Having a Good Ole' Time at our Camp

Here are some pics of a couple of us Coon Asses from South Louisiana and some Red Necks from North Louisiana:

I am frying some Catfish & Red fish on the porch of our hunting camp, which is erected on the edge of a bayou. The porch is elevated above the water edge below.






Here are a few pics of me and Louis Turner--one of my best friends. He flew up from Houston to my graduation in Boston from Harvard in June 2009. He is a member of the Mallard Bay Hunting Club.





Here are a few pics of the outside of the camp. Brian Burford, a firefighter/EMT and friend of mine from Stonewall, Louisiana, is sitting on the porch of the camp with some of his buddies from the fire department.





Here are a few pics of the "Mud Boats" which we use to get us into the marsh for hunting ducks--these vehicles are capable of traversing in very low levels of water (less than a foot); they are equipped with powerful car engines. The steering is not done by a steering wheel, however, but by a long shaft pole: pushing it forward steers to the right, while pulling the pole back will steer it to the left. There is a lever that you have to push up to propel the Mud boat forward, and pull the lever down to drive the boat into reverse. Sometimes the water is very low, and they get stuck in the mud; then we (and the hunting dogs) have to leap out of the boat into the marsh and push & pry the heavy beast out of the mud until it sits in deeper water. This is a pain in the butt--because you are wearing heavy waders, sinking into the mooshy, sticky mud bottom below, and your feet get stuck in the mud. But, with a concerted team effort, we get the Mud boat unstuck, climb back into it, and charge forward. The driver drops the hunters off at each Duck Blind, where they then climb inside the camouflaged dwelling. The duck hunters then patiently wait for flocks of ducks to swarm by, and we also call them with our duck calls, and lure them down from the sky with displays of decoy ducks. Our hunting dogs stand motionless on the edge of the pond, eager for the ducks to get shot in the air and fall in some distant location, and then they rush off to go and retrieve them. They love it, and love the praise that we give them upon return with the duck lying limp & lifeless from their mouths, tails wagging. Our only fear is snakes: water moccasins sometimes bite our hunting dogs on the shoulders or neck. I have had a few of my dogs bitten in my lifetime, but they have all survived--ending up with swollen necks for a few days, lethargic, and sick; but, they recover. We shoot all the water moccasins we encounter in the marsh.