A life of hunting in photographs
Chief Cummings and his dogs
Where to begin. I’m going to submit a more extensive article to several magazines to see if they want to publish the work. But here, I’m going to share with you my father’s hunting life in photographs. Yesterday, I persuaded him to let me scan many of his old albums so I could capture his love of the outdoors in photographs. My dad has always, ALWAYS loved the outdoors and did anything he could to get into the woods or on the water. Even now, crippled with a bad back, diabetes and age, he travels to his beloved Alabama cabin as often as his health allows. He sits quietly on the porch and watches squirrels, birds and other critters as they hop, fly and crawl their way past his perch.
Dad on a bear hunt 1955
He tells stories of a youth spent collecting orphaned critters from cats to alligators as he ran the woods of Plant City, Florida. He played ball, helped his dad work construction, loved his mom, snuck in and stole oranges from farmer’s orchards, and did what kids in the forties did back then. During a stint in the Navy he was stationed in Jacksonville and spent all his free time hunting around the Florida/Georgia border. One of his first memorable hunts was with “Chief Cummings” hunting bears. Back then, the local wildlife officer actually helped set up the hunts. Dad still had photographs from that time. The photograph shows Dad proudly posing with his father’s Marlin rifle. Grandpa had shipped it over to Dad just before the hunt and he didn’t even have time to shoot it. Dad says it was a good thing he didn’t see a bear on this hunt. The firing pin was busted. One of the other hunters, a master chief in the Navy stationed at the Navy oridinance post manufactured a replacement later.
Dad eventually killed a 508lb bear on one of the hunts. As he sat there talking about the hunts of his youth he said “Son, those were good days.” Yes they were.
Game warden setting up the hunt!
How it was done in 1955