R. Kent Eanes

don't ever sell your traps or guns never owe another man watch where you spit on a windy day don't use words you don't understand find the Lord before you need him and never lose your pride don't ever sell your traps or guns cause life's a long, long ride Kent never sold a trap but he loaned a many of them, even when they weren't returned he still always tried to help anyone who needed to catch a garden eating groundhog or remove a smelly skunk. Now he did sell one of his guns and he regrets it to this very day. He sold it while in the Army in California and thought he needed the money for gas to come home. He didn't. He never sold another for each one has a story to tell. Kent moved into his present home when he was 5 years old and has had the same phone number for over 60 years. His first job was working in the woods cutting timber. He worked for BandW and Klopman for a brief time, but quit both to return to the woods. He trapped his first animal, an opossum when he was 8 and nailed its hide to the door of his clubhouse. The clubhouse has long since fallen in and the hide has returned to nature with the help of bugs and birds, but his love of trapping never wavered. Kent was drafted in 1965 and did his time in California during the Vietnam era. After returning home he ran a crane for the NandW Railroad for 5 years and then hired on with several trucking companies and started another interesting stage in his life. He drove in all 48 states, always taking time off to trap and hunt. After 20 years of driving Kent decided to try taxidermy. He had always been interested in taxidermy, even mounting a crow through a correspondent course as a teenager. This was to be what he did for the next 30 years. Of course he still hunted and trapped, always a modern day mountain man. Kent loved to read and his home is full of mountain men books and mounted animals and traps. From October to February Kent could be found in the fields and streams, trapping nuisance beavers or sheep killing coyotes. His favorite animal to trap was the skunk and he was often referred to as the skunk king. An avid hunter he traveled to Canada for many years hunting bears with a bow. He was a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, National Trapping Association, Fur Takers of America, Virginia Trapping Association, and The Sons of the Confederate Veterans. One of his most prized accomplishments was in 2016 when he was inducted into the Virginia Trappers Association Hall of Fame. To be recognized by his peers as a true trapper was a grand finale to his already exciting and meaningful life. Robert Louis Stevenson said it best: We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best that we find in our travels is an honest friend. See you on the other side, my best friend. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that those wishing to make memorials consider the NRA, Office of Advancement, 11250 Waples Mills Rd., Fairfax, VA 22030.

R. Kent Eanes

June 15, 1946 - April 2, 2017