J Wayne Fears. True outdoorsman

http://www.alumni.auburn.edu/wild-life-j-wayne-fears-64/

Been blessed to have known him several years. I hung all his mounts in two different homes. Including the ones in the photo of him in his office. That musk ox is over his rock fireplace now with a pair of snow shoes over him..

Seems like a very interesting guy!

Incredibly wonderful person in many ways.

I knew Wayne we'll in the 80's, guided turkey hunters for him at Stagshead Lodge in Clinton, out of Eutaw. Nice guy.

Great read.

I remember back in the pre internet days really enjoyed reading his articles.

Great read! I have some of his books and have always respected him as an outdoorsman. I would love to meet him sometime and hear some stories. Thanks for sharing

I've met him a few times but was just a greeting and move on. Didn't really know him. Him getting left in Alaska back then I don't think was that unusual. I knew a guy named Jim Varsos (stage name was Hobo Jim) who with a friend got left for several months because the pilot crashed and died after dropping them off and no one knew where they where. He talked of eating baby otters and the swelling from mosquito bites.

Seems I remember him telling me a woman had something to do with it

a woman is ALWAYS involved in any bad happening....

He wrote an article about his hunting cabin in 1997 that was published in Ala Wildlife Fed magazine. We built one that matched his. I think about him often.

Wayne planned an Alaska backcountry trip and scheduled a guy to fly him in and then pick him up.

Being smart, as Wayne is, he took a backpack with some emergency kit but not enough for two weeks. He had maps, firestarter and a few other things. After being dropped off and determining his camp, he discovered his bags were filled with garbage and not his gear. He realized the guy had snookered him but at the time was unsure why, and also held faint (tiny, fleeting) hope that he'd return at the planned-upon date.

Wayne made do as best he could. The site was in the middle of nowhere on a lake and not in any flight paths. He knew at some point he would have to do something if he didn't see anyone or any planes. With his maps, he determined he had a couple dozen miles at least to make it to the best spot for a possible rescue. That was his only and best chance.

The day before he planned to begin his walkout, he heard a plane. Somehow the guy saw Wayne and landed on the water. They both were amazed to see each other, as the pilot had gotten off course and then noticed Wayne's signals. They flew back and, as Wayne told me, he planned to kill the guy who did it. I suspect in Alaska at that time no one would've said boo about that because leaving a man to die in the backcountry was (and still is) a crappy thing to do.

Got back and found out the skeezy pilot had skirted off with his (and others') money because he was dying. Wanted to party with women, booze and whatever else in a final hurrah.

It still ticks him off. Dude left him to die.


This is his cabin book - https://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Dream-Cabin-Woods-ebook/dp/B0056GXI8E

His others also are on Amazon -https://www.amazon.com/J-Wayne-Fears/e/B001HOIFOQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

While hanging his mounts when he first moved near me I noticed there were no African big game animals but did see some pics. He said he had a truck load. While off guiding in Alaska his wife decided she wanted a divorce. Sold all the mounts he had and moved our of the house. He's still pissed.

top, he came home while the sale was going on, saw a guy walking up the street with a Dall Sheep mount over his shoulder. Turned out it was his...LOL

My wife’s grandfather was good friends and hunting buddies with Mr. Wayne. From what I’m told Grandpa Ray actually took Wayne who was a teenager at the time on a hunt where he harvested his first buck. Just a small spike but was told it still hangs on his office wall with all the other 150”+ he has taken. Wayne wrote about him in some books/articles and called him one of his mentors and an expert deer hunter. Grandpa Ray passed away before I joined the family, but man how I wish I could’ve been around to share the woods with both of them.