Part of the fun of hunting is the camaraderie you feel with your fellow hunters. The Deer Hunter has a special kinship with the men he’s hunted with for most of his life…along with more than a few humorous stories about them.
Pap told me this story about a group of men that used to coon hunt with his father.
The men were standing around the fire listening to the dogs run, waiting for them to tree. Frank had a dog, Ole Blue, that really wasn’t much of a hunting dog. Everyone teased Frank that Ole Blue would get out of the circle of light made by the fire and lay down to nap-leaving the rest of the pack to do the running.
Frank went to check on the running dogs, while the others stood around the blaze warming and talking. One man was whittling a stick. He wasn’t really trying to make anything but as he cut two holes in the stick one of the men noticed and remarked that it looked like a pair of glasses.
As the group started laughing about the glasses-one of them came up with the idea of tying them on Ole Blue.
A little while later Frank showed back up and said “I’ve been thinking about it and Ole Blue ain’t lazy-he’s probably so old he’s going blind.”
The fellows couldn’t believe their luck-they quickly told Frank they agreed and he should call Ole Blue in so they could look at his eyes. Frank called and there he came-trotting up to the fire wearing those homemade glasses. The men he-hawed as they assured Frank that he was right Ole Blue must be going blind because he had went and got himself some glasses.
I hope you enjoyed the story about Frank. He is long gone on-Pap wishes he could still walk over the mountain and sit a spell with him. The same way The Deer Hunter wishes he could go back and spend one more night in the camper with Hoot.
——————-
I met Jim Mize at the SEOPA Conference. Jim is an outdoor humorist. He graciously donated 2 books for me to giveaway here on the Blind Pig.
First up is A Creek Trickles Through It – A Collection of Fly-Fishing Humor; the other one is The Winter of Our Discount Tent – A Humorous Look at Flora, Fauna, and Foolishness Outdoors.
The books are full of the same type of story I just shared from Pap. To be entered in the giveaway leave a comment and let me know which book you think sounds the best -there will be 2 winners. *Giveaway ends Thursday December 4, 2014.
Jim’s books would make great Christmas gifts. He is currently offering the following sale on the 2 humor books:
Both books signed for $25, for a savings of $8. You can jump over to Jim’s website by clicking here. And if you have any questions or would like to purchase the books at the special discount price you can email him at: jimmize1@cs.com
Tipper
Long ago our Uncle Don had a little beagle dog named Sallie that would literally run a rabbit until her feet were raw. I remember our Mother getting angry at him for letting the dog do it, fussing while bathing and binding the dog’s feet, but Uncle was quite confused cause what was he to do once the dog caught a scent. Wasn’t like you could call her in, she wouldn’t listen.
Now our Bro Tom has a Walker Hound named Buddy that is about the same way. His nose is so sensitive that when he gets a whiff of something, off he goes, and you’re going miles trying to get him back long before he tires enough to sit down. It’s a trial to keep him safe like that, so we just don’t let him off his lead when he’s out of the cabin. Keeps him at home and safe, and keeps us at home rather than having to look for him and worry.
God bless.
RB
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Tipper,
Since my comment got lost the other day. I want to comment again in order to have a chance to win one of the books…The ‘Winter Of Our Discount Tent’, sounds like fun reading…
We have had a full bloodied Red Bone…Copper as a Penny and her name. Great voice and two much of a good pet to hunt properly but her nose and howl kept the raccoons back to ridge here.
Two beagles, “Snoopy” that was a given great hunter of rabbits, but would stop if she saw a child in the neighbor and pet and converse with said child! So garden still stayed full of rabbits if the children were outside anywhere playing. “Nosy” we got after we came here on this place in ’72. She was a standard beagle but had a nose that could rarely tell the difference between rabbit, squirrel or copperhead..The latter kept me for getting bit. With her nose to the ground she found it, held it at bay until I ran to the house to get the hoe…On my territory a dead Copperhead is a good copperhead, Twitching on a limb until the sun goes down…
Thanks Tipper,
I hope I win and I hope this comment doesn’t go back to the Spam drawer…
Thanks for the story and info about the books. ‘The Winter of Our Discount Tent’ is something I would like to give my husband- I’m sure we’d both enjoy it!
Nothing like listening to the Dogs run,, I use to love to Coon hunt, I’ve even had beagles for rabbit hunting loved that also, I even ran my beagles at night just to listen to them run.. didn’t even try to kill a whole lot of rabbits just occasionally just to keep the dogs spirit up.. just love to hear them run.. I miss my beagles.. had to let it all go tho…
Does the Deer Hunter have a dog box on his truck? Or does he ride them up front with him? I’ve seen a lot of dog boxes around here that mount on the trailer hitch or on a square thing that the hitch fits in to. I have that kind of hitch but I don’t have a dog. I think it’s called a receiver hitch. I don’t even have a trailer but I can hook a log chain around it and pull cars out of the ditch when it snows. Works good for pulling up stumps too if they’re not too big.
Tipper,
I grew up in a neighborhood of some
real characters. One of ’em was a
moonshiner of the first degree.
One time he got caught and sent to Alabama to make little rocks out of biggens for about 3 years. When he got out, he became a Coon hunter
with his two boys. I know all these folks well, sold them. many licker bottles. The daddy
was Dillard Hardin and his boys
were Ralph and Carl. Dillard was
one of those mountain storytellers that kept you laughing. He told a story about
taking his old redbone coon hunting. He said the dog couldn’t hardly walk cause he had Lumbage real bad. So, they
picked him up, put him in a
wheelboro, and just followed his
nose…Ken
Tipper, my Dad was a great bear hunter and our son is just like him. Brian hunts and fish just about every thing. He never wastes any kind of kill. He cans, freeze and drys it. I would love to win these books or just one and send them to Wisc. where he lives. He is a great mushroom hunter. I’m trying to get him to put together a book on the mushrooms, especially the edible ones.
Great blogs you have been having. I finally got a new computer and I’m learning how to use it. I don’t like new things. I’ve had my husband for 62 yrs. and I don’t think I could train another or learn their good and bad ways. I’m getting to old.
Thanks Tipper for your blog. You do a good job.
Peggy L.
Oh, what a collection of good reads you provide here. My Uncle was a fly fisherman before his stroke – tried to teach me to tie flies but I never got them tight enough. He can still read although he doesn’t have use of his left side – I would love to send this book to him. Actually – I’m going to order a copy for him and for me if I don’t “win”. (- But I’m a winner just for having found this blog!)
The tent book will make interesting reading too. My husband’s scout troop in the 80’s and 90’s (before the current drought) had an old blue tarp tent; and every time they used that thing it rained! Not just rain – the bottom fell out of the clouds! Our old Chevy van constantly smelled like soggy Boy Scouts much to the chagrin of the dance carpool ;-). Anyway, the one time it didn’t rain on Old Blue – – it hailed. . . .
Both books sound interesting, but I too would love to read The Winter of Our Discount Tent.
The discount tent sounds like a fun read.
My grandpa worked three jobs to keep his family of ten fed. I think hunting and fishing gave him a few moments to relax and be still.
For Rooney Floyd, I remember when we were all ready to end the hunt everyone stood around the fire and relieved themselves. I can almost remember the stench.
I haven’t been possum, coon or fox hunting since I was a teenager. (More than 50 years ago.) I do remember the men being able to tell which dog was in the lead as they chased the quarry.
The Winter of Our Discount Tent just feels more to my taste even though I probably would enjoy both.
I would love the Discount Tent book. My brothers used to hunt with an ancient gentleman who was a veteran of WWI. They were friends with his son & they said he set a pace it was hard for them to keep up with as young men.
He was kindly cooking breakfast for them once & fried my finicky brother a very easy over egg. (He really IS finicky but all of us have to have whites cooked & runny yolks) They were able to get rid of the slimy egg but our whole family knows what we mean when we say a “Jessie egg”.
I have hunted Beagles, Hounds and German Shorthair Pointers, They all added much to the joy of the hunt. The Discount Tent jogged memories of trips sleeping under the stars, in lean-tos, canvas tarps, cheap tents, in the bed of a pickup truck and in a pop-up camper with water boiling on the stove in sub-freezing temps which resulted in a rain during the night when the steam condensed on the cold canvas.
I used to lay awake at night listening to the hounds hunting on the mountain way back in behind our house on Wiggins Creek. It wasn’t that I enjoyed their music, they kept me awake. The lack of ambient noise and the shape of the holler made it sound like they were right behind the house. I have been known to go outside and shoot in the direction of the turmoil. I didn’t aim to kill because I knew the bullet wouldn’t even reach that far. I just stuck the gun up and fired, hoping to maybe lob one in on them.
Mountain folk love to tell tales about their amazing dogs. My large extended family still loves to remember their dog they called Watch. Everybody that mentions the dog adds a more interesting tidbit. It seems Watch protected the family from Copperheads, and loved to fight and kill the snakes. One older cousin recalls Watch often had a swollen head from the snakebites. Another long ago memory was Watch protecting one of the young’uns from a close call with a reptile. Watch’s name even changes depending on which relative tells the many heroic tales.
Always love enjoying a good book, so maybe I will get lucky and win.
I love a good story and this one was a good one! Something guys appreciate. I am sure the Winter of Our Discount Tent would be a great collection of stories to share and would be a nice addition.
Thanks for you and your blog and it is good to hear Pap is doing well!
I think I would like the fishing book best. Just a question for Pap, how did they put out the fire?
Tipper–We had beagles throughout my boyhood (and beyond), and rabbit hunting was an integral and important part of life in the Casada family. In the corridors of memory I can still hear Lead and Lady, Buck, Drum, Tiny, Chip and Dale, Queenie, and other beagles we owned, often joined by those of my father’s best hunting and fishing buddy, Claude Gossett, hot on the cottontail trail.
Those magical days afield were some of the best of my life, and like any hunter who has been privileged to know and enjoy canine companions, I treasure the memories.
I’ll finish with one of my favorite dog-related quotations. It comes from the man I consider America’s greatest outdoor writer–ever–Robert Ruark. It appeared in his magical book, “The Old Man and the Boy,” something I recommend as wonderful reading.
“Boy,” the Old Man said, “If a man is really intelligent, there’s practically nothing a good dog can’t teach him. But a dumb man can’t learn anything from a smart dog, while a dumb dog can occasionally learn something from a smart man. Remember that.”
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
Isn’t it amazing the stories that develop while sitting around a fire or when a group gets togethe, even kids, that stories seem to just develop or come out of someone’s mouth. I’m not much of a woods person, but I do enjoy some of the stories that hunters can tell. True stories – who knows! I enjoy hearing them.
The Winter of Our Discount Tent would be the one I would like to read and I agree with Pap and the Deer Hunter, I would love to have one more night out coon hunting with our hunting buddies especially Dad.
I think that The Winter of Our Discount Tent – A Humorous Look at Flora, Fauna, and Foolishness Outdoors would be the more interesting of the two for me since I am not into fly fishing. The title is great
Tipper: HOW DO YOU DO IT? Keeping up with all the details and making things WORK would tax me out of business. But you do it in a most amazing manner!
Eva Nell
Punny titles. My favorite is the discount tent.
I liked Pap’s story. I also like the sound of both of Jim Mize’s books, but if I have to pick one, it would be The Winter of our Discount Tent.
Morning Tipper, I have to admit that I have never understood the joy of sitting around a fire and listening to dogs bark. I guess the truth is I don’t do the sit still part very well. There always seems to be too many things I need to jump up and go do. I guess it’s kind of like sitting on a river/lake bank fishing. It must be a type of mountain meditation.
I finally got my internet connected. It took six weeks just like they said it would. Nothing hurries in the mountains!