Hello readers and fellow outdoor enthusiasts! I hope you are enjoying the unbelievably wonderful weather the last few days. I know it has forced me to fight the urge to climb a tree or wade into some flooded timber. I know we are all grateful for the rain, cooler temperatures and a drop in humidity. It has certainly made the fish start biting a little more!
I was contemplating a topic for this week’s entry and thanks to a conversation I had with my husband on our front porch Sunday afternoon, I had a story dropped in my lap. We were discussing funny events that had occurred over the course of the last few years. He and I have been together almost a decade so there are so many funny stories when we went fishing or hunting.
One of the funniest and most random happened on our spring fishing trip to Lake Chicot in late March 2008. Cage and I had been dating about 2 years. I was in college at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia at the time. We would take a trip during my spring break to fish for three or four days and enjoy some family time. After I finished college we would still go for a long weekend.
The family members involved were not all blood relatives. They were lifelong friends that we considered family. Most were employees of El Dorado Chemical that my dad had known for over 20 years. When you get a crew like this together, something unbelievable will occur. The outcome results in stories that we will laugh about for years to come. This trip was going to be no different.
If you know any shift workers at El Dorado Chemical, you know that they enjoy good food and are not against anyone bringing a dessert or casserole. They are well-nourished, cornbread-fed boys! This story unfolded on our second night at Lake Chicot.
We all enjoyed a good meal that evening and were about to make a 10 p.m. check on our yo-yos. Cage and I were in his boat checking our 60 setups. Cage was running the motor while I was taking fish off the hook and resetting them. My dad and his buddy were checking their 60. We were coasting through the trees talking about random things such as my dad’s terrible singing, terrible snoring and his terrible eyesight. To make matters much worse, he was doing his hoot owl call. To our misfortune, it worked. We were about halfway finished when we heard a loud splash in the trees behind us. We shined our lights in the area of where we had just reset some lines.
We didn’t see anything at first glance but heard some sort of snapping, then a screech and another splash. We trolled back to investigate. On the other side of the small cypress trees was a large brown barred owl in the water. Upon further investigation, we could see that the owl was flying through the trees and its wing bumped a yo-yo tether line. The yo-yo triggered and wrapped around the owl’s wing. The string looped around its left wing and was snagged between its wing feathers. The hook was dangling freely. The good news was we could help the bird. Bad news is that no one wanted to touch a huge ticked-off bird with talons. It was highly upset and showed us every one of its sharp claws. Cage and I decided to keep our distance and record the whole incident. We figured the doctors would need to see exactly how the bird clawed my dad and his friend to the point of being unrecognizable. My dad wanted to try to free the beautiful bird. His buddy didn’t want to get close. He asked him to just keep something between the owl and his hands so that he wasn’t bitten or scratched.
Cage and I are laughing so hard that we can barely catch our breath. Of course my dad made it worse by telling his friend that he would throw the bird on his head, and he would look like he was wearing a feathered headdress. He responded that he would beat him with a boat paddle if he tried it. So picture two large well-fed South Arkansas men attempting to free a snagged owl and not flip the boat. After a couple of minutes of unwrapping string from between two wing feathers, the big graceful bird was free.
We backed up to give it plenty of room to get to safety. He looked at us with his large eyes and slowly “wing-paddled” to a small cypress tree. He dug his large talons into the bark and climbed up about 6 inches into a fork in the tree. The owl fluffed and shook the excess water from its feathers. We stayed nearby to make sure it would fly off on his own. After about 20 minutes of resting the bird climbed up a little higher in the tree and took flight. We were glad to see it was going to be just fine. We figured it was going to tell its owl friends about the owl that called to him and it turned out to be some big guy in a boat eating a honey bun and drinking a Diet Coke.
After we checked the rest of our yo-yos, we headed back to the cabins. The rule for the rest of the weekend was to only make the hoot owl sounds if you were on dry land and prepared to free one with no help while your family makes fun of you from a safe distance.
I encourage anyone to get a group of friends and/or family and take a long weekend to fish. You may not catch many fish but you will have plenty of stories to talk about for years to come.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and just a reminder that dove season opens Sept. 5, and teal season opens Sept. 12. Also, archery deer season opens on Sept. 26. If you have not already been practicing, then go by Slingin’ Arrows by La Pegasus Florist and practice! Brent has archery tournaments every Thursday night. If you are in the market for a new bow or some upgrades he can get you fixed up. Also, go check out Big Bucks Pawn & Gun or El Dorado Pawn if you are in the market for a new rifle, muzzleloader or shotgun.
Have a great day and God bless!
If you would like to see something specific in her column, email The Huntress at [email protected].