Meet Mr. Grizzly

The English-born one-armed cattleman Montague Stevens on hunting the last grizzlies of New Mexico with hounds, out of the Datil and Horse Springs country.

Context: University of New Mexico Press, 1943; reprinted in Britain in 1950 and again by High-Lonesome Books. Stevens’ papers are at UNM.

Why it’s on the list: The Horse Springs country in a rancher’s own words — the same ground as the Hubbell outfit and the Patterson story.

Where I saw it: Recommended by Debbie Lee alongside her four-part Catron County Centennial History, posted publicly by the Catron County Historical Society in April 2022. It is part of the Catron County reading list assembled for the Luna novel research — the county Kyle’s family town sits in.

Debbie Lee’s note: “Excellent Book set around Datil, Horse Springs NM in Old West days/setting.”

Connections

• Montague Stevens — the author
• Ranches of Catron County — Horse Springs, the Hubbell / Y Ranch ground
• No Life for a Lady — the same Datil country from a woman’s side