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55 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, December 9, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 28, 2004 Grissom documents Lake Creek’s storied hunting past By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune LAKE CREEK — Bill Nussbaum wanted nothing more than to bring home one of those new .264 Magnum rifles that the Winchester Co. had just unveiled. But two very average black-tailed deer bucks and one Medford judge together made sure that didn’t happen during the fall of 1961. It’s a story about a hunting ethic, about feeding family, about not letting game go to waste, and about how sometimes people get punished for following their convictions. "That’s about the only hunting story I have that would interest somebody," says Nussbaum, 77, who still tends to his 105-acre ranch near Lake Creek. "But I’ll tell you, it’s a true story." It’s also one of a series of local hunting stories historian Kathy Grissom is collecting and publishing as part of an ode to Lake Creek’s storied hunting past. Advertisement Grissom, director of the Lake Creek Historical Society, plans to publish these Lake Creek hunting stories in February as part of a new effort to honor the hunting heritage of Lake Creek, a ranching community off Highway 140 in eastern Jackson County. "You take anyone’s history here and go back 10, 20, 50 years, you’ll see they supported their families by hunting meat," Grissom says. "We’re proud of our past, we’re proud of our history," she says. "We’re celebrating the history of the hunters." That celebration kicks off Saturday and Sunday for the historical society’s inaugural Hunting Festival at the Lake Creek Pioneer Hall and Park. It will continue in February, when the historical society will host a wild game potluck and unveil the Lake Creek hunting book. In it will be Nussbaum’s recollection of the two bucks, the gun and the judge. Nussbaum was part of a crew building a logging road on the west side of Mount McLoughlin back when it was still called Mount Pitt. He was saving his money so, by the end of the season, he could buy one of the new .264-caliber Magnum rifles that Winchester unveiled in 1958. But one particular Sunday he headed after a Mount Pitt buck with his old rifle, trudging through thick brush and troublesome lava rocks toward a small butte that looked promising. A small buck then jumped into sight. "Without thinking what I was in for, I shot him," Nussbaum writes. "I was making my way to where he went down, (and) all of a sudden it looked as though he had gotten up, so I shot again, only to find I had killed two bucks." Grissom plans to publish Nussbaum’s story, and others like it, unedited. "Their language tells where they came from, what they were about," she says. She says the stories tend to be less about trophies and more about subsistence hunting, much like Nussbaum’s predicament. After realizing he shot two deer that day on Mount Pitt, Nussbaum was not going to let a deer go to waste. So he dragged both animals through the brush and boulders one at a time, finally reaching his pickup, he writes. He telephoned a family member to come tag the extra buck, then he skinned the animals while waiting for the family member’s arrival. The pair headed home, only to come across police officers checking hunters at what is now the C-2 Ranch, Nussbaum writes. Nussbaum told the officers he accidentally shot the second deer, but was ticketed for illegally borrowing a buck tag from the family member. "I could have walked off and left that buck and no one would have known," Nussbaum writes. "But I had thought I had done the right thing." Grissom says she’s collected more than a dozen stories and photographs for the upcoming book. She intends to publish every story, including Nussbaum’s, and hopes the first publication will generate more submissions for future volumes. And it’s the truth Grissom wants told. "Around here, I think the old-timers would frown on any exaggerations," she says. Nussbaum certainly frowned when his day of reckoning came. He writes that he found himself among a group of hunters in the Medford courtroom of Judge L.L. Sawyer. The fines started flying. "One ahead of me was fined $20 for not punching his tag and the next $25 for not tagging his (buck)," Nussbaum writes. When it was Nussbaum’s turn, he got the stiffest fine of the group. "I was fined $100," he writes. "There went my hopes of getting a new .264 Winchester rifle." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities