Open season on lookouts

"Lloyd Woodell, who was stationed on Mt. Emily as cooperative lookout, one day shortly after the opening of the hunting season, was stalking a pine squirrel near the tower with the idea of using it to replenish his larder. He was carrying his 22 rifle, his arm in front of him, as the woodsmen often do when expecting a quick shot. Suddenly he heard a loud report and his right arm dropped, numbed and almost paralyzed, to his side. For a split second he did not know what had happened. Then he realized that he had been shot. An instant later he saw a man come out from behind some bushes and trees about a hundred yards away with his rifle in his hands. When the man saw Lloyd he turned and ran, crashing down the hill at a great pace and not once looking back. It was too far to recognize the fellow or to identify him, besides Lloyd had other things to attend to. First he examined the wound which was across his right forearm and quite deep but not serious. He bandaged it tightly to stop the bleeding and then went to examine the tracks of the coward who had shot without knowing at what he aimed and after he had seen that it was a man that did not have the nerve or the manhood to face the issue. Due to the carpet of needles and grasses Lloyd was unable to find any tracks that were plain enough to be of any value. Then as he was feeling weak from loss of blood and from shock of the high-powered bullet he returned to the cabin.

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Lloyd told no one of the affair until some time after the fire season, for as he said, "My arm got along nicely and I was afraid that you would send me out for medical attention if you heard that I had been shot and I didn't want to lose the time."

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If this shot had been three inches to one side it would have been fatal, as it is Lloyd Woodell will carry the scar to his grave, because someone was criminally careless and shot without seeing the horns.

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How long must we be content with a state law that provides a heavier penalty for accidently shooting an elk or mountain sheep than man?" Contributed by G.J. Tucker

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From the "Six Twenty-Six" dated January 1929.