Anybody remember CLAUD DALLAS?

P

Plainsman

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For those of you who need a refresher, he lived in the wilderness areas of Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and I believe Colorado. (Correct me if I'm mistaken!) He hunted and trapped for a LIVING, during the 1970's and into the 1980's. BUT he did a lot of legal NO-NO's. I.E. poaching! He usually didn't buy licenses and 'camped' too long in one spot in the wilderness areas than he was supposed to. (Two weeks in one site is the limit, I believe.)

Finally, he was to be arrested one more time for these infringements, when he decided to KILL one Game Warden and I believe, either a second officer, might have been other law enforcement.

He escaped from prison after running, similar to RUDOLPH! And ran to the 'hills' again. He was HELPED by friends and finally recaptured one more time and imprisoned.

Would you call his lifestyle one of survival? I.E. long term survival. He stayed out, living off the land for a time, coming down to sell furs. Until he did his final illegal acts that cost him prison time.

Thanks for any thoughts.
BTW, does anybody know his current location/situation?



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Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
I believe there was a book written about him. If you're interested try amazon.com or maybe Loompanics, seems like I remember seeing it in their catalog. He was a helluva a woodsman, no doubt, but what he did was pretty senseless.
 
I'll have to look for that book. I try to find any books with any survival (or knife) related topics. Sounds like he lived the life of the old mountain men, but killing the game warden wasn't too bright.
 
Claude Dallas grew up in Virginia and became fascinated with the West and Cowboying. He moved to the mountains when he got out of high school, and learned to be a cowboy (or a mountain man).

He was trapping in N. Navada and S. Idaho when he was approached in his camp by two wardens - Bill Pogue and Conley Elms. A gunfight ensued, and he put both of them down. He then made sure with head shots from his .22 (a trapper practice), and tried to hide the bodies.

He was on the run for some time, was captured and tried, found guilty of murder (mostly because of the coupe-de-grace), and put away. He escaped, was out for some time, and was recaptured without incident at a motel in Riverside, CA. I think he's still inside.

As far as books go, I have "Outlaw : The True Story of Claude Dallas" by Jeff Long. Good book. More recently, there's Jack Olsen's "Give a Boy a Gun".

Ian Tyson wrote a song about him.

You can't condone murder, but I do identify with him in many ways.

db
 
DAVE B: Thanks for the added info! I was working from memory and that was in my pre-teen days! LOL

I forgot about the .22 usage. He was a cold killer, no doubt about it. But it always stuck in my mind that he was an outdoorsman that lived off the land too!

Thanks again!



------------------
Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
I knew both of the Fish and Game Officers shot in the incident. Conley Elms was as nice a guy as you would ever want to meet. They found him floating in the Owyhee River as he was too large to pack up the hill to dispose of the body. Pogue was found only after Dallas showed them the coyote hole where he buried him (the coyotes did the rest) several years later. Dallas was crossing into Idaho and trapping bobcats before the season opened. He had a great deal of support from the local population which DO NOT like government intervention. Dallas was not living off the land he had his bi-monthly trips to town for groceries. He did live in a wall tent out in the middle of no where all winter long. The area usually does not get a great deal of snow but in can get rather cold and the wind blows something fierce. I hunt in the area Dallas was in and travel in and out is not easy. Dallas is not a hero he is a murderer plain and simple a poacher and a thief but he did live a lifestyle some might envy.

Pat
 
Funny I should see this thread.Discovery channel is running an FBI files show about the Dallas case right now.

troy
 
I watched the Discovery show last night as well, because I had seen this thread. It was very interesting. I think he was an average outdoorsman, who thought he was some kind Daniel Boone. Some of his ideas were good, but you can't murder an officer over a ticket. That's what inner city punks do as well.
 
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