Deschutes River in Central Oregon. Wiley caught his first lion with his dogs when he was a teenager. He spent his early years learning his trade and then he was drafted into the Army. Wiley spent his military time with the Army's 85th Infantry Regiments 10th Mountain Division. The unit's specialty involved fighting effectively in harsh conditions and they were one of the first U. S. military units to enter Germany in World War II. Wiley was a packer and worked with Army mules.
After his military tour, he went to work for the famous lion hunters of Arizona- the Lee Brothers. He also hunted jaguar and trapped Mexican wolves in Old Mexico with the Lee Brothers.
After his tour with the Lees, Wiley set out to establish his own reputation as a lion hunter. In 1951, the Nevada Fish and Game Department offered Wiley a fulltime job catching lions. Wiley and his hounds caught lions on dry ground from the southern deserts of Nevada to the high Mountains of Northeastern Nevada. Terrain or ground conditions made no difference to Wiley and his dogs. If the lions were there, Wiley could catch them.
Wiley held his position with Nevada Fish and Game for the next twenty years. During this time, Wiley ran up a record of lions caught with his dogs that has stood for many years. Wiley hauled his horse and dogs in a flatbed pickup with horse rack and did all his hunting by horseback or on foot. He camped out on the sheep and cattle ranges of Nevada with sheepherders and cowboys and laid out many nights under a tree with his dogs for warmth on an old lion track in order to be able to start out early the next day, trailing this cat. Like the majority of the old-time lion hunters, Wiley stuck on a track like glue until the job was done. No one I know today lays out on a lion track anymore. Most of today's hunters give up, go home to their warm beds, and look for another fresh track the following day. Wiley Carroll was a true Nevada legend.
The lions are still here. You just have to have hunters who have the knowledge and tenacity to catch them.
James "Mike" Laughlin
Retired: Supervisory Wildlife Biologist
Bachelor Science Degree - Wildlife Biology - Arizona State University; Tempe; Arizona
31 years working in nine Western states; Mexico, Provinces of Canada
U.S Department of Agriculture & U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
P.O. Box 28-1807
Lamoille, Nevada 89828
775-778-9104
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