Michael Francis Conway, my cousin who grew up next door to me in Rock Hill, passed away earlier this month. He was 69.

Much of Mike’s childhood was spent trying to keep up with his older brother, cousins, and neighbors, but it wasn’t long before he developed an independent streak that saw him forge his own path without much regard for what anyone else thought. He was a U.S. Army Airborne Ranger, and became a truck driver, like his father.
But most of all, Mike was a hunter. He loved the woods, and he loved the thrill of the chase. It was his passion, and one he came by honestly. A great-grandfather—and namesake—was a legendary hunter and hunting guide whose notoriety often landed him in the pages of the New York Times, and occasionally in this column.

Whenever the latter occurred, Mike would inevitably reach out, letting me know that he had caught the reference. It became a way for cousins who seldom saw one another anymore to keep in touch.
The legendary hunter was Frank King of Monticello, who was the 20th century equivalent of the prolific hunters and colorful tall-tale tellers from Sullivan County’s past made famous by writers like Alfred B. Street, James Eldridge Quinlan, and Stephen Crane. Born too late for his exploits to be chronicled by those literary luminaries, King had to settle for many of his stories gaining credibility by virtue of their publication in the Times.

By Frank King’s time, and maybe due at least in part to his prowess as a guide, Sullivan County had developed a reputation as "probably the finest deer country in the State of New York." For example, there were 489 deer taken in the county in 1933 and 567 the following year. By 1935, the Times was reporting that in proportion to its size, Sullivan "is said to rank next to Pike County, Pa. as the most heavily populated deer area in the East, if not in the country. The shooting here is regarded as good if not better than that to be found in the Adirondacks."

That November, some 4,000 hunters descended upon Sullivan County for opening day; State Game Protector George Hembt considered it a "normal turnout." Many of those hunters were distributed throughout over 500 camps throughout the county, and most hunted on lands closely protected the rest of the year. "The best deer country is controlled by clubs which own large tracts, such as the Hartwood Club, with 22,000 acres, and the Merriewold Club with 3,000 acres," the Times reported on November 3, 1935. "The Rockland Light & Power Company owns some 30,000 acres of land that is thick with the animals, while the famous Bradford estate of 18,000 acres, a virtual deer preserve, this year is being leased in strips to individual guides, camps, and clubs."

The Times reported that Frank King led a party of 15 hunters on a portion of the Bradford estate on opening day in 1935, and although they failed to bag even one buck, it was - perhaps predictably - one that got away that provided the most excitement. King reported that one of the hunters in his party that day wounded a tremendous buck -"it was believed to have had at least twenty points" - and trailed the brute through the mountains for three miles, only to lose the trail in the laurel thickets.

For more than a decade, King was regularly consulted by and quoted in the Times regarding all things hunting, usually in a section entitled “Wood, Field and Stream.” In an October 19, 1935 article, the paper reported that grouse were especially plentiful throughout the Catskills that season.

“W. E. Scudamore writes from East Windham that grouse are plentiful in Greene County. He took his limit of three on the opening day. Woodcock also are in flight there, he adds. Art Flick of Westkill, which is in Greene County, recently informed the writer that prospects for grouse shooting in that section were excellent. Favorable reports also were received from Frank King of Monticello regarding conditions in Sullivan County.”
And in a November 21, 1939 Wood, Field and Stream article under the headline, “Ducks Wary and Scarce For Winter Game Feeding,” the Times noted that, “In predicting that the weekend would be something in the nature of a Roman holiday for the deer hunters of the Catskill area we weren't far wrong, according to the reports that came in yesterday. Several camps in the Neversink area of Sullivan County began driving in earnest and were successful in almost every instance. They found that the greater number of deer seemed to have concentrated in the swamps, and the standers were posted on the edges while the drivers went through the muck and sedge. There seemed to be an unusual number of small buck taken.

“Frank King reported that a very large buck, weighing about 230 pounds dressed, was shot by one of the members of the Toohey camp, which adjoins the old Bradford preserve along the Neversink. Evidently, we should have tarried at Billy Ziegler's camp, for John Bernius shot a nice buck the morning after we left.”

The references go on and on. So much so, perhaps, that those who are left to mourn Mike’s passing can take some solace in the fact that in the happy hunting ground we all aspire to attain in death, he might well have found a hunting partner who shares his bloodline as well as his passion. RIP, cousin.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. Email him at jconway52@hotmail.com.