Wild Bill, as he’s affectionately called by friends, was born William R. Carter, Jr. in the Romeo community of Greene County, Tennessee in 1949. His childhood years were not without difficulties. According to Bill, his dad was a “mean drunk” and was capable of cruelty. Bill once had an accident while plowing with a mule and made his dad so angry that he severely beat both the mule and Bill. That beating was the final straw with young Bill and he armed himself with a .22 rifle, determined to kill his dad. In a desire for revenge, Bill emptied the rifle of ammunition towards his dad but was so nervous he, fortunately, missed every shot. Bill walked off the farm that day and went to his grandfather’s house, who took him to the hospital for treatment of his injuries due to the beating he received.  

Normally I wouldn’t include a family's dirty laundry in a hunting article, but knowing Bill I think it’s important. You’d think that a boy who endured some of the things young Bill endured would be bitter and sour in life, but nothing is further from the truth. I’ve known Wild Bill my entire life. Four generations of my family have bear hunted with Bill, and I can tell you that Bill Carter is one of the most humorous bear hunters you’ll ever meet. He loves to laugh and cut up all the time. It’s impossible not to like Wild Bill.  

Bill got his start bear hunting by what most would call an accident. He was hunting different game when he heard a pack of dogs and fell treed. Bill had hound hunted before, but he knew by the sound of this pack that something was different. He decided to go check it out for himself. When he arrived at the tree, a pack of plott hounds had a bear treed. Within a few minutes a man walked into the tree that would eventually become a life long friend to Bill. The man was Berry Tarlton, a well-known plott owner and dedicated bear hunter. Bill was just a teenager that year (1966) but a fever set in on him that day that still lingers in the depths of his soul.  

The Vietnam War came along and Bill had to trade his rural country life for a stint overseas. He served his country as an artillery surveyor. After Vietnam, Bill went through a short marriage and divorce. At that point he decided he just wanted to hit the road for a while and, as he said, “Goof off.” Bill straddled a Honda 750 and headed for Alaska. To choose the exact location that he would temporarily call home in Alaska, he threw a dart at a map and it landed on Cold Creek, AK. For two years, Bill and a friend roamed the country with no real purpose but roaming itself.  

The Honda 750 finally made its way back to Greene County, TN where Bill had a job waiting on him at a local factory. Throughout his life, Bill worked at several factories and built his own business. During the early years of his return home, Bill once again found himself drawn to hounds. He had left the hounds but the hounds had never left him.  

Wild Bill tried to build himself a bear pack with any type of hound he could get for several years. He had some success at times, but wasn’t satisfied with anything until he found a pair of hounds that would become possibly his best duo of all time. Around the mid to late 1970s, Bill met a well-known plott breeder named Dan Murphy from the Tellico area of Tennessee. Dan had gained a solid reputation of breeding plott bear dogs which he called the Star Mountain Line. Bill traded a .444 Marlin to Dan for two plott pups. One was a male he named Outlaw Jose Wales and the other was a female he named Duffee. Duffee was killed early in life, but Jose went on to be one of the best Bill would ever own. 

At the same time, Bill had a fortunate mistake happen in his kennel. A well-bred Walker female was accidentally bred to a Redbone male. It wasn’t a cross Bill would have made on purpose, but as we all know sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. From this cross Bill got a male pup he named Luke. Luke was a primarily red dog with a little white in his chest.  

Jose and Luke became the stars of Bill’s pack. Luke was a slower, more methodical type of track dog with a cold nose. Jose was more of a medium-nosed dog with a lot of speed and grit. The duo worked great together. Luke was used to start cold tracks and Jose would be turned behind him. Once the track warmed up, Jose would drift the track to the front and round the bear to ground. It’s hard to say how many bears fell to this powerful duo. 

Bill has had several other dogs of similar caliber over the years, including Rebel, Max, B.J., and Toby. Bill doesn’t really care what breed a dog is as long as it’s a bear dog, but plotts are his favorite breed. Bill said that if a young man was just getting started, he’d recommend them beginning with plotts. His favorite traits in a bear hound are speed, grit, tree power, and one that handles big water well. Bill puts a lot of emphasis on speed because his hunting grounds are surrounded by bear sanctuaries. Slow dogs let too many bears get out of bounds. Of all the things he likes about bear hunting, his favorite is getting in close on a bayed bear.  

Bill has hunted multiple locations with differing terrain including Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, New Mexico, Maine, Michigan, and Ontario. Away from his home in Tennessee, his favorite place to hunt is the coastal areas of eastern N.C. He’d love to make one more trip to the coast, but it’s become extremely difficult to get on a lease over there.  

Bill has also played a significant role in black bear conservation in Tennessee. He was one of the original founders of the Tennessee Bear Hunters Association. In Bill’s lifetime, the bear population has increased tremendously. The only things he’d change in the current regulations is in regard to the training season. Bill believes a limited training season should be opened within the bear sanctuaries to teach the bears respect for human life.  

Wild Bill is a bear killer. He hasn’t kept count of the number of bears he’s harvested, but it’s impressive. Bill has a knack of being in the right place at the right time to kill his share of large bears, with several being over 400 lbs. The stories of Bill's exploits are worth hearing. I can’t explain them all in this article, but I will hopefully put some of them in audio/video format in the future for your enjoyment. 

I asked Bill what the future holds for him. He’s now 75 and the mountains are not getting any shorter. Bill said, “I’m going to keep it up until my last breath.” He joked and said he hoped to die somewhere deep in the mountains with a dead bear and a pack of hounds that don’t know how to lead. He wants his younger buddy to have to drag him and a bear out together. That sums Bill up perfectly.