BigGameHoundsmen.com

I've recently heard the name Cap Atwood mentioned and remembered reading a bit about him in one of Obe Cory's books. Sounded like there should be some interesting stories about him and his big game hunting.
Does anyone have any knowledge they,d like to share on here? Terry

I got to know Cap a little bit and had some good visits with him. He was not hunting much then but was traveling around and had some race horses running. Hollis and Blaine Atwood also hunted a good deal in the Colorado/Utah area.

Cap was another of those colorful fellows that should have written a book. He hunted very hard and had some good dogs. Like Willis Butolph, Cap really liked his Plott hounds.

Another really great hunter who spent a good deal of time on the Western Slope of Colorado was Chuck Griffin. Chuck also hunted in Mexico, and Belize for Jaguar. I bear hunted with Chuck a few times many years ago and he had some of the best trained hounds I ever witnessed. Last i heard of him he was near Lake Roosevelt, in Arizona.

Not sure if he was still around but I would like to know. Chuck was a big fan of the famous Plott line of dogs from Cascade Big Timber.

I hunted with Cap in '69,'70 and'71. I was pretty young then and still new at it all. I went there to hunt lions which we had very few left in Oregon back then.I had hunted hounds for 4 or 5 years and had not seen a lion track yet here. I wish it was still that way here. I learned where to look for them from him and that it does little good to hunt something if you are not looking in the right places. One hunt that I learn a trait that lions have was on Parachute creek east of Grand Junction Colorado. He got a call from the Fish and Game that a lion was killing sheep. That was back in the days when the government was still responsible and had to pay for the sheep that were killed. The dogs trailed this cat into a basin and could not get the track out. It had been three days since the lion had killed. Cap had me hike above the dogs to cut tracks going out. I made a complete circle without finding anything. He made some color full commit about me missing the track and headed out to find the track. He went about thirty yards and stop for a minute as to if he was thinking. He then turned and called the dogs to him and went back down the track the way we came. They came over a wind blown ridge that had no snow. When the dogs got there they turned up the ridge not the way they came in and found the lion going out. The lion had came out of the basin on its own tracks for a 1\4 of a mile before it left them to go another way. Now don't think the lion thought of this three days before we got there and did it to confuse us, lion as bobcats just do what cats do. They don't spend hours figuring out how to out smart the dogs. Back to the hunt. I went with the dogs after dark I caught up with them and they were treeing in the bluffs. It was in rough country with a lot of bluffs no flash light, no matches, no survival gear and a lot of ignorance to get myself in that position miles from no where. Ahead of me there was a ridge with junipers that looked like I could get down to the high way I saw before it got dark. I made it to the ridge working my way down in the dark. When I came to little drop offs I tossed rocks off to tell how far down to the ground, in that country there is a lot of 4 or 5 foot drops. If it sounded OK I tossed the least favorite dog off.If it did sound to bad I jumped off. The last one was not a high drop off but was steep and I rolled down the hill a ways before I stopped. You can get a lot of thinking done in a short time when thinks aren't going they way you planned. I am here so things worked out. Two things i learned that day lions will back track on there own tracks a long ways sometimes and to never go into the mountains without being fully prepared, flash light, fire starting material, food and a way to keep warm. Dewey

A guy that I was talking to this weekend brought up Chuck Griffin. I guess he's still around Roosevelt somewhere.

LMAO Dewey!!! That is one of the lessons you learned to become old and wise!!
"To become old and wise, you must first become young and dumb". Great story! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the story and info. In Obe's book he mentioned that the man had some impressive black and tans at the time and had hunted Mexico for Jags.
A couple of you guys could be writing those books now. I hope 20 years down the road we won't have lost those stories. Thanks Terry

I am Val Atwood. Cap's son. Most hunters know me as Huck. Anyone who wants information on Cap I would be glad to share what I know which is alot as he is my father and I hunted with him for 40 years. I would also like to re-newacquaintances with those who know Cap. My e-mail is valatwood@gmail.com.