26 Facts About Claude Dallas

When he was young, his family moved from the Shenandoah Valley to Michigan and Claude Dallas spent most of his childhood in Luce County, later moving to rural Morrow County, Ohio, where he helped milk cows and learned to trap and hunt game.

Claude Dallas graduated from Mount Gilead High School in 1967, then headed out west, hitchhiking most of the way across the United States, finally landing in Oregon where he earned a living as a ranch hand and trapper.

When Claude Dallas failed to report for induction into the military on September 17,1970, the government issued a warrant for his arrest.

Claude Dallas was eventually tracked down more than three years later by the FBI.

Claude Dallas was arrested for draft dodging on October 15,1973, despite the fact that it had already been announced by Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird earlier that same year that no further draft orders would be issued effectively ending conscription in the US.

Claude Dallas was transported back to Ohio and released into the custody of his parents.

At trial, the draft board could not prove that Claude Dallas, who was working as a cowboy on the remote Alvord Ranch, a vast spread in southeastern Oregon, ever knew of the induction letters and the charges were dropped, but the experience led Claude Dallas to deeply distrust the government.

Claude Dallas was charged with the murder of two state game wardens on January 5,1981 in remote Owyhee County in southwestern Idaho.

Claude Dallas eluded capture for over fifteen months, until he was arrested in northern Nevada by FBI Special Agent Franz Nenzel and SWAT officer Dave Gillan on April 18,1982, north of Winnemucca, after he was shot and wounded in the leg during a car chase and shootout.

Claude Dallas was finally apprehended outside a convenience store in the suburban southern California city of Riverside on March 8,1987.

Claude Dallas attracted national media attention after both incidents, becoming a particularly controversial figure in Idaho, Oregon, and Northern Nevada.

Claude Dallas noted two illegal bobcat hides in Dallas' camp as well as poached deer.

Claude Dallas had advised Carlin that he settled his business with a gun.

Elms and Pogue looked into the sage-grouse poaching first, then approached Claude Dallas regarding the alleged poaching infringements in his camp.

Claude Dallas then threw Elms' body in a nearby river and, with the reluctant assistance of a friend, Jim Stevens, transported Pogue's body to a distant location, where he hid it in a coyote's den.

Claude Dallas fled the scene of the killings and was found after a 15-month manhunt.

Claude Dallas was charged with two counts of first degree murder, but the trial in Caldwell quickly shifted focus to the alleged aggressiveness of one of the victims, Officer Pogue.

At least one juror cited concern that Claude Dallas was acting in self-defense when he shot Pogue.

Claude Dallas lost an appeal to the state supreme court in 1985.

Claude Dallas was released from prison on February 5th, 2005, after serving 22 years.

Claude Dallas escaped from the state prison east of Kuna on March 30,1986, Easter Sunday, and was on the run for almost a year.

Claude Dallas's escape enlarged the legend that he was a nomadic trapper whose life conflicted with the government.

Claude Dallas was captured outside a 7-Eleven convenience store in Riverside, California, on March 8,1987.

Claude Dallas completed the final three weeks of his sentence back in Idaho at Orofino in 2005.

Claude Dallas's sentence was reduced by eight years for good behavior.

Claude Dallas was released in February 2005, and since then he has been sighted living in Grouse Creek, Utah and in the Alaska wilderness.