Billy Colin MacDonald, mother bear and two cubs, source of food and income ($50 bounty on pelts), James River, early 1950s. Courtesy of Mary Lillian MacDonald. Restoration: Jeff Parker.
Dorothy Lander in conversation with Mary Lillian MacDonald, June 30, 2014.
I remember when this happened. We ate the meat. Daddy loved to fish and hunt. The pelts were in the house for a long time. I don’t like bear meat but we had to eat it. Mama wouldn’t eat it but all of us kids did.
Daddy was away a lot. He was a section man on the railroad. When he was home he would hunt and farm. He would hunt with his neighbour Jimmy Gordon. They would hang the animals that they shot in the barn until they dried out. There was a bounty on these pelts, something like $50, which was a lot of money at that time.