY: Alec ran Birchdale for Selwyn Ring for several years, starting when he was 16. He guided for bird and deer. After Selwyn sold Birchdale to Spencer Harris of New Jersey, Alec continued to work for him. Alec managed Birchdale for eleven years. His wife, Olive, worked there for twelve years, cooking, waiting on tables etc. Most of the guests were from the United States. Another guide at Birchdale was Bill Goodwin. He was born in Kemptville. . One person that he guided was W.H.C. Schwartz. president of Maritime Life Association and of the Schwartz Spice Co. He also guided Fred Nauss. There is a story told of a tame bear called Ben who would push the kitchen door open. Mrs. Jeffery started giving him bread and he became very tame. Eventually he started being a nuisance and he was sedated and moved twenty miles away but the next day he appeared back at Birchdale. After a time it was necessary to do away with him.
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Post by Lady Trapper on Mar 10, 2007 18:19:59 GMT -5
SAM FRANCAIS: Sam was born on the Meteghan Reserve August 10, 1873. He was a Mi'kmaq who lived off the land and was self sufficient. He guided for moose and deer and was well known around Yarmouth. One old gentlemen also a Mi'kmaq, fished and trapped with Sam; he was a good dancer and played the fiddle and was also a good singer. Sam was a craftsman who made baskets and axe handles. He spoke Mi'kmaq, English and French. Sam lived on the Holly Road across from a small stream. He had built a small cabin there. He roamed everywhere and at one time lived in the Southern United States. Clark Shatford and Harry Allen, two businessmen from Yarmouth, would take Sam to the sports shows in Boston where he had a booth and sold his crafts. Sam also had a booth at the local Yarmouth Exhibition in the 1920's. He also made canoes and would demonstrate how the Indians cut the bark off the birch trees and show them how a canoe was made. Sam was an excellent guide and guided many Americans who came to this area. Once Sam was following his trap line and a bobcat stole from his line time and time again. Each time he met up with the bobcat, he had no gun or bow and arrow, and so he was never able to kill the animal. As he got older he became sick and died on the Yarmouth Reserve.
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Post by Lady Trapper on Mar 10, 2007 18:20:32 GMT -5
VICTOR GREY: Victor guided in Birchdale and at Braemar. He guided for fifty years in Kemptville and also had his own camp at Billy's Island on the Moose River stream. This was located on one of the branches of the Tusket River. He guided for bird, bear, deer and moose. He had a cabin called Big Meadow Lodge and another camp called Pine Hill. Victor guided for Dr. Burton and would spend up to six weeks at a time guiding. Victor also guided for trout and salmon fishing. His father had also guided , mostly for Americans. Victor furnished his own canoes and usually slept outdoors. During the years between 1925 and 1970 he made four dollars a day.
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Post by Lady Trapper on Mar 10, 2007 18:21:37 GMT -5
LAWRENCE BURRILL: Lawrence was born in North Kempt in 1892. He lived in Kempt where he had a farm and a blacksmith shop. He also worked as a guide and had his camp called Beech Lodge. He guided people from the U.S. as well as local people. Some of the people he guided included a Dr. Bishop, Dr. Bishop Jr. and Dr. Miller from Kentville; Mr. J. Courtney and his wife from Halifax. Every fall Dr. Gay Klin and Dr. Muelbur From Amherst, Mass. came to hunt. They taught at the University of Massachusetts. Lawrence's camp consisted of a main lodge and a smaller lodge containing a living room and two bedrooms. Bernard Cosman was a guide at Beech Lodge for Lawrence Burrill. When Lawrence was guiding he would be in the woods for long periods of time.
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Post by Lady Trapper on Mar 10, 2007 18:22:30 GMT -5
CLYDE GREY: Clyde Grey guided for eighteen years in his own camps and also in Birchdale. He started at the age of ten and worked until he was forty years old. His own camp was called Oakland and it was situated at the head of the Tusket River. The other hunting camps were called Upper Camp, Moose Lake Camp, and Hannah Lake Camp. He guided a doctor from New Hampshire for eighteen years. At night everyone stayed in tents and slept on fur boughs for beds. A large fire would be built in front of the tents and the guides were fed the best food. The time period could be anywhere from two to four weeks or more for hunting. Although the days were long, Mr. Grey enjoyed the time spent in the woods. He told several comical stories. One such story was about a doctor who came to hunt. He guided the doctor to a spot by a lake where he saw a deer. He told the doctor to shoot, but the doctor stood for about five minutes and shook. This is known as buck fever. The doctor had quite a temper. He wanted to throw his expensive rifle in the lake. Clyde stopped him from doing that. The doctor was so angry that he went back to the camp and went to bed for three days. Another person in the party took him aside finally and talked to him. It took him awhile, but he finally settled down and wasn't a problem after that. Another story concerns the doctor's wife who also went hunting. She came to a brook where she had to cross by walking on two logs. One of the guides decided to carry her across and they both fell in. Another story talks of the time Clyde and his friends went to the valley to pick apples. They decided to take a taxi to a camp that was quite close to the woods. As the car came close to the woods where the camp was, it slowed down and they opened the door of the car and jumped out and ran into the woods. Upon coming to the camp, they asked the people for jobs cutting pulp. They then changed their minds and walked all the way through the woods to Kemptville. This story was about a man who hunted for thirteen years and never shot a deer. Clyde agreed to guide this gentleman to hunt deer. Clyde guided the man to a spot where they spotted a deer. The man fired many shots, but always missed. Finally Clyde fixed the scope of the rifle and he was able to shoot a deer. When the man went back to his home the deer was left back at the camp. In the spring he called Clyde and wanted to know where his deer was. Clyde checked with the owner of the resort and they found the deer in the freezer but by then it was not fit to eat.
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Post by Lady Trapper on Mar 10, 2007 18:22:54 GMT -5
EARLE SMITH: Earle started guiding in 1945 in Birchdale and Braemar for bird and deer hunters; and he also guided fishermen.. He worked for Selwyn Ring for a few years. Most of the hunters he guided were from the Eastern United States, from Massachusetts to West Virginia. He usually remained in the woods from two to four weeks at a time. Besides acting as guide, he also prepared dinners and cleaned up after meals. His pay would be five dollars a day. .
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Post by Lady Trapper on Mar 10, 2007 18:23:14 GMT -5
KEN MOOD: Ken started guiding at the age of eighteen in the Oakland camp, Birchdale and Braemar . He hunted bird, moose and deer. For twenty years he guided with Warren Grey. He began to guide in 1915 with a Mr. Charles Reeves, Sr. Oxen were usually used to get to the camp. Later horses were also used. On a typical fishing trip with a party of eight canoes, they would leave on a Sunday. They went to Oakland Lake, portaged across to Cranberry Lake, and then to Buckshot. The party stayed overnight and the next day started down the Sheburne River as far as Irving Lake, portaged to House Lake and then to Spetch Lake, on to Junction Lake, and down the Roseway to Upper Ohio, Shelburne County. One memorable trip was made with teenagers who knew nothing about canoeing. For this trip there were twenty bags of food with one case of milk.
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