Hunting Season at Serenity Farm: Awesome!

Here I am out in my woods on the northern end of my property, holding my Collins double edge axe, chopping down trees to make another trail for us to travel on to get to the duck hunting ponds hidden in the Cypress & Oak tree forest!

Since September and hunting season begam, my friends, family and I have harvested quite a lot of Wood ducks, Green Wing Teal, Blue Wing Teal and squirrels. I have seen some rabbits, but their numbers are down on my property (220 acres) due to a pack of coyotes that apparantly has devestated their population over the years while I was away in Massachusetts completing my residency training through Harvard School of Medicine. Now that I am back, however, my brother and I will hunt the hunters--use a predator call at night (an electronic device that makes sounds like a wounded rabbit) which attracts the coyotes for an apparant "easy meal." Well, they'll be ambushed and have a lead sandwich instead!

Back to the duck hunting on my property in Eunice: it's unbelievable. I placed several hunting blinds around one of the many small pounds that are located near Bayou Mallett, which courses through the northern boundry of the Vautrot estate. I cut with an axe some Palmetto trees and other small trees and planted this foliage along the edge of the pond in several clusters, from which I hide behind. I then got into my canoe (pirogue) and placed several decoys in patterns on the pond water's surface. At 6:05am each morning, the ducks are swarming from all directions directly above us trying to find spots to land in the pond. They dive directly down from the sky above like missiles--it is such a beautiful site to watch them as they flare their wings back to slow down immediately prior to landing on the water surface. We have seen flocks of about 2 dozen Woodies circling and then landing in my pond, as well as larger flocks of the migratory Teal ducks (the rare Blue Wing and the very common Green Wing teal). I instructed my family and friends to not shoot the female Woodies (Wood Ducks), as they are local/indiginous ducks, and I want to keep their population very high on my estate. However, we are free to follow Dept of Wildlife and Fisheries mandates to harvest the maximum limit of teal--since they migrate to Louisiana from up North...escaping the brutal, bitter winter cold weather.

We have harvested as many as 15 teal in less than one hour at my pond that I have the duck blinds prepared on. It is really amazing--while standing behind the implanted folliage (small trees and Palmettos), you'll see other wild life come by: squirrels in the trees around you leaping from limb-to-limb; Great Horned Owls come to land in the tree limbs, too...monitoring the squirrels as their prey; and large, swamp rabbits run by the water's edge--oblivious to your hidden presence. There are risks out there, however: I have come across two venomous Copperhead snakes near my hunting lodge...they are not as poisonous as the notorious Water Moccasin (a.k.a. "Cotton Mouth"), but can cause quite a lot of pain and still requires ER attention if one is bitten. They are, oddly enough, a most beautifully colored snake--even their eyes are the color of bronze/copper!




adult Copperhead snake







adult Copperhead snake





My sister came out to Serenity Farm; her and her husband went to one of my other ponds (my property has several ponds stocked with fish on the southern side of my estate; several ponds for duck hunting located on the northern border of my estate; and several very large ponds for harvesting crawfish located in the middle). She caught several Brim (Perch) in just a couple of minutes. My brother caught a 2-3 pound Bass with just a few casts of his pole using an artificial worm. So, no matter what your interests are--hunting ducks, squirrels, rabbits, fishing, crawfishing, etc), there is something fun for everyone to do! That is why I named all of this property "Serenity Farm."



Duck Hunt November 2011. Dr Vautrot's Serenity Farm: 13 ducks and 1 Teal in my canoe with a 12 guage Browning "Gold Hunter" shotgun





Duck & Squirrel hunt November 2011. Serenity Farm: cleaned 7 Teal & 6 large Wood Ducks, 1 large Fox Squirrel





Duck Hunt November 2011. Dr. Vautrot's Serenity Farm: 13 ducks and 1 Fox Squirrel




Duck Hunt November 2011. Dr. Vautrot's Serenity Farm: 13 ducks & 1 Squirrel







1 male Green Wing teal








2 male Wood Ducks: November 2011









15 Green Wing Teal: December 2011.







December 2011. 4 Wood Ducks and 2 Green Wing Teal






Victor with several Wood Ducks and Teal: December 2011














over 2 dozen turtles I trapped in Bayou Mallet










Confederate States of America official Battle Flag (1861-1865)








Confederate General Richard Taylor's reverse battle flag (Louisiana Battalion, 1864, Red River Campaign)

Meet "Dixie": my new Golden Retriever puppy

Here she is: Dixie. She is an AKC registered Golden Retriever. She was given to me by one of my best friends whom I have known since I was in AmeriCorps during my college days back in 1996. Bryan raises them,and they compete nationally. Her parents, Shilo and Jessie, are of championship bloodlines out of Montana and North Carolina, respectively. She was born on October 25th, 2011.



Dixie in November 2011













Dixie in December 2011






Christmas attire: Dixie, early December 2011













Dixie and her siblings: November 2011
(she is the dark one in the middle with the red collar)

Board Certification is complete...I am a "Board Certified" doctor!

Well, I recently returned from Los Angeles, California--I flew up there from the Bayou state of Louisiana for my Part II Oral examination to complete the process of becoming a Board Certified physician...i.e. a "Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology." I had taken and easily passed the Part I written exam with flying colors in May of 2010 on my first attempt; and, the second part ("the orals") was then offered to those of us that had passed that written examination component (about 67% of doctors pass it).

The Part II Oral exam has a 50-60% failure rate, as it is much more difficult than the written. There is a 1 hour live patient interview followed by a 1 hour section composed of 4 written and video vignettes (short stories of patient cases). I managed both sections quite well as I was examined by a crowd of older, Board Certified psychiatrists throughout the day. And I PASSED IT! I have a huge sense of relief and accomplishment, as there is nothing more challenging in the field of Medicine than for a doctor to be granted Board Certified in their specialty by a group of their peers.

Being a Board Certified doctor is not just the "icing on the cake," so to speak, it is the lit candles,too! This is truly the pinnacle of success...the peak of the mountain. There is nothing higher to strive for and achieve. This certification, and becoming a "Diplomat" in the medical field, represents superior clinical competency and demonstrates mastery in one's specialty of medicine.

So, by the age of 34 years-old, I have published research work in a major medical journal (Academic Psychiatry), graduated from a residency training program through Harvard Medical School, and have been awarded Board Certification. This endeavor (becoming a doctor) has certainly had its challenging times, and it has been a long journey of 9 years and 5 months--I started this in August 2001 one week after my 25th birthday. It required good ole' perseverance, tenacity, and a refusal to let those around me over those years try to throw me off track from achieving this dream. Life is full of people who will try to manipulate you towards their own selfish agenda.

It's great to be home in Louisiana and to now have everything maximized in the academic, clinical, and career fields of medicine. Now, it's time for a full, 100% pursuit of enjoyable, "extracurricular" activities!

Hunting and Fishing Paradise: Serenity Farm

a very large, jumbo-sized live crawfish that I caught in my crawfish pots May 2011





Boiled crawfish from the ponds that I catch them in on my property








My new camp--my 3rd home thus far--that I am building in Church Point/Eunice. I now own a 220 acre estate--it has 2 fishing ponds stocked with Bass, Catfish and Sac-au-Lait ("White Perch"). There are centuries-old Cypress, Oak and Pecan tree-filled orchards, one large forest, several expansive fields with rice, and one bayou (Bayou Mallet) that runs through its northern border. My hunting/fishing camp has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths; 1200 square foot living area; has central air conditioner, running water. Outside of the camp, there is a large, screened-in Cypress wood porch that has 2 ceiling fans and lights, so everyone can stay cool and free from bugs in the summer time. My garage has large fans and lights, so that we can have cool days as we boil crawfish under the garage roof.

About 60 feet away, I had a large slaughter house constructed; it has attached to it a 30 foot roof that extends over my boat. At the end, there is an enclosed building that houses my fish/wild game cleaning table on a cement slab with central drain to a sewage disposal unit; there is running water to the building, as well as lights and a fan inside, too. So, it is competley equipped! Many a fish, amphibian, reptile, crustacean, and wild game will be addressed there!

I am very blessed because all of this (the 220 acres, hunting/fishing camp, slaughter house, my great-great grandfather's Cajun house) is all located in one place, outside of the city of Lafayette, so that I can hunt and fish right outside my front door without having to travel to a distant camp or a hunting lease like most Americans, yet I will still have access to the amenities of the city because there are several highways nearby. Because this property has so many forests and fields, there are squirrels, rabbits, doves, wild pigs, raccoons, and deer everywhere! Overhead, there are hawks and at least 2 local owls on my property that hoot throughout the night.

When I come home from work at the hospital each weekend, I am able to hunt doves (season starts in mid-September) in the twilight of the late evening hours as they fly across my large fields to find night-time roosting perches in the trees. Then, on the weekends, I'll be able to step outside my front door to start walking into the forests to hunt squirrels and rabbits (season starts October 1st)!


My 2009 Lexus 470GX parked on a piece of my estate with several acres of fields in the background.




13 ducks and 1 squirrel: November 2011

Serenity Farm: a hunting and fishing camp in paradise!

Here I am standing in one of my 16 crawfish ponds on my farm in southern Louisiana--the 220 acre paradise we call "Serenity Farm." It is crawfish season (November - July), and I go there each Friday and bait my crawfish traps. The following Sunday morning, each trap is then full of those tasty, colossal "baby lobsters!" There are anywhere from 6-12 jumbo, dark red crawfish inside. I empty them into one of the buckets with me, then I bait it with the other bucket. I then keep walking in the pond, wearing those waterproof waders, and harvest the crawfish from as many traps as I need. I raise enough to bring back to my house, which is where I boil them for my family and friends. The crawfish are FREE...costs me and my friends nothing, as they are in my ponds. I never have to buy them at the store or restaurant anymore...which is where they cost at least $30 per person for only 5 lbs! I catch at least 15 lbs of live, very fresh, organic crawfish in about 45 minutes are less. My ponds are clean, no pollution, and the crawfish did not have to be trucked in from different parts of the state or other states!. All it costs me is time...less than one hour of walking in my ponds to catch enough for all of my guests to eat. Now, THAT is living Cajun style, baby!




Some of the crawfish I personally harvested on my farm one evening after work...just a few yards behind my house! I don't even have to go to a restaurant and order them anymore...living off the land--Cajun style!They were big and so easy to peel, because they're fresh and farm-raised!









Taken at the gym; body weight of 215 lbs.





I have started building a $127,000 hunting camp on my 220 acre farmstead near Church Point, LA. Each weekend, we go out there and make more progress. So far, it has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms; it has a screened-in Cypress wood front porch that is perfect for having parties in the evenings; it has a huge covered cement patio in the back with a large barbecue pit that is perfect for grilling a variety of wild game, deer, beef steaks, fresh fish, etc. Located next to the camp is my "slaughter house"--a very long covered building, steel-framed, with cement floor and a centrally-located drain in the floor where I can spray wash the blood and viscera into, and it leads to a septic tank. This is where all of the fish cleaning and wildlife dressing will occur; it has both electricity (heater for the winters and ceiling fan for the summers) and running water! It is 18 feet wide and over 40 feet long and is completely covered to provide shelter for my 22 foot long commercial fishing boat--The Catfish Assassin. I have a large dog kennel (fenced-in) that will house my Golden Retriever hunting dog and my friends' dogs when they bring them over for the weekends. The front yard is a perfect place to relax late at night with a bonfire beneath the moonlit and star kissed sky above. This is paradise: this is Serenity. This is living--Cajun and Southern Country-style living! Back to nature. Laissez les bon temps rouler, mes amis! My brother and I have been renovating my great-great grandfather's home next door each weekend--Francois Joseph Vautrot's homestead. I will register it as a National Historical Landmark sometime next year, as it was constructed in 1871 and is still standing and in good condition...140 years later! Anyway, my family, friends, and I enjoy hunting and fishing on this large piece of family property that I now solely own--it is 220 acres of forests, rice fields, crawfish harvesting ponds, 2 fishing lakes, and one small river. I built this hunting camp on it for me, my family, and my friends to come and visit and play every weekend and on holidays! It's so awesome; everyone loves to leave the city and come out there. My property is full of Wood ducks, Teal ducks, Mallards, squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, big deer, wild bobcats, two black panthers, hawks, Mourning doves, White doves, owls, coyotes, some wild horses (about 6 so far that I've counted), and Box turtles. It's an enjoyable adventure every time all of us (family and friends) go out exploring in the woods!














Here I am out in my woods, chopping down a new trail!

Francois Joseph Vautrot homestead

Photograph of the Francois Joseph Vautrot 1871 second homestead: Eunice, LA.
Photo taken July 2010.






Photo taken July 2011.





Photo taken July 2011.




My great-great grandfather was Francois Joseph Vautrot. His original homestead is still erect and located in Eunice, Louisiana.

The original Vautrot, Francois Vautrot, arrived in America aboard the ship Libertas in 1834 from France. They were French Huguenots (Protestants) that had been persecuted by the Catholics in France since the time of Louis the 14th (17th century French king). Well, Francois and his children left New York and settled in Pennsylvania. Francois Vautrot became a naturalized US citizen in 1846; he died in Pennsylvania in 1863. Some of his children moved to different states in the 1840's--Ohio, Alabama, and Louisiana. One of those sons is Francois Joseph Vautrot (1813-1881), who settled in St. Landry Parish and erected a home along Bayou Teche--he purchased 250 acres from Sarah Lee in 1853. More about him...

Francois J. Vautrot (FJV) emigrated to America in 1839, after military service probably in his native France. He was a French citizen, spoke European French and little English; he was not a U.S. citizen. His family, including five younger siblings, had made the trip from Lorraine, France, to New York and then to Crawford County, PA, five years previously in 1834...as already mentioned above. His brother, Jules, became a naturalized citizen in Lafayette, LA and Francois settled in St. Landry parish in 1840--around the city of Opelousas. There, he married a landed widow, Amelia Burleigh, in Opelousas in 1848 and became a planter. They had one son, Francois Louis Vautrot, born in 1849, who became the progenitor of the Vautrot family in Southwest Louisiana; he died in Church Point, LA in 1898.

FJV saw his produce and livestock, including cotton, confiscated by General Banks' troops during the Civil War (1861-1865). This large property was occupied by the invading Union Army under General Nathaniel Banks in October of 1863, and Francois Joseph Vautrot's herd of cattle (6), horses (5), and mules (5) was confiscated, 80 bales of cotton stolen, as well as several thousand pounds of corn and rice. My great-great grandfather's original home was burned down by the Yankees. He was a planter and slave owner (9 males, 10 females and several children per records in National Archives in Washington,D.C), but he was NOT a Confederate soldier nor did he support secession. Per government records and testimony, most of his slaves left with the Union Army, but some remained with FJV. The Yankess left them "maybe 40 or 50 barrels of corn, of which Francois divided with the slaves."

After the Civil War ended in 1865, Francois Joseph Vautrot emigrated again, to Brazil with some Confederados (the name bestowed on Confederate sympathizers who left the South after the Civil War seeking a more compatible political atmosphere), but returned to Acadia Parish circa 1871. He built a new home, which still stands today, not too far from his original one.

The date of his death is not documented (circa 1881), but his former slave testified that he was buried "under a tree" on his farm.

Address: 1172 Brigman Highway; Eunice, LA 70535


My 2010 Toyota Tundra parked in the beautiful Pecan Orchard--a favorite gathering spot for Fox and Gray Squirrels...it is located just a stone's throw away from the Vautrot homestead.

The Louisiana State Police and I have a conference!

This week over one dozen Louisiana State Police Troopers from a variety of troop divisions came to our VA to attend a conference on Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention. Some of the troopers are SWAT team members, highway patrol, and others were specialists in hostage negotiations-- a really cool collection of law enforcement! I was part of the panel from the VA that was asked to offer recommendations to them for managing crises in the community, especially suicidality. In addition to me (the psychiatrist), we had a psychologist, licensed social worker, and suicide prevention coordinator.

I gave an educational seminar on "How to recognize, assess, and manage five common psychiatric disorders in the community." The troopers were very interested in learning how to recognize the many faces of mental illness when they are called to a crisis scene--i.e. Bipolar Disorder, Major Depression, Schizophrenia, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Schizophrenia. I discussed with them the signs & symptoms of each, as well as clues to which disorder it might be based upon the medication that the person may tell them that they are prescribed. I also discussed the various illicit street drugs that can mimic psychiatric disorders. Moreover, they were interested to hear about my recommendations on how to approach each person suffering from that particular disorder in unique ways depending on the type of mental illness the person may have.


The conference was very lively, enjoyable and educational! Our state police are a very committed, professional, and caring group of men and women that showed a genuine concern for the civilians that they encounter each day.


They asked me to create and write a handbook or field guide of the topics I discussed, which could be made available to all of their colleagues in their departments! Sounds like a new publication project will be on the way...!