For those of you who wished the game wardens had done Claude Dallas in, you don't know the whole story.
First off, Dallas had good reason to fear Pogue. Second, regardless of what was said about his poaching bobcat hides, that a pile of BS.
Now, before you go off and flame me, I knew both antagonists personally. Not in an what one would call a close personal knowledge, but I was aquainted with them.
There was intense hatred of Dallas by Pogue. Pogue, who used to be an LEO, chief of police, I think, before he was more or less run out of town, for what reason, I haven't a clue. However, knowning how the hierarchy was run in Winnemucca, I'll bet he picked on a member of one of the ruling families.
Anyway, more than once, I personally have seen Pogue when he came to visit friends of relatives while drinking, swear that if he ever caught Claude Dallas out in the boonies, he would shoot him down like a dog. BTW, that was sworn to in court. Dallas would have gotten away, if that's the proper term, with justified self defense if he had not given the two wardens finishing shots to the head.
As far as the movie that protrayed the incident and what led up to it; that was pure out and out BS! Since when does Hollyweird get anything right.
As far as Conley Elms being shot, after Dallas shot Pogue, Elms was drawing his weapon.
Anyway, there is a hell of a lot that has never come out about all this, and probably today, Dallas is the only one who really knows what it was all about.
I find it strange, that if Claude Dallas was such a bad guy, why did so many people from paradise Valley, Paradise Hill, and Winnemucca go out of their way to help him evade capture?
Do I condone what he did? I'm not sure. I think that if I was out in the boonies, and a game worden who bragged about killing me if he caught me out in the hills showed up and pulled a gun, I'd be inclined to do what Claude did.
FWIW, those "poached" bobcat hides has nevada tags on them and bobcats were legal to be taken in Nevada at the time of the incident. His camp was in Idaho, because that was the nearest available water.
I lived in that area for a bit over ten years, and left due to a job transfer shortly before all this went down. Now that I'm retired, if I could afford to move back up there, I'd do it so fast smoke would fly.
My point is, don't pass judgement by what was shown by the media and Hollywood. They never gave the full story.
Paul B.