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User:Drkeeling/Bee Dee Adkins

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Bee Dee Adkins (March 8, 1903 – August 3, 1954) was a well-known hunter and trapper[1] in the American Southwest and Mexico. Born in Lampasas, Texas, he was one of eleven children, ten of which were boys[2].

Bee’s family left Lampasas in the fall of 1916 and moved to the Animas Valley of New Mexico where they homesteaded some land near the Diamond “A” Ranch[3]. Bee left home by the age of 16 and took a job breaking wild horses[4] on a ranch in Northern Mexico.

In Mexico, Bee was both a cowboy and a hunter protecting the livestock of the local ranchers and helping to defend against Yaqui Indian attacks[5]. As a result, he came to know the Yaqui Indian customs and way of life quite well[6]. When a Yaqui Indian raiding party attacked a neighboring ranch and took two small children as hostages, Bee’s help was sought in recovering the youngsters[7]. After some time, he managed to rescue them and returned them, unharmed, to their parents[8]. After that, his reputation for bravery and knowledge of the Indian ways grew and, by the time he decided to re-join his family, now in Arizona, he had become an expert gunman, hunter, trapper, tracker and broncobuster[9].

Bee’s grandfather, Felix Adkins, had been a Baptist minister and, when Bee returned to his family in Gilbert, Arizona, Bee also decided to become a minister[10]. While studying in this field, Bee met Viola May Brooks; they were married in 1926[11]. By 1927, Bee had gone back to protecting livestock for ranchers around Marana, Arizona and, eventually, went to work for the Arizona Game and Fish Department keeping predators under control[12].

References

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  1. ^ "Dangerous Game", Saturday Evening Post, December 17, 1949 by Daniel P. Mannix, photos by Gene Lester
  2. ^ "A Breed Apart, A Biographical Scrapbook of Bee Adkins, 1903 – 1954", October 1983, by Vina Bee (Adkins) Keeling
  3. ^ "A Breed Apart, A Biographical Scrapbook of Bee Adkins, 1903 – 1954", October 1983, by Vina Bee (Adkins) Keeling
  4. ^ "Between Now and Then", Bee Adkins, 2009 Lulu Press, ISBN 978-0-557-06242-3
  5. ^ "Gunhand", True Magazine, September 1953, by Daniel P. Mannix, illustrated by Isa Barnett
  6. ^ "A Breed Apart, A Biographical Scrapbook of Bee Adkins, 1903 – 1954", October 1983, by Vina Bee (Adkins) Keeling
  7. ^ "A Breed Apart, A Biographical Scrapbook of Bee Adkins, 1903 – 1954", October 1983, by Vina Bee (Adkins) Keeling
  8. ^ "A Breed Apart, A Biographical Scrapbook of Bee Adkins, 1903 – 1954", October 1983, by Vina Bee (Adkins) Keeling
  9. ^ "A Breed Apart, A Biographical Scrapbook of Bee Adkins, 1903 – 1954", October 1983, by Vina Bee (Adkins) Keeling
  10. ^ "A Breed Apart, A Biographical Scrapbook of Bee Adkins, 1903 – 1954", October 1983, by Vina Bee (Adkins) Keeling
  11. ^ "A Breed Apart, A Biographical Scrapbook of Bee Adkins, 1903 – 1954", October 1983, by Vina Bee (Adkins) Keeling
  12. ^ "Dangerous Game", Saturday Evening Post, December 17, 1949 by Daniel P. Mannix, photos by Gene Lester
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