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Frank Lambert, of Tow String Creek, Swain County, North Carolina, was 40 years old when recorded in 1939. He had some grade school education and worked as a National Park Service employee at a Cherokee Indian School.

[transcripption copyrigh Michael Montgomery and Paul Reed, 2017]

L: My name’s Frank Lambert and uh borned in Swain County and lived, never have moved, lived here all of my life, well I went a-, went a-hunting one night and I caught four, and uh when we shot our shells and a fellow come in and got some more and come back, and we, we killed two, and uh daylight when we got in, next night we started and we went about a mile and treed, and we looked all around the tree, and after a while we found him with a flashlight, and we laid him out, we went on up the hill about a half a mile or three quarters, and we treed again, there we got two more, well by then it was getting about daylight and we made another round for home, come in, skinned our coons, dressed them up, dressed their hide and went to bed and slept till the next night, got up just at dark and we made another round, we got three up one tree, we had just about give out, and we decided we’d make our way back to the house, and as we come on in, we met up with two more fellows, they had two, and they said they was going to hunt the next night and told us, going to hunt, White Pole Cove, well, we said we’d go the other way, and we took off, went up, up Upper Creek, well the uh, up the mouth of Upper Creek the dogs struck, took right out up the creek and run about a mile, a mile and a half, and treed, and, and we went to our dogs and, and th- they treed in the ground, and we dug in and got one, we went on up the creek, after a while we treed in the ground, we caught a skunk, they got him, we had him, we went then over on Bear Wallow, and we struck, down the creek they went about two mile and treed, and we cut the tree down and got two big coons, and we come back to the camp and got us dinners, and we s- laid down and slept that evening and next, next morning about three o’clock we started again and over and up the Cabin Branch and back across and head of Enloe, we caught three that morning.

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We come back in home then and we started to, next, next night we started again, and w- we went over on Becks Branch.

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Becks Branch, and we took right up the creek, and we, dogs struck right out Upper Branch over a ridge, treed, went over there, and they’s two coons up the tree, we shot them out, then we went on around on the Chestnut Springs Branch, dogs struck right over on the Chestnut Springs Branch and down hit about a mile, treed up a big hempine, we had stayed there till daylight, we got on the hill and we was a-looking round and about for them, and directly we found them right in the top, laying up on a limb, we took our Twenty-Two and off we rolled them, one, then we’d come on in home and dressed them up and laid down and took a nap, the next night at dark we started again, went over here and up Pigeon Creek, dogs struck, went up the creek a little piece and, and up, treed up a little hempine about twelve inches through I guess, and then they, I took a limb and clumb that tree and it jumped out, and dogs went up and down the creek after it, after awhile they treed up a tree, and we stayed there till daylight, we shot him out next morning, come home, we decided we’d go back to Pigeon Creek next night, and, and we went back, dogs struck a-, about a mile up on the creek, they run about a mile and a half, two mile, and treed, we went to them, they was treed up a big chestnut, we shot them out, killed four, and we decided we had all we wanted then, towed in, and we started back, got here just at daylight, and we skinned the, them up and dressed them, we laid down and slept, the next night we took, took for Pigeon Creek, we went up about two mile and a half over on Mingo, and the dogs struck way down on the mountain across, over a big ridge, we went over there and they treed up a oak stump about twenty foot high, we caught one, just had one toe on, on its foot, and we come in, dressed them, dressed him up, and we went, next night we started again and went over here on Becks Branch, we struck one, and we run him up the branch about a mile and hit was a possum, we thought it was a coon but it was a possum, we shot him out, we went on up the creek, we come to a, a forks, we took the left hand forks, went up hit about a quarter, we struck, we'd run about a quarter and treed, and we took our flashlight and we went around, looked about, after while found them, we shot two out of that tree, back down the Chestnut Spring Ridge to go home, we went down uh ...

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Me and two fellows started up Couches Creek one night, we went about two miles, and the dogs struck, went on to the top of the ridge and treed, we went out, took our flashlight and looked around, and after while found one pretty good size, we shot him out, then we turned, went on across the Big Ridge, and the dogs struck about a mile from there and treed, we went to him and treed up a chestnut, we found three, we shot every shell we had but one, and we got them and come in, got to the house four o’clock in the morning, next night we started, went up the river and to the Cabin Flats, the dogs struck, treed up a big hempine, I clumb it, carried the Twenty-Two on my back, got up there and I found him, and I shot him out, and the fellows got the coon and hit the dog and addled him, and he got the coon, held the dog a little while, and he got all right and come down and struck the Rye Field, and we went up the branch about half a mile and treed, we killed another'un, come in, my britches legs was froze, you could feel the ice, it rattled just like tin, we laid down and rest, daylight, and skinned our coons, dressed them up, then the next night us went to the Ace Cove and struck right on the head of the Galamore, went over in the Ace Cove the other way and treed, killed one, and uh went on, dogs struck, treed again up a big oak.

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In the Ace Cove we went up out on top Hughes Ridge, come back to the bald, the dogs struck, run about two mile and a half, treed uh on the head of Becks Branch, and we went to them, had a big’un treed up a chestnut tree, and there we killed him and come in home, dressed our meat up, we rested then two nights, then we made another trip, decided we’d go in the Sugar Orchard, we went over down the Chestnut Spring Branch, over around the Queen Field, got in the Queen Field, the dogs struck out over on the Charley Branch, treed them in a big birch, and uh there we killed it, went on in, treed up a birch, and we got two there and then we decided we’d go on down the Sugar Orchard, and we went down to, to the Deadening, dogs struck out up uh what they call Turkey Pen Branch, up hit about two mile and a half, we got out up there after them, there they treed up a tan oak, we went on up to them and was in a hole, there we had to cut the tree, time we got the tree cut down it was day, just breaking daylight, the tree sort of busted, and you could see two coons stick their nose out through the crack, there the dogs just a-biting them coons on the nose, and them a-squalling, and uh we cut a hole and got them, come in, dressed them up, and went back the next night, we hunted all night till ten o’clock the next morning, never struck nary a track, and we was rested that night and then the next night we went back to the Sugar Orchards, we went, got back to Deadening, dogs struck, up the creek they went about a mile, treed in the ground, we dug in and got one coon, we come out over to the Balsam Branch, dogs struck, down the creek they went about a mile and a half, treed in the cliffs, we went smoking, we smoked out two and uh killed them, come back to the camp and laid down and rested, dressed up our coon, went to sleep, next night we started up the Ace Cove, come in the Ace Cove, and the dogs struck, down the branch they went about half a mile, treed, and we went to them, had just a small one treed up a little tan oak, we shot him off, come on about a half a mile or three quarter and dogs struck, and down the mountain they went, we went to them and treed up a chestnut, there they had another'un treed, we shot him out, started to come home and, and there they struck about a quarter from there and we, down the branch after them, dogs treed up a birch, we went to the dogs and we had two, we shot him, them out and come in and dressed them up, the next night we went back, went to, to Mingo, there we started, got about a half a mile up above a house, dogs struck up the creek about a mile, dogs treed, and we went to them, shot two out of that tree, and then we went to the camp, laid down to daylight.

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we went up on the Gregory Ridge one morning to see if we could see a bear, and we went up there and we stayed to ten o’clock, didn’t see nary’un and been all under the tan oak trees a-feeding, there we stayed to ten o’clock and come back, the next morning we got up at daylight and we went back up there, and we got up on the Gregory Ridge, there they was found three up in a tree a-lapping, pulling the limbs over and eating the acorns off of them, I reared up with my Thirty-Two Winchester and struck him behind the shoulder with a bullet, out he come, down the hill he rolled, we shouldered him up, carrying him about a h- hundred yards and have to lay him down, rest, the other fellow, he’d take him, down the mountain about a quarter, hundred yards, and he’d rest, we changed around that way till we got to the level, there we hung him up and dressed him up, put him in the sack to the house, then we decided we’d go a-bear hunting, we took our dogs, took out to the top of the old bald spring and down and on the bald we went, and allowing them dogs a-pulling us about, and around and about, after a while we hit a bear track, dogs went to yelling, we turned them loose, down through the Sugar Orchard they went and out up across over on Enloe, back around to the Big Branch, out across the head of hit over on Three Fork, over on back on Bull’s Eye they come around, about out up the Three Fo- Forks, dogs next morning, the dogs come in about ten o’clock, we was rested that night, next morning we come back over on the Upper Creek, we turned them loose, they went across out over there, there we caught one and started up the river, and hit got up on the hill a little piece and clumb a oak tree, fellow shot it off, he drifted down the creek about a t- hundred yards, and there they dressed hit up, I was up the creek about three mile, standing there watching for it, they shot their rifle three times, we heared them come in, there they had him dressed up when we got there, we all, nine of us, we just had a mess, a round of that bear, then the next day we decided we’d go back in the Sugar Orchard to see if ary’un had come in there, we drove all day, never hit nary no a track, and then we went up, back up on the cabin and over on the Doc Connor’s farm and trailed one to an or-, some apple trees and back down to Dowdle place and all around through them old fields, we never did get to turn loose after that, we decided then we’d go along Pigeon Creek, we went over on Pigeon Creek, we got a track, turned loose, and there we never did see the bear, and we went out over the Black Camp Gap through there and up to Three Forks.

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Ready? Mark’s daddy went, took the bear trap and went out to the mountain, and him and his grandfather, and set the trap, come back in and stayed two nights, and they went back the second morning and there they had a bear, he’d went down the mountain, bit off laurels, tore up by the roots, then tore everything out of the way as he went, then they got down to the creek, there they overhauled him, killed him, taked him, dressed him up, and took him up to the camp and stayed all night, come back in the next morning, they found one a-lapping on service, they went back, watched the service tree two days, the next, third morning they went back, they saw him in the tree, and the old man Tom Huskey rared up with his rifle and plugged him by the hind shoulder, off he come, down the hill about a quarter, and agin a big log he rolled, then they decided they’d build a bear pen, they went and cut them some logs, rolled it, built one log high, then they built a lid for it, took triggers, set that bear trap, baited it with a piece of beef, and a bear come, throwed the trap, never caught him, then he built him another'un, set hit, old man Tom went back and had about a two-year-old bear and said it’d, had him mashed down flat till he couldn’t get up on his feet to raise the lid up, he shot him, dressed him up, and the old man said that uh no, he, he'd killed seventy-two bear, and a hundred and ten years old, and then they was around, he'd killed a hundred and four turkeys and uh, five hundred and sixty coons in this park and uh other game i- in accordance, he’d bear hunted, went up the river with his two dogs, and they struck, went across the river, and he treed agin a cliff, he went up above the cliff, he said the bear went down, the dogs whipped the bear back up, he shot the bear and uh said that the dogs made him climb back up, and he shot him, he went to the house and told his father it was about like his, the black steer they had, and ...

Me and two more fellows started up Couches Creek one night and went about a mile and a half, two mile, and dogs struck out up the creek, out on top of a ridge treed, there we looked around the tree, after a while found one pretty good-sized coon, we shot him out, we turned then, went on over across the ridge, me and that boy, dogs struck, run about a mile and a half and treed, when we went to them, had three up a tree, we shot every shell that we had but one got them and come in four o’clock the next morning, we got in, there we, next night we started up to the Cabin Flats, the dogs struck, went up the creek about a half a mile, treed up a hempine, and I took a Twenty-Two on my back and clumb up there and shot him out, and the fellows struck the coon and hit the dog and addled him, got the coon and dog out, and I got down and we come down the river, and the dogs treed, went up another branch, we got hit, come on in and fix us cold xx just about like paper, and the next night I, I started over on Becks Branch and up Becks Branch we went, dogs struck up the creek and treed, treed up a chestnut, we got two, on over and down and on the creek, there they struck and up the left-hand fork they went, treed up a maple, we shot them out, we come in, it was daylight when we got here, and xx the next night the dogs struck, and we, up the creek, treed up a little hempine, I clumb it with a lantern on my arm and, and there we, there we jumped out and the other fellows took after it and the dogs round and about and up another tree, and he stayed there till daylight, and then we went on down the creek, come in home, and we went over there and the dogs struck, went up the creek, treed up a chestnut, treed four, there we come on, decided we had all we needed and we’d carry them, we come on in and dressed them up, laid down and slept.