E54 GREENBRIAR CLUB KING BUCK JOHN OLIN

HISTORIC DUCK HUNTING STORIES

In 1951, Olin established a sprawling, game-rich, 522-acre shooting preserve, naming it Nilo Farms and Kennels, located near Alton, Illinois. Dedicated to the sport of bird hunting, Olin was always on the lookout for a good retriever. One that caught his eye was none other than King Buck. King Buck finished 83 national series out of a possible 85. King Buck went on also to become, as John Olin described years later, “one of the finest wild duck retrievers I have ever seen.
His royal name was given its due, when, in 1959, it was decided that the federal duck stamp for that year should commemorate the work of retrievers and their contribution to waterfowl conservation. And so, for that occasion, the single time that the Migratory Waterfowl Stamp has ever been other than a duck, Maynard Reece painted a portrait of perhaps the greatest duck dog of them all: King Buck.
John Olin became president of the Western Cartridge Company in 1931 and president of Olin Industries in 1944 and was closely associated with the Winchester Model 21 side-by-side, the last of the American “best guns” to be introduced. Olin was also the developer of the Super-X Shotshell.
With the end of War World II, John Olin leased in 1945 some 1,880 acres, of which 1,100 acres was timber in Prairie County, Arkansas, approximately six miles southeast of Hazen. It was immediately christened the Greenbriar Club. Every morning during the season, station wagons drove up to the Riceland Hotel at Stuttgart to pick up one hunter in each along with supplies. At Greenbriar, a 20 x 20-foot tent awaited the hunters, providing shelter from inclement weather. Underneath, waiting on the hunters, were the guides.
In 1955, Olin built a one-room clubhouse with a fireplace to replace staying at the Riceland Hotel. In the early 1960s, the IRS disallowed his business deductions for the club.

It was in 1963 that Roger Crowe sold John Olin’s Prairie County duck paradise to multi-millionaire Robert “Bob” Brittingham, of Dal Tile of Dallas, Texas, and a hunter of great refute. He enlarged the one-room house, shortly after purchasing the club, adding first a bunkhouse and then an office and kitchen.

A magnificent lodge was built in 1983, followed by an additional building that contained the “Pintail” and “Wood Duck” bedrooms. The shooting holes are also named, such as “Number 2” and “410,” where only 410s are allowed. This was one of Olin’s favorite holes and the reason he always stayed in room 410 at the Riceland Hotel.

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