NASHUA, NH – Despite having lived in Nashua for over a decade, through all of the ’90s, I did not remember the Temple Street Diner when I pulled into their parking lot. I had arranged to meet there with Ed Briand and Chuck Smith, both enthusiastic hunters, to discuss Ed getting his 30th bear at the impressive age of 100 (Ed, not the bear). Chuck lives in Kingston, Ed lives in Nashua, and they figured the diner would be a good spot to meet. Plus, it’s a favorite of Ed’s. This became apparent, when, within minutes of meeting me there, Ed leaned toward me and said, “The girls here, they know me. I razz the shit out of ’em.”
A few minutes later a waitress arrived, glanced at Ed, and said, “I wish I’d known it was THIS troublemaker who was coming!”
Ed smiled at me as he said, “Told ‘ya!”
A bit later, after his order of scrambled eggs & dry rye toast had been delivered, Ed dumped a container of his medications onto the plate of eggs. Maybe eight pills. I’ve seen people 30 years younger with far more complicated sets of medications.
After a few bites Ed looked at me and asked, “So what kind of story we lookin’ for here?”
I said, “That’s pretty much up to you.”
Ed said, “First of all, I gotta ask, are you anything to do with the Fed?”
“You mean the government? Law enforcement? Nope, not me.”
“Are you sure?” he said, with the beginnings of a grin.
Then I realized he was pulling my leg. That would become a theme in our conversation.
On a Friday morning at 9:30, less than half of the diner’s tables are filled. The south wall is nearly all glass, facing the Henry Hanger Mill, which is currently undergoing major renovations to become the “Hanger Mill Residences.” (They look like they will be impressive.) Ed said he remembered when it was a shoe mill with a shoe store on the ground floor. According to Ed, he worked at the shoe store for a while. In fact, he seemed to have worked at many places in and around Nashua. He explained that his father would get irritated with his habit of changing jobs frequently. “My old man used to get pissed off. I said, ‘Dad, I go there, I learn my limit, then: see ya.'”
Forty years ago, Ed was at his last job before retiring, running his own full-service gun shop in Nashua, where he sold and serviced many kinds of guns. At that time Chuck was looking to purchase a gun, and that’s how he met Ed. Chuck bought a gun at Ed’s shop and they became friends, later hunting together often.
Ed was born in Nashua in 1924. As a kid he skated on the Merrimack River when it froze over, which he says used to happen far more often than today. He and friends jumped trains in Nashua and rode them further north. Remember, Ed would have been 16 years old in 1940.
Later he served briefly in the military during WWII. His service was cut short by an injury during training.
Later still, Ed did all of the following:
- Worked on farms
- Worked in mills
- Worked as a Nashua city boiler inspector for a while
- Drove trucks
- Did some plumbing
- Worked in construction
- Supervised construction crews
- Dealt with workers gambling on the job
- Dealt with bookkeepers being overly creative
- Built from 70 to 100 homes on land he owned near Lincoln Park in Nashua, on streets Edmund Drive, Luke Street, Marie Avenue, Denise Street, among others
- Fished and hunted north of the arctic circle
- Worked as a caribou hunting guide in Canada
- Hunted bear, deer, caribou, moose, plus smaller game
- Has never eaten bear – but Chuck has
- Befriended Hells Angels members in Lowell, MA
- Was subject of article in Hawkeye magazine, regarding NH crossbow hunting regulation change
Ed said that while running a construction crew, he once took a vacation, and when he returned, the amount of construction finished during his absence was far less than what he expected. As he asked around, some suspicions began to develop. He had three workers who spoke French but very little English. With the help of a translator he determined that one of the foremen had, in Ed’s absence, taken these French workers into the building and coerced them into gambling with him at cards. Unsurprisingly this guy had also won most of the hands, bilking the French workers out of most of their earnings. Ed questioned the guy, he owned up, Ed told him to get gone and not come back.
Later Ed discovered a bookkeeper had been way too creative with the books. The outcome there was much the same – bye bye, bookkeeper.
Ed spent some time north of the arctic circle. He visited the town of Hay River on the south shore of Great Slave Lake, in Canada’s Northwest Territories. This is the same lake seen on the History Channel TV show “Ice Road Truckers.” He fished in that lake and did some hunting and guiding in the surrounding territory.
At some point Ed became a motorcycle rider and owner, and became acquainted with a few Hells Angels in Lowell, MA. He said that being friends with Hells Angels meant he always had a safe place to park his bike.
Today Ed uses a cane for help with walking, is not as nimble as he used to be. He likes pizza and the occasional John Wayne movie. And still enjoys hunting.
So how the heck did I learn about a 100-year-old hunter in Nashua, anyway? Earlier in the fall Chuck came to my house to perform a standard annual furnace inspection. Chuck works for Crawford-Vogel & Wenzel Oil Company in Manchester. While chatting he mentioned that he was looking forward to his vacation in a few weeks. I asked what he had planned.
“Going bear hunting up north with a friend.”
“No kidding? I’ve never been bear hunting.”
“Guess how old my friend Ed is.”
“No idea.”
“In a month he’ll be 100.”
I was flabbergasted. “One hundred years old? And he’s still hunting? Hunting bear?”
“Yup. If he gets one this year it will be his 30th bear.”
“Wow, that’s amazing. 100 years old. I’ll bet he’s got some stories.”
Before I knew what was happening, Chuck pulled out his cellphone, punched a button, then was speaking into the phone saying, “Hey this is Chuck, I’ve got a guy here who wants to talk to you” then he handed me the phone, saying, “Here he is, go ahead, talk to him.”
Trying to stop sputtering, I took the phone. “Hi, is this Ed?”
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“Hi, my name’s Jeff, Chuck is here at my house working on the furnace and telling me about his plans to go bear hunting. He says you’re going to join him.”
“Yup, planning to.”
“He also tells me that you’re about to turn 100.”
“Yup, that’s right too.”
I said, “Wow, 100 and still hunting bear. That’s pretty impressive.”
“Well, it will be if I get one.”
“Well, I hope you do. Maybe we can talk more about it after that.”
“Sure, that would be great.”
“OK, I’ll stay in touch with Chuck and we’ll see how the hunting goes this year.”
After that Chuck and I exchanged numbers and I checked in with him periodically to see how the hunt was going.
Meanwhile, I had a chance to educate myself about bear hunting in New Hampshire. At least two organizations are fantastic sources of information online. One is the Wildlife Heritage Foundation of NH, and they are the official non-profit partner of the second organization, the NH Fish & Game Department. For bear hunting specifically, Fish & Game has a lot of info at this link.
And boy did I learn a lot. Within a single normal year, each hunter is only allowed to take a single bear. (2024 is not normal, more below.) Typically, about a thousand bears per year are killed by hunters in NH. Below are specific counts for years 2018 – 2022.
- 2018 — 1,053
- 2019 — 866
- 2020 — 1,184
- 2021 — 892
- 2022 — 1,156
The season typically starts September 01 and ends on November 30, with the bulk of the bear harvest occurring in September. However, the state’s area is divided into 19 “Wildlife Management Units,” or WMUs (see map), and not all units are included in that entire time frame. Those curious should consult the Fish & Game Department website for details.
Within the overall bear season, there are three distinct smaller seasons: (1) allows stalking of bear, (2) allows stalking with dogs, (3) allows use of bait to lure bear. For each of these, a bear hunting license is required, and the latter two seasons each require an additional specific license. Furthermore, each of those distinct activities will have its own restrictions as to region (WMUs) where it’s allowed, and specific time periods when it’s allowed.
Within a single year, hunters may normally take only one bear statewide. But in 2024 New Hampshire has an oversized population of black bears, currently at 0.64 bears per square mile, with a goal is 0.52. That’s a total of 5,955 bears in the state, where the desired population is 4,838, for an overpopulation state-wide of 1,117 bears. The overpopulation is worst in the White Mountains, at 1.24 bears per square mile, with a goal of 0.80 bears per square mile. At least partially as a result of this overpopulation, National Forest staff have fielded daily calls since July concerning human-bear interactions on the National Forest’s trails. (Those trails include Lincoln Woods, Bondcliff, Franconia Brook, Lincoln Brook, and at the Liberty Springs and Thirteen Falls campsites.) Staff generally want to minimize bear-human interactions. Therefore, as a form of population control, this year NH Fish & Game is allowing hunters to purchase a license for a second bear to be taken in the white mountains region (WMUs C1, D2, E, or F – the green areas on the map).
There are 13 stations throughout the state where hunters may perform the legally-required registration of their kills.
After educating myself, I checked back in with Chuck, and, sure enough, Ed had gotten a bear, which weighed about 145 lbs., and Chuck got one too. For Ed, this was his 30th bear kill in his lifetime.
(BTW, all photos supplied by Chuck, except those of the diner taken be me.)
Below are several photos taken during Ed and Chuck’s hunting trips over the years.
Finally… Ed and Chuck have plenty of game cameras throughout the area. Below are various images they’ve captured over the years – two bears at night, one bear getting a close-up selfie, a bull moose at night, two cubs, and a lynx or bobcat.
