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Bill White After a long winter, we visited our off the grid cabin in Easton, Washington. Things looked great except for the deep cycle battery that provides both lights and water for the cabin. No matter what anyone tells you, a little 20 watt solar panel will boil a battery dry! This trip I brought along a new .223 Savage Short Action Bull Barrel Varmint Rig. I've been hearing these things drive tacks right out of the box, so I finally ordered one. As I was driving towards the back gate of Easton Ranchettes, I saw Bill White hauling 14 foot long two by tens up a tall ladder onto the new barn he was building, The wind was blowing at least 15 miles an hour, and I decided to delay my shooting for a few minutes and give him a hand. Bill greeted me with a big smile and took his glove off to shake my hand, he looked over at his hounds and told them to shut up... amazing, they went over and laid down and never made another noise while I was there. I looked over at the pile of two by tens, they were green Douglas Fir off Vic Monahan's mill, some of them probably weighed 65 pounds. I looked over at Bill.. "Don't you have any Friends in this town?" "You trying to kill yourself?" Bill adjusted his western hat and in his slow western accent replied " Most of us got jobs, those that don't are too darn old for this kind of stuff....... you got gloves?, if you don't I've got some in the truck". I accepted the offer and started shoving rafters up to Bill. Even though I paced myself, I could feel my heart pounding. Twenty minutes later, Bill came down off the roof and collected his gloves, "I think you just saved me a days work, let's go in the house and have a cup of coffee". I accepted and followed him to the door, "are you gonna show up for the pig roast?" I don't know I replied, we may go back up into the Cowiche Mountains again this year. "Well it was a bunch of fun last year, think about showing up". Bill poured two strong black coffees and pointed to some home made Jerky in a sack on the table. I grabbed a medium piece and started chewing..."darn good Bill". "Say... did I ever show you my latest Cougar hunting Tape? Wait a second, I'll run upstairs and get you a copy of all three tapes, you can look at them when you have the time". I started thinking about the Jerky? Always thought it was impolite to ask what kind of meat you were being served, darned good if it is Cougar I thought. Shag Upchurch, another good Outdoorsman told me Cougar eating was a good as it gets...even better than a berry fed bear. I finished my coffee, grabbed the tapes and reached into the sack for another jerked piece of Cougar? I told Bill I needed to let him get back to work, and thanked him for the treats. I started down the gravel road, went through the back gate and over the canal. I got on a logging road and stopped about 100 feet below the snow line, the narrow mountain valley 1000 feet below, and snow covered Goat Peak lay above. It was nice and flat here. I walked down the road with a small bore 100 yard target. I posted it at two hundred yards and verified the distance with my range finder. I took an old piece of carpet and threw it down in the middle of the road. Laying prone in the road with the fore stock resting on a piece of rotten log, I slowly squeezed off three shots. I thought about Brian in Fairfield, he's going to be shocked to learn I finally fired this Savage. I looked closely at the target, through the 10 power scope, I could see a group about five or six inches above the bull. I dialed in 24 clicks (down) and fired three more hand loads. I couldn't see the point of impact, so I left the rifle on the carpet and walked down to the target. Just to the lower right of the bull were three overlapping holes, maybe a .300 inch group! One adjustment after a bore sight and a group like this out of a brand new rifle......my lucky day! the wind picked up, I fired a few more and they started stringing, I realized I could prove nothing with the wind blowing and packed up my stuff. I looked down into the valley and saw my wife 'Sharon' walking our property, I looked at our windmill laying on the ground and thought how nice it will be to pour the footings and get the tower up this summer... one of a hundred projects that needs finishing. When we got back home, I thought about Bill White, and remembered the VCR tapes he loaned me. I picked one at random and popped it into the machine in the family room. It wasn't a Hollywood Production, but I was surprised by the quality of the video, and how many cats he's recorded on tape! Many, if not most off these Cats are photographed and let go, some were hunted because they had become problems and they were harvested, (JERKED?) There's one hunt that takes place off Bill's 'Home Place', a Ranch in the Methow Valley, a beautiful sparsely populated area on the eastern side of our Cascade range. The Cougar hides in an old mine shaft and Bill and his party go in the mine with guns drawn and a single flashlight with not so good batteries. The whole event is insane, the big male cat makes a dash for it and runs over the top of two party members. This is truly insane. My thoughts turned to living here in the NW and NEVER seeing a Cougar in the wild. How many have stalked me and sized me up for dinner? Cougars have been dining on small people more often here in the North West. Looking over these videos, I find an email address bswhite@eburg.com, and a P.O. Box of 663, Easton WA 98925. Phone 509-656-2960. If you want some real excitement on tape, ask for the hunt that takes Bill and his party into the old mine!
All the best, George B.
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