Elmer Miller: Pistol River Man Earns Sobriquet “Greatest Little Big-Game Hunter"
As It Was: Tales from the State of Jefferson by Laurel Gerkman, Episode 1468 at www.asitwas.org
Welcome to As It Was: Tales from the State of Jefferson
In 1928, a writer for the Hunter-Trader-Trapper magazine traveled from Ohio to the Southern Oregon coastal community of Pistol River for an interview with Elmer Miller. The ensuing article would bestow upon Miller the sobriquet of “greatest little big-game hunter” in the United States. His career ended unexpectedly.
Miller, shorter than average, learned from his father how to breed and raise powerful hunting hounds. At age 10, Miller shot a bear. He killed his first cougar when he was 14.
Miller usually went hunting accompanied only by his pack of dogs. Together, they became legendary. Neighboring ranchers depended on them to protect their domestic livestock from a wilderness full of predators.
Miller’s legend grew and hunting parties came from faraway cities to be guided into the mountains and listen to his campfire tales. Asked when he was 43 years old to tally his quarry Miller calculated he had killed 660 bears and nearly 400 mountain lions.
Two years later, Miller died, the result of an encounter with a wounded bear.
Today' s episode of As It Was was written by Laurel Gerkman, the program producer is Raymond Scully. I’m Shirley Patton. As It Was is a co-production of JPR and the Southern Oregon Historical Society. To share stories or learn more about the series, visit asitwas – dot.org.
Sources: Sponaugle, Ella. Pistol River Collections. Curry County Historical Press, 2003. Brainard Files, Curry County Historical Society.