East Coast vs Gulf coast

After talking to Jay and receiving pictures of the East Coast crews hunt, I have to say that was quite impressive. I’m not bragging, but I got one of them big fellas a few years ago. It field dressed 117lbs., and you can see it in one of my earlier posts. I believe you can see it in the October and November 2005 post. Unfortunately this year I didn’t get a deer. I didn’t even see one!!! I take that back, the one doe I saw was about 80 to 100 yards away but I had my bow that day. I did see a lot of turkeys and I had a great time. The turkeys were everywhere. But the Gulf Coast crew did score rather impressively. The total was 1 buck, 2 does, and 2 turkeys, and 10 pounds lost on the Jay Johnson drill sgt weight loss program. Jenny Craig ain’t got jack on him. Neither does Jack Lalane. It’s how the two does were taken that is memorable. You know what they say, “variety is the spice of life” and as you can see by our count we have two entrees on the menu. If after reading some of these posts you come to the conclusion that I have a one track mind, and that it’s always on food, well you’re right. Lunch was my favorite subject in school.

Now you’re probably wondering why I’ve included a picture of that barbecue smoker in this blog. Mark and I brought that smoker from San Antonio since we were going to leave it with Joan After breaking it in by smoking part of a hog (which we also brought up) we took the smoker to Jay and Malissa’s. Mark and Melvin decided not to go on the evening hunt since they wanted to make sure the fire stayed at a certain temperature. Justin and I went out and I hunted the ground blind just past the old house and Justin continued on over the hill.

The only thing I saw that evening were turkeys. They were everywhere. As I was sitting in that blind I could hear a lot of noise behind me on top of the hill. It was then that I saw a head pop up and then another head pop. Then the two heads would go down and another 2 or 3 would pop up and then go down. This continued for a few minutes as they traeled down the hill into the holler about 30 yards from my position. The thought did occur to me to shoot and take one but I decided against it. If I would have had my bow, I most certainly could have taken one and maybe two. How could I miss so close. Oooppppss….I won’t go there

Anyway it was rather amusing to see 20 or so turkeys so close with their heads going up; and down like that whack a mole game at the carnival. They need to rename it Whack a turkey. So after watching these turkeys I heard a shot coming from the direction of Jays house. It sure sounded like Marks 30-06. It couldn’t have been more than 15 or 20 seconds then I heard another shot in that same direction. The thought did occur to me that Mark and Melvin were messing with us since they knew that Justin and I had planned on taking a hike further on back in the holler. Suddenly I heard a shot coming from Justins direction. Bless God everybody is shooting except me. Did I not put on enough scent killer? Did I sweat so much getting to this location that my scent killed the scent killer stuff? Whats up with that??? Well Justin came back and said he had seen a doe quite a ways off and decided to take a shot at it but missed. I think he was glad he missed, I know I was, since that would have been one heck of a drag back to the house.

So we headed back to the house and that’s when we found out there would be two more visitors for supper. Rumor has it once the smoker got started Mark and Melvin were directly in the path of the hickory smoke and they plan on getting a patent on the smoke. They said who needs that scent killer formula when they have the hickory smoke flavor, and it works. The Gulf Coast crew has come up with a revolutionary way of hunting. As Mark was stoking the fire and Melvin was taking notes, two does walked up. Mark said it was the smoke screen and smell that disguised them. So Mark picked up his rifle and shot one. Melvin said one doe went down and the other looked at it and appeared to be saying “you alright down there”, that’s when Mark dropped that one also. Now that’s some kind of hunting and the distance couldn’t be more than 30 yards.

Since the weeds and brush were very tall it was suggested to use the lawn mower to cut a path to the does. (uuhh you do know about that don't you) Mark said I’ll have none of that I had 2 monster drinks, so he drug them to the wood pile like it was a bale of hay and gutted them. I think he said the lawn mower was for the old guys. Ok whatever dude, here have another monster drink oh and your brother said he needed a hole dug somewhere in the yard.

I think next year we’ll be taking up a fry daddy and a cappucinno machine that way breakfast and lunch covered. Who knows what will show up.

Sitting in the bathroom

Ok, the title doesn’t sound good, but as you read on, you will see it is appropriate. Halfway to Joan’s house Mark J., looked over at me and said, “I sure hope marine remembers us”. In case you didn’t read one of the earlier stories, Marine is a big dog that Joan and John own. His bark is loud and he’s fast. Or should I say very, very fast. He really is a good dog, but if he doesn’t know you, well lets just say you’re in trouble. We pulled up to the house around 11:30 and Marine was on the front porch barking at us already. I think I’ll stay in the truck till he gets used to you first Mark. Of course he called me a big chicken, and guess what, I’d rather be a live chicken than a dead duck.
Surprisingly Marine didn’t raise that much of a fuss. He probably did remember us, but Bear on the other hand was barking up a storm. The first thing bear did was baptize my new tires. Thanks a lot.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early around 0600. I was attempting to go sit on the front porch since everyone was still asleep, until I got to the living room. Marine was in the living room and must have been in la la land since he didn’t even open an eye. I thought maybe I could go over or around Marine and get to the front door. That’s when I told myself: “self, if that dog wakes up in the middle of la la land he’s going to have some Mexican food for breakfast”. HmHmHmHm, I think I’ll go sit in the bathroom and look out of the window.

So I sat there for 45 minutes (that's right 45 minutes) enjoying the view from the bathroom window, looking at the squirrels out in the cold. About 0700 I saw a golf cart come down from the neighbors’ property and saw some curly haired guy walking up to Joans house. I tried to wake John up since he was closest to the door, and when the neighbor walked onto the porch, it must have startled Marine. He was up on all fours pretty fast, and he was barking and those big teeth were ready to eat.

Joan woke up and had John put Marine in the back room and we let the neighbor in. He just wanted to let us know where we could hunt and he seemed like a real nice fellow. We shook hands and I thanked him and he left. I looked at Joan, and asked where is Mark? About that time Mark came out with one eye still closed. Dude I can’t believe you slept through all that, I told him. Marine barking trying to rip the front door off to get breakfast, and Bear also trying to get in on the action. That’s when he asked, I heard you get up early, where were you? Uh uh uh uh…….(silence) in the bathroom looking outside!!! Hey, I like breakfast, I just don’t like being breakfast.

Thank You

Well folks, another hunting trip to Tennessee has come and gone. The only thing I hate about this trip is that it has to come to an end, and we have to head back to work.

Now for the good part, where to begin????? There’s so much that was good, it overflows my mind like water going over the spillway after a hard hard rain. First off let me thank Joan and John for their hospitality. Also thank you Malissa and Jay for your hospitality. The food was great and even after that drill sgt., hike I think I managed to gain some weight. I think I’ll start walking in the summer time to get in shape for that cross country hike.

There’s a lady that lives around the corner from me that is an excellent cook. Mark J., knows her and I know he’s heard me say “If I was to bring her a skunk, I know she could make it taste good.” Well Joan and Malissa are in that same boat. That was some good food. That potato whatchamacallit was excellent. Oh and that Dolly something or another was to die for Malissa. I think I ate half of it. I need to get Alma to make that and the potato whatchamacallit. I’ll be adding stories and some pictures to this blog as I type them up. I’ve been busy at work and haven’t had a chance to write about the trip.

I was ready to retire the first day back to work. So much paperwork, city council complaints, and neighborhood complaints sure is a good reason to retire and head to Tennessee. Oh well, I guess I’ll stay and make their life miserable. That’s all for now but more to follow soon