Photos from the Camp

Here is a collection of photos of my family and friends from our Hunting Camp in Mallard Bay, Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

Photo of my dad in the background, waving. My Uncle Robert Matthews in the forefront, holding a beer. He was an avid deer and turkey hunter in Missississippi and Louisiana. He had a camp in Butte LaRose, LA; was a very popular, likeable guy. He was also a WWII veteran. He died of natural causes in his sleep in the mid-1990s.



Here I am with my dad (far left of photo), being held by Uncle Robert. I am holding a large mouth Bass, crying. Notice the catfish hanging on the wooden plank in the middle of the photo. This was a common way that we (later, when I learned how to do it) skinned our catfish: nail them to a tree or hang them from a hook, make 3 knife slices around their neck to expose the flesh beneath the tough skin, then use "skinning pliers" to peel the skin off of them. There is someone unknown to me skinning/cleaning some fish on the table to the far right. This was at our hunting and fishing camp in South Louisiana in very early 1980s.







A photo of our beloved hunting/fishing camp from the other side of the canal. Notice the dog. The large rusty container is the well (holding rain water). The camp itself is made of Cypress wood, about 60 years-old. This camp survived both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in Summer 2005.








Here I am, about 5 years old, inside my dad's fishing boat. We are raising crab traps from Mallard Bay (a very large lake in Southwest Louisiana). As you can see, there are a few Blue Pointe crabs in the trap immediatly behind me.
I was probably learning how to re-bait the traps (with fish guts and heads).













This is my Uncle Robert, later in his life; here he is in front of a lake and mountain range somewhere in America. He loved going for overland tours of praries and ranges across America, in search of deer, bison, Caribou, etc...to take pictures. He always had a cigar in his mouth, but he never smoked it. I am indebted to him for great memories of Turkey Hunts in Missississippi; delicous meals at his camp in Butte La Rose, LA; and the trust fund he left me to help pay for medical school.