May 2025 • Nebraskaland 41
Whenever Ensley was mentioned in
my family, someone would reference
when he was the keynote speaker at
my alma mater, Beaver Valley High
School, when my aunt graduated. It
happened before I was born, and I've
always felt a little cheated that I didn't
get to see it.
Not surprisingly, he made his way
into this publication. He was on the
cover of Outdoor Nebraska, the former
name of Nebraskaland, in September
1960 holding a shotgun and two
sharp-tailed grouse.
"I've hunted the chicken in Canada
and had some fi ne shooting, but this
sharptail hunting in your Sand Hill
country is the best shooting I've had
yet," he said in the article. "Nebraskans
are mighty lucky people."
In my research, I learned that
Harold Ensley was a friend of Walmart
founder Sam Walton. Walton would
have been a handy friend to have
if you were looking to peddle some
goods.
The knife is not the only
merchandise with Ensley's name on it.
Perhaps more popular were his lures,
such as a plastic bait known as "The
Reaper," a jointed crankbait called
the "Sneaky Snake" and a hair jig,
"Tiny Tot."
The knife has timeless utility,
but it is especially good at evoking
nostalgia. When it's in my hand, I
think about the TV show and those
summer evenings bellying up to an old
metal ironing board to fi llet fi sh with
my dad and grandpa.
They were special times, reliving
the day's experiences. No doubt, some
of the conversations at those sessions
involved something I'd seen on TV —
Ensley, Virgil Ward or perhaps the
younger fellas, Bill Dance and Jimmy
Houston. With the cold wind blowing
outside, those shows certainly helped
build excitement for warmer days.
After decades of sharing his love of
the outdoors, Ensley died in 2005 at
age 92. The legacy of the "Sportsman's
Friend," however, lives on in the
stories he produced and today's
outdoor entertainment industry. And,
of course, in my drawer of fi sh and
game cleaning utensils.
N
A wooden-handled fi llet knife marketed by legendary outdoorsman Harold Ensley in the 1980s still serves
to process countless bluegills, crappies and other panfi sh. JUSTIN HAAG, NEBRASKALAND
